The visionary behind Tompkins Conservation, Douglas R. Tompkins (1943–2015) was a wilderness advocate, mountaineer and philanthropist. He nurtured a passion for nature through a lifetime of experiences as a climber and a whitewater kayaker, with first ascents and descents on multiple continents. As the founder of The North Face and co-founder of Esprit, he became a successful entrepreneur despite not having a university degree. In 1990, he moved to Patagonia seeking to fully devote himself to what he called, ‘paying rent for his time on the planet,’ working to protect remote rainforest where he was joined by Kris McDivitt. They soon married and joined forces for conservation. Using the sum of his business earnings, Doug funded environmental activism, designing large-scale and innovative conservation projects throughout the Southern Cone.

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Kristine McDivitt Tompkins is the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, an American conservationist, and former CEO of Patagonia, Inc. For three decades, she has committed to protecting and restoring wild beauty and biodiversity by creating national parks, restoring wildlife, inspiring activism, and fostering economic vitality as a result of conservation. Kristine and her late husband Douglas Tompkins have protected approximately 15 million acres of parklands in Chile and Argentina through Tompkins Conservation and its partners, making them among the most successful national park-oriented philanthropists in history. Kristine served as Patron for Protected Areas for the UN Environmental Programme from 2018-2022. The recipient of numerous honors, she was the first conservationist to be awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.

Cofounder and President of Tompkins Conservation

Kristine McDivitt Tompkins is the cofounder and president of Tompkins Conservation. The former CEO of Patagonia, Inc, she has spent the last 27 years protecting and restoring Chile and Argentina’s wild beauty and biodiversity through creating national parks, restoring wildlife, inspiring activism, and fostering economic vitality as a result of conservation. A key figure behind the establishment of 11 national parks and two marine parks in Argentina and Chile, she has helped to protect approximately 14.2 million acres through Tompkins Conservation and its partners. Along with her late husband Douglas Tompkins, the visionary behind these conservation projects who passed away in 2015, she is considered one of the most successful national park–oriented philanthropists in history. In 2017, she received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. A global leader in conservation, she served as the UN Environment Patron of Protected Areas from 2018-2022.

Chief of Staff

Nicole joined Tompkins Conservation in 2017. She previously worked at the National Geographic Society and cofounded a political organizing group dedicated to creating opportunities for volunteers to participate in grassroots democracy. Nicole graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Syracuse University with degrees in geography, policy studies, and Spanish, which she studied in Chile, Ecuador, and Spain.

Finance Director, USA

Debbie sits on the board of directors of Tompkins Conservation and is the finance director for all of the Tompkins family office, private, and philanthropic efforts. She began her career in public accounting as a C.P.A. specializing in taxation and was the chief financial officer of Esprit de Corp (founded by Doug Tompkins) for six years.

Global Communications Director

Carolyn joined Tompkins Conservation after working as a travel journalist based in Latin America, where she witnessed in-person the rapid degradation of wild lands and loss of biodiversity and culture in areas as remote as the Darien Gap and Patagonia. She has contributed to over 50 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, including Trekking in the Patagonian Andes, and her work has appeared in magazines and anthologies. As a Fulbright fellow, she documented the legacy of pioneer culture in Chilean Patagonia.

Executive Office Administrative Associate

Sawyer graduated magna cum laude from the University of Florida where she studied sustainability, ecology, art, ecophilosophy, and climatology. A former research assistant at the UF/IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station, her introduction to administration for a non-profit came from interning at Blue Mountain Center, a justice-focused artist and conference center in Adirondack Park.

Communications Coordinator

Heather joined Tompkins Conservation following multiple photo editing roles at National Geographic. Previously, she was a photojournalist at 13NewsNow and an Instagram News Fellow at the Denver Post. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Asian American Studies.

Controller, USA

Born and raised in San Francisco, Esther is a certified public accountant with a Master’s degree in Taxation. She worked with Doug at Esprit for many years and has worked on the Tompkins Conservation team for over 20 years.

Digital Archivist

Zack joined Tompkins Conservation in 2020 following his time working on the photo archivist team at Patagonia. His introduction to the nonprofit sector began in 2016 when he joined Ethiopia Skate as an ambassador and logistics coordinator. He graduated from Cal Poly where he studied business, data analysis, and photography.

Social Media & Visual Storytelling

Beth Wald is a documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work explores human connections with land and nature, a passion that has taken her around the globe and far off the grid. She has thirty years’ experience photographing for a wide variety of publications, including National Geographic, Smithsonian, Outside and High Country News. Starting in the early 1990’s, she has made numerous trips to photograph and film Tompkins Conservation projects in Chile and Argentina.