Jenny Springer

After four years at Harvard, Jenny decided to see some of the world. She spent several months volunteering on community development projects in South Asia before joining the Peace Corps and heading to the Philippines, where she lived and worked with agricultural communities in the country's mountainous region. These experiences confirmed she'd found her life's calling - supporting efforts by indigenous peoples and local communities to maintain their cultural identity and stewardship of their environments.

She moved on to the Ford Foundation and the Henry Luce Foundation before joining WWF in 1997. In her current role, she leads efforts to shape and support WWF's global policy on indigenous peoples, populations that, in many cases, are traditional stewards of high biodiversity areas WWF seeks to conserve. "Conservation activities often involve changes in how resources are used," she says. "In areas traditionally owned or used by indigenous peoples, they need to be key decision-makers in these changes." Jenny works to support WWF programs in understanding the rights of indigenous peoples and engaging communities as partners in joint activities, so the outcome is beneficial for all involved.