Maureen Cunningham

Executive Director

Maureen is the Executive Director of the Adirondack Watershed Institute. A seasoned nonprofit leader, Maureen brings experience building teams and programs, supporting community-based initiatives, and advancing environmental policy at the local, state, national, and international levels. Previously, she served as Chief Strategy Officer and Director of Water at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, where she helped grow the organization from six to 40 staff, led a team at the intersection of data, policy, and technical assistance to advance water equity, and championed tougher regulations on lead in drinking water and increased investment in water infrastructure. Maureen also served as Senior Director for Clean Water at Environmental Advocates NY, where she helped pass state legislation to strengthen protections for drinking water, streams, and wetlands, and as Executive Director of the Hudson River Watershed Alliance, where she supported dozens of grassroots groups and municipalities in protecting their local streams and water resources. Her international experience includes leading community-based conservation and ecotourism initiatives in partnership with the United Nations and several national governments while at Rare. She is a founding board member and treasurer of El Triunfo Conservation Foundation and an elected Town Councilmember in Bethlehem, NY. Maureen holds a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of the Environment and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from The American University. She is raising two teenage boys and a dog named Pipa with her husband, Paul Miller.

Maureen’s love for water runs deep - rooted in childhood summers spent swimming, skiing, and camping in the Adirondacks, the “waters she dreams about” which is her family motto. Today, she leads AWI with that same passion, proud to protect the very waters that first inspired her.