World Salmon Council
News Release
April 1, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
World Salmon Council Selects Executive Director
Matthew Burke, Portland environmental non-profit leader, succeeds founding director
Portland, Ore.-based environmental non-profit World Salmon Council has hired Matthew Burke as its executive director. He will guide the organization in its mission to educate, engage and empower local communities in wild salmon sustainability.
Burke joins WSC after a 15-year career at River Network, most recently as director of corporate and community engagement. He succeeds Lizanne Saunders, who helped found the World Salmon Council in 2012 and created its popular Salmon Watch environmental education program.
Burke brings extensive experience in fundraising, project management, event planning and marketing communications to his position.
“Matt is the right leader at the right time to take the helm of our organization,” said Michael Knapp, World Salmon Council board president. “He has exactly what we need to take us to a new level of engagement with our community and help us inspire our children to be lifelong stewards of the natural world.”
“I’m very excited to bring my skills and passion to World Salmon Council to help strengthen and grow the Salmon Watch program throughout Oregon and beyond,” Burke said. “By providing science education curriculum to middle and high school teachers, having hundreds of dedicated volunteer instructors offer hands-on field activities, and through the support of community service projects, Salmon Watch enables thousands of kids leach year to learn about the economic and environmental importance of wild salmon conservation.”
Burke and his wife, Jill, live in Portland with their two daughters.
About the World Salmon Council: The World Salmon Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the revitalization of the Salmon Watch program in Oregon and expanding it elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Its mission is to educate, engage and empower local communities in wild salmon sustainability.
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