Managing Director, North America

The National Audubon Society has named Joel Beauvais as its Managing Director of North America, effective July 1. This newly created role, reporting to the Chief Conservation Officer,  guides and oversees Audubon's strategic conservation priorities carried out by a widely dispersed staff of 500 across North America.  

Joel brings a distinguished career across conservation, environmental policy, climate, and energy, with experience in legal, policy, and operational leadership roles. Most recently, Joel served for six years as a senior executive at Exelon, a Fortune 200 company and the nation’s largest energy delivery provider. At Exelon, he led a 55-person legal team covering environmental, health and safety, litigation, labor and employment, corporate governance, and cybersecurity, while also supporting a 230-person legal department with a nine-figure budget. He played a central role in advancing Exelon’s EDIB initiatives and leading major organizational transformation efforts, earning recognition for building high-performing teams.

Previously, Joel was a partner at Latham & Watkins and held senior leadership roles at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Obama Administration, where he led both the Office of Policy and the Office of Water. His portfolio included developing federal regulations on climate, air and water quality; managing national grant and public-private partnership programs; and representing EPA at international climate forums, including the UN climate talks and U.S.–China Climate Change Working Group.

Earlier in his career, Joel worked on Capitol Hill, where he helped draft and negotiate major climate and energy legislation, including the Waxman-Markey bill passed by the House in 2009. He began his legal career clerking for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor during her final full term on the U.S. Supreme Court. Before law school, he worked with The Nature Conservancy in Nicaragua, advocating for indigenous land rights and conservation in the remote BOSAWAS Biosphere Reserve.

Joel is a graduate of New York University School of Law, University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and Yale University.

Karen Wilcox led this search with Nella Young, Karson Freeman, and Harley Bartles.