Potrero Group was honored to lead the retained executive search for Mississippi Park Connection’s second Executive Director. Ellen is an enthusiastic and experienced conservation leader. Most recently, she served as the executive director of the Friends of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve near Jacksonville, Florida, where she led the effort to grow their community engagement, volunteer and youth programs, and partnerships.
Ellen brings strong fundraising, financial management, and operational skills to the position. Her strengths lie in public lands partnership, executive leadership, communication, and storytelling. She is an experienced strategic planner with the breadth of skills to develop and support multi-faceted public/private partnerships. Prior to her work in public lands partnerships, Ellen served as President of the Board of the US Green Building Council North Florida Chapter. She is also a LEED-accredited professional with the U.S. Green Building Council. As Mississippi Park Connection works with the National Park Service and the City of Saint Paul to develop a new Mississippi River Learning Center and National Park Service Headquarters, her combination of experiences with green building development and design, fundraising, and community organizing will serve the National Park Service and its community partners in growing its presence and impact.
