Board Member Interview: Sean Saville 

Welcome, Sean Saville, to the NVCT Board of Directors! Sean has a robust background in policy and environmental advocacy, leading campaigns for the National Audubon Society and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Sean currently runs his own consulting group that specializes in strategic communications and government relations in the environmental field. We had the opportunity to learn more about his work and how his policy skills will help elevate NVCT’s work and conservation expertise. 

1. Where does your passion for conservation originate from?

“I fell into conservation early. I've always been a nature kid. Growing up, my family would camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains and other places in Virginia.”

2. You have a background in advocacy and campaign management. How did you identify that as your talent in the environmental space?

“Part of it is being from the DC area, you grow up steeped in politics. I had been exposed to grassroots advocacy and activism at an early age. I was involved in several marches on Washington and volunteered at one of the first Earth Day celebrations here. I think it was the 20th anniversary of the first Earth Day celebration, and there were several hundred thousand people gathered at the National Mall. I was just always interested in things that were engaging, exciting, and environmentally oriented. I went to college for environmental conservation, chose a policy emphasis as part of my major, and never looked back.”

3. Many NVCT board members, donors, and advocates work for environmental consulting groups. What inspired you to start yours, and how did the idea of a consulting group focused on strategic communications and government relations come about? 

“After 20-plus years in government affairs and having built several high-level relationships with members of Congress and other partners in conservation, it felt like the next logical step and application of that knowledge, network, and background.  Utilizing those relationships and networks to advise other conservation groups and help others be successful in the work that they're doing.”

4. Can you describe the work Conservation Solutions Group accomplishes? 

“We typically work with smaller nonprofits doing government affairs work that don't have that capacity on staff.”

Conservation Solutions group leverages Sean’s knowledge and connections to help small organizations accomplishing local-level conservation and environmental efforts reach larger audiences, allowing their work to reach a greater scope! 

5. What is your connection to Northern Virginia? 

“I’m a 15^th-generation Virginian! Which runs deep, as you know, I’m supposedly related to 4 American presidents.”

Sean also mentioned a few other iconic Virginians in history that his lineage can be traced back to, like Thomas Jefferson, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, and even Pocahontas! 

6. Do you have a favorite park or natural area to visit? 

   

“I have always been drawn to Great Falls; it’s a beautiful area, and I love taking turns between the Maryland and Virginia sides. I also spent a lot of time just right here near my house in the Fort Hunt National Park, which is pretty cool. And, you know, I lived in DC for 15+ years as well and always loved being in Rock Creek Park. I think it's a super cool, unique urban setting where you can escape from the urban landscape and get into Rock Creek Park, and you feel like you're out in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere.”

7. How did you find out about the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust? Why did you decide to get involved at the board level? 

“My first jobs right out of school were in wilderness advocacy and grassroots organizing. I had a pretty long stint in public lands advocacy, but it was all at the federal and regional levels, doing federal wilderness designations and legislation. And so what drew me to NVCT was the more local angle. Taking that policy background and experience and applying it to a more local avenue for that conservation work being done right here in my backyard.”

Sean was never a complete stranger to our organization, and, in fact, Sean and our executive director, Alan Rowsome, have known each other for about 20 years!

“We both came up in the wilderness movement in that conservation community in D.C. It's a very small world. And we were both on the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement, a coalition of partner organizations that lobbied for additional funding for National Wildlife Refuges. Alan represented the Wilderness Society; I represented the National Audubon Society and, later, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in that coalition group. We traveled around the country, visiting refuges and learning more about the great work they do, so we could come back to D.C. and ask for more funding for the refuges. That's how I met Alan, and we've been friends, colleagues, and coworkers ever since! Alan's done a really great job as executive director, bringing his policy expertise and network to bear in terms of local land conservation and being able to speak to the importance of involving the Virginia state delegation and the county leadership in these important land use decisions.”

8. We have several committees within our board at NVCT; which are you most interested in joining and why?

“Policy committee. I think it will be incredibly important to increase the capacity of NVCT in terms of visibility in the various communities that you work in, in terms of being able to influence some of the important land use decisions that impact your work, and also being able to help protect those investments that you're making in conservation of land, water, and wildlife habitat. We’ll be able to involve constituencies and local elected officials in those important decisions and, overall, really increase the capacity of NVCT's conservation mission.”

9. What aspect of NVCT’s work interests you most? 

   

   

   

   

   

   

“NVCT’s partnerships that accomplish conservation. Partnerships are key, whether with landowners or with other conservation entities.  And I think it's incredibly important, given especially Northern Virginia's changing and already very diverse demographics, that NVCT can be a forum and a convener of many of those diverse voices in these important decisions, and help be a partner to those voices in conservation. There’s so much work to be done. I think it's going to be cool to be a part of that work being done more locally. I've always been primarily involved in national federal initiatives that are very rewarding in terms of the work and the impact they have, but I'm excited to do something a little more locally, especially for my kids. I've got two little boys and, you know, thinking about their future, this is a way to give back and sort of protect a legacy for them as well.”

10. NVCT is looking to expand our policy efforts. What are your hopes for our expansion in this area?

“I think being able to raise the profile of the organization with elected officials and being able to reach out to more folks in public office and help our visibility be elevated so that we are the ones being reached out to as advisors on important decisions. You want folks to be saying, " Hey, we're working on these conservation easements, or we're working on these land use deals. Let's call NVCT and see what they think.” The creation of some of those ordinances and actually getting champions in the House and the Senate, as well as county supervisors, to champion them. I think those are some of the potential applications of additional policy capacity that we'd like to see.” 

Sean is an exceptional leader in advocacy, and we anticipate he will be a key player in elevating NVCT’s work across Northern Virginia and helping connect us with other changemakers in our region!