OC Habitats

MANAGEMENT

CEO/Executive Director

Stacey Chartier-Grable

CEO/Executive Director Experience

Stacey's experience as a Executive Director reach eight years back to the founding of OC Habitats ("OCH"). Stacey is not only the Executive Directory, but also the founder of OCH. She decided to start this nonprofit due to her desire to improve local environments and educate the public. She believes that every role is important within OCH and has worn many "hats" from janitor to the president and everything in between. From the beginning, she has had a steep learning curve to make sure that OCH would meet the 501(c)3 requirements as well as any and all other Federal, State, and Local requirements. She drafted OCH's bylaws with the help of a pro-bono lawyer and drew on her board secretary and treasurer to edit it. In developing the mission of OCH, Stacey and the board decided on three main goals: Education and Outreach, Habitat Restoration, and Habitat Monitoring . Education is the most important goal of the program as it lays over all the other goals like a blanket. Stacey wanted to educate primary, secondary, and college level students as well as the general public. She developed a plan along with her board to provide programming to schools, groups, and individuals in Orange County. The OCH education and outreach program is continuing to grow and expand, while Stacey remains an active participant in the development and implementation. OCH's second program is Habitat Restoration, which has been and continues to be developed with our partnerships with other various nonprofits and landholders who want to see native habitats thrive in our community. As one of the first programs, OCH's monitoring program was created to meet the needs and standards of government agencies CDFW and USFWS to protect two federally and state listed species in our local coastal dune habitats, the Western snowy plover and the California least tern. We have since closed this project and started and completed others like our bird monitoring program at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary (2022-2023). Currently, we are working on year three of our sea urchin monitoring program and plan on continuing this as long as there is a need and we have capacity. Stacey's leadership stems from a lifetime of involvement in many areas including college organizations, career managerial positions, volunteer leadership, and her personal passion and drive to conserve our natural habitats. She has excellent organizational skills and works diligently to create an environment where her team works collaboratively and feels valued. Stacey comes to OCH with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and a Master of Science in Environmental Studies. She has worked as a project manager in environmental planning and as a leader for a variety of nonprofit organizations over the years. Sine 2017, OCH has had over 300 active volunteers (volunteering at least once a month for an extended time) and thousands of others who join us for our monthly restorations. She has taught herself how to write grants and secure funds from various entities including Henry W. & Ellen R. Warne Family Endowment Fund, Andrew Kosicki Memorial Fund, OC Community Foundation, LUSH Cosmetics, Charitable Ventures, the Rose Foundation, and the John Griswold Family Foundation. Stacey does an excellent job of connecting with individuals from like-minded organizations or corporations and sustaining those relationships. She intends to be part of OCH as long as she is able but also believes that handing the baton to others makes for a sustainable organization. While she continues at the helm, she hopes to continue to grow OCH and make it a sustainable organization that thrives even beyond her tenure as Executive Director.

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