Michelle Wilson Price has been named the new executive director of the Jackson-Macon Conservation Alliance.

Price grew up in the Glenville area and graduated from Blue Ridge School and has worked in the Plateau Region with the Upper Cullasaja Watershed Association.

She is a water quality specialist and has worked at the state, regional and local level more than 18 years in the environmental field. She earned a bachelor of science in public health with a major in environmental science and engineering at UNC-Chapel Hill, including a summer studying urban planning at Oxford University. After graduation, she was employed in the state Department of Environmental Science and Natural Resources as an environmental modeler and subsequently as the District Programs Section Chief.

She has also held positions with the Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District as a Soil Conservationist and the Watershed Resource Coordinator. She then became the Water Quality Coordinator with RiverLink, Inc., the nonprofit working to restore the French Broad River.

In her last position, she was the Water Quality Advisor to the Land of Sky Regional Council. Highlighting some of her responsibilities there included developing stormwater and urban watershed initiatives, identifying project funding sources and developing proposals for implementing Best Management Practices projects, educating community leaders and landowners about water quality issues, public outreach, and working with stakeholders to ensure success.

She has developed throughout her career an extraordinary level of expertise and an extensive network of collaborators and colleagues all of whom are involved in supporting sustainable growth and development in Western North Carolina. She understands the perspectives of personnel throughout the local, regional and state systems and organizations.

“In our nonprofit role, we seek to identify areas where our efforts can combine with all other governmental and associational entities to produce sustainable practices as we live, work and grow in this beautiful and sensitive area” said Robert E. Smith, J-MCA Board Chair. “We found in Ms. Price a person with a unique set of skills, knowledge and enthusiasm and we look forward to working with her as J-MCA moves forward on initiatives focused on sustainability issues concerning our communities. Her previous work demonstrates her capacity to bring know-how and persistence to each project to achieve results. As we celebrate 10 years of work in our area, we look forward to being even more effective.”