May 09, 2008
Nature Conservancy Hires Investment Banker as Its New Chief Executive
The Nature Conservancy today named an investment manager with a deep background in environmental issues to be its new chief executive.
Mark R. Tercek, 51, managing director at the investment firm Goldman Sachs and head of the firm’s Center for Environmental Markets, will replace Steven J. McCormick, who left the charity in October. (See The Chronicle’s article about his departure.)
Mr. Tercek, who will start his new position in July, takes over at an important time for the nation’s largest environmental-conservation charity.
The Arlington, Va., organization recently started a $1-billion fund-raising campaign and is in the early stages of a 10-year plan to expand its overseas programs.
The Nature Conservancy is also working to regain its momentum following a a 2003 investigation by The Washington Post into its business practices that sparked a Senate investigation and prompted the organization to restructure its board.
Given the Nature Conservancy’s size and complexity, some observers had speculated the organization would hire its new leader from within.
In fact, Mr. McCormick said upon his departure that only one other Nature Conservancy president — John Sawhill — had come from the outside.
“It was hard for him,” Mr. McCormick said at the time. “It’s quite possible to find someone from the outside, but they will have to become well steeped in the culture of the Nature Conservancy very quickly.”
But Mr. Tercek’s experience — which mixes high-level business and conservation — persuaded the board that he is the best choice for leading the organization, said John P. Morgridge, the Nature Conservancy’s chairman.
“At this important time for conservation and for our organization, Mark’s knowledge of global cultures and governments, his passion for conservation, and his experience as a decisive consensus builder in an intensely results-oriented organization positions him to lead the Conservancy to accelerate our work around the globe,” Mr. Morgridge said in a statement.
Mr. Tercek has spent much of his professional career working as an investment banker — joining Goldman Sachs in 1984 and becoming a partner in the New York firm in 1996.
But his most recent work has been overseeing an effort to match environmentally friendly policies with profitable business practices as the head of Goldman Sachs’ Center For Environmental Markets.
The center was created in 2005 when Mr. Tercek approached Henry Paulson, who was the company’s chief executive, about his desire for a career change. Mr. Paulson, who is now the U.S. Treasury Secretary, was also the chairman of the Nature Conservancy’s board of directors at the time.
Mr. Tercek said in an interview that he wanted to become more involved in environmental work and was considering leaving the firm to pursue a job in the nonprofit world.
Mr. Paulson instead decided to create a new position within the firm to accommodate Mr. Tercek’s goals.
Since then, Mr. Tercek has managed efforts to develop environmental strategies for each of Goldman Sachs’ business units, pushed the firm to invest heavily in renewable energy, and developed programs to advise its clients on investment opportunities with environmentally friendly companies and ventures.
The center also works with think tanks and academic institutions to develop ways to link environmental conservation with business.
As part of that effort, Mr. Tercek has worked with nonprofit organizations such as Resources for the Future in Washington, the World Resources Institute in Washington, and the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts on climate-change projects.
He also holds positions on the Council on Foreign Relations’ task force on climate change, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Chilean Advisory Council, and the Prince of Wales’ Princes’ Rainforest Project.
In addition, he has worked with Gretchen Daily, a professor of biology at Stanford University and a board member of the Nature Conservancy, on a project that measures the economic values of forest ecosystems. That relationship helped Mr. Tercek become one of the key candidates to become the organization’s president.
“Mark is opening innovative possibilities for aligning economic forces with conservation,” Ms. Daily said. “His vision is central to taking conservation to scale, incorporating the values of nature into real decisions and engaging leaders globally.”
Another current Nature Conservancy board member, Muneer A. Satter, is a Goldman Sachs managing director.
Mr. Tercek said he expects to face a steep learning curve as he makes the transition from business to managing one of the nation’s largest and most complex charities.
The Nature Conservancy ranked No. 20 on the Chronicle’s most recent list of charities that raise the most from private sources, having brought in nearly $518-million from private sources in 2006.
“It’s an agenda to listen and learn first,” Mr. Tercek said. “But, at the same time, I’m ready to get into action, too. The stakes are very high. The Conservancy has to be the action-oriented, results-oriented organization that it has been. That is my goal for it.”
He said he plans to spend as much time as possible over the coming weeks getting to know the organization and its key players before moving into the president’s role full time in July.
Stephanie K. Meeks, who has been the Nature Conservancy’s acting chief executive, will remain in that role until Mr. Tercek takes over.
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