Austin Swift Joins Sempervirens Fund’s Board of Directors
Google Recruiter and Santa Cruz Basketball Star has been drafted by “team redwoods”
Sept. 19, 2014 — Sempervirens Fund, California’s oldest land trust and the only organization dedicated to protecting the redwood forests between Silicon Valley and the Pacific Ocean, announced its latest member of the Board of Directors: Austin Swift, a Google Channels Specialist who has been tasked with recruiting top talent to the company.
A Santa Cruz native, Austin Swift led Santa Cruz High School to the state basketball championships in 2005. Swift continued to play basketball in college and had a stint in the professional league in Croatia and Portugal.
Swift is not just a talent on the basketball court. He studied business at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona and graduated from the UCLA Anderson School of Business Riordan Fellows Program. Swift went on to co-found Network Kinection, a student engagement and recruitment company based in Southern California, before joining Google.
“Austin Swift’s election to the Sempervirens Fund’s Board represents yet another step into the 21st century for an organization that dates back to 1900. Austin is part of that generation of young folks who are attached to the outdoors, care about their community and want to take specific, measurable action to enhance redwood forests and their habitat,” said Fred Keeley, Sempervirens Fund Board President. “His local roots, combined with his athletic discipline and professional skills give him the varied background to help us expand our appeal to the next generation of conservationists.”
“I am extremely excited to be joining such a prestigious Board and organization. I feel I can bring new viewpoints that are vital to Sempervirens Fund and can help lead them into the future,” said Austin Swift. “Growing up in Santa Cruz, I was brought up around the outdoors and understand the importance of preserving our beautiful redwoods.”
Sempervirens Fund’s mission is to complete the Great Park, a connected redwood forest ecosystem in the Santa Cruz Mountains.