Meet Our Team: Jack Clarke

Jack Clarke is Mass Audubon’s Director of Public Policy & Government Relations. During his time at Mass Audubon, Jack has helped draft and pass the first-in-the-nation comprehensive ocean management law, the Massachusetts Rivers Protection Act, Community Preservation Act, and four environmental bonds (the latest of which was $2.2 billion!).

Director of Public Policy & Government Relations Jack Clarke

Mass Audubon Director of Public Policy & Government Relations Jack Clarke

Jack holds appointments by the Governor to the Special Commission on Coastal Erosion and the Massachusetts Ocean Advisory Commission, which he chairs. He is also a member of several Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Advisory Committees. For his work on behalf of the environment, Jack has received commendations from the US Department of the Interior, US Environmental Protection Agency, and the City of Boston, among others.

Prior to his position at Mass Audubon, Jack worked for the US Department of the Interior/National Park Service at Cape Cod National Seashore for almost a decade, and received their Outstanding Achievement Award. Jack has his ranger hat proudly displayed in his office, a reminder of the benefits of getting outside and into nature that he still values in his work at Mass Audubon.

Following that, he served thirteen years and three governors, both Republican and Democratic, in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, the last five of which he was the Bay State’s Assistant Director for Coastal Zone Management. In that capacity, he served as acting Assistant Secretary, helped draft and pass legislation to establish Cape Cod’s regional regulatory planning agency, and oversaw the state’s National Estuary Programs for Massachusetts and Buzzards Bays. He also negotiated and wrote the state and nation’s first comprehensive Guidelines for Barrier Beach Management.

Jack earned his Bachelor and Masters degrees with honors from Boston College in American History and American Studies, respectively.

Born in Boston, Jack currently resides in Gloucester, the nation’s oldest seaport, with his wife Fara. In his spare time he is a surfer, sailor, SCUBA diver, photographer, musician, and a loyal member of Red Sox Nation.

You can follow Jack on Twitter here.