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NEW YORK— The ���Ĵ�ý today announced the appointment of Richard H. Lawrence, Jr., founder of Overlook Investment Group, to its board of directors.

“Richard’s business acumen and passion around climate change will make him an exceptional board leader,” said ���Ĵ�ý President and CEO ().  “He has spent much of his career building and leading carbon reduction projects, along with his wife, Dee, across the world. He understands that our local bipartisan engagement actions makes ���Ĵ�ý the most effective conservation network in the U.S. His insight and drive will help advance ���Ĵ�ý’s implementation of conservation priorities on a large scale.”

Richard Lawrence serves as chairman and executive director of Overlook Investment Group, a firm that invests in public-listed equities across Asia.  A native New Yorker, Lawrence graduated from South Kent School in 1974 and Brown University in 1978 with a degree in Economics. In 1986 he became one of the first Chartered Financial Analysts in Asia, and in 1991 established Overlook. Richard currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Dee. They have two adult children who also live and work in the Bay Area.

Lawrence stated, “I’m honored to join the board of directors of the ���Ĵ�ý.  Dr. Thomas Lovejoy’s quote, ‘If you take care of the birds, you take care of most of the big problems in the world,’ resonates with me and I look forward to supporting ���Ĵ�ý in its science-based efforts to protect bird species.  I feel there is an urgent responsibility on the part of Americans to take action on global warming, and ���Ĵ�ý’s Climate Initiative is a powerful program designed to mobilize bipartisan action at the state and local levels.”

Lawrence is a founding director of two environmental non-profit organizations. Proyecto Mirador Foundation, established in 2004, has built over 145,000 fuel-efficient stoves in rural communities across Honduras. A Gold Standard certified carbon project developer, Mirador has reduced carbon emissions by over a million tonnes since inception. Cool Effect, established in 2015, is a nonprofit crowdfunding platform with over 130,000 members that allows individuals to support the world’s highest quality carbon reduction projects.

About ���Ĵ�ý

With total revenues in 2016 of $102.6 million (25% increase since 2010), ���Ĵ�ý is one of the nation’s largest conservation organizations, comprising 23 state offices, 41 nature centers and 23 wildlife sanctuaries and representing 463 local chapters. ���Ĵ�ý – which focuses on the protection of birds and the places they need throughout the Americas – has been transformed in recent years, according to , through cutting edge technologies, a sharpened conservation focus and operational overhaul that has increased revenue and decreased overhead expenses.

As written in , and , that strategic and operational transformation has attracted new funders and broadened the organization’s reach to younger and more diverse audiences as ���Ĵ�ý expands its international work and achieves conservation victories. For the first time in nearly two decades, ���Ĵ�ý has also earned Charity Navigator's  of four stars, twice in a row.

���Ĵ�ý’s main  has more than 1,111,000 followers and reaches approximately 4.1 million people each week as the organization’s supporters share and interact with ���Ĵ�ý’s posts. And the organization’s 2014 , which earned more than two billion media impressions, recently won a  from public relations industry leaders.

To learn more about ���Ĵ�ý and its new strategic direction, please visit .

The ���Ĵ�ý protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. ���Ĵ�ý's state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, ���Ĵ�ý's vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. ���Ĵ�ý is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more and how to help at  and follow us on and at @audubonsociety.

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Contact: media@audubon.org, 212-979-3100