FALMOUTH — Maine Audubon has announced Ole Amundsen III as its new executive director.

Amundsen has more than 25 years of experience in conservation leadership, with a focus on landscape scale conservation, environmental education and finance. He most recently served as program manager for the national land trust, the Conservation Fund. Amundsen’s entrepreneurial approach to conservation uses market forces to achieve lasting benefits for the environment, balancing conservation and commercial interests.

During his tenure at the Conservation Fund, Amundsen helped communities and nonprofits reach their full potential through strategic planning and investment in trails, farmers’ markets and parks. He has sourced more than $20 million in loans to a wide range of conservation groups across the country.

One example in New England is a $3 million loan to build Boston Public Market, the first completely locally sourced farmers’ market in a major metropolitan area.

Amundsen also has a breadth of experience in strategic planning and collaboration. One of his signature achievements was bringing together the land trusts in the Gulf Coast to create a vision for land conservation and restoration for the BP settlement funds after the 2010 oil spill. It was one of the first times that national conservation organizations and local and regional land trusts worked together to create common goals for the conservation of the Gulf Coast.

An active outdoorsman, Amundsen enjoys hiking and alpine and cross country skiing with his family. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in government from Colby College and a master of science degree in city planning with a concentration in environmental policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

FMI: www.maineaudubon.org.

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