World Wildlife Fund

About Kai Robertson:

Exploring ways to sustainably manage the use of 55 percent of the planet’s habitable land (and about 70 percent of its freshwater) is a formidable task. As WWF’s director of agriculture, Kai gladly takes it on. She spends her days with colleagues and partners - from conservation and business - developing strategies that help the food industry to be more conservation friendly and at the same time derive value from better growing practices.

Kai’s work with food and beverage companies worldwide enables them to develop policies and practices that make better use of the natural resources they count on – not just for the sake of the planet but for the continued success of their own businesses. She helps companies to understand their impact on the environment and leverage that understanding to address sustainability issues. Kai also oversees key partnerships and explores the links between U.S. companies and WWF's priority ecoregions to develop strategic engagement strategies. “It’s all about finding the balance between social, economic and environmental issues.”

An avid hiker and life-long soccer player, Kai believes in the power of teamwork both on and off the field. She came to WWF from Conservation International's Center for Environmental Leadership in Business, where she played a lead role in identifying and promoting the adoption of industry-wide principles and activities supporting sustainable agriculture and marine conservation. Kai’s background in business and marketing (including nearly a decade with the leading supermarket trade association) gives her a unique view of conservation: “My target audience isn’t trees and rivers. We need to get through to the people who need those trees and rivers to survive – and that’s all of us.”