Defenders of Wildlife’s Board of Directors is made up of professionals from all walks of life—academic, scientific, legal, financial and business—who share a common love for our nation's wildlife and natural heritage. Their combined experience and dedication play an extremely important role in charting the future of Defenders and the wildlife conservation movement.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SUSAN S. ALEXANDER is an accomplished global executive with over 30 years of experience as a senior corporate leader and chief human resources officer for Sotheby’s, a premier global auction house with over $2 billion in revenue. Alexander has extensive strategic planning, crisis management and corporate governance experience. She is a Stanford University Distinguished Careers Institute Fellow, a coach for The Dalai Lama Fellows, and serves on the board of the YMCA of Greater New York City. She has a B.A. from Indiana University and an M.B.A. from the University of Cincinnati.
MITRA AMESTOY has over 20 years of leadership in corporate marketing and creative campaigns, developing insight-driven integrated marketing campaigns, award-winning original content, and differentiated brand positioning for renowned global brands. She is the executive creative director for Lindblad Expeditions since 2021. Prior to Lindblad, Amestoy led Sotheby's award-winning global digital content strategy as senior vice president, head of content and creative services. Amestoy has a bachelor’s degree in English/Creative Writing from Ohio University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa.
SYLVIA BACA spent 17 years in federal, state and local government leadership and eight years in the private sector. Baca served as deputy assistant secretary at Department of the Interior from 2009 to 2012 and was assistant secretary from 1995 to 2001. Baca has a master's degree in public administration and finance from the University of New Mexico. She received advanced executive management training at the University of Cambridge, Rice University and Stanford University.
WHITFIELD BAILEY is an executive at Volunteer Lumber Sales, Inc., a company that distributes fire-retardant shingles, crating lumber, cedar shakes and other wood products. Bailey is on the boards of the Knoxville Opera, the Community School of the Arts, the Knox Youth Sport organization and the AHB Foundation. He and his wife are passionate about protecting wildlife for their children and future generations to enjoy and believe in the intrinsic value of protecting species for species’ sake.
DONALD BARRY has spent more than 40 years working on wildlife and public lands conservation issues as a senior government official and a leader in the conservation community. He served as a career staff attorney and chief counsel for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and as the assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, overseeing the policies and programs of the National Park Service and FWS. He then worked at nonprofit conservation organizations, holding executive leadership positions at the World Wildlife Fund, The Wilderness Society, Environmental Defense Fund and Defenders of Wildlife, where he was senior vice president for conservation programs until his retirement in 2016.
DINAH BEAR is an attorney and consultant specializing in federal environmental law and Southwest border issues. She spent 25 years at the Council on Environmental Quality, including 23 as general counsel. She has chaired committees on environmental law for the American Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar Association. She has been recognized with the Chairman’s Award from the Natural Resources Council of America, the Distinguished Service Award from the Sierra Club and the award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy from the American Bar Association. Bear was awarded the Spirit of Defenders Award for Public Service by Defenders of Wildlife’s board of directors in 2018 and previously served on its board from 2009 to 2018. She is on the board of Humane Borders and on the advisory committee of the Center for International Environmental Law. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and graduated from the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law.
ANDREW BOWMAN is president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife. Prior to Defenders, he led the Land Trust Alliance as the president and CEO and also served as the program director for the environment at the Doris Duke Charitable Trust. Bowman practiced law in Oregon for Defenders and at the law firm Perkins Coie LLP. He earned a master's degree in city and regional planning from the University of California at Berkeley as well as a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He received a Master of Law degree in environmental and natural resources law from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College.
MARK CAYLOR is a retired aerospace executive, having served most recently as president of the Mission Systems sector of Northrop Grumman. He also held leadership roles in finance, strategy, and technology during his career. Caylor has long had a passion for nature and ecology, with particular interest in conserving open space and preserving habitat in the U.S. Caylor has an M.B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles and engineering degrees from California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
JOHN A. DONOVAN spent his career as a trial lawyer, handling major domestic and international cases. He was a partner in Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom until 2011, when he retired from Skadden and continued practice on his own on a reduced scale. He has served on several charitable boards including Glacier National Park Conservancy, where he served as board chair. Donovan has an abiding interest in supporting wilderness education, in the hope that we can raise the next generation of committed stewards for our special wild places. For 15 years, Donovan and his wife Dana have run a Wilderness Leadership Program for high school seniors out of their Montana home. He received his A.B. degree from Harvard, and his J.D. from Fordham University.
ROBERT L. FISCHMAN is a distinguished scholar whose articles have won recognition as among the most influential in environmental law. He writes about public land management, endangered species recovery, federalism, adaptive conservation, climate change and environmental impact analysis. At the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Fischman teaches environmental law, administrative law, public natural resources law, water law, wildlife law. Fischman received his A.B. degree from Princeton University and both his M.S. and J.D. degrees from the University of Michigan.
CAROLINE D. GABEL is a past chair of Defenders’ board of directors. She is president and CEO of The Shared Earth Foundation, which supports endangered species, habitat protection and biodiversity. She spent 30 years on the staffs of members of Congress from Minnesota and on the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Transportation. A licensed pilot and avid traveler, Gabel completed her undergraduate studies at Wellesley College and received an M.A. in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania.
LINDA HANAUER is a seasoned financial and strategic executive with over 25 years of experience in C-suite roles – including CEO, CFO, COO and CAO – across private family investment offices, private equity firms and venture capital organizations. She has overseen and transformed core functions spanning finance, investment strategy, governance, operations and compliance, and structured innovative solutions to complex challenges. Her financial leadership includes key roles at Ridgeleigh Management Company, Paine Schwartz Partners and Venrock. Hanauer is a founding board member of the Private Equity CFO Association and previously served on the Board of CityStep, a youth empowerment organization. She has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Adelphi University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
ANITA KEEFE is the president of the Keefe Family Foundation, which supports local, national and international wildlife conservation and animal welfare organizations. She is also vice president of the Alpha/Omega Charitable Foundation, which focuses its funding on environmental, educational and religious institutions. She served on the board of trustees and council of the Wildlife Conservation Society. A long- time resident of Greenwich, Connecticut, Keefe is chairman of the board of the Greenwich Riding and Trails Association. She is passionate about wolves and bears and has supported Defenders’ coexistence work for the past seven years.
ANN J. MORGAN has been a leader in the nonprofit sector as well as in federal and state government and private industry for over 30 years. Her career focused on natural resource management and conservation, and she helped protect and conserve millions of acres across the West. Morgan holds a B.S. in political economy of natural resources from the University of California Berkeley and an M.B.A. from Golden Gate University.
JAIME A. PINKHAM has been an advocate for Tribal sovereignty, self-determination and treaty rights for over three decades. He is currently the senior advisor for the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, where he also was the former executive director. Pinkham served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works from 2021 to 2025. He also served in leadership at the Bush Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota and was selected twice to the Nez Perce Tribal Council. He received a forestry degree from Oregon State University.
TERRY L. ROOT is senior fellow emerita of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. She primarily researches how wild animals and plants are changing because of climate change, with a focus on the escalating concerns of a mass extinction of species due to warming. Dr. Root was a lead author for the Third (2001) and Fourth (2007) Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change and a review editor for the Fifth (2014) Assessment Report. In 2007, the IPCC was co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Vice President Al Gore. Dr. Root is a science advisor to Defenders of Wildlife, American Wind and Wildlife Institute, Alliance for Climate Education, and Birds Caribbean, to name a few.
SHERYL SACHS is vice president of The Grey Street Foundation and president of Blackfriars Aviation. She serves on the executive board of AJC Westchester/Fairfield region. A Chicago native, Sachs is a certified public accountant with a B.S. in chemistry and an M.S. in accountancy, both from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
PAUL SELVA grew up on the island of Terceira in the Azores, Portugal. The son of career civil servants with the United States Air Force, Paul graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He holds Master of Science degrees from Abilene Christian University in Management and Human Relations and Auburn University in Political Science. Paul retired from the United States Air Force in July of 2019 after 39 years of service. He is an aviator whose operational assignments culminated with command of Air Mobility Command and subsequently United States Transportation Command. Immediately prior to his retirement, Paul served as the tenth Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is currently an advisor to the Sierra Nevada Corporation and Sierra Space, serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Maersk Lines Limited, and is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Aerospace Corporation. He is a co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of DEFCON-AI, a defense-oriented company developing AI-driven advanced simulation software for Department of Defense users. Paul is an advisor to the Gail Halvorsen Foundation and serves on the Board of Directors for Victory Village, a charity established to build a residential facility to provide for the specific medical and long-term care needs of Wounded Warriors as they enter retirement. In his spare time, Paul and his wife Ricki can be found hiking and camping on backcountry trails, kayaking along the coast in Puget Sound, or in his shop building acoustic guitars.
THOMAS D. SISK is an environmental scientist focusing on landscape conservation and complex natural resource management challenges. He works at the interface of science and public policy, while carrying out research in applied ecology. Dr. Sisk’s professional experience includes the design of innovative land protection plans, moderation of highly contested natural resource management challenges, development of interdisciplinary educational programs and service on advisory and management boards for regional, national and international organizations. He earned a B.A. from Colorado College and Ph.D. from Stanford University and was the inaugural Olajos-Goslow Chair of Environmental Science and Policy at Northern Arizona University. In addition to other honors, Dr. Sisk was the recipient of the 2017 Spirit of Defenders Award for Science.
