Donald Barry

Areas of expertise: The Endangered Species Act and other Federal wildlife conservation laws and treaties; public land management laws and policies; NEPA; wetland conservation laws; Alaskan Federal land laws; Native American treaty rights

Don Barry joined Defenders as executive vice president in June 2011. Don oversees all day-to-day operations and programs at Defenders of Wildlife, supervises the senior leadership team and is the strategic senior advisor to the President.

Don has 35 years of experience working on wildlife and public land management conservation issues as a senior government official and in the non-profit community. He spent more than 19 years at the Interior Department, having served as the Chief Counsel for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and as the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, overseeing the programs and policies of the National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service. Don worked for 6 years for the Chairman of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee as the General Counsel for Fisheries and Wildlife and has worked for 12 years in senior leadership positions within the non-profit conservation community, including World Wildlife Fund, The Wilderness Society, and the Environmental Defense Fund.  

Don graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1971, where he also attended law school and earned his J.D. in 1974.