GBI welcomes Peter Woodruff as the CEO of Great Basin Institute. Peter is thrilled to join the outstanding GBI team as its first new CEO since founded in 1998. He brings nearly a decade’s leadership with ACE (American Conservation Experience), overseeing a thriving nationwide staff and hundreds of federal agency partnerships while facilitating conservation across the U.S. and territories. Peter’s signature workforce development programs at ACE included the Cultural Resources Diversity Internship Program (CRDIP), National Park Service Academy (NPS/A), Traditional Trade Advancement Program (TTAP), and most recently the NPS Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.
Peter hails from the corn & bean fields of rural Indiana, and with his wonderful wife Fiona, has newly relocated from Santa Cruz, CA to Reno, NV. Peter earned an interdisciplinary Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies at Hamilton College, focused on field ecology and land-use issues, and undertook cultural immersion and resource management studies in Botswana, before turning to an AmeriCorps year, seasonal agency work, and wilderness therapy programming. His work in wildlife biology, backcountry patrol, environmental education, land trust services, and citizen science found him serving across the Sierras, to interior Alaska, all over Cape Cod, MA and Utah. In addition to his passion for working with amazing staff, agency partners, and inspiring emerging conservation professionals, Peter enjoys backcountry skiing, running, and widely exploring our public lands.
