Carl McGuinness
Acting New Zealand Country Director
Wellington, New Zealand
Carl McGuinness Acting Country Director of The Nature Conservancy in New Zealand © TNC
Areas of Expertise
Strategy, Organizational Design, Conservation, Nature-based Solutions, Conservation Financing
Biography
Carl is the acting country director of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in New Zealand.
Most recently, Carl led the establishment of the New Zealand conservation program, becoming conservation director in 2019 and growing the program and team to where it is today. He also covered the External Affairs/Government Relationships portfolio for the country. Carl has been a member of a number of TNC global committees and working groups, as well as spending part of his time as the TNC India program advisor since 2022.
Prior to joining TNC in January 2018, Carl came from an extensive 20-year career in conservation with the New Zealand government. In his time there, he led a variety of multi-disciplinary teams distributed across the country and managed a range of functional areas, including conservation operations, science, visitor assets, strategy, partner relationships and organizational design. He was also heavily involved with training and development of organizational culture, systems and leadership development programs.
Originally trained as an invertebrate ecologist, Carl also has qualifications in statistics, plant health and public administration.