Meet the Team

Katherine Skinner joined The Nature Conservancy as North Carolina state director in 1986, managing eight chapter staff. Under her leadership, the program has grown to 47 people working across the state. The chapter has the support of more than 32,000 members. Skinner established and grew endowment funds to support TNC North Carolina, which currently total more than $42 million.

Under Skinner’s leadership, TNC in North Carolina completed four successful multi-year capital campaigns, raising more than $200 million to advance conservation. She has also been a champion of public conservation funding; her support was crucial to the creation of the state’s Land and Water Fund.

TNC's North Carolina chapter has protected more than 735,000 acres across the state, most of which have been transferred into public ownership for all to enjoy, including iconic places such as Grandfather Mountain, Chimney Rock and Jockey’s Ridge state parks. TNC is currently working in three North Carolina landscapes: the Southern Appalachians, longleaf pine territory stretching from the Sandhills to Jacksonville, and Northeast North Carolina. Skinner also championed the creation of the chapter’s comprehensive freshwater program, which spans from the source to the sea.

Under her leadership, TNC pioneered land conservation around the state’s military bases leveraging Department of Defense funding—an approach that serves as a national model for preventing development encroachment onto military facilities. TNC also embarked on a groundbreaking climate change adaptation work on peatlands in eastern North Carolina; rewetting peatlands, which have been drained and ditched for centuries, turns peatlands into carbon sinks rather than carbon emitters. TNC has also been a leader in the use of controlled burning to restore longleaf pine and other fire-adapted North Carolina forests.

The chapter owns and manages 100,000 acres with controlled burning, invasive species removal and other stewardship activities. The chapter also holds and monitors conservation easements on other privately owned lands and works with several state agencies to steward publicly owned tracts.

Skinner received a bachelor’s degree at Salem College and a Master of Business Administration at Vanderbilt University. As a staffer for U.S. Congressman Walter Jones on his committee staff, she shepherded legislation through the House of Representatives and addressed budget and appropriations issues. She has received numerous conservation awards, including the Governor’s Conservationist of the Year.