
Executive Team Members
Mark Tercek, President and chief executive officer
Mark Tercek is The Nature Conservancy’s president and chief executive officer, a position he assumed in July 2008. He came to the Conservancy from Goldman Sachs, where he was a managing director and headed the firm’s Center for Environmental Markets and its Environmental Strategy Group. In his 24-year career at Goldman Sachs, Tercek also headed various global departments for the firm’s investment banking division. In addition, Tercek is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations — and serves on its independent task force on climate change — as well as a member of the steering group on the Prince’s Rainforest Project, launched in 2007 by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. [more...]
Rebecca Patton, Chief Conservation Strategies Officer
Rebecca oversees the Conservation Science, External Affairs & Policy, Conservation Planning & Finance, and Knowledge Management & Leverage groups and TNC's cross-cutting strategy teams. Previously, Rebecca held several senior management positions at TNC including most recently, Regional Managing Director of the Pacific North America Conservation Region. Rebecca joined the Conservancy in 2001 with 20 years of business experience, most recently as CEO of an Internet-based gift registry. She earned her Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford and her bachelor's degree from Duke.
Steve Howell, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
In May of 1995, Steve joined The Nature Conservancy as Controller. He was appointed Director of Finance and Accounting in 1996, Vice President of Finance in 1998, Chief Operations Officer in 1999, Chief Financial Officer in 2002, and currently holds the title of Chief Finance and Administrative Officer. As CFAO, Steve oversees all aspects of the Finance, Human Resources, Technology and Information Systems, Facilities and Administration, and also oversees the Internal Audit Function. Under his stewardship, the Conservancy’s assets have grown from slightly over a billion in 1995 to over five billion today. Annual revenues and operating expenses have both tripled during this same time and the number of physical locations where the Conservancy operates is nearly 5 times that of when he joined the Conservancy. Mr. Howell is a member of the AICPA and the Virginia Society of CPA’s, has been a frequent speaker at American Institute of CPA national conferences, and serves on the audit committee of the American Psychological Association.
Philip Tabas, General Counsel
As General Counsel, Philip provides oversight of all of the Conservancy's legal activities and manages the full range of legal services in support of the Conservancy's work. He is responsible for ensuring that appropriate projects are presented to the Board of Directors for review and approval.
Before joining the Conservancy, Philip was engaged in private practice. He has also held positions at an environmental consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass., and the New England River Basins Commission. He received a Bachelors of Arts degree in English from Pennsylvania State University, his J.D. from the George Washington University, a Master of Land Use Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and an LLM degree in tax law from Boston University Law School.