Executive Director

Saving Yellowstone, a nonprofit organization founded to preserve the Yellowstone Ecosystem, seeks a visionary, collaborative, and entrepreneurial founding Executive Director (ED) to launch the organization through its first stage of growth and impact. In doing so, the ED will play a crucial role in protecting one of the last nearly intact temperate-zone ecosystems on the planet.

The Yellowstone Ecosystem covers about 22 million acres across the central Rocky Mountains and is a flagship site among conservation groups, one of the world’s foremost natural laboratories for landscape ecology, and a world-renowned recreational destination. The Ecosystem includes Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, numerous national forests and wildlife refuges, and a constellation of state and privately held lands that span a diverse and deeply interconnected North American wilderness.

After recognizing that fencing on his own property was threatening crucial migratory patterns of local ungulates, TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts founded Saving Yellowstone with a goal to unite private citizens, landowners, and public agencies through science-based research, collaborative partnerships, and innovative conservation strategies. Saving Yellowstone will bridge the gap between public and private lands, ensuring the long-term health of this irreplaceable wilderness. As demographic changes, private development, and greater visitor numbers further threaten the Yellowstone Ecosystem, Saving Yellowstone will educate and inspire people while connecting them with resources to make impactful and evidence-driven changes.

The founding Executive Director will bring this ambitious vision to reality, developing innovative solutions to complex conservation challenges, and uniting diverse stakeholders around shared conservation goals. They will shape the vision and strategy of Saving Yellowstone and cultivate a broad network of supporters. In doing so, they will have the opportunity to establish a lasting legacy of protection for one of North America’s most iconic ecosystems.