American Friends Hires Executive Director

The American Friends of Canadian Conservation (AF) is pleased to announce that David Hillary has accepted the position of Executive Director for the organization. After an extensive search that attracted more than 160 applicants from both sides of the border, AF’s Board unanimously agreed that Hillary brings to American Friends the ideal combination of relevant conservation experience in a leadership role paired with deep and wide-ranging connections in the US and Canadian conservation communities.

Hillary most recently held the position of Director of Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships at the Canadian Wildlife Federation and is a former Director of Development for the North American Partnerships Initiative at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), serving as the primary fundraiser in the US for NCC. Hillary is also a founding member and current board vice-president of the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, a transboundary land trust organization.

David Hillary has extensive experience in a leadership role in large landscape conservation projects, as well as in program and organizational management, community development, external and governmental relations, and fundraising, in addition to his hands-on conservation experience in strategic partnerships and trans-boundary, international, collaboration. He has been at the center of some of the largest private and public conservation initiatives in Western Canada over the past 20 years.

Beginning October 1, David Hillary will be working remotely from his home base in British Columbia. Watch this space to learn more about Hillary’s efforts in leading American Friends to the next level of conservation success!

By facilitating donations of land and funding from US taxpayers to Canadian conservation organizations American Friends of Canadian Conservation supports the conservation of Canada’s natural resources. AF partners with Canadian conservation organizations and American owners of environmentally and ecologically significant lands to protect Canada’s natural lands, clean water, abundant habitat, and quality of life for citizens of both countries. 

Since completing its first transaction in 2011, American Friends of Canadian Conservation and its Canadian partners have protected 31 remarkable properties in 6 provinces through gifts of land and easements with an appraised value of over $18 million USD.