The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Today, The Nature Conservancy announced the addition of one new member and the appointment of two new co-chairs to its global Board of Directors.

Frances Ulmer will join the global Board of Directors, on October 13, 2011, after having previously served as a Board member for the Nature Conservancy in Alaska.

Ulmer has spent 30 years in public service, including an appointment by President Barack Obama in June 2010 to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. More recently, Ulmer retired as Chancellor of University of Alaska Anchorage and was appointed Chair of the US Arctic Research Commission by President Obama in April.

“Fran is a nationally recognized leader with a long career in elective office, including years of experience in shaping environmental policy at the local, state and national level,” noted Mark Tercek, President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “As we work to grow support for conservation priorities, Fran will bring valuable perspective from her time spent working cooperatively to protect Alaska’s precious natural areas and to advance broader environmental issues across the country.”

Ulmer studied political science and economics at the University of Wisconsin before going on to receive her J.D. from the university’s law school. She also has been a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

As Ulmer joins the global Board of Directors, Roger Milliken and John Sall announce their retirement from the panel after 11 and 9 years of service, respectively. Milliken is president of the Baskahegan Company, which owns and manages 100,000 acres of forestland in eastern Maine; Sall is Executive Vice President, Director and Co-Founder of SAS Institute in North Carolina.

“Current Board Chairman Roger Milliken has steered the Conservancy through the most successful conservation fundraising campaign ever completed, and he oversaw some of the largest conservation projects in the history of this organization,” said Tercek. “John Sall has been our champion for globalization. Without him, the Conservancy wouldn’t have nearly the international reach that we have today. We honor both men for their unwavering commitment to conservation and for inspiring us, challenging us, and for helping to make us a stronger, more ambitious organization today.”

This month, current Board members Teresa Beck and Steve Denning will assume the roles of co-chairs of the Board of Directors.

Beck served as President of American Stores Co. and also as chief financial officer until 1999. She was included in Fortune Magazine's first-ever list of the 50 most powerful women in American business. She was first elected to the Conservancy’s Board of Directors in 2006, and she is a trustee of The Nature Conservancy in Utah.

Steven A. Denning is the Chairman of General Atlantic. He was previously elected to the Board of Directors in 2007 and of the Governance, Nominating and Human Resources Committee. Denning is a former trustee of the Conservancy’s programs in New York and Wyoming.