Ellie Cohen, President and CEO, Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science

 

Ellie came to PRBO Conservation Science in 1999 with 20 years of management, fundraising and policy expertise.  Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Ellie received her undergraduate degree with honors in Botany (focus on ecology) from Duke University.  Field studies in butterfly ecology brought her to California in 1979. 

She later received her Master in Public Policy degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, where she was honored with the Policy Analysis Exercise Award for highly distinguished performance and the first annual Robert F. Kennedy Public Service Award.  In 2001, she was awarded a fellowship to Stanford University’s Executive Program for Non-profit Leaders at the Graduate School of Business.  From 2002-2005, Ellie was honored to represent the US Shorebird Plan on the U.S. Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Ellie was more recently an invited participant on the Policy Advisory Committee at the Evolutionary Change in Human-altered Environments International Summit (February, 2007, UC Los Angeles) and at The Climate Project trainings ( January, 2007, Nashville). 

Ellie currently serves on the on the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Refuge Bird Team, the management boards of the San Francisco Bay (Immediate Past Chair) and the Central Valley Joint Ventures (USFWS) as well as the Governing Board of NOAA’s Pacific Coast Ocean Observing System. 

Ellie and her family live in San Anselmo, California.