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Jim Stofan headshot

Jim Stofan

Senior Vice President, Operations
Department
Operations
Locations
Washington, DC

Jim’s passion for inspiring, engaging and educating our Nation’s citizens comes from growing up in a family of educators.

As a 5th generation San Franciscan on one side, and son of an immigrant on the other, his love for our Nation’s wildlife and wild places was framed growing up on the San Francisco Bay and camping through the Sierra Nevada. He has spent 25 years in science education and public service, working both nationally and internationally on policy issues related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. For over a decade before coming to Defenders of Wildlife, he helped respond to the Nation’s STEM crisis from his role as the deputy associate administrator of NASA’s Office of Education. At Defenders, Jim oversees the day-to-day operations of the organization, and has overall strategic and operational responsibilities for human resources, integrated marketing, information services and facilities. He holds a M.A. in Instructional Technology from University of Central Florida and B.S. degrees in Behavioral Biology and Sociology from Johns Hopkins University. In addition to his work for Defenders, he is a volunteer SCUBA diver and educator at the National Aquarium.