Kim Young-Overton
Director of Conservation, Africa
Zambia, Africa
Kim Young-Overton Kim Young-Overton is The Nature Conservancy’s Director of Conservation in Africa. © Photomagic Studio
Areas of Expertise
landscape-scale conservation, wildlife research, monitoring, management
Media Contact
media@tnc.orgBiography
Kim Young-Overton is The Nature Conservancy’s Director of Conservation in Africa, leading a team working across 21 countries on the continent to tackle the twin crises of biodiversity loss and the climate emergency. With over 25 years of experience in conservation, she brings to TNC’s people-centered approach an emphasis on nature, scientific rigor and system-scale transformation.
Under Kim’s leadership, TNC evolved its conservation direction in Africa from discrete site-based projects to integrated, trans-frontier programs designed within a unified strategic framework with a multi-million-dollar budget. She steers an interdisciplinary cohort of practitioners and scientists to implement detailed plans under this framework, to measure ecological and social impacts, and to adaptively manage efforts and investments for maximum conservation benefit. She has expanded joint work with other teams within the global organizational and established herself a thought leader on system-scale conservation action.
Having excelled at leading complex, sprawling partnerships, Kim supports her team to collaborate effectively with local organizations, communities, government, industry and other stakeholders. She represents TNC Africa in major regional and global forums to advance knowledge sharing and to deepen coordination within the conservation and development communities.
Prior to TNC, Kim served as a program director at global conservation organization Panthera where she built a thriving multi-stakeholder management and research program across the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA). The world’s largest terrestrial trans-frontier conservation landscape, KAZA extends over five nations in sub-Saharan Africa.
Kim earned her PhD in Zoology from the University of Pretoria in addition to a Master of Philosophy earned at Waikato University, New Zealand, and a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and diploma in Applied Science—Conservation and Ecology—from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand. Based largely in Zambia, Kim has a passion for wildlife, especially large mammals including elephants and big cats, and loves spending as much time in the wild as possible.
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