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Dr. Elizabeth Gray serves as ����APP’s Chief Executive Officer. In this role Elizabeth leads ����APP towards its vision of a future where birds thrive. Elizabeth is a champion of science-based conservation and renowned expert in the field of global conservation and ����APP change. Elizabeth joined ����APP in March 2021 as President and Chief Conservation Officer; she was named Chief Executive Officer later that same year. She is the first woman since ����APP’s founding in 1905 to hold the role. She leads more than 700 staff working together across the Americas to alter the course of ����APP change and habitat loss. Since her arrival, she has led the completion of a landmark $826 million campaign, the release of the groundbreaking Migratory Bird Explorer, and the organization’s unifying Flight Plan strategy which underscores ����APP’s commitment to a hemispheric approach to conservation. Under Elizabeth’s leadership, ����APP has elevated Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB) as a driver of the organization’s work across the Americas, codified in a set of EDIB Conservation Principles.

Prior to joining ����APP, she most recently served as the Global Managing Director of The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Climate Change program. Under her leadership, TNC completed the $130 million Cumberland Forest Impact Investment Fund, founded Washington, D.C.’s, first urban conservation program, and launched ����APP adaptation and natural ����APP solutions across North America. Trained as an ornithologist, she has spent 30+ years as a dedicated conservationist, spending considerable time in the field nationally and abroad. Elizabeth has been a leader on equity issues throughout her career, including empowering the next generation of conservation leaders through a young professional network and youth advocacy program. She has also been a global spokesperson for conservation and ����APP issues, speaking at COP events for over a decade. Elizabeth is a proven fundraiser of major gifts, including securing $100 million from the Bezos Earth Fund for TNC's ����APP work. She holds a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Washington and an AB with highest honors in psychology from Harvard University.