Scott Sowa

Growing up near the shores of Lake Michigan helped shape Scott’s passion for freshwater conservation. From an early age, he saw how the health of nearby lands and waters intimately affected the lives and livelihoods of nearly everyone he knew. Scott joined TNC in 2008 as a Great Lakes Senior Aquatic Ecologist and became the Director of Science for the Michigan Chapter in 2012. In his current role as the Great Lakes Program Director, Scott helps coordinate a team of TNC staff from across the Great Lakes basin who are working with many partner agencies and organizations to develop and implement conservation strategies focused on Great Lakes fisheries, coastal systems and aquatic invasive species. 

Prior to joining TNC, Scott served as the Aquatic Resource Coordinator and then the Assistant Director of the Missouri Resource Assessment Partnership. This partnership of 17 state and federal natural resource management agencies is focused on landscape-scale assessment and planning to help inform and foster collaborative management efforts among the partners. Scott holds a BS in fisheries and wildlife from Michigan State University and an MS and PhD in fisheries and wildlife from the University of Missouri. In his spare time, Scott enjoys spending time with his family on or near the many lakes and rivers across the Great Lakes. He also is an avid outdoorsman and loves playing guitar.