Mutuality in Action: Advancing Climate Solutions Through Women’s Leadership Around the Globe, with Barbara Merz

Barbara Merz is a leader - she led the global campaign at The Nature Conservancy which raised over $8 Billion for nature. Her team introduced climate solutions that link planetary and human health in the largest environmental campaign ever launched: completed ahead of schedule and surpassing their bold $7 Billion goal by over a billion dollars. Barbara led this campaign with colleagues and supporters across seventy-two countries.

As Managing Director at Pathfinder International, Barbara leads this international NGO’s work with innovation, climate solutions, and resilience. Working with strong networks across the globe, Barbara collaborates with leaders in Africa and Asia to deliver rights-based strategies that empower women responding to our climate crisis in their communities. She leads strategic vision of The Buckminster Fuller Institute with Tom Chi and George Orbelian. She also sits on the boards of the Szekely Family Foundation and Tree Adoption Uganda - a local and youth led NGO that plants trees across the central belt of Africa.

Barbara was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to New Zealand and wrote her master’s thesis on indigenous rights and international law. She earned her law degree at Stanford, where in 2002 she received a Stanford Fellowship in Conflict Resolution. Barbara graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in International and Public Policy, holds an M.A. and a J.D. Barbara is a member of CHIEF, a private network for powerful women in leadership.