After 14 years as president and CEO of the Chesapeake Conservancy, Joel Dunn will resign from his post at the end of this year to join the Campaign for Nature.
The board of directors for the Chesapeake Conservancy, an Annapolis-based environmental nonprofit, announced the departure of the organization’s leader on Thursday.
EJ Amyot, chief operating officer of the Chesapeake Conservancy, will serve as interim president and CEO. The organization will immediately launch a nationwide search for its next leader.
“I am grateful to have been a part of Chesapeake Conservancy’s many achievements,” Dunn said in a statement. “We started this organization with a team of two people focused on the development of a water trail, and from those humble roots we have grown into an organization of nearly 50 dedicated and exceptional people. We’ve changed how conservation is implemented, and we’ve empowered the success of multiple partners throughout the watershed in the race to conserve 30% of the Chesapeake by 2030.”
The Campaign for Nature, which Dunn will join, has a goal of protecting and conserving at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030.
Under Dunn’s leadership, the Chesapeake Conservancy helped develop the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail; establish the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park and National Monument; and return 465 acres of the Rappahannock Tribe’s ancestral homeland at Fones Cliffs in the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Some of the nonprofit’s other achievements include expanding George Washington and Jefferson National Forest by more than 4664 acres; conserving more than 260 acres at Werowocomoco; creating Elktonia-Carr’s Beach Heritage Park; and designating Fort Monroe National Monument, among other accomplishments.
Stephanie Meeks, board chair for the Chesapeake Conservancy, praised Dunn for helping grow the nonprofit into what it is today.
“We are enormously grateful to Joel for his leadership and focus on teamwork, dedication and innovation in the field of conservation,” Meeks said in a statement. “Over the last 14 years, Chesapeake Conservancy helped create a national trail, two national monuments, a national park, a national marine sanctuary and significantly advanced a new national wildlife refuge and national recreation area for the Chesapeake.”
Meeks continued, “We’ve partnered to conserve thousands of acres of land, expand national wildlife refuges, create local parks, restore Chesapeake tributaries and empower the conservation movement with the latest groundbreaking data and technology. Our financial position is stronger than ever, and we are grateful to Joel for building a sustainable platform poised to make an even larger impact in the future.”
Amyot, the soon-to-be interim president and CEO, has more than 18 years of nonprofit operations experience. He most recently served as vice president of operations at The Y in Central Maryland.
