Environmental Nature Center Director Bo Glover receives ANCA Leadership Award for lifelong commitment to the profession
Prestigious award announced as Environmental Nature Center breaks ground on community’s first Nature Preschool.
The Environmental Nature Center’s Executive Director Bo Glover will receive the prestigious Leadership Award from the Association of Nature Center Administrators (ANCA). ANCA promotes and supports best leadership and management practices for the nature and environmental learning center profession throughout North America, Asia and the Caribbean.
The Leadership Award recognizes individuals who have made a major contribution to the success of a nature center and who have made important contributions to the profession through support and mentoring of other nature center leaders.
“ANCA is about promoting excellence in nature center management, so recognizing the very best in our profession – people like Bo – is an important part of our mission,” said Jen Levy, Executive Director of ANCA.
“The award comes at an excellent time as Bo leads the ENC in the construction of our community’s first Nature Preschool,” said ENC Board President Rick Wandrocke (pictured to the right, next to Bo, at the ENC Nature Preschool Groundbreaking). “The ENC Nature Preschool will serve as a model to other educational institutions, exemplifying the best ways to incorporate the outdoors and nature into all areas of curricula. Studies show that children who learn outside, in nature, excel physically, emotionally, socially and academically. Bo knows this and wants to share it with the world.”
David T. Catlin, past president of the Association of Nature Center Administrators and founding member of the National Association for Interpretation, wrote a letter in support of Glover’s nomination for the award. “A leader should demonstrate success in leading his or her own organization, and should contribute generously to the success of the profession at large. Bo has done both,” he wrote.
Click HERE to read the ANCA Directors article about Bo’s Leadership Award, it contains lots of additional quotes and even more great info!
Glover began his career with the ENC 27 years ago, as a volunteer, in 1991. He built trails, restored habitat and lead educational tours. It’s not an uncommon sight to see Bo out in the Center getting his hands dirty, even now (Left: Bo moving a rock). After years of hard work and dedication, Glover earned the position of Executive Director of the ENC, and he has held that position since 1995.
Glover expressed his appreciation at being selected for this year’s ANCA Leadership Award. “I am deeply honored to be recognized by ANCA, an organization that provides essential resources for nature centers across the United States and around the world,” he said. “Our dedicated volunteers, board members and staff deserve our thanks and appreciation for their commitment to providing quality education through hands-on experience with nature. Without them, the Environmental Nature Center would not be the tremendous community resource it is today.”
“It is very clear when working with Bo that the ENC ranks high his heart,” said ENC Assistant Director Lori Whalen who has worked with Glover for 15 years. “But after you get to know him you discover just how important ANCA has become to him. He’s been a member for 20 years, on the board for 10. He has also traveled the Country – and the World – providing assistance to other nature center professionals. This award means a great deal to him.”
Among Glover’s accomplishments is the construction of an 8,500 square-foot learning center, awarded Platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The award is the highest designation available to buildings that demonstrate energy efficiency and sustainability. The building was the first in Orange County to achieve the distinction and – at that time – one of fewer than 100 buildings worldwide to receive the designation.
In 2012 Glover led a campaign to purchase the 1.1 acre property adjoining the Center’s redwood forest with a goal of building the communities first Nature Preschool and nature play area. After successfully acquiring the property, Glover dove into fundraising to begin construction, which began last week. The ENC Nature Preschool will open its doors in 2019.
“Under Bo’s leadership the ENC has grown to become an authority on ecological responsibility, sustainable practices and environmental education in our community,” said ENC Founder Robert House. “Our facility, programs and staff inspire all generations to protect the natural world.”
Bo affiliates himself with a number of worthwhile community organizations. Bo is Past-President of the Association of Nature Center Administrators (ANCA) and California Society for Ecological Restoration (SERCAL). He was also a member of the Orange County CREEC Network Advisory Committee, the Chairman of the City of Newport Beach Castaways Park Advisory Committee from 1999 – 2003, a member of the Newport-Mesa Schools Foundation Grants Allocations Committee from 1996-2012, and served on the Environmental Board of the City of Huntington Beach from 2009 to 2012. Bo, a LEED Accredited Professional, serves on the Board of the Orange Coast River Park Inc. and is a member of the Market Leader Advisory Board of the US Green Building Council, Orange County (USGBC-OC). Bo was also recently the recipient of the Lakers Community Champion award, presented by the Lakers and LG Solar on the Court at halftime, to recognize him for his work at the ENC (pictured right).
About ANCA
The Association of Nature Center Administrators is a private nonprofit organization founded in 1989 to create a professional association solely of and for leaders in the nature center profession, including directors, managers, senior administrators and board members. It is the only such organization in the United States. Headquartered in Logan, Utah, the mission of ANCA is to promote and support best leadership and management practices for the nature and environmental learning center profession. ANCA supports 600 dues-paying members from throughout North America, Asia and the Caribbean. Summits are offered annually at different Nature Centers. The ENC hosted the Summit in 2013 (left).
Click HERE to read the ANCA Directors article about Bo’s Leadership Award, it contains lots of additional quotes and even more great info!