Ann Swanson (WFB ’79) steps down as a longtime, founding member of the Rubenstein School Board of Advisors in October 2015. She leaves a tremendous legacy of environmental expertise, advocacy, leadership, and institutional knowledge of the Rubenstein School. With the establishment of the Board in 1993 by then Dean Lawrence Forcier, Ann was a founding member, served as Chair for nearly eleven years, and remained a member of the executive committee. She shared her experiences as an environmental leader and her perspectives on real world environmental issues to help guide the School for more than two decades.
“The commitment of the Rubenstein School’s Board of Advisors to the School and the University is unwavering and it has been an honor and a privilege to serve among them all these years,” shares Ann. “The University is now well positioned to become the Environmental University, integrating thoughtful consideration of the environment throughout its multiple disciplines.”
As Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission since 1988, Ann provides leadership to the commission, a legislative assembly representing Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. For the past three decades, she has worked tirelessly with local, state, and federal officials to enact environmental legislation to protect the Bay. She has received high praise for her innovative and astute efforts to restore the 64,000 square mile bay and its tributaries, the largest and most productive estuary in the world – but one historically troubled by pollution and overharvesting.
Ann is a persuasive orator, writer, and negotiator. A field ecologist with a Master’s of Environmental Studies from Yale, she uses her background in science to catalyze action through policy. Overseeing one of the most complex restoration projects in U.S. history, Ann has been guided by the best available science and a deep understanding of the interdependent communities of people and wildlife that live in and around the Chesapeake Bay.
She assisted in creation of the interstate blue crab advisory committee and helped draft and champion the important Chesapeake Bay Agreements that laid out the framework for watershed-wide ecosystem management. She was central in the formation of the Chesapeake Bay Funder’s Network. Ann also worked in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency to help establish the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load agreement, a historic and comprehensive “pollution diet” to compel action to restore clean water to the Chesapeake Bay region.
Through her work, Ann has helped usher in fundamental improvements in the way water quality and habitat protection is addressed throughout North America and beyond.
Ann served as Vermont’s assistant state naturalist for two years after graduating from UVM and has continued to have a strong connection with the state and University of Vermont. She has shared her experiences, advice, and best practices of the Chesapeake Bay with Vermont and regional officials and leaders working to protect Lake Champlain.
Ann has spoken at the Rubenstein School’s graduation ceremony twice — the only speaker to have done so — served as guest lecturer in classes, and provided career mentoring sessions to students.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have had Ann on our Board of Advisors for more than twenty years and appreciate not only her contributions to our board, but also her generosity to work with and mentor students," acknowledges Rubenstein School Dean Nancy Mathews. "As the former chair of the Board, Ann was instrumental in helping prior deans lead change. Her leadership and passion helped pave the way for the greening of Aiken! This is a true legacy."
Ann received an honorary degree (Doctor of Laws) from the University of Vermont in 2012 for her accomplishments as a field ecologist and for her contributions to the Chesapeake Bay region, Lake Champlain, UVM, and the Rubenstein School. She was awarded Admiral of the Chesapeake by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley in January 2015. She has received many other awards and accolades including the YWCA Twin Award in 2011; commendations from the Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania legislatures in 2008; a UVM Alumni Achievement Award in 2007; an award from the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club in 2004; and Conservationist of the Year from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in 2001.
She and her husband Eric Swanson (WFB ’79), who is Chief Operating Officer of ForestTrends in Washington, D.C., are both Rubenstein School alumni. They are proud that their son Taylor Swanson (WFB ’12), also an alum, has carried on the family commitment to the environment and is now a Senior Educator at the Echo Hill Outdoor School in Warton, Maryland.