Dr. Catherine (Cat) Burns Appointed as Managing Director to Advance Impact Investing and Sustainable Finance

Catherine Burns, PhD, has been named Managing Director of The Nature Conservancy’s impact investing and sustainable finance team, NatureVest.

Cat joined TNC in 2010 and has held increasingly strategic roles with NatureVest and TNC’s California and North Carolina chapters. In recent years, Cat led the development of NatureVest’s Impact Management Team, building capacity and expertise to ensure measurable outcomes aligned with TNC’s 2030 conservation and climate goals. Cat has also served as Interim Managing Director for the past eight months, guiding the team through a period of strategic growth and collaboration.

As Managing Director, Cat will oversee NatureVest’s teams that work to structure, close and implement impact investments across a range of structures, including private equity, sovereign debt, and other mechanisms.  Cat applies her deep conservation science background and market-facing experience to drive market solutions for climate action and nature protection.

“Now more than ever, the private sector must play an active role in supporting the transition to a more sustainable future,” said Burns. “I’m honored to lead this team of talented, dedicated, and strategic individuals working at the forefront of impact investing and other market-based solutions to deliver solutions that generate environmental, social, and financial returns.”

Since 2014, NatureVest’s portfolio has grown to represent USD $4 billion in committed impact capital, with projects spanning four continents and covering a variety of asset types and financial structures. These projects focus on delivering impact alongside financial returns in the realms of forestry and carbon, water and agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, infrastructure and renewable energy, and conservation tourism, and on creating sovereign debt solutions that enable countries to stabilize their debt while creating impact on a national scale.