Claude Gascon, PhD
ChairmanClaude is Director of Strategy and Operations at the World Bank's Global Environment Facility, which awards about $1B per year to environmental and conservation projects in over 140 countries. Claude was Chief Science Officer and Executive Vice-President at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, 2010-2015. He was with Conservation International from 1999 to 2010, most recently as Executive Vice-President for Field Programs. Claude serves as co-chair of the Amphibian Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission at IUCN. He is a visiting professor with the department of ecology at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia (National Amazon Research Institute) and a research associate at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution. Along with Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, Claude was awarded the prestigious Order of the Golden Ark by His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands for his outstanding contributions to nature conservation. A Canadian, Claude started his professional career in the Brazilian Amazon as project director and scientific coordinator for the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project. His research has resulted in more than 70 publications and three books.