Cassie Hauswald has been named executive director of The Nature Conservancy in Indiana after an extensive search, stepping into leadership of the state’s largest conservation organization as it addresses environmental challenges.
“Cassie brings more than 25 years of conservation and leadership experience to this role and has deep expertise in working with landowners, collaborating with partners and engaging donors,” said Michael Reuter, Midwest division director for The Nature Conservancy. “Indeed, relationships have driven Cassie’s conservation approach for more than two decades.”
Hauswald joined the organization in 2000 as the Blue River conservation coordinator. She later served as a freshwater ecologist and most recently led the Indiana Conservation Program. Her career also includes two years as director of freshwater programs at the Sam Shine Foundation, where she advanced initiatives to protect rivers.
“This is an incredible opportunity, and I’m humbled and honored to take this position,” Hauswald said. “Growing up along the Ohio River in southern Indiana instilled in me a love of the outdoors that has only deepened over my time spent working for TNC. I want every Hoosier to feel that same connection to nature.”
In recent years, Hauswald has overseen a team of more than 40 staff focused on restoring land, rivers and streams across Indiana. Her work included initiating the removal of low-head dams in southern Indiana to improve river connectivity and leading efforts to restore freshwater mussel populations in waterways with improved water quality.
“Cassie is a freshwater ecologist by training and a conservationist at heart,” said Larry Clemens, retiring state director for TNC Indiana. “She appreciates that TNC operates in the win-win space of what is good for conservation tends to be what is good for people.”
Board members and trustees also voiced support for the new leadership.
“This is a great choice at the right time,” said Will Ditzler, former chair of TNC Indiana’s Board of Trustees. “Cassie has the experience, connections and the passion to lead us into the next decade and beyond.”
The Nature Conservancy recently embarked on a five-year implementation plan designed to help achieve its 2030 conservation goals and launched an $80 million campaign to fund that work.
“Now is the time for the next generation of leaders to take us to where we need to be,” said Jane Stautz, chair of TNC Indiana’s Board of Trustees. “We’re in the middle of a critical decade that will change the course of our planet forever. Cassie is someone who can help us make the best choices for people and nature moving forward.”
Hauswald, a former Girl Scout, grew up in Corydon, where her passion for fencerows and forests was fostered alongside her grandfather and his bird dogs. Outside of her work, she and her husband, Jeff, enjoy marathon running, traveling and hiking with their three flat-coated retrievers.
For more information about TNC and their work, visit nature.org/Indiana.
Contact Health & Environmental Reporter Hanna Rauworth at 317-762-7854 or follow her on Instagram at @hanna.rauworth.
Hanna Rauworth is the Health & Environmental Reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper, where she covers topics at the intersection of public health, environmental issues, and community impact. With a commitment to storytelling that informs and empowers, she strives to highlight the challenges and solutions shaping the well-being of Indianapolis residents.
