New leadership at Adirondack Mountain Club

Michael Barrett is the new executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club.

He will start in November, replacing Neil Woodworth, ADK’s previous executive director and current chief executive officer. Woodworth will remain with ADK for several months to facilitate the transition and will remain counsel to ADK for the near future.

“Michael is a proven and dynamic leader with years of success as an advocate and policy-maker. We look forward to him joining ADK,” said John Gilewicz, ADK President, in a press release.

Barrett’s appointment was unanimously approved by the ADK Board of Directors at its Sept. 28 meeting.

“I look forward to building on the successes that have already been achieved by this incredible organization,” Barrett said in a press release.

Barrett is a former foreign language interrogator for the United States Army. He obtained a law degree in 2002 and later served as an attorney to the New York State Assembly Codes Committee. He later held executive-level positions in both the Spitzer and Paterson administrations.

After moving to Missouri, he worked as counsel to the Department of Natural Resources before becoming deputy general counsel to Governor Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon, a position he held for three years before being selected as the Director of the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency. For the past four-plus years, Barrett served as the director of the Missouri State Public Defender System, which included functioning as both the systems’ lobbyist and public information officer.

Described as an avid outdoorsman and paddler by ADK, Barrett will return to New York later this fall, along with his wife Sebrina, who is the executive director of the Missouri Bar, his 13-year-old son Mason, and his 7-year-old daughter Molly.