About The Nature Conservancy - Board Member Profiles

Board of Directors Member Profiles

Teresa Beck, Utah

Teresa served as President of American Stores Co. from 1998 to 1999. She also served as the company's chief financial officer from 1993 to 1998. Prior to her career with American Stores, Teresa served as an audit manager for Ernst & Young and as a controller of the Steiner Financial Corp. of San Francisco. Teresa serves on Boards for Lexmark International where she is Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee; Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc where she service on the Audit Committee; and Questar Corp. where she is Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee.

Teresa was named one of eight Outstanding Directors for 2004 by The Institute of Outstanding Directors, in recognition of her efforts to overhaul financial reporting at Textron, Inc. In 1998, she was included in Fortune Magazine's first-ever list of the 50 most powerful women in American business.

Joel E. Cohen, New York

Head of Laboratory of Populations and Professor: The Rockefeller and Columbia Universities, New York. Advisor: Golden Family Foundation. Trustee: Population Reference Bureau; Black Rock Forest Preserve; New York State Nature Conservancy. Project Co-Leader: Universal Basic and Secondary Education, American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Advisory Board: Science for Judges Project, Brooklyn Law School. Advisory Council: Educational Data and Policy Center. Director: Black Rock Forest Consortium. Scientific Advisory Board: Institute for Scientific Interchange, Torino, Italy. Executive Committee: Committee on Science, Technology and Law, National Research Council. Former Trustee and Vice-Chair of the Board: Russell Sage Foundation. Former Councilor: National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Former Governing Board Member: National Research Council.

Gordon Crawford, California

Senior Vice President: Capital Research and Management Company. Director: Capital Group Companies. Chairman: Southern California Public Radio. Vice Chairman and Director: Museum of Television and Radio.

Gretchen C. Daily, California

Gretchen C. Daily is Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences; Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment; Director of the Center for Conservation Biology; and Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, at Stanford University. She is also Chair of The Natural Capital Project, a partnership among TNC, WWF, and Stanford, working to make conservation economically attractive and commonplace. Her recent honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2003) and the US National Academy of Sciences (2005).

Steven A. Denning, Connecticut

Steve is the Chairman of General Atlantic LLC, a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. He is actively involved in a number of private and public information technology companies in the United States, Europe, and Asia, including Eclipsys Corporation, Hewitt Associates, IHS, Inc., and Genpact. He is also a director of The Thomson Corporation. He is a member of The Board of Trustees of Stanford University, the American Museum of Natural History, and The Brookings Institute, and the Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University. He is Chairman of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Board and Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Parks Conservation Association. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the McKinsey Investment Office Advisory Council, the Board of Governors of the Partnership for Public Service, and a Trustee of the Connecticut Science Center. He was formerly a member of the Board of Trustees for the Georgia Tech Foundation, The Nature Conservancy (New York and Wyoming), and the Cancer Research Institute.

Steve joined General Atlantic after working with McKinsey & Company. He received an MBA from Stanford Business. Prior to business school, Mr. Denning served six years in the U.S Navy, where he also obtained an MS degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He received a BS from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Carol E. Dinkins, Texas

Senior Partner: Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. Distinguished Environmental Visiting Lecturer: University of Colorado College of Law. Chair, Board of Editors: American Bar Association Journal. Immediate Past Chair: Board of Directors, The Nature Conservancy; Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary, American Bar Association. Board Member: RESOLVE, Inc. Trustee and Executive Committee (Legal Advisor): Houston Museum of Natural Science. Delegate and Member of Executive Committee: American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. Member: Marine Protected Area Federal Advisory Committee. Former Director: Oryx Energy Company. Former Chair: Governor Bush’s Conservation Task Force (2000). Former U.S. Assistant Attorney General: Land and Natural Resources Division. Former U.S. Deputy Attorney General. Former Member: Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.

Harry Groome, Pennsylvania and the Adirondacks

Chairman: The Adirondack Nature Conservancy & Land Trust. Emeritus Trustee and Former Chairman: Pennsylvania Chapter, The Nature Conservancy. Director: The Atlantic Salmon Federation (US). Former Chairman: SmithKline Beecham Consumer HealthCare. Former Director: Alergan, Inc.; The BOC Group; Royal Doulton; SmithKline Beecham plc; Walsh International. Former Trustee: The Academy of Natural Sciences (Philadelphia).

Roberto Hernández-Ramírez, Mexico

Chairman: Banco Nacional de Mexico. Chairman of the Board of Trustees: Nacional Museum of Arts. Honorary Chairman: Museum of the Arts of Veracruz. Board Member: Citigroup Inc., Grupo Financiero Banamex, Grupo Televisa, Ingenieros Asociados (ICA), Grupo Modelo, Müenchener de México, Grupo Maseca, Universidad de las Americas. Member: Mexican Businessmen Council, Council of the Universidad de Veracruz, Council for Mexico City's Historic Downtown (Patronato del Centro Histórico, A.C.) International Advisory Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Former Chairman: Mexican Stock Exchange, Mexican Banking Association, Universidad Iberoamericana. Former Member: Government Board of the Central Bank and Bancomext the Mexican Eximbank, Mexican Investment Board, Entrepreneurial Coordination Council (C.C.E.).

Frank E. Loy, Washington, DC

Former under secretary of state for global affairs from 1998 to 2001, Loy coordinated U.S. foreign relations on issues such as the environment, the promotion of democracy, human rights, refugees and humanitarian affairs and counter-narcotics. In this position he served as the chief U.S. negotiator for climate change, as well as for treaties on trade in genetically-modified agricultural products.

From 1981-1995, Loy was president of the German Marshall Fund, a foundation focused on American and European political, economic and environmental relations. In addition, he was a founding director of The Institute of International Economics and of the Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe. He served in the Department of State from 1979-1981 as the director of the Bureau of Refugee Programs and from 1965-1970 as the deputy assistant secretary for economic affairs. Loy also spent numerous years in the business community. He was senior vice-president for international affairs of Pan American Airlines, practiced corporate law with the Los Angeles firm of O’Melveny & Myers, and has served on numerous corporate boards of directors.

Thomas S. Middleton, New York

Senior Managing Director of the Blackstone Group specializing in mergers and acquisitions in the communications industry. Prior to joining Blackstone he was Vice Chairman of Investment Banking and Head of the Telecom Group at Merrill Lynch. Tom also worked in mergers and acquisitions at Salomon Brothers and Kidder, Peabody. Tom is a Trustee and Former Chairman of the New York State Board of The Nature Conservancy. He's a Board member of the United Way of Pelham and The Pelham Arts Center. He serves on the Advisory Board of The Picture House, Huguenot Memorial Church, and Northwestern University Parents Fund.

Roger Milliken, Jr., Maine

President: Baskahegan Company. Trustee: Maine Chapter, The Nature Conservancy. Board Member: Land for Maine’s Future Board. Advisory Board: OSI Northern Forests Protection Fund. Chair: Advisory Committee to the Forest Conservation Program of the Manomet Center for Conservation Science. Co-Founder and Former Chair: Maine Forest Biodiversity Project. Former Chair: Maine Forest Products Council.

James C. Morgan, California

Chairman of the Board, Applied Materials, Inc., and former CEO (1977-2003). Applied is a global leader in nanotechnology manufacturing solutions for semiconductor, flat panel, and alternative energy products. Co-Chair, Asia-Pacific Council and Trustee, California Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Vice Chairman, The President's Export Council. Former Co-Chairman, Japan-Western U.S. Association; member of the U.S.-Japan Private Sector Government Commission and Commission on U.S.-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy. Advisor to the Center for Science, Technology, and Society. Honors: Awarded National Medal of Technology by President Clinton; International Citizen of the Year, World Forum of Silicon Valley; National Friendship Award, People’s Republic of China; Global Humanitarian Award, The Tech Museum of Innovation; Global Pioneer Award, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI); and the Spirit of Silicon Valley Lifetime Achievement Award from the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Co-authored the book, “Cracking the Japanese Market: Strategies for Success in the New Global Economy”. Holds a BSME and MBA from Cornell University.

John P. Morgridge, California

Chairman of the Board of Directors: The Nature Conservancy. Chairman Emeritus: Cisco Systems, Inc. Director: The American Leadership Forum of Silicon Valley; CARE; Interplast, Inc.; TOSA Foundation; Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Professor: Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Co-Founder: TOSA Foundation. Advisory Council: Information Technology Advisory Board, The Nature Conservancy; Stanford Business School; 21st Century Education Board. Former President: Grid, Inc. Former Vice President of Marketing: Stratus Computers.

William W. Murdoch, California

Charles A. Storke II Professor of Ecology: University of California–Santa Barbara. Founding Director: National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, National Science Foundation. Recipient: Guggenheim Fellow; MacArthur Award, Ecological Society of America; President’s Award, American Society of Naturalists. Elected: American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Robert J. Portman, Ohio

Rob has served at the highest levels of the United States government. He has been a legislative leader in Congress, the nation’s top international trade negotiator and the lead Administration official setting budget and regulatory policy. He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1993. In Congress, he served as chair of the House Republican Leadership, a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee and vice chairman of the House Budget Committee.

In 2005 he was nominated by President Bush to serve in the Cabinet as the US Trade Representative. He worked with Congress to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement and the Bahrain FTA. Rob launched two new trade agreements with Korea and Malaysia, and successfully negotiated agreements with Peru, Oman and Colombia. In his second and most recent Cabinet position, as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Rob instilled fiscal discipline, proposing a balanced budget and instituting greater transparency in government spending. Under his leadership, OMB also launched an unprecedented effort to publish a database of all Congressional earmarks.

From 1984 to 1986, Rob practiced international trade law as an associate at the Washington DC law firm of Patton, Boggs. He also served in the George H.W. Bush Administration as Associate Counsel to the President, and later as Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, from 1989 to 1991.

John P. Sall, North Carolina

Executive Vice President, Director and Co-founder: SAS Institute. Governor's Advisory Commission: North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences. Campaign Steering Committee and PAMS Chair: NC State University Campaign. Founder and Trustee: Cary Academy; Sall Family Foundation.

Cristián Samper, Washington DC (Board Member Elect - Effective July 17, 2008)

Cristián has been the Director of the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution since 2003, where he is responsible for the largest natural history collection in the world, hosts more than 6 million visitors each year and leads research programs in biology, geology and anthropology. A scientist and an international authority on conservation biology and environmental policy, he has dedicated the majority of his career to understanding and protecting Earth’s most precious ecosystems. Cristián was raised in Colombia, where he studied biology at the Universidad de Los Andes and then went on to get his PhD in biology from Harvard University. In addition to serving as the Colombian government’s chief science advisor for biodiversity, Samper was the founder and first director of the Von Humboldt Institute, the national biodiversity research institute of Colombia. In 2001, his devotion to Colombia’s ecological preservation earned him the country’s National Medal of the Environment. Cristián also served as chairman of the Subsidiary Body of Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, a role in which Samper helped to develop a global strategy for plant conservation. He was instrumental in the launch of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a project to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. He has served as Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and is a member of the boards of the American Association of Museums and the Center for International Forest Research.

Director: National Museum of Natural History. Board member: American Association of Museums; Center for International Forest Research (CIFOR). Advisory Board: UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Former Chair: Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Former Vice-Chair: IUCN Species Survival Commission. Panel member: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Founder: Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, Colombia.

Muneer A. Satter, Illinois

Satter is a Managing Director at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the Principal Investment Area and Global Head of the Mezzanine Group. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1988, moved to London in 1992 to co-head the firm’s merchant banking group in Europe, and was promoted as Partner and Managing Director in 1996. He is Co-Chairman of the Board of Diveo Broadband Networks, Inc., and serves on the Boards of CCC Information Services Group, Inc. and Grupo Clarin, S.A. Satter received a B.A. from Northwestern University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He is Co-Chairman of the Board for Room-to-Read, an international youth literacy organization based in San Francisco that serves youth in the Asia/Pacific region.

Christine M. Scott, Montana

Management Board Member: Northern Great Plains Joint Venture. Board Member: Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources; Montana Community Foundation, Yellowstone Region. Trustee: Montana Chapter, The Nature Conservancy. Advisor: Foundation for Community Vitality.

Thomas J. Tierney, Massachusetts

Chairman and Co-founder, The Bridgespan Group, Inc. Tom is the former Chief Executive Officer of Bain & Company and has authored and contributed to numerous publications on a variety of topics related to nonprofit leadership. Tom received his MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from University of California at Davis. Board member: National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, Overseer: Hoover Institution; Corporation Member: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Director: eBay, Incorporated. Past Board Member: United Way of the Bay Area, United Way of Massachusetts Bay, The Committee for Economic Development, Catholic Charities, The California Nature Conservancy, WGBH, and The National Academies.

Georgia Welles, Ohio

Board Member: The Nature Conservancy. Trustee Emeritus and Former Chair: Global Priorities Committee, Ohio Chapter TNC. Chair, Honorary Trustee and Member of the Art Committee: Apollo Society, Toledo Museum of Art. Trustee: Vero Beach Museum of Art. Former Executive Committee Member: Ohio Arts Council. Trustee: Endowment Fund, Maumee Valley Country Day School. Former President of Board: National Association of Independent Schools. Founding Chair: NAIS Trustee committee. Former Trustee Member: St Georges School, Newport, R.I. Vice-President: Cricket Island Foundation.

Shirley Young, New York and Asia-Pacific

President: Shirley Young Associates, L.L.C. Senior Advisor: General Motors Corporation. Chair: Committee of 100 Cultural Institute. Board Member (for-profit): TeleTech Holdings Inc.; Board Member (nonprofit): Interlochen Center of the Arts. Governor: Committee of 100.