BCR 157: David Ringer, Chief Network Officer, National Audubon
As National Audubon’s first Chief Network Officer, David J. Ringer oversees the health, vitality, capacity, diversity, and strength of Audubon’s vast distributed network. That network includes hundreds of Audubon chapters, more than 40 Audubon nature centers, thousands of deeply committed advocates and volunteers, and a wide range of partner organizations. He leads Audubon’s Bird-Friendly Communities program, which engages people in practical, joyful solutions to protect birds and special places and to make communities healthier for people too. He is a leader in Audubon’s equity, diversity, and inclusion work, and he oversees Audubon’s public relations and communications team.
Ringer previously served as Audubon’s national communications director, overseeing communications, public relations, and social media, and before that as Audubon’s communications director for the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Flyway. He was Audubon’s front-line PR manager in Louisiana during the 2010 BP oil disaster.
Before joining the Audubon staff, Ringer provided a wide variety of communications and media for NGOs around the world, an experience that took him to more than 25 countries on six continents. He has also worked as a web developer and a biological field technician. Ringer writes about bird taxonomy and systematics and other natural history topics. His love of birds began in childhood, and his connection to Audubon started in high school, when he joined the Greater Ozarks Audubon Society of Springfield, Missouri.
Show Notes:
- Your defining influences, what got you into birds and the natural world?
- Sometimes the experience is as memorable as the bird itself – what’s one of your most heart-stopping birding moments?
- You were on the ground for National Audubon society as the front line PR manager in Louisiana during the 2010 BP oil spill disaster. What was the real story of the event and the aftermath?
- Migratory Bird Treaty Act – we know it’s under serious threat today.
- What does a Chief Network Officer do?
- What do you hear from birders and Audubon chapter leaders as you go around the country – what are their concerns, ideas.
- How are you working to diversify the birding & conservation movement in terms of race/ethnicity and age?
- The deliberate censorship of climate science by the Federal Government?
- Any good news stories to share on the birds or the environment?
- What do you tell a young person who is interested in the environment about the future?
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