By Rich Shank, Chair GIAC Stewardship Board I had just stepped off the plane in Columbus after a month in Australia and New Zealand and noticed I had an urgent email from Christie Vargo, Executive Director of the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. It was January 1, 2015, the date on which I assumed Chairmanship of the Center Stewardship Board. The news she had to share was a realignment due to deficits, meaning cuts in budget, programs, operations and staff. This was followed by a tense January board meeting and a resolve by the staff and the board to put the center on course. Board members stepped up in four significant ways – financial analysis and reporting, fundraising, education, and partnership development. Jamie Taylor took the lead with a board finance committee to work with the staff to better understand and interpret to the board revenue streams and expenses. Lori Overmyer graciously volunteered to oversee fundraising and set to work with a dedicated group. The education group focused on Conservation Classroom, a signature program of the Center but one in which involvement had dropped dramatically. Maury Walsh, Betsy Sidorenko and Barb Revard addressed challenges in recruiting Columbus City Schools’ participation. Tim Moloney, Director of Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks, led efforts to bolster emerging and unrealized partnership opportunities. Over the next eight months and a lot of work and meetings, the staff and the board made great progress. The Center is on budget as determined during the realignment process; revenue has increased (both contributed and earned); and partnerships are successfully increasing both impact and efficiencies. Conservation Classroom is over-capacity at 27 classrooms for the 2015-16 school year. Triple that number are interested participating in 2016-17, given a corresponding increase in educators. Metro Parks assumed a greater role in exterior maintenance, opened the Greenways Hub in the former Nature Store, and provided staff and security for extended evening hours of operation during warm weather months. The Columbus Department of Public Utilities will provide interactive exhibits to tell the story of the stormwater management features of the Center as well as grants to deliver STEM curriculum related to water quality once the exhibits are in place later this year. Columbus Audubon financially supported upgrading the sound and projection systems in the multi-purpose room, to benefit our joint membership meetings as well as to maintain the attractiveness of the Center as an event rental venue, which provides a quarter of the Center’s revenue. As if enough hasn’t happened this year, Christie Vargo, the Center Director of five years announced her retirement. She will stay on until a new director is hired and in place. A search is underway, spearheaded by the board in collaboration with the National Audubon headquarters staff. Presently, we have over 50 applications from all over the country and many locally. Interviews should begin in February, and we may have a new director in place as soon as the end of March. A very exciting time of growth and transition. As I sit here on this January day, writing this and watching the birds at my feeders, I can’t help but feeling optimism, excitement and anticipation about what the upcoming year holds for the Audubon Center and its impact on Columbus and the community.