A Letter from the President, Alex Matthiessen

Dear Riverkeeper Friends,

Later this year, after 10 wonderful years at the helm of Riverkeeper, I will be stepping down as Hudson Riverkeeper and president.

To all of our members and donors, and my many colleagues in the New York environmental community, who together made possible Riverkeeper’s extraordinary growth and record of achievement, THANK YOU for your unfailing friendship and generous support. And thank you for entrusting me with the honor of leading one of the most effective environmental groups on the planet.

Over the next few months, I will assist the Board with the search for my successor and the subsequent transition. After stepping down, I will, at the Board’s request, continue to serve Riverkeeper in an advisory capacity to help the organization preserve and expand on its success in protecting the Hudson River, its watershed and the drinking water of nine million New Yorkers. Bobby Kennedy has asked me to remain on the Waterkeeper Alliance Board of Directors where I look forward to continuing to help him and the Alliance leadership grow the global movement.

I will leave Riverkeeper with the profound satisfaction of knowing my team accomplished a great deal on behalf of the people of the “greater” Hudson Valley who share a fundamental and inalienable right to a clean river and safe drinking water. While Riverkeeper has had to adjust to the “new” economy like everyone else, I am proud to say we have done so without losing ground in advancing the cause of clean water.

I also will leave with the confidence of knowing that Riverkeeper has a highly talented staff and board who provide a strong foundation on which my successor will continue the work of building an organization for the ages. Our members and the public can be confident that Riverkeeper will steadfastly and vigorously continue our work to eliminate water pollution once and for all.

I’m grateful to the Riverkeeper board – and to all of you — for your unstinting support, and look forward to my continued association with this great organization. As always, I hope to hear from you in the coming months with your ideas about the work we’re doing and the work still to be done.

As my old friend Randy Hayes likes to say, “see you on the barricades!”

Alex

PS. Riverkeeper’s Board of Directors has commenced the search for a new executive director. Interested parties are encouraged to watch the riverkeeper.org website for further announcements.