Aaron Virgin, CEO at Save Our Seabirds
For nearly two decades, Aaron has worked for national and grassroots organizations committed to natural resource protection and problem-solving through science-based policymaking decisions. During his career he has been tasked with raising financial support to build coalition groups on a host of issues, such as comprehensive funding mechanisms for land and water protection, monitoring endangered wildlife species threatened by human impacts, and habitat restoration initiatives to promote biological diversity.
Prior to taking the helm at Save Our Seabirds, Aaron was a Philanthropic Officer at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium. Before relocating to Florida in 2020, Aaron served as Vice President of Group for the East End, a conservation organization based on eastern Long Island, NY. During this time, he maintained an integral role in the advocacy, government policy, and environmental outreach programs, while managing the organization’s day-to-day operations and fundraising strategies. Aaron also expanded the organization’s avian research and stewardship programs by focusing on the breeding productivity of piping plover, least tern, and osprey across eastern Long Island.
After finishing his graduate work, Aaron was hired by the National Audubon Society and worked in several state and national leadership capacities. Like his current role at SOS, he was Executive Director at the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary & Audubon Center, the organization’s first songbird sanctuary in the country and featured nearly two dozen non-releasable birds of prey in a quiet wooden setting. An accomplished birding guide, Aaron traveled throughout the world leading high net-worth donor ecotourism trips during his time with Audubon.
Aaron and his family reside at Mallory Park in Lakewood Ranch, and enjoy spending time outdoors hiking, swimming, listening to live music, and traveling.
EDUCATION
MPS, Wildlife Ecology & Management, College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse University
BA, Environmental Science, State University of New York at Plattsburgh, NY
