SHERBURNE – Nearly two years after taking charge of Rogers Environmental Center in Sherburne, the Friends of Rogers not for profit group is seeking an executive director for the first time to move the organization forward.

Responsibilities of the executive director will be to oversee operations and finances of the center. Hopes of the organization are to become more active in grant applications, fundraising and tracking the available budget, said Friends of Rogers Board President Sharon Pelosi. The board will be advertising for the position nationally in the coming weeks.

“We feel like we’re in a transition process now,” said Pelosi, explaining that the organization is ready to take “the next step forward.” “We’re growing as an organization and we’re excited about it.”

Friends of Rogers, once funded by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, has been a landmark in Chenango County for more tha 45 years; but state funding cuts forced the DEC to cease funding to the education center at the end of 2010, despite opposition from locals who supported the center.