Sleepy Hollow Resident Named Hudson Riverkeeper

OSSINING, NY — Riverkeeper’s Board of Directors named Tracy Brown, a seasoned leader dedicated to protecting and restoring regional water resources, as the non-profit's next President and Hudson Riverkeeper.

Brown, who assumes both roles Nov. 1, will be the first woman to lead the environmental advocacy organization in its half-century mission to restore the Hudson and its tributaries and to safeguard drinking water for millions of New Yorkers.

She said she was excited to return to the environmental non-profit, where she worked for seven years. Among other achievements, she wrote Riverkeeper's revealing study of sewage discharges in the Hudson. SEE: Riverkeeper: Sewage Contamination Found Everywhere Along Hudson River, and was a leader of the campaign that resulted in the enactment of New York’s Sewage Pollution Right to Know Law in 2013.

"The formidable skills and passion of the Riverkeeper team, and the communities they partner with, give me hope for our future,” Brown said in an announcement about her appointment. “I have deep roots in the Hudson Valley, where I raised my children on and in the river, and I’m very concerned about the toll our changing climate is having on our ecosystems and quality of life. In my new role, I plan to lean into this moment of more widespread climate crisis awareness to mobilize the energy of the wider Riverkeeper community, to join our fight for clean renewable energy and sustainable, nature-based infrastructure."

Brown will be leaving Save the Sound, an environmental advocacy group dedicated to protecting the land, air and water of Long Island Sound. She established Save the Sound’s New York office and currently serves as Regional Director of Water Protection. In this role, Brown integrated water quality monitoring, public engagement, lobbying, pollution enforcement, environmental justice, and ecological restoration projects into a holistic program for preserving and restoring Long Island Sound’s coastal ecology.

A resident of Sleepy Hollow, Brown is a co-founder of the Peabody Preserve Outdoor Classroom, a nature preserve for hands-on outdoor education for the students of the Tarrytown Public Schools. She is also co-chair of the Water Committee on the Westchester County Climate Crisis Task Force, and a volunteer water-quality monitor for Riverkeeper since 2014.

In assuming the roles of President and Hudson Riverkeeper, Brown will succeed Paul Gallay, who guided Riverkeeper for 11 years before stepping down on June 30 at the close of Riverkeeper’s fiscal year.

“Our board and staff are thrilled to welcome Tracy back to Riverkeeper,” said Ernest Tollerson, the organization's board chair. “Her experience across so many domains – from advocacy campaigns to water-quality monitoring to strategic communications to fundraising – means that she is perfectly positioned to guide us in the 21st century. We could not have asked for a more passionate, dedicated, and skilled advocate for the Hudson, its tributaries, ecosystems and communities. Tracy will be the first woman to lead Riverkeeper. Her tenure marks an exciting milestone for our environmental NGO and the watershed.”