Ian Thompson

Ian Thompson is the Interim Managing Director for The Nature Conservancy’s Latin America Region. In this role, he leads a team of more than 300 staff across 16 countries to deliver bold, new strategies and partnerships to conserve the world’s most biodiverse region. Ian joined The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in 2006 and since then has served on multiple roles. He has been Director of Conservation for the Brazil Program since 2014. Prior to that, he led TNC’s Amazon Program in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador.

After earning a Master of Science in Forestry from Oxford University, he embarked on a career to apply his forestry expertise to development issues in the mountains and plains of Nepal and then in the Brazilian Amazon. He held various leadership positions with the British Department for International Development (DFID) and European Community, as well as consulting roles with a variety of forestry organizations. Before joining TNC, Ian was a manager of Dendrogene, a large-scale research project seeking to promote the genetic conservation of managed forests in the Amazon. Ian is fluent in English, Portuguese, and Nepalese and is proficient in Spanish.