The organizations featured on the list have triumphed in their efforts to provide everything from cash assistance to legal representation, food deliveries to waterways protection despite the constraint on fundraisers, reduced government funding and declining philanthropic support.
Among the Power 100 are these leaders working to support environmental and conservation efforts in Pennsylvania--
-- Shawn McCaney, William Penn Foundation: Culture and nature thrive across the Delaware Valley thanks to Shawn McCaney and the grant-making organization he leads, the William Penn Foundation. McCaney heads the region’s largest private funder, allotting $150 million annually in grants for arts, educational and environmental causes. Most recently, he organized $65 million in pandemic relief for vulnerable programs.
McCaney, who has a background in community planning and infrastructure projects, previously established the Foundation’s public spaces program, which counts nearly $1 billion of investment in parks, trails, community centers and libraries.
-- Sam Reiman: Richard King Mellon Foundation: Over the next 10 years, Sam Reiman will oversee $1.2 billion of investment on behalf of the Richard King Mellon foundation, of which he is director. Reiman – also a trustee of the private, Pittsburgh-based philanthropy – is tasked with implementing its 10-year strategic plan to improve economic development, conservation, health and quality of life across southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond. Reiman has led grants and investments since 2014 at the Foundation, which has an annual budget of about $130 million.
-- Oliver Bass, Natural Lands: Five million people live within a few miles of preserves overseen by Natural Lands, a 70-year-old Delaware County-based organization headed by Oliver Bass. Bass has been with Natural Lands since the 1990s, devoting his career to the unspoiled landscape of eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.
As CEO since 2019, Bass has refined the organization’s lineup of activities – not only trails, but also tai chi and gardening – and strengthened its commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and access, emphasizing preservation’s role in combating climate change.
-- Thomas D. Saunders, Western PA Conservancy: Conservation is Tom Saunders’ top priority as head of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The Pittsburgh-based organization raises funds and leads advocacy to restore and protect open space, waterways and endangered species. Saunders also leads conservation for one of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous works, Fallingwater.
A land use attorney, Saunders previously practiced at Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue in Washington and has also directed the Maryland Environmental Trust. He currently serves on the boards of the Land Trust Alliance and the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association.
-- Maya van Rossum, Delaware RiverKeeper Network: Steady as the current, environmental activist and attorney Maya K. van Rossum has served as the Delaware riverkeeper for over three decades. Van Rossum, the founder of the Bristol-based Delaware Riverkeeper Network, leads the national Green Amendment environmental movement and is publishing the upcoming “The Green Amendment: The People’s Fight for a Clean, Safe, and Healthy Environment.” She has led lawsuits on behalf of Pennsylvania environmental policy and been appointed by New Jersey and Pennsylvania politicians to a number of regional task forces and conservation committees.
-- Theodore Evgeniadis & John Zaktansky, Lower Susquehanna & Middle Susquehanna RiverKeepers: Riverkeepers Theodore Evgeniadis and John Zaktansky are stewards of the mighty Susquehanna River. Working in concert with local outdoors enthusiasts, community groups and government entities, each raises awareness of the river and its delicate watershed ecosystem. Evgeniadis and Zaktansky also patrol pollution and coordinate with regulatory agencies to enforce environmental laws.
Zaktansky loves the Susquehanna so much, he literally sings its praises: Last year, he released an album called, "Songs of the Susquehanna," featuring two dozen odes to the waterway composed by local musicians. Evgeniadis, riverkeeper since 2017, also works in finance, bringing his accounting skills to his role as the Association’s treasurer.
Click Here for the full list of Nonprofit Power 100.
This list has just a few of the thousands of people working to improve and protect Pennsylvania’s environment every day.
Every week PA Environment Digest highlights the efforts of people providing REAL environmental and conservation leadership everywhere in the Commonwealth.
Visit the Search webpage and look under the Subject “Leadership” to find many more.
[Posted: October 19, 2022] PA Environment Digest
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