By Gabrielle Swan
A NEWTOWNARDS woman has been appointed to the top job in one of Northern Ireland’s major environmental charities.
Dawn Miskelly, who joined Ulster Wildlife as a volunteer 20 years ago, has been appointed as chief executive and took up her new post earlier this week.
A long time nature lover since childhood, Dawn has been working with Ulster Wildlife since 2004. Initially volunteering with the charity, she also worked in the funding and communications department.
The opening for the CEO position came after the unfortunate passing of Dawn’s predecessor, Jennifer Fulton. She passed away in spring of this year after serving in the role for 12 years.
Looking forward to her new role, Dawn said she intends to lobby the government to prioritise environmental wellbeing, while also urging the public to make a green space out of their own gardens at home.
“Very far back, I actually started as a volunteer with the organisation,” said Dawn. “But when I first started officially working for them, I worked in the funding and communications area.”
“Over the years I moved into a variety of roles which shows that you can start somewhere as a volunteer and end up as the CEO one day.
“My role now is really leading the entire organisation. The way I see it, half of my job is about the day to day operational oversight of the charity.
“The other half of my job is really looking ahead, how we deal with the challenges which are facing our natural environment, what programmes, funding and activities does the charity need to put in place moving forward.
“One eye is on the day to day, but always looking ahead on what the challenges are,” said the new CEO.
“I always had a love of nature. As a child, it was something my parents really instilled in me. Ending up as the Chief Executive of a nature charity, it is a real honour.
“I spend a lot of time out and about in green spaces and the coastline around Newtownards and Bangor, that is really where I was instilled with this love of nature.
“One of the things I will be doing is influencing the government here to do more for nature’s recovery.
“Also, I think about demonstrating what is possible on the ground, we have a number of nature reserves including one in Bangor and another on the Ards peninsula.
“We set up a native oyster at Bangor Marina a few years ago, so we are looking to expand upon that going forward.
“Then we hope to influence individuals on what they can do for nature in their own gardens. Because I think if you put all of the gardens together, it is more green space than all of our nature reserves combined,” she added.
