Rick Montague Receives Award from SELC for Environmental Leadership

(SELC Board member Rick Montague (left) with SELC Founder and Executive Director Rick Middleton)

Charlottesville, VA – The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is pleased to announce that Deaderick (Rick) C. Montague, a writer and civic leader from Chattanooga, TN, has been awarded the 2014 James S. Dockery, Jr. Southern Environmental Leadership Award.

This award, announced last Saturday at the organization’s board meeting in Chattanooga, is given to an individual who has shown transformational leadership and built institutions that will have a lasting impact on communities and the environment in the South.

Mr. Montague has been a dedicated environmental leader in the South for decades. During his 25-year tenure as a member of SELC’s Board of Trustees, he has helped drive the strategic vision of the organization as the SELC’s board chair from 1994 to 2004 and in his current role as the board’s Vice President. 

Mr. Montague has a long history of serving and strengthening the community in Chattanooga. As former President of the Lyndhurst Foundation, he played a significant leadership role in the revitalization of downtown Chattanooga through public/private partnerships and sustainable development practices. He was a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chattanooga. Mr. Montague is also the co-chair for its Capital Campaign for the Chattanooga History Center.

“I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this environmental leadership award than Rick Montague,” says Rick Middleton, SELC's Founder and Executive Director. “His impressive commitment to building community and protecting natural resources in the South is unrivaled. His insights, wisdom, and perspectives have been invaluable to SELC and to me personally over the years.” 

“It is an honor to be given an award in memory of Jim Dockery, an inspirational leader whose spirit of team building and mentoring lives on in the work of SELC,” said Mr. Montague. “It has been a pleasure to succeed him on SELC’s board and help continue his strategic vision for improving the environment in the South. I have enjoyed every second of the past twenty-five years that I have spent with this leading conservation organization.”

The Southern Environmental Leadership Award was established in 1993 in honor of SELC's co-founder and first board chair, Jim Dockery. Mr. Dockery's noted environmental leadership helped protect tens of millions of acres of mountain wilderness around the nation. His contributions to the southeast region are remembered annually by this award, which recognizes leaders at the state and local levels who have helped build excellent environmental institutions.