Director, Colorado Nature Conservancy

Carlos E. Fernandez, State Director, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado

Carlos Fernandez is the State Director for The Nature Conservancy in Colorado. Carlos joined the Colorado Chapter in January 2015 and leads a staff of 62 employees. In this role, Carlos works closely with the Colorado Chapter’s Board of Trustees as well as partner organizations, agencies, elected officials and other key decision-makers to advance conservation in Colorado and around the world. 

Prior to taking on the position as Colorado State Director, Carlos served as the Conservancy’s Southern Andes Conservation Program Strategies Manager and was based in Bariloche, Argentina. He led the Patagonia team in their efforts to safeguard the grasslands through private lands conservation, sustainable sheep ranching initiatives and creating and strengthening public protected areas. Prior to that role, he spent six years based in Arlington, Virginia working as the Conservancy’s Senior Foreign Legal Advisor for South America.

Carlos is a native of Argentina and earned his law degree from Argentina’s Mendoza University before completing a graduate law degree at Georgetown University. He worked at international law firms in Buenos Aires and Washington, DC, specializing in corporate and financial transactions before joining the Conservancy. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Though Carlos first fell in love with hiking, biking and fly-fishing in Patagonia as a child, he continues to spend his free time enjoying the nature surrounding him wherever he goes. Fly fishing is his favorite pastime whether in the Western Rockies or the Argentine Andes. Carlos is excited to raise his baby daughter, Sophia, in Colorado and share his love of the outdoors.

The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working to make a positive impact around the world in more than 35 countries and all 50 United States. Founded in 1951, the mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. With the support of more than 1 million members we have protected over 119 million acres of land around the world. In Colorado, the Conservancy has protected nearly 1 million acres of land and restored over 1,000 river miles with the support of more than 30,000 in-state members.

Richard Heppe to introduce

Secretary: Gail Pederson, gail.pederson@tnc.org