PA Environment Digest Blog: Pennsylvania Environmental Council President Davitt Woodwell To Retire

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Pennsylvania Environmental Council President Davitt Woodwell To Retire

On July 25, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) announced that its current president, Davitt Woodwell, will be retiring at the end of December, following over 30 years with the organization.

“Davitt’s retirement is a bittersweet moment for PEC,” said PEC’s board chair, Carol McCabe, in announcing the transition. “Davitt’s accomplishments over the last nine years, not to mention his full tenure with PEC, have been incredible. Davitt will be leaving PEC in arguably its strongest fiscal, programmatic, and policy position in our entire 53-year history.”

Woodwell has been associated with PEC since 1991, including roles as staff attorney, director of the western PA office, and as a vice president, before becoming president in 2014.

“This is a great time to make a change at the top, and I have been working toward it for a couple of years,” Woodwell said. “PEC is on strong fiscal footing; our strategic plan is in place and being implemented, we have great projects, a marvelous staff and, I would argue, the strongest environmental and conservation policy shop in the Commonwealth.” With respect to the coming months, he said, “My main focus between now and the end of the year is working with the board and staff to ensure a smooth transition.”

During his tenure with PEC, and during a two-year leave of absence from PEC in 2000-2001 to serve as the first executive director of the Riverlife Task Force (now Riverlife), Woodwell has had the opportunity to participate in and advance a wide variety of projects and efforts including former Gov. Tom Ridge’s Greenways Commission; creation of A Vision Plan for Pittsburgh’s Riverfronts; pushing the design of Pennsylvania barriers for the Fort Pitt Bridge; attracting the Bassmaster Classic to Pittsburgh; establishing standards and practices for unconventional shale gas development (through the University of Pittsburgh’s Shale Gas Roundtable and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Natural Gas Advisory Committee, as a board member of the Center for Responsible Shale Development, and as a member of Gov. Tom Wolf’s Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force); development of PEC’s groundbreaking work on deep decarbonization; formation of the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition; creation and implementation of the Laurel Highlands Conservation Landscape; and development of the nationwide Collaboration of Regional Trail Initiatives.

Under Woodwell’s leadership, PEC’s work has touched almost every environmental and conservation issue and spanned the entire geographic reach of the Commonwealth.

Woodwell currently serves on DCNR’s Ecosystem Management Advisory Committee, as a Pennsylvania Commissioner to the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO), as Chair of the Advisory Board to the West Penn/Penelec Sustainable Energy Fund, on the Advisory Board to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and on the board of the independent news organization National Parks Traveler.

Moving forward, the PEC board will work with the executive search firm Nonprofit Talent to undertake the search for the next president of PEC.

Reaction

“I want to congratulate Davitt and the outstanding success he and his team at the Pennsylvania Environmental Council have had during his tenure as President,” said David Hess, former Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. “PEC’s work on key policy issues like brownfields, natural gas development, decarbonization and climate change, trails initiatives and watershed and forest restoration extends from the Capitol in Harrisburg to on-the-ground projects all over the state that made all our lives better.”

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