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Two prominent Indiana environmental group leaders will resign

Jesse Kharbanda (left) and Natalie Johnson (right) both announced they would be stepping down from leadership positions at their organizations this week.
Jesse Kharbanda (left) and Natalie Johnson (right) both announced they would be stepping down from leadership positions at their organizations this week.

The leaders of the largest statewide environmental group and one of the oldest environmental groups both announced they’re stepping down this week.

Jesse Kharbanda, Hoosier Environmental Council executive director, announced he’s leaving the organization after 13 years. In a letter, he said he plans to start writing books about biodiversity loss and confined animal feeding operations.

Natalie Johnson, executive director of Save the Dunes — which advocates for the protection of dunes natural areas and Lake Michigan — is ending her tenure there of nearly a decade. She plans to move closer to her family in St. Louis.

Both executive directors have agreed to stay on at their organizations until they find successors.

Contact reporter Rebecca at  rthiele@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.

Indiana Environmental reporting is supported by the Environmental Resilience Institute, an Indiana University Grand Challenge project developing Indiana-specific projections and informed responses to problems of environmental change.

Rebecca Thiele covers statewide environment and energy issues. Before coming to Bloomington, she worked for WMUK Radio in Kalamazoo, Michigan on the arts and environment beats. Thiele was born in St. Louis and is a proud graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.