David J. O’Neill
President and CEO, Mass Audubon
David O’Neill has dedicated his professional career working to conserve the natural world at the international, national, regional, and state levels. Considered a national conservation leader, today David is fortunate to serve as the 12th President and CEO of Mass Audubon, a 128-year-old organization committed to tackling the most pressing challenges of our time: the loss of biodiversity, inequitable access to nature, and climate change. During his tenure, David led the development of its strategic plan—the Action Agenda—elevated its conservation impact and raised the annual budget from $28M to $48M.
Before joining Mass Audubon during the pandemic in 2020, he served as the Chief Conservation Officer and Senior Advisor to the CEO of National Audubon Society (NAS). While there, his powerful vision, collaborative nature, hopeful outlook, and fundraising ability elevated the impact of the organization across the Western Hemisphere. He led the development of NAS’s conservation and policy strategies; helped to unify the organization around a single conservation vision; oversaw the organization’s science agenda; and launched innovative programs and policies to help fight the impacts of climate change.
Roles prior to his work at National Audubon include Vice President for Conservation at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the largest funder of environmental and conservation efforts in the United States. He also served as a Vice President at Cherokee Investment Partners, a private equity firm dedicated to sustainable investing, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and Director of Land Use Policy and Outreach for the Urban Land Institute.
David, who grew up in Maryland on a family farm, is the recipient of the Andrew White Medal from Loyola University for his leadership on Chesapeake Bay recovery efforts. He has written authoritatively and spoken often about the relationship between land use and environmental health and spoke on these issues nationally and internationally. He now lives in Newburyport where he enjoys birding at the Parker River Wildlife Sanctuary. David is the proud father of two children, Reilly and Finnegan.