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Chicago Wilderness Hires First Executive Director

On September 5, Melinda Pruett-Jones became the first executive director of the Chicago Wilderness consortium. The decision to hire an executive director signifies the consortium's growth and successful evolution from a relatively small partnership of 34 conservation organizations and grassroots groups in 1996 to a network of more than 190 leaders in conservation research, management, and administration today. Pruett-Jones will be based at The Nature Conservancy in Chicago.

Pruett-Jones comes to Chicago Wilderness from the Chicago Zoological Society (CZS) at Brookfield Zoo, where she has held a number of positions, most recently as vice president for applied research and technology and as director of the behavior management program. She is also a lecturer in animal behavior and conservation at the University of Chicago. Prior to her work with CZS she served as director for major gifts and planning at The Field Museum, and worked for nearly ten years for California's Natural Reserve System, tracking and coordinating the research, restoration, education, and protection activities of that network of reserves.

Pruett-Jones also has published on a variety of topics in the fields of animal behavior, behavioral ecology, population ecology, and evolutionary biology.

"I feel my entire career has been a path that's led me to this unique opportunity," she says. "I could not be more pleased and excited to be joining such a prestigious group of conservation leaders."