Ginette Hemley is a globally recognized leader in wildlife conservation with more than 40 years of experience driving solutions to protect the world's most iconic species and ecosystems. As senior vice president for wildlife conservation at WWF-US, she oversees WWF's efforts to secure the future for some of the world's most threatened wildlife and critical landscapes, including the Eastern Himalayas and Greater Mekong regions of Asia, Southern Africa, and the Great Plains of the United States.
Under Hemley's leadership, WWF is implementing high-impact strategies for nature and wildlife conservation that focus on community-led approaches, securing and connecting key habitats and conservation areas, wildlife and biodiversity monitoring, and reducing poaching and illegal wildlife trade. Central to her work is cultivating broad partnerships to mobilize public, political, and financial support for long-term conservation.
An authority on endangered species and conservation policy, Hemley is a champion of forging strong, cross-sector collaborations that build momentum for conservation at every level. By mobilizing public will, influencing policy, and unlocking resources needed to sustain nature for generations to come, she has developed and delivered successful global recovery strategies for threatened wildlife.
Prior to this current role, she served as WWF's senior vice president for strategy and science, managing vice president for conservation, and director of TRAFFIC. Hemley holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the College of William and Mary, studied history and philosophy at Oxford University, and was an ELIAS Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Society for Organizational Learning.
Whether helping to bring tigers back from the brink, protecting the large landscapes that elephants need to survive, or supporting the resilience of local communities, Hemley's leadership continues to help redefine what is possible for wildlife and people around the world.
