Dr. Reagan Flowers Joins the Sustainable Forestry Initiative to Advance Environmental Education, Forest Literacy, and Green Careers

WASHINGTON and OTTAWA, July 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is pleased to welcome Dr. Reagan Flowers as Chief Education Officer. In this role, Dr. Flowers will join SFI's Senior Leadership Team and lead Project Learning Tree (PLT) to advance environmental education, forest literacy, and green career pathways, using trees and forests as windows on the world.

Dr. Flowers is an educator and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience leading science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programming. She possesses a Ph.D. in Education Leadership/Systems and a Master's Degree in Counseling. Dr. Flowers previously served as President and CEO of C-STEM, a non-profit organization dedicated to teacher and student support and has transitioned into her new leadership role with SFI.

??I'm excited to welcome Dr. Flowers into this leadership role where she will support, sustain, and cultivate PLT's strong network of partners and strengthen the adoption and reach of PLT resources to support a lifetime of learning. Additionally, she will handle responsibilities for developing relationships with school districts, government agencies, a diversity of communities, youth leaders, and the private sector. With Reagan on our team providing strategic leadership and partnership development, we will broaden the reach of PLT's award-winning environmental education products and strengthen our connection to STEM education and career pathways programming,'' said Kathy Abusow, President and CEO of SFI.

"I am delighted about this incredible opportunity to spearhead our global efforts to usher in the future era of sustainability, through collaboration and the promotion of environmental education and forest literacy. As a career educator and social entrepreneur, I understand the incredible opportunity that PLT presents to expand our collective understanding of the environment and foster new strategic partnerships, and the critical role a more informed populace can play in ensuring a future built on sustainability and innovation," said Dr. Reagan Flowers, Chief Education Officer, SFI.

PLT's broad, diverse, and passionate network provides hands-on professional development for educators across North America, Chile, and Japan. It also provides opportunities for young people to learn how to think, not what to think about environmental issues, expand their understanding about trees and forests, and explore the diversity of green careers in the forest and conservation sector. In 2022, PLT trained 12,100 educators and reached over 2.1 million students. Since 2018, PLT initiatives have supported more than 7,000 young adults in green job placements in the forest and conservation sector, achieving gender balance and providing over 15% of these opportunities to Indigenous youth.

Dr. Flowers begins her new role today, Monday, July 24^th, and will be joining SFI's Washington, DC office.

About SFI

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI) advances sustainability through forest-focused collaborations. We are an independent, non-profit organization that leverages four interconnected pillars of work: standards, conservation, community, and education. SFI^® works with the forest sector, conservation groups, academics, researchers, brand owners, resource professionals, landowners, educators, local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and governments. Collaborating with our network, we leverage SFI-certified forests and products as powerful tools to help solve sustainability challenges such as climate action, conservation of biodiversity, education of future generations, and sustainable economic development.

Media Contact

Christine Leduc
VP Communications and Government Relations
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
613-706-1114
[email protected]

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