FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 28, 2020

Tawney to Lead Montana Conservation Voters

Experienced leader will become Executive Director on January 1

(BILLINGS, Mont.) — Whitney Tawney will take over as Executive Director of Montana Conservation Voters and the MCV Education Fund beginning January 1, 2021.

Tawney, currently Deputy Director of the statewide conservation organization, has a dozen years of experience in political and conservation leadership. As MCV’s Deputy Director and Program Director, she worked closely with the 2019 Montana Legislature and with the administration of Governor Steve Bullock.

Tawney will replace Aaron Murphy, who is stepping down on December 31 after serving as MCV’s Executive Director since May of 2019.

“Aaron Murphy has been an outstanding executive director, and he has shown characteristic leadership in promoting Whitney to Deputy Director in 2019 and helping execute smart succession,” said Jock Conyngham of Evaro, chair of MCV’s Board of Directors. “Whitney’s remarkable professional profile, energy, organization, intelligence and creativity have transformed MCV, putting it in an optimal position as Montana braces for setbacks to conservation from our new governor, our new legislature, and our new land board. Whitney’s deeply strategic political mind will keep this organization effective, strong, and growing as we head into the uncertainties and opportunities of 2021.”

Tawney this year organized and ran several effective campaigns to pressure U.S. Senator Steve Daines to support public lands funding and to publicly question the leadership of William Perry Pendley, the unlawful acting director of the Bureau of Land Management. She has been a powerful spokesperson for the conservation movement and co-hosts MCV’s weekly podcast, MCVcast.

“MCV is a critical organization whose most important days are ahead of us,” Tawney said. “We have a mission to educate, engage and empower all Montanans to fight for our climate, our environment, our public lands and our communities, and I’m eager to work with all Montanans to win this fight.”

Before joining MCV in 2018, Tawney served as Senior Water Policy Advisor to Ducks Unlimited, based in Washington, D.C. She is a native of Missoula and currently lives in Bozeman.

Murphy, co-author of Senator Jon Tester’s memoir Grounded: A Senator’s Lessons on Winning Back Rural America, will pursue a career in writing and consulting. Murphy will continue to produce MCVcast with Tawney and MCV’s Political Director, Jake Brown. MCVcast is set to begin its fourth season in January.

###