COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The Otsego County Conservation Association (OCCA) announced the hiring of Dr. Leslie Orzetti as its new executive director.
Orzetti brings experience in natural-resource conservation, including having worked in the Chesapeake Bay watershed for more than 20 years.
She comes to OCCA after 10 years in education, where she served as an assistant professor of biology at Northern Virginia Community College and as an adjunct professor at George Mason University, the association said. Orzetti taught graduate and undergraduate courses in biology, applied ecology, and watershed management, and developed an undergraduate-level environmental-law course.
Before that, Orzetti served as a fish and wildlife biologist and the senior scientist at Ecosystem Solutions, Inc., a small nonprofit in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that focused on restoration, conservation, and education.
“We’re thrilled to have Leslie joining us. Her background and experience will be a great asset to OCCA as we continue moving forward with our mission of protecting Otsego County’s natural environment,” Jeff O’Handley, OCCA program director, said in a news release.
Orzetti succeeds Darla Youngs, who had been OCCA executive director for 4 1/2 years. Youngs left this spring to become operations and communications director for the Southern Tier East Regional Planning Development Board’s nonprofit arm — Tier Information and Enterprise Resources.
Founded in 1968, the Otsego County Conservation Association says it is a private, nonprofit membership group “dedicated to promoting the appreciation and sustainable use of Otsego County’s natural resources through education, advocacy, resource management, research, and planning.”
The association reported total revenue of more than $306,000 in 2015, up from over $285,000 in 2014, according to its annual financial statement filed with the IRS and New York State.
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