Marie McCormick

Marie serves as the executive director of the Friends of the Rouge whose mission is to restore, protect and enhance the Rouge watershed through education, collaboration and stewardship. 

McCormick guides the organization with over 12 years in non-profit leadership positions focusing on strategic planning implementation, establishing solid organizational policies, modernizing programming, advancing internal DEIJ practices, and securing the organization’s fiscal stability. 

In addition to her Executive leadership role, Marie also serves in various voluntary leadership positions. At the state level, she sits on the Michigan Environmental Council’s board as a member group representative. She chairs the Rouge River Advisory Council, which oversees the delisting of the Rouge Watershed as an Area of Concern. She also serves an executive committee member of the Sustainable Business Network of Detroit. On a hyper-local level, Marie is an active member of the Rotary Club of Plymouth and serves on Plymouth Pollinators, which increases pollinator habitats in her local hometown. These opportunities have allowed Marie to glean important perspective into local and regional water quality issues, climate change resiliency, and water infrastructure challenges.

Before moving to Plymouth, Marie cut her teeth as director of the Oak Creek Watershed Council, as a plant and seed technician, and as a garden program supervisor, all in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Rounding out Marie’s experience are a Bachelor’s degree in English from Aquinas College and a Master’s degree in Sustainability studies from Northern Arizona University, as well as an Executive Certificate in Transformational Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Notre Dame.

When Marie isn’t working, you will find her enjoying a walk in the woods along the Rouge with her husband and two young children, practicing yoga and enthusiastically pulling weeds in her gardens.