Long-Time Activist Richard Wegman Joins Friends of Ballona Wetlands Board
Global Green Chief Operating Officer brings history of social and environmental justice work to local wetlands non-profit
Playa del Rey, CA (February 2, 2010) – Long-time environmental and social justice activist, Richard Wegman, who has worked for a wide variety of organizations and causes, has joined the board of directors of
Friends of Ballona Wetlands (FBW), Los Angeles’ preeminent wetlands education and preservation group.
A Venice resident, Mr. Wegman is currently the Chief Operating Officer for Global Green, the American arm of the environmental organization founded by the former Soviet president Mikhail S. Gorbachev, which is known internationally as Green Cross. Mr. Wegman is responsible for the management of Global Green USA’s finances and administration. Prior to that, he worked as the Chief Operating Officer of TreePeople, the local environmental non-profit that is also helping to restore the greater Los Angeles watershed.
“I’m delighted to welcome Richard to the board,” said Catherine Tyrrell, who was elected Friends board president at the same meeting last week, after serving two years as the organization’s vice president. “We’ve known each other since the early 1990’s, when we both worked on behalf of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project, and I’ve long admired his dedication to watershed issues, and the hard work it takes to create sustainable environmental change.”
“The Friends have been, since Ruth Lansford founded them 32 years ago, one of the most marvelous and tenacious of grassroots groups in the Los Angeles area,” Wegman said, “working to help each of the 1.6 million residents of our 128-mile Ballona watershed become active stewards of our local environment. I am proud that they asked me to serve, and look forward to helping educate ‘upstream’ residents about how important these remaining wetlands are to the entire region, and how their actions can affect the health of the wetlands and the bay.â€
Mr. Wegman has been helping to lead environmental companies since the late 1980s, when he served for 8 years as the CFO of PS Enterprises, a Santa Monica-based environmental public relations and policy firm that worked with numerous cities, agencies, and non-profits.
Prior to Global Green USA, he served as a consultant (both paid and pro bono) to many environmental and social justice organizations in the Los Angeles area including El Rescate, Clinica Oscar A. Romero, Committee to Save Mono Lake, Coalition for Clean Air, Plaza Community Center in East Los Angeles, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Audubon Society.
Mr. Wegman is Chairman of the Board for Amazon Watch, an organization that works to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. He is also co-founder of ActiveMusic Inc, a non-profit that produces benefit concerts to raise money for other non-profit organizations. He holds an MBA in Finance and a BS in Marketing from California State Polytechnic University. In addition he is a certified Yoga teacher and Reiki healer.
Ballona’s 600 acres are a remnant of an estuarine wetlands system that once covered more than 2,000 acres. Friends of Ballona Wetlands was formed in 1978 to protect and defend the wetlands, which are part of the Pacific Flyway, and which provide crucial habitat for hundreds of species of birds and other wildlife.
The Friends of Ballona Wetlands works in partnership with the California Coastal Conservancy, the California Department of Fish & Game, and the Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority, which have authority over the State-owned Ecological Reserve. FBW programs have served the greater Los Angeles area by providing hands-on restoration opportunities to more than 65,000 volunteers since 1994.
The mission of the thirty-two year-old non-profit is to champion the restoration and protection of the wetlands, and to involve and educate the public as advocates and stewards.
For more information, visit http://www.ballonafriends.org.
