The Everglades Foundation this week announced the hiring of former Interior Department official Shannon Estenoz as the nonprofit organization’s first-ever chief policy officer.
The move marks a return home for Estenoz, a fifth-generation Florida native who worked for the foundation prior to her service in the Biden administration from 2021 to 2025 as Interior’s assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks.
“For more than 30 years, the Everglades Foundation has been a leading voice in the effort to restore America’s Everglades,” Estenoz said in a statement. “As chief policy officer, I am eager to collaborate with scientists, decision makers, and environmental advocates to advance the Foundation’s restoration efforts and to secure the long-term protection of the Everglades.”
According to the foundation, the Florida State University graduate will be responsible for “developing and advancing Everglades policy” through collaboration with the organization’s staff as well as outside policymakers, scholars, conservation groups and others.
