July 14, 2026
With the Lake George Association Annual Meeting less than a month away, we are very excited to highlight our two keynote speakers, NYS DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton and author and water scientist, Dr. Peter Gleick.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Amanda Lefton will share remarks on how New York State is working to protect Lake George, alongside other freshwater bodies throughout the State.
Commissioner Lefton brings a unique perspective to her keynote address thanks to her diverse mix of federal, state and private experience.
She previously served as the Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) within the Department of the Interior. Under her leadership, BOEM developed and implemented an ambitious federal offshore wind program, creating a new industry of family-supporting jobs and generational opportunity. Her collaborative approach brought together various stakeholders to responsibly manage the nation’s critical offshore energy and mineral resources.
Prior to her role as BOEM Director, Lefton served as the First Assistant Secretary for Energy and Environment for New York, where she led the State’s environmental and climate initiatives, overseeing a portfolio of executive agencies including the DEC.
She has also worked for The Nature Conservancy in New York as the Deputy Policy Director and climate mitigation lead, the Rochester Regional Joint Board of Workers United and the New York State Assembly and New York State Senate.
Lefton comes to the DEC from RWE, one of the world's leading players in the offshore wind sector, where she was the Vice President of Offshore Development, U.S. East.
Dr. Gleick is an internationally recognized water scientist, author and co-founder of the Pacific Institute. He is one of the leading voices on freshwater resources, sustainability and water policy. His Keynote will explore the future of freshwater, the growing challenges facing water systems and the role of science and policy in protecting clean water at local and global scales.
His work has redefined water from the realm of engineers to the world of social justice, sustainability, human rights and integrated thinking. He developed one of the earliest analyses of the consequences of climate change for water resources, the earliest comprehensive work on water and conflict and defined basic human needs for water and the human right to water – work that has been used by the United Nations and in human rights court cases.
Dr. Gleick is a MacArthur Fellow, an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2018 he was awarded the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization.
Dr. Gleick's is also the author to the book, The Three Ages of Water, which has received widespread recognition, including a review from environmental activist Greta Thunberg. Thunberg shared, “To understand water is to understand ourselves, our origins, and what lies ahead for us. Peter Gleick tells the story of water in an accessible way that not only warns us about the dangers we are approaching, but also provides us with a vision for a hopeful future.”
In this book, Gleick charts a visionary path toward a sustainable future for water and the planet while drawing from lessons from our past.
The LGA Annual Meeting will take place on August 8, 2026, at the Fort William Henry Carriage House. The event will run from 8:00AM-11:00AM starting with a breakfast and mingling hour. Programming will begin promptly at 9:00AM. Register today to hear from these esteemed keynote speakers and learn more about the future of freshwater protection.
