Influential environmentalist Dana Beach to leave post at Conservation League

Dana Beach, the Columbia native who founded what has become South Carolina’s most recognized and influential environmental group, will step down as executive director of the S.C. Coastal Conservation League after nearly three decades at the non-profit organization.

Beach, 61, will relinquish day-to-day oversight to take on a role with the league that focuses on fund-raising and communications, he said in an interview Monday afternoon. His departure from daily duties won’t be immediate. It could take a year or more to name a successor, Beach said.

“I’m delighted about it,’’ Beach said of his decision to step down. “It’s not that I don’t like everything that I’ve done, but the management, the budgeting, all of the day-to-day operations, I’ve done because it has to be done. But it is somewhat distracting from what I really love doing.’’

Beach said he has been discussing the change with the league’s board for several years so he could focus more on big picture environmental issues. He said it’s a good time to make the announcement because the league is in sound shape.

By announcing the decision now, it will give the league plenty of time to find the right person for the director’s job, Beach said.

A Davidson College graduate, Beach built a powerful organization through dogged fund-raising that began when he founded the league in 1989. Starting with two staff members and a tiny budget, the league now has 35 staffers and a budget of about $3 million. Its endowment exceeds $8 million. The league has offices from Beaufort to Georgetown and is headquartered in Charleston.

Beach, who irked plenty of developers through the years, drew praise from others who have worked with him to protect the Lowcountry. S.C. Wildlife Federation director Ben Gregg said the Lowcountry would have suffered if Beach had not founded the league.

“Dana Beach is a big picture thinker, a man who has literally transformed the conservation movement for the better by leading this organization in advocacy, generating fresh thinking, and executing actionable plans on many fronts,” Margot Rose, the league’s board chair, said in a statement. “We understand his wish to step away from day-to-day operations after so many years, but we are excited that his extraordinary vision will continue to guide us.”

Beach grew up in Columbia, attending what later became Crayton Middle School and Hammond Academy. Since founding the league, he has been recognized nationally for his efforts to protect the environment. Among other things, the league has fought against mega hog farms, beach development in hurricane-prone areas and for alternative sources of energy, such as solar power. Major initiatives have been fighting sprawl and, more recently, promoting locally produced food.

Upstate Forever, an environmental group in western South Carolina, was founded on the model Beach established at the league.

As director of the Conservation League, Beach has been recognized as a “hero’’ for the planet by Time Magazine, received the Order of the Palmetto and been given a national “Hero of the Seas’’ award. He has been quoted in national publications such as The New York Times.

His fund-raising efforts have drawn support from a cadre of wealthy Lowcountry landowners, including billionaire Ted Turner.

Beach is credited with building the league through his skills as a business person. Beach earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton business school. He later worked in banking and finance and as an aide to former Congressman Arthur Ravenel, R-S.C.,, before beginning a career as the leader of a non-profit conservation group.

Ann Timberlake, who retired last year as director of the Conservation Voters of South Carolina, said the endowment Beach developed at the league dwarfs that of other environmental organizations. She said his new role with the league will play on his strengths of fund-raising and focusing on macro issues.

During his time as director, Beach has not only drawn plenty of support, but he’s made his share of people mad. Some developers and state ports authority officials have said he was uncompromising.

Business interests near Myrtle Beach have been particularly critical over the league’s opposition to certain road projects, including the proposed Interstate 73 and International Drive. In the latter case, citizens picketed the league’s Georgetown office because of its opposition to the way International Drive was being built.

Beach has taken both the support and criticism in stride. He was particularly complimentary Monday of the people who work with him at the league’s offices.

“Thanks to broad and sustained community support, an intelligent, persistent and passionate staff, and a generous, energetic and courageous board, the Conservation League has grown dramatically over the last 28 years,’’ Beach said in a news release. “We are well positioned to increase our effectiveness in the face of unprecedented changes that bring extraordinary new opportunities. This is an excellent time for me to step back from operations to focus on preparing for the future.’’

This story was originally published February 27, 2017 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Influential environmentalist Dana Beach to leave post at Conservation League."