Jim Lyons

Jim Lyons is the Vice President for Policy and Communications at Oxfam America. Jim has a long professional career as an environmental policy professional.  Before joining Oxfam he was the Executive Director of the Casey Tree Endowment Fund, a DC-based not-for- profit committed to restoring the city’s tree canopy. He led the growth and development of this organization into one of the nation’s largest urban conservation and ecological restoration NGOs. Earlier, Jim served in the Clinton Administration as Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment in the Department of Agriculture. The many highlights of his time in that position include drafting the conservation and forestry titles of the 1990 Farm Bill, co-chairing an interagency effort to develop the Clean Water Action Plan, assisting in the restructuring of the Department of Agriculture, promoting national conservation and environmental leadership at the USDA, and facilitating major land acquisitions for the national forest system. Jim has been teaching at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies since 2001.