William Burnidge

Grasslands Program Director

The Nature Conservancy

MBA/MS, Class of 1997

William is the Grasslands Program Director at the Nature Conservancy. He formerly managed the Sustainable Conservation Program for the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development. His primary work was to improve Agriculture Department programs to create incentives for landowners to afforest flood-prone croplands in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley and to leverage private investment in afforestation. This project was designed to afforest 70,000 acres in the Mississippi Delta region and provide a range of environmental benefits, increase timber supplies, and improve the regional economy. Sustainable forestry certification and carbon/nutrient sequestration are also long-range project objectives.