David O’Neill
The Lincoln-based Mass Audubon has named David O’Neill as the 11th president of the state’s largest nature conservation organization. He succeeds Gary Clayton, who will retire in May after more than 30 years with Mass Audubon (the last five as president).
O’Neill has dedicated his professional career to conservation. For the last five years, he has served as the chief conservation officer and senior advisor to the CEO of National Audubon Society (NAS). During his tenure, he led the development of its conservation strategies; helped unify the state offices around a single vision; oversaw the organization’s policy, advocacy, and science agendas; and launched programs to help fight the impacts of climate change. He previously served as vice president at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and director of Land Use Policy and Outreach for the Urban Land Institute.
O’Neill explored his family’s small farm and learned about coastal ecology while growing up on Chesapeake Bay. “That early environmental education program turned out to shape my future,” he recalled. “To lead a storied institution that provides so many with those life-altering, nature-based experiences is an exceptional honor.”
O’Neill is particularly inspired by Mass Audubon’s commitment to thread climate change strategies through all its work; to embrace equity, diversity, and inclusion opportunities, including its reach to new audiences; and to widen its lens to improve the health and resilience of Massachusetts, New England, and beyond.
Mass Audubon was founded as the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1896 by two Boston women determined to stop the slaughter of birds for their feathers. New Audubon chapters rose up across the country to enlist in the campaign, and in 1905 NAS was founded. The Massachusetts organization (now Mass Audubon) chose to remain independent, but shares a mission of promoting birds, other wildlife, and natural ecosystems. Lincoln’s Drumlin Farm is one of its 60 wildlife sanctuaries.