Josh Donlan

Josh leads the organization by building interdisciplinary teams to tackle problems in novel ways. Trained as a scientist, Josh holds a PhD from Cornell University and an MA from University of California. He has worked on environmental issues in over a dozen countries, including the management of invasive species, environmental restoration, ecological history, and developing financial and incentive instruments for environmental conservation. Josh has been recognized internationally for his contributions and innovations. He is currently a senior Fulbright Fellow, and has held fellowships with the Guggenheim Foundation, Alcoa Foundation, Kinship Foundation, Switzer Foundation, Environmental Leadership Program, and the Copeland Fellowship in Global Sustainability at Amherst College. He was also selected as finalist in the Marketplace on Innovative Financial Solutions for Development Competition sponsored by the Gates Foundation, World Bank, and Agence Française de Développement. Josh was highlighted in New York Times Magazine’s Big Ideas of 2005 and named to the list of “25 Saving the Planet” by Outside Magazine in 2005. Josh is a Technical Expert for the United Nations Environment Programme—Convention on Migratory Species Secretariat, and co-chaired the committee for recommendations for the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity from the UNESCO International Year of Biodiversity Science Policy Conference in 2010. His efforts currently focus on conservation finance, environmental risk management, incentive-based programs, environmental markets, and impact investing.

Josh has published over 80 scientific and public articles on environmental topics, including those receiving attention in the mainstream media, such as the Financial Times, The Economist, ABC Good Morning America, the BBC, and CNN with Lou Dobbs. Josh was included in Houghton Mifflin’s The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2008. Josh served as the Chief Scientist for Project Isabela in Galápagos Islands, the world’s largest island restoration project. He also played a pivotal role in building the NGO Island Conservation, whose mission is to prevent extinctions by removing invasive species from islands, from a five-person operation to a multi-million dollar organization that now works in over a dozen countries. Josh currently serves as a key advisor to the Chilean and Argentinean governments on the restoration of Tierra del Fuego. Josh co-chairs the Innovative Finance Working group of the Conservation Finance Alliance, and serves on the advisory board of TBC Capital. He has been invited to talk about biodiversity conservation and nature to over 50 audiences in sixteen countries over the past five years. Josh resides in Park City, Utah.