After serving two decades at Nature Forward, Executive Director Lisa Alexander announced she is stepping down in January of 2025.
She called her years at Nature Forward, which previously was called Audubon Naturalist Society, “the most rewarding job of my career. I appreciate all the ways that our community makes the D.C. metro region a better place for people and wildlife.”
The organization in Chevy Chase is dedicated to helping residents understand and protect the natural environment.
Nature Forward Board President Nancy Voit said Alexander “sparked rebirth at Nature Forward – by listening learning and imagining what could be and then inviting us to blaze new trails with her.”
Voit continued, “Lisa invited all of us to join the movement to save nature right here where we live.”
Alexander was named executive director in 2013 after serving as deputy director and director of environmental education. She launched its GreenKids program, delivering environmental education to public school students across the region.
Under Alexander, Nature Forward expanded its restoration outreach, conservation advocacy and environmental education, according to its news release. She enabled restoration of habitats at Woodend Nature Sanctuary and helped make its trails wheelchair accessible.
“Not even Roger’s Thesaurus has enough outstanding descriptors for Lisa Alexander’s executive director skills,” noted immediate past Board President Diane Wood. “All of us living in the greater D.C. region can thank Lisa every day for the many treasured moments we each are able to spend enjoying our natural world,” she said.
Koya Partners/Diversified Search Group has been retrained to search for the next executive director.
“I look forward to passing the torch to a new leader knowing that they will have unwavering support from the generous, visionary Nature Forward community,” Alexander said.
