About Us

GCA was founded by Kina Murphy, and her father Donald Murphy, former Deputy Director of the National Park Service and CEO of the Underground Railroad Freedom Center.  Kina and Donald founded GCA out of their shared passion for preserving the richness of culture and nature.  They also share a deep concern for the need to integrate training, capacity building and practical science as tools for impoverished rural communities to enable them to build healthy economies and conserve nature.  GCA has organically grown into one of the only minority founded and operated conservation organizations originating in the United States, with over 80% of our staff and board members being people of color and women.

GCA now includes a growing coalition of leading conservation practitioners with a diverse and extensive body of experience working from the grassroots and the highest levels of natural resource and environmental management and decision-making.  Our core staff has produced enduring results in policy, markets and ecology in more than 50 countries.  The members of GCA’s core team have also worked together for many years as co-creators of projects and programs worldwide in education, conservation and community development.  

Our Board of Directors and core advisory team is supported by the insight and guidance of Mr. Davies Katsonga, the Malawi Minister of Labor, and Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, the Ugandan Minister of Internal Affairs and the former president of the United Nations Environment Program,  Mr. Jerome Ringo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Wildlife Federation, and Executive Director of the esteemed Apollo Alliance also participates as a member of the Board and core advisor.  James Tolisano, our Director of Programs, has designed and implemented innovative conservation and development projects for leading multi-lateral and bilateral donors and organizations in more than 35 countries, and simultaneously serves as the Director of Kinship Conservation Fellows, one of the world’s leading conservation leadership training programs.  Dr. Nejem Raheem is the former chair of the Society of Conservation Biology’s Social Science Working Group, and is emerging as a leading voice in the integration of science and economics in conservation practice.  Dr. Robert Harrill is the former President of Prescott College, chair and innovative co-founder of the former Institute for Conservation Studies at the College of Santa Fe, and brings more than 40 years of expertise in the development of conservation education programs for rural communities worldwide.  Collectively, the GCA team shares a passion for producing concrete actions on the ground that can change lives, build healthy economies and nurture an enduring natural world.