Conservationist, Scholar, Labor Leader to Serve as Chair-Elect of National Wildlife Federation’s Board of Directors

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Leading conservationist, academic, and labor advocate Frederick Kowal will serve as chair-elect of the National Wildlife Federation following a vote of the organization's 52 state and territorial affiliates at the 88th Annual Meeting in the nation's capital. Kowal, who has served on the National Wildlife Federation's Board of Directors since April 2016, will succeed Board Chair John Robbins at the following annual meeting in 2025.

"We are at a pivotal moment, both the Federation and the world, as we face the immense and intensifying crises facing wildlife, the climate, and communities. I believe our mission and work has never been more necessary than it is now," Kowal said. "I am honored to serve as chair-elect and will use the next year to support Chair Robbins, my new and enduring Board colleagues, affiliates, and the organization's staff as we also work to realize our new strategic plan and help ensure wildlife and people can thrive together for future generations."

Kowal, who grew up in Chicopee, Mass., and currently resides in Warnerville, N.Y., has served as president of United University Professions since May 2013. He also has been a professor of political science and Native American Studies at the State University of New York at Cobleskill for nearly four decades. He also has served as a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers since 2013. There he chairs the AFT's Climate Crisis Task Force.

Kowal started his career in Montana where he worked on the Flathead Indian Reservation. There he witnessed firsthand the Tribe's fight to maintain its sovereignty and to preserves is cultural traditions. Following that experience he returned East and started teaching at SUNY Cobleskill.

The National Wildlife Federation's 52 state and territorial affiliates also voted this week to elevate Allyn Dukes as its next Central Vice Chair and to elect two new regional Board members: Arthur Johnson, CEO of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development in New Orleans, La.; and Bradley D. Johnson, a commercial and agricultural real estate appraiser in Watertown, S.D. The affiliates also re-elected regional Board members John Goss, Dawn Levey, Emily Schrader, and Elizabeth Swisher. The Board also voted earlier this month to add two at-large members: Sara Parker Pauley, outgoing director of the Missouri Department of Conservation; and Patty Schwanlenberg, executive director of the Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council.