US-born Patrick Bergin is CEO of the leading conservation organisation African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).

A community development specialist with expertise in forging linkages between conservation and human well-being, Patrick joined the Peace Corps in 1988, where he was posted to Tanzania.

He joined AWF in 1990 and spent six years working with the Tanzania National Parks agency to establish a national program of park outreach to surrounding communities. He became AWF’s CEO in 2002. Dr Bergin is also the managing director of African Wildlife Capital (AWC), an impact investment company wholly owned by AWF.

AWC uses impact investment capital to help develop private-sector enterprises with promising commercial and conservation potential. This financing supports enterprises with promising business models that can help protect habitat or wildlife populations – while also benefiting the livelihoods of local Africans. AWC is intended to take AWF’s work to a new scale and use the capacity of Africa’s burgeoning private sector to do more, in more places, for the benefit of conservation and people.

Dr Bergin holds a PhD in rural development from the University of East Anglia (UK).