Elizabeth Kitchens

Elizabeth Kitchens started her career with The Nature Conservancy as a member of TNC’s Global Legal Department, where she served as senior attorney and then associate general counsel for the Western Division. In 2016, Elizabeth became Utah’s director of conservation and later associate state director. Elizabeth was selected as the conservation manager for the Western U.S. and Canada Division in October 2021 and led the division’s efforts to set division-level 2030 goals and the division’s first-ever suite of conservation priorities. She was hired as the new state director for the Utah chapter in January 2024, as the chapter began celebrating its 40^th year of collaborative conservation.

In her legal career at TNC, Elizabeth served as lead attorney on numerous projects across the West, assisting the Colorado River Program and the Argentina Program in their nascent years, and as lead attorney for the landmark $130 million Plum Creek “Checkerboards” land transaction in Montana and Washington completed in 2015. Elizabeth’s experience in Utah as conservation director prepared her well for the state director role, as she oversaw the chapter’s land and water conservation and stewardship programs, strengthened the chapter’s water policy and overall government relations team, and helped manage overall business operations. Elizabeth has also served as interim state director for the Wyoming and Alaska chapters.