Lynn Scarlett retired in December 2021 from The Nature Conservancy, the largest conservation organization in the world, where she served as Global Chief External Affairs Officer. Prior to her role at the Conservancy, Lynn served at the U.S. Department of the Interior from 2001-2009, where she was the Deputy Secretary/Chief Operating Officer of the department, which manages 500 million acres of US public lands; she served as Acting Secretary of the Interior in 2006. Lynn received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science and political economy from UC Santa Barbara, where she also completed her Ph.D. coursework and exams. She serves on the advisory board of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Dean’s Advisory Council of the UC Santa Barbara Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. She also currently serves on the boards of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, National Wildlife Refuge Association, Sand County Foundation, and Yellowstone to Yukon Initiative.