Nature Conservancy Welcomes New Board Members

Additions include former US trade representative Rob Portman

ARLINGTON, VA — November 16, 2007 — Today, The Nature Conservancy announced the addition of four new members to its Board of Directors.

The four new board members are experienced and knowledgeable individuals, and will help uphold the organization’s dedication to good governance and rigorous oversight. Rob Portman, former United States trade representative, will provide the Board with crucial legislative and executive policy insight. Three of the four additions, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Tierney, and Steven Denning, have had lengthy, illustrious careers in the financial industry and the non-profit sector. All share a longtime dedication to The Nature Conservancy’s mission of preserving ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.

“Each of these new board members possess valuable knowledge and experience that enable them to provide essential oversight and invaluable counsel in our drive for tangible, lasting conservation results around the world,” said Stephanie Meeks, acting President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “The Conservancy is honored to have these accomplished leaders serve the organization as volunteer leaders.”

Brief biographies follow:

Rob Portman

Portman brings to the Board years of political experience at the federal level, most recently as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, a Cabinet-level office and the largest within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. He is a longtime supporter of the conservation of the world’s most imperiled places. As a member of Congress, Portman authored the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA). To date, the TFCA has enabled 11 historic debt-for-nature swaps, helping to protect approximately 41 million acres of tropical forest while providing $163 million to developing countries. While serving as U.S. Trade Representative, Portman pushed for environmental provisions in trade agreements, which resulted in the inclusion of environmental funding in Central American Free Trade Agreement and stronger restrictions on illegal logging in Southeast Asia.

Thomas S. Middleton

Middleton joined the Board of Directors in October after serving as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Conservancy’s New York chapter. Middleton is a senior managing director of The Blackstone Group, where he is a member of the firm’s Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory Group. In this position, he is responsible for a variety of major corporate transactions in the communications industry. Middleton also serves on the boards of the United Way of Pelham, the Picture House film center and the National Advisory Council of Northwestern University’s School of Communication.

Middleton serves on the Finance Committee.

Thomas J. Tierney

A recognized leader in the non-profit sector, former Conservancy California chapter trustee Tierney joined the Board in October 2007. Tierney previously served on the Conservancy’s Governance Advisory Council, which consisted of independent experts consulting the Board of Directors on best practices for governance in an innovative and highly decentralized global nonprofit organization. In addition to serving on a number of non-profit boards and advisory groups, Tierney is the chairman and co-founder of the Bridgespan Group, an independent non-profit organization providing management consulting and recruiting services to foundations and other non-profits. He is the former chief executive of Bain & Company, a global business consulting firm.

Tierney serves on the Governance, Nominating, and Human Resources Committee.

Steven A. Denning

A former trustee for The Nature Conservancy’s New York and Wyoming state chapters, Denning is set to join the Board in January 2008. In addition to his work with the Conservancy, Denning serves on the Board of Trustees of Stanford University, the American Museum of Natural History, the Brookings Institute, and the Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University. He is also Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Parks Conservation Association, and a member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Board, the Council on Foreign Relations, the McKinsey Investment Office Advisory Council, and the Board of Governors of the Partnership for Public Service. Currently, Denning is the Chairman of General Atlantic LLC, a private equity investment firm with $15 billion under management.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.