Who We Are

 
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David Jeffrey Ringer

David Jeffrey Ringer is a gifted communications strategist, writer, and naturalist, and he is an expert on birds and birdwatching. He is deeply interested in helping people find common ground to advance the causes they care most about.

Before co-founding Green Jay Strategies, David was chief network and communications officer at National Audubon Society, where he led a team of 60 people and an extensive portfolio of work including public relations and communications, digital media, Audubon’s nationwide network of affiliated chapters, and Audubon’s community conservation program, Bird-Friendly Communities. David launched Audubon on Campus—an outreach program on college and university campuses—and raised funds to expand the program’s reach to more than 140 campuses in two years, including a focus on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other federally designated minority-serving institutions. He led the 2017 and 2019 Audubon Conventions and a variety of training, funding, and networking initiatives designed to strengthen and engage Audubon’s chapter network. He helped build and launch Audubon’s Plants for Birds native plants advocacy program. He was a frequent spokesman in the media on behalf of Audubon’s conservation priorities and birds, and he co-created and co-hosted “I Saw a Bird.” He also played lead roles in recruiting eight directors to the Audubon board and in raising millions of dollars to support the organization’s mission.

Prior to David's executive role at Audubon, he served as the organization’s national communications director and co-chaired Audubon’s 2015 strategic plan. He and his team earned 2 billion media impressions for the launch of Audubon’s birds and climate change study in 2014. He led a 19-point turnaround in Audubon’s net brand momentum score as measured by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, building a team whose earned media placements ran the gamut from high-profile national news and political media, to lifestyle magazines and Bill Cunningham’s Evening Hours, to The Colbert Report and The Onion. He spent his first two and a half years with Audubon on the Gulf Coast. There, he was Audubon’s front-line PR manager in Louisiana during the 2010 BP oil disaster and led communications for the NGO coalition that advocated for passage of the federal RESTORE Act in 2012.

David has also worked as a biological field technician and a web developer, and he worked in communications, media production, and community relations for a network of international NGOs, an experience which took him to more than 25 countries on six continents, from Papua New Guinea to Paraguay.

David has a strong commitment to volunteer service and a love of the performing arts, and he currently chairs the board of The Bushwick Starr, an Obie Award-winning theater in Brooklyn, New York. He also serves on the board of the Neotropical Grassland Conservancy, an organization that helps launch careers in conservation by providing grants and equipment to students and scientists working in grassland habitats in Central and South America.

Links:

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Elizabeth Sorrell

Elizabeth Sorrell is a highly creative and accomplished expert in strategic communications and digital marketing. She partners with nonprofit organizations, companies, and public figures to find and engage the audiences they need to advance their brands, missions, and goals.

Elizabeth spent 11 years at the National Audubon Society, where she was a lead strategic voice in defining Audubon’s brand, content, and constituent experience across the digital media ecosystem. Her success helped position the century-old society as a digital engagement thought leader nationally. Starting almost from scratch, Elizabeth built a social media team that engaged tens of millions of people each month across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. She grew Audubon’s membership more than 3x, while diversifying the membership’s age, race, and political ideology. She also oversaw digital advocacy efforts and was a frequent trainer in social media and communications topics for Audubon staff and volunteers.

Elizabeth was the creator and executive producer of Audubon’s “I Saw a Bird,” a monthly digital variety show launched in April 2020 as the nation locked down against COVID-19 and averaged 30,000 viewers per episode. “I Saw a Bird” convened special guests ranging from SNL star Melissa Villaseñor to conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall to scientist and astronaut Dr. Kathryn Sullivan to journalists Brentin Mock and Allison Keyes to discuss the joy of birds, science, conservation, and many dimensions of the human experience.

Prior to joining Audubon, Elizabeth spent five years at The Karpel Group, a boutique PR and marketing firm specializing in outreach to LGBTQ+ audiences and grassroots campaigns, where her portfolio included MTV, Paramount, Henson, among other clients. Always leading with authentic messaging and meaningful engagement, she delivered well-rounded press and marketing campaigns that earned attention for her clients through placements in top-tier outlets like The New York Times and USA Today, heartfelt interviews with niche publications, social media influencer campaigns, and more.

Elizabeth has been invited to speak as a subject matter expert on topics ranging from social media to visual storytelling to digital acquisition at SXSW, Yale University, the Nonprofit Technology Conference, the Social Shake-Up, and beyond.

Elizabeth deeply believes in people power and has volunteered with food banks, animal shelters, and once curated a documentary film series in Brooklyn that raised funds for a wide range of charitable causes including clean water, arts education, and fighting mountaintop removal. She was the founding chairperson for the EcoHealth Alliance Young Professionals Council, where she piloted several successful audience engagement programs. She is currently chairing the comprehensive fundraising campaign for The Bushwick Starr, an Obie Award-winning nonprofit theater dedicated to new works and community service. She is an active supporter of Vote Save America, Catskill Mountainkeeper, and the Ali Forney Center.

Links:

Lisa Hardaway, Managing Partner

Lisa Hardaway

Lisa Hardaway is an advocate with a track-record of developing and implementing highly effective communications strategies that advance social change. She has particular experience with high-stakes and high-pressure scenarios. She is a gifted strategist, problem-solver, and ghost-writer whose strong internal compass drives her to create clear and compelling, action-oriented communications plans. 

For nearly 25 years, Lisa has led communications and managed teams of communicators at national and local nonprofit advocacy organizations. The majority of her career was spent at Lambda Legal working in partnership with cutting-edge constitutional litigators advocating for LGBTQ people and people living with HIV who experienced life-altering harm and discrimination. For 15 years, Lisa was instrumental in changing the legal landscape by helping Lambda Legal’s courageous clients tell their stories in compelling and empowering ways to help their local communities understand why change was necessary.

Some of the most notable cases Lisa worked on include: 

  • the landmark 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges winning the freedom to marry for same-sex couples nationwide;

  • the landmark 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas which struck down all remaining “sodomy laws” across the country that were used to justify wholesale discrimination against people in same-sex relationships;

  • the 2009  Iowa marriage equality court victory Varnum v. Brien which made Iowa the third state where same-sex couples could marry and the first state where they could do so in the middle of the country;

  • a landmark victory for transgender rights in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals which found that the Georgia General Assembly discriminated against their employee, Vandy Beth Glenn, who was fired from her job as a legislative editor after she told her supervisor she was transitioning;

  • the 2002 New Jersey marriage equality lawsuit, Lewis v. Harris, which was the second marriage equality lawsuit filed in the “modern” marriage equality movement;

  • a landmark case defending a man with HIV who was sentenced to 25 years in prison after a one-time sexual encounter. The Iowa Supreme Court reversed the conviction recognizing that HIV-positive individuals who have a reduced viral load as a result of effective treatment pose little risk of transmitting HIV.

In her most recent role as vice president of communications at the National Audubon Society, Lisa led the public launch of Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink and broke the news with CNN, The New York Times, and National Geographic. Lisa worked with Audubon’s team to create the award winning Birds and Climate Visualizer, a tool to drive personal engagement with climate change, which elevated media interest in the report. As part of the launch, Lisa and her team provided message training for 380 staff and volunteers (under embargo) and held 17 local press events announcing the news cumulatively reaching 3.1 billion media impressions over a three month period.

Lisa believes that healthy, mutually-beneficial working relationships make advocacy work most successful and helps advocates stay resilient as they carry the heavy emotional labor of making change. She has built communications programs and teams from scratch with high rates of retention and at Audubon established a community of practice with 50+ communicators across the U.S. and the western hemisphere.

Lisa is an advocate for and fan of all women’s sports and takes her rescue dog, Buster, to  K-9 Nosework classes.

 Photos by Mike Fernandez (David Jeffrey Ringer, Elizabeth Sorrell) and Leslie Von Pless (Lisa Hardaway)