Rebecca Benner

Rebecca Benner, Becca, is the Managing Director for Climate Programs for the Global Climate Change Team. She joined the team in October of 2021. Prior to this role, she was the director of conservation and science for TNC New York and before that the director of science for TNC North Carolina. In these roles, Becca focused on developing and refining conservation strategies, integrating science and knowledge into conservation approaches and managing diverse teams of conservation and science experts. From 2010 to 2012, Becca worked for the Inter-American Development Bank in their natural resources and agriculture division focusing on biodiversity and ecosystem services projects in Latin America. Becca started her career at TNC in 2008 as a senior scientist on the Global Science team, where she focused on water funds in Latin America, spending extensive time in Ecuador and Colombia.

Becca grew up in the Philippines, Ecuador, Bangladesh and India. She earned her Ph.D. at Stanford University in the Emmet Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources and got her B.A. in biology and environmental science from the University of Virginia. Becca lives with her husband and daughter in the Hudson Valley of New York, where they love hiking the Shawangunk Ridge.