Activist-lawyer-businessman heads EDC

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Longtime Santa Barbara activist, businessman and attorney David J. Landecker started his new position as executive director of the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) yesterday.
“It’s been going great,” Landecker told the Daily Sound. “I have many years of connection to this organization, and it’s very exciting to be executive director.”

Landecker took over as head of the administrative and program staff at the environmental law firm after previous director Cameron Benson left to take a position as manager of the city of Santa Barbara’s Creeks Division.
“Cameron Benson left the organization in very good condition,” Landecker said. “There is a great staff here. ... I don’t have to come in and fix anything.”
EDC Board President Whitney Abbot agreed, supporting Landecker’s appointment in a statement saying, “David is intimately familiar with the organization and the issues that matter most to this community. He will build upon Cameron Benson’s successes.”
Landecker, a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, has been involved in environmental law for more than 30 years, serving for six years on the EDC’s board of directors in the 1990s. He stepped down as president of the Citizens Planning Association of Santa Barbara County last week to take the position at EDC.
“I’ve been on almost every environmental board at one time or another,” Landecker said. “It’s really my passion, the environment of Santa Barbara.”
Landecker served as executive director of the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics from 2001 to 2006, as well as working for 15 years as a corporate CEO. He also held a seat on Santa Barbara’s City Council and managed several local political campaigns.
EDC is the only nonprofit environmental law firm between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and assists efforts to protect air and water quality, preserve open spaces, save endangered species and control the use of toxic chemicals and pesticides.
“So far, it seems like those who know EDC and know me are as excited as I am,” Landecker said. “I think those people see that there is a very good fit here.”