CEO of Ducks Unlimited Canada Joins SFI Board of Directors

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Greg Siekaniec, Chief Executive Officer of Ducks Unlimited Canada, has been elected to the independent Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc.® (SFI®) Board of Directors. Mr. Siekaniec's election fills an open position with the SFI board's environmental chamber.

"Greg Siekaniec is an outstanding leader who has dedicated his professional life to wildlife conservation and management, and he will make a strong contribution to our multi-disciplinary board," said Kathy Abusow, SFI President and CEO. "I look forward to working closely with Greg and Ducks Unlimited Canada for the future of our forests."

"I am pleased to join the SFI board and to represent Ducks Unlimited Canada. Our mission to conserve, restore and manage wetlands and associated habitat closely aligns with the work of the SFI," said Mr. Siekaniec. "Canada's boreal forest is a vast and extremely significant nesting area for millions of ducks, geese and other birds. Ensuring forests are managed in a sustainable manner to protect wetland ecosystems is a shared priority among our organizations." 

Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) is a leader in wetland conservation, with over 400 staff and 9,112 on-the-ground projects that conserve more than 6.3 million acres of wetlands like marshes and ponds across Canada. Siekaniec oversees all of DUC's conservation programs, including scientific research, education, fundraising and public policy.

Before joining DUC, Siekaniec served 28 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), last serving as the Deputy Director for Policy and Management. The early part of his career was spent working in the prairies of North Dakota on a North American Waterfowl Management Plan project. He worked with private landowners restoring wetland basins and improving their lands for waterfowl conservation purposes.

SFI also announced the election of its new officers:  SFI Chairman Larry Selzer, President and CEO of The Conservation Fund; SFI Vice Chairman Craig Blair, President and CEO of Resource Management Service LLC (RMS); and SFI Secretary-Treasurer Richard Brinker, Dean Emeritus, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University. Robert Luoto remains on the board as Immediate Past Chair; he represents independent professional loggers and the American Loggers Council. Selzer, Blair and Brinker represent the environmental, economic and social chambers of the SFI board, respectively.

SFI Inc.'s 18-member board represents environmental, social and economic sectors equally to meet the many needs of forests and communities. The board members include representatives of environmental, professional and academic groups, independent loggers, family forest landowners, public officials, labor and the forest products sector. All three officers were appointed to two-year terms. Mr. Siekaniec was appointed to a three-year board term.

About SFI Inc. 
SFI Inc. is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that is solely responsible for maintaining, overseeing and improving the internationally recognized Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) program. Across Canada and the United States, more than 200 million acres (more than 80 million hectares) are certified to the SFI forest management standard. In addition, the SFI program's unique fiber sourcing requirements promote responsible forest management on all suppliers' lands. SFI chain-of-custody (COC) certification tracks the percentage of fiber from certified forests, certified sourcing and post-consumer recycled content. SFI on-product labels identify both certified sourcing and COC claims to help consumers make responsible purchasing decisions. SFI Inc. is governed by a three-chamber board of directors representing environmental, social and economic sectors equally. Learn more at http://www.sfiprogram.org/ and http://sfiprogram.org/BuySFI.

SOURCE SFI Inc.