Rainforest Action Network Gets New Executive Director, Its First Woman Leader

Rainforest Action Network (RAN), a member of Environmental Paper Network's Steering Committee and one of the nation’s leading environmental action organizations, has named Rebecca Tarbotton as its executive director. As the first woman to head the organization, Tarbotton joins an exclusive club of women leaders in the environmental sector. Among its multifaceted and effective work, RAN has been a leader in movement to protect old-growth forests from being turned in disposable paper products. They are currently aggressively challenging pulp and paper companies in Indonesia that are converting carbon-rich peatlands and rainforests to plantations and driving species such as the Sumatran tiger and the orangutan to extinction.

“From West Virginia communities resisting mountaintop removal mining to Indigenous groups in Sumatra trying to keep their rainforests standing, people around the globe are seeing the impacts of unchecked corporate power on their environment,” said Tarbotton. “For the past 25 years, RAN has convinced some of America’s largest corporations to value people not just profits. I’m honored to continue this legacy of fearless action as we work to protect rainforests, keep fossil fuels in the ground, and stop climate change.”.

For more, including a video message from RAN's new Executive Director, visit http://ran.org/ed