Hilary Falk of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Calls Students to Mission of Saving the Bay
The CEO & President spoke as part of the James C. Jones Seminar in American Business at Washington College
Hilary Falk, President & CEO of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), came to Washington College’s campus last Friday as the 24th speaker in the time-honored James C. Jones Seminar in American Business. Addressing a packed house in the Norman James Theater in William Smith Hall, Falk outlined her expertise and experience managing the challenges, and opportunities, facing America’s largest estuary and how innovative thinking and bold partnerships are essential to success in the 21st century.
Founded in 1966, CBF is the largest independent conservation organization dedicated solely to saving the Chesapeake Bay. It advocates for science-based solutions to the pollution degrading the Chesapeake's six-state, 64,000-square-mile watershed, which is home to more than 18 million people and 3,000 species of plants and animals.
Falk's path to leading CBF began with a deep connection to the Chesapeake waterways fostered by summers spent in boats, acting as a sidekick to her father's journalistic work covering Bay issues. “We ran aground many, many times,” she joked. Early in the talk, she credited an internship planning major events at Franklin and Marshall College with highlighting the skills she would later utilize to rise to leadership roles.
“I was with three other leaders who I thought were way more qualified than me and finally asked one of them, ‘why me?’,” Falk said. “He told me that they were all exceptional people but didn’t get along that well and needed someone to manage all their personalities. That was me.” Falk encouraged the students in attendance to listen to what professors tell them about themselves and find out what strengths others perceive in them. “Those things will carry you to success in your careers,” she said.
Falk went on to stress the importance of networking in the early days out of college and spoke about her first job, a teaching stint with CBF on Tangier Island, which she credits with solidifying her passion for the Bay's well-being. After years of growing her understanding of the Chesapeake's challenges through personal observation, Falk honed her management skills in numerous positions at the National Wildlife Federation and through creating the Choose Clean Water Coalition. She returned to CBF in 2022 to leverage her experience to lead the organization's mission of restoration and innovation.
Today, Falk spends her time understanding the places that are important to the Bay and its people and the challenges that remain since the beginning of Bay clean-up efforts, which were formally started over 40 years ago. She highlighted the Bay's decades’ long struggles with pollution from excess nitrogen, reduced oxygen levels, and sediment runoff caused by population growth and agriculture. Climate change and chemical contamination add to the complexity of the problem, she noted. Despite decades of restoration efforts, the Bay is falling behind on clean-up goals and will fall short of the effort’s original 2025 deadline. Terming it the “meh factor,” Falk acknowledged the frustration with slow progress and called for renewed energy and a focus on innovation.
“Those of us stepping up into leadership [in this sphere] now are really focused on re-energization for the mission. For too long we have been looking back – before 18 million people lived here and before John Smith came through,” warned Falk. “That will not help us build for the future. We have to look at what will help us move towards a clean Bay for everyone.”
The good news is that there are solutions on the horizon, she stressed. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is embracing new ideas and experimentation, exemplified by their sustainable Brock Environmental Center, which houses the first electric boat in their fleet. Collaboration is also key. Partnerships are being forged to plant 10 billion oysters in the Bay, with both public and private sectors involved. Falk highlighted the Whole Watershed Initiative as another example, bringing together businesses and non-profits to improve the entire Bay system.
Nature-based solutions are also gaining traction. Green infrastructure projects aim to restore wildlife habitat, provide flood protection for homes, and even reduce flood insurance costs. Additionally, the talk addressed the challenge of balancing food production with environmental health. Regenerative agriculture practices and advancements in farm management technology offer promising ways to reduce pollution while maintaining agricultural productivity.
Falk concluded her talk with a powerful call to action.
“It is the chemists, naturalists, journalists, and entrepreneurs of this generation who will solve these problems for us,” she said, encouraging students to bring their curiosity, innovation, and occasional courage, to solve the world’s problems. “We need all of you,” she urged.
"Business Management at Washington College emphasizes the role that business plays in supporting social, environmental, and economic wellbeing," said Caddie Putnam Rankin, chair and associate professor in the Department of Business Management. "Hilary Falk is a nonprofit leader who sees business as a partner in catalyzing innovation in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These innovative partnerships allow the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to create a more sustainable future for our community. By engaging students in important conversations like these, it is our hope that students will be inspired to use their work to create better worlds."
Washington College remains dedicated to a sustainable future and offers students the opportunity to study, explore and conduct research in and around the Chesapeake Bay. For more information on all of these efforts, check out this year’s James C. Jones Seminar in American Business sponsors, the Departments of Business Management and Environmental Science and Studies, and the Center for Environment and Society.
- Dominique Ellis Falcon