Conservation Futures Academy Executive Fellowship
Six months, two residencies and one real challenge from your organization. The ASU Conservation Futures Academy Executive Fellowship brings together a curated group of senior conservation leaders to work on the decisions their organizations face right now.
- Executive Fellowship
- May to November 2027
Six months
May to Nov 2027Two residencies
7 to 9 days in personAbout 35 fellows
Curated cohortBy nomination
Selective admission
The job changes long before the training does
Senior conservation leaders earn their roles by being good at the work. Running a landscape program. Building a science team. Delivering on a grant.
Then the work changes shape. It becomes a board that wants a different answer, a funder with a competing theory of change, a government partner with an election coming and a community that has heard promises before.
Most leaders pick that up informally, in the middle of a crisis, without a coach and without peers who will tell them the truth.
This fellowship puts leadership development inside a working conservation landscape, where sovereignty, community relationships and funding realities shape every decision. Fellows bring a live challenge from their own organization and work on it for six months with faculty, practitioners, a coach and a room of peers.
You leave with a 90-day plan and an executive brief your organization can act on.
Who this is for
A senior leader ready for enterprise responsibility
You are responsible for complex teams, landscapes, partnerships, funding relationships, governance or strategy. You sit at technical director, country director, executive director, vice president or C-suite-adjacent level.
The room is built deliberately. Active conservation leaders hold the majority of seats in every cohort.
- Senior leaders in conservation organizations
Country leads, technical directors and regional vice presidents at global and national organizations. - Indigenous governance and conservation leaders
Leaders stewarding land, knowledge, governance and community systems, on reciprocal terms. - Place-based and local leaders
Leaders scaling from local impact to regional or national influence, without losing local context. - A capped number of cross-sector leaders
Philanthropy, policy, impact finance and corporate nature or climate leaders.
Selection looks for meaningful organizational influence, sponsorship from a senior leader or board member, a clearly defined problem of practice, readiness for candid peer dialogue and commitment to both in-person residencies.
The journey
One connected arc, from nomination to showcase
Each phase starts with your real challenge, builds relationships and leadership capacity, then moves toward implementation and a public demonstration of value.
Touchpoint one: The landscape is a co-educator
What you build
Every fellow enters with a live problem of practice and leaves with an implementation-ready portfolio built around it.
- A narrowly defined organizational or systems challenge.
- A stakeholder, power and relationship map.
- A partnership, capital or influence strategy.
- A leadership risk and readiness assessment.
- Evidence of implementation during the fellowship itself.
- A 90-day action plan and a professionally designed executive brief.
- A final peer-reviewed presentation to an audience that matters.
Every fellow enters with a live problem of practice and leaves with an implementation-ready portfolio built around it.
Influence and strategic communication
Leading teams and organizations
Stakeholder and coalition management
Board leadership and governance
Mobilizing capital and partnerships
Indigenous governance and ethical collaboration
Systems, innovation and futures
Cases, dilemmas and participant challenges drive the live sessions. Foundational material sit in short asynchronous modules from the Academy catalog.
Coaching includes a candid look at the habits that undercut strong leaders. Not listening to the people who report to you. Multitasking through meetings. Arriving late. Slow decisions. Mission-driven work makes this harder to see and more costly to ignore.
Monthly peer advisory triads run alongside the coaching, lightly facilitated, and they continue into the alumni network.
Sponsoring organizations
What your organization gets back
- A stronger leader
who can operate across teams, boards, partners, funders and governments. - A real strategic challenge
advanced during the fellowship, with a 90-day implementation plan attached. - Access to a trusted global network
and expert advisors beyond your own organization. - A visible development and retention opportunity
for senior talent you want to keep. - An organization-ready executive brief
and a closing presentation that can inform real decisions.
Selection
Admission runs by nomination
Nominations come from senior leaders at partner organizations and from within a fellow's own organization. Selection then moves through a short application, a sponsor endorsement, a challenge statement, interviews and a review of how the whole cohort fits together.
What selection looks for
Meaningful organizational influence, and sponsorship from a senior leader or board member.
A clearly defined problem of practice that matters to your organization or landscape.
Evidence that you will contribute experience, relationships or perspective to the cohort.
Readiness for candid peer dialogue, reflection, coaching and implementation.
Commitment to both in-person residencies and the full May to November arc.
Time and investment
What the six months ask of you
- Two in-person residencies totaling roughly 7 to 9 days
- One virtual launch and about eight live 90-minute Executive Learning Labs
- Three coaching sessions plus monthly peer advisory triads
- An applied challenge, built into work you already own
Where this comes from
Conservation Futures Academy
The Academy is the professional learning arm of the Rob Walton School of Conservation Futures at Arizona State University, with programs running from career discovery through executive leadership. This fellowship is the executive tier of that portfolio.
Questions
Worth asking before you nominate someone
The applied challenge is work the fellow already owns, so the fellowship advances it rather than adding to it. The concentrated time is roughly 7 to 9 days across six months.
No. Commitment to both in-person touchpoints is a selection criterion.
The employing organization or a philanthropic sponsor. Sponsor endorsement is part of the application.
About 35 fellows. Small enough for coaching and field logistics, large enough for a genuine range of perspective.
Connect with Conservation Futures Academy
Looking for new credentials to advance your career? Request more information about the Conservation Futures Academy course offerings.