Jenny Patterson, a Harvard Law School graduate who has devoted her decades-long career to environmental protection and public service, has been named executive director of the Lake Champlain Committee, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting Lake Champlain's environmental integrity and recreational resources. She succeeds Lori Fisher, who retired Dec. 31 after serving LCC for nearly 40 years.
"Jenny brings a wealth of experience, a deep commitment to our mission and a passion for preserving Lake Champlain’s health,” said board chair Gary Kjelleren. “We are confident that under Jenny's guidance, our efforts to protect and restore Lake Champlain will continue to thrive."
Patterson has a deep and lifelong connection to Lake Champlain. Her family has multigenerational ties to both the New York and Vermont sides of the lake, fostering her interests in history, geology, biology and public policy. This led her to major in environmental studies and government at Oberlin College and to work or intern for environmental groups prior to going to law school.
After law school, Patterson worked for eight years with a focus on wetlands and water law at the Environmental Protection Bureau of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, followed by a position at the Conservation Law Foundation in New Hampshire. She then returned to the Attorney General’s Office to serve as Environmental Bureau Chief for five and a half years.