Executive Team
Meet the leaders who guide our journey forward.
Officer
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Officer
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She/Her
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Innovation Officer
he/him
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Program Alignment
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Meet the Board
Our organization is guided by a board of trustees comprised of international, distinguished educators, business executives, policy makers, and conservationists.
Cleveland Abbe (1888-1890)
Joan Abrahamson (1999-2012)
Joe L. Allbritton (1987-2001)
William L. Allen (1995-2004)
Owen R. Anderson (1981-1994) (Vice Chairman 1984-1994)
Robert B. Anderson (1960-1963)
Dawn L. Arnall (2014)
H. H. Arnold (1939-1949)
O. P. Austin (1903-1932)
Wanda M. Austin (2012-2016)
Cyrus C. Babb (1894)
Marcus Baker (1888-1903)
J. R. Bartlett (1888)
R. N. Batchelder (1893)
Alexander Graham Bell (1898-1922)
Charles J. Bell (1888-1929)
Rogers Birnie, Jr. (1888-1891)
Henry F. Blount (1892-1917)
Thomas E. Bolger (1979-2002)
Michael R. Bonsignore (2004-2020)
Frank Borman (1976-2000)
Lewis M. Branscomb (1984-2001)
Robert L. Breeden (1984-1991)
Lyman J. Briggs (1933-1962)
Alfred H. Brooks (1905-1907)
J. Carter Brown (1978-2002)
Warren Earl Burger (1975-1992)
George K. Burgess (1930-1932)
Richard E. Byrd (1954-1956)
Leonard Carmichael (1957-1973)
Thomas H. Carroll (1964)
Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin (1903-1911)
Colby M. Chester (1904-1932)
Martha E. Church (1990-2006)
Leo Otis Colbert (1939-1968)
Michael Collins (1982-2005)
Calvin Coolidge (1929-1932)
Frederick V. Coville (1897-1936)
C. W. Dabney, Jr. (1896-1897)
William H. Dall (1896-1899)
Jack Dangermond (2017-2021)
George Davidson (1900-1911)
William Morris Davis (1900-1905)
Charles G. Dawes (1925-1950)
David T. Day (1896-1899) (1902-1904)
Robert E. Doyle (1975-1983) (Vice Chairman 1981-1983)
Hugh L. Dryden (1951-1965)
George L. Dyer (1889)
John Joy Edson (1899-1935)
Alexandra Grosvenor Eller (2010-2022)
Lloyd H. Elliott (1969-1993) (Vice Chairman 1977-1993)
George M. Elsey (1978-1993)
Michela A. English (1992-1995)
Roger A. Enrico (2001-2015)
John M. Fahey, Jr. (1997-2015) (Chairman 2011-2015)
David Fairchild (1903-1954)
Franklin L. Fisher (1945-1953)
Robert V. Fleming (1930-1967)
John Foote (1924-1931)
Henry Gannett (1888-1914)
Wilbur E. Garrett (1982-1989)
Walter S. Gifford (1933-1950)
Grove Karl Gilbert (1891-1905)
James H. Gilliam, Jr. (1999-2003)
Daniel Coit Gilman (1901-1908)
Daniel S. Goldin (2003-2013)
George Brown Goode (1888-1891)
James Howard Gore (1905-1939)
William P.E. Graves (1990-1994)
Adolphus Washington Greely (1888-1935)
Crawford H. Greenewalt (1959-1977)
Gilbert H. Grosvenor (1905-1965) (Chairman 1954-1965)
Gilbert M. Grosvenor (1966-2014) (Chairman 1987-2010)
Melville Bell Grosvenor (1945-1975) (Chairman 1968-1975) (Chairman Emeritus 1976-1981)
Arthur B. Hanson (1968-1990)
Elisha Hanson (1937-1962)
William R. Harvey (2012-2016)
Caryl P. Haskins (1965-1983)
Everett Hayden (1890-1898)
Alfred J. Hayre (1987-1991)
Angelo Heilprin (1902-1904)
A. J. Henry (1888-1911)
A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. (1983-1998)
Jesse R. Hildebrand (1947-1951)
David J. Hill (1899-1902)
Russell Hinman (1902-1904)
Susan Hockfield (Sept-Nov 2012)
Nina Hoffman (1996-1998)
Jerome H. Holland (1978-1984)
Gardiner Greene Hubbard (1888-1897)
Charles Evans Hughes (1930-1948)
Carlisle H. Humelsine (1973-1988)
George W. Hutchison (1935-1944)
John Hyde (1892-1901)
John Jay Iselin (1987-2007)
Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson (1974-1987)
Willard D. Johnson (1888-1891)
Ernest Lester Jones (1922-1928)
Rudolph Kauffmann (1906-1927)
Samuel H. Kauffmann (1897-1905)
James C. Kautz (1994-2007)
Timothy T. Kelly (1991-1995) (2011-2012)
C. A. Kenaston (1889-1891)
George Kennan (1888-1889)
Charles F. Kettering (1937-1958)
Gary E. Knell (2013-2017)
Maria Elena Lagomasino (2007-2015)
John Oliver La Gorce (1920-1959) (Vice Chairman 1957-1959)
Emory S. Land (1943-1971)
Franklin K. Lane (1910-1921)
Curtis E. LeMay (1951-1985)
Leroy A. Lincoln (1939-1956)
Jane A. Lubchenco (2014-2021)
T. L. Macdonald (1910-1923)
H. Randolph Maddox (1952-1974)
J. Willard Marriott, Jr. (1987-2009)
George C. Marshall (1949-1959)
Stephen T. Mather (1922-1929)
William McChesney Martin, Jr. (1965-1981)
William John McGee (1891-1904)
Benjamin M. McKelway (1955-1974)
Floretta Dukes McKenzie (1987-2009)
Thomas W. McKnew (1949-1986) (Vice Chairman 1962-1965?) (Chairman 1966-1967) (Advisory Chairman 1968-1986) (Chairman Emeritus 1987-1991)
George W. Melville (1894)
Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (1891-1894)
Clinton Hart Merriam (1888-1942)
Henry Mitchell (1888)
Willis L. Moore (1897-1910)
Nigel Morris (2013-2015)
Reg Murphy (1994-2015) (Vice Chairman 1998-2010)
Walter K. Myers (1961-1967)
Frederick Haynes Newell (1892-1899)
Patrick F. Noonan (1990-2015)
Ernest E. Norris (1943-1957)
Simon Newton Dexter (S. N. D.) North (1904-1924)
Theodore W. Noyes (1928-1946)
Herbert G. Ogden (1888-1893) (1896-1899)
Dennis R. Patrick (1999-2002)
Raymond S. Patton (1930-1937)
John Barton Payne (1924-1934)
Melvin M. Payne (1959-1986) (Chairman 1976-1986) (Chairman Emeritus 1987-1991)
Robert E. Peary (1917-1920)
John J. Pershing (1928-1948)
John E. Pillsbury (1910-1919)
Gifford Pinchot (1898-1904)
William B. Powell (1888-1902)
William V. Pratt (1933-1956)
Henry Smith Pritchett (1899-1900)
J.R. Proctor (1896)
George R. Putnam (1912-1953)
Peter H. Raven (2008-2018)
Nathaniel P. Reed (1988-2007)
William K. Reilly (1994-2005) (briefly emeritus in 2006) (2007-2012)
Floyd K. Richtmyer (1939)
Rozanne L. Ridgway (1993-2010)
Lyndon Rive (2018-2022)
Laurance S. Rockefeller (1958-1985)
Edward P. Roski, Jr. (2007-2021)
Israel C. Russell (1901-1906)
Rollin Daniel Salisbury (1901-1909)
James R. Sasser (2000-2012)
B. Francis Saul II (1985-2015)
Robert C. Seamans, Jr. (1969-1993)
Gerd Schulte-Hillen (2000-2012)
Eliza Ruhumah Scidmore (1892-1906)
George Shiras, III (1912-1942)
Robert B. Sims (1996-1998)
George Otis Smith (1908-1943)
Grant Squires (1912-1928)
Joseph Stanley-Brown (1899-1900)
William Howard Taft (1916-1929)
Almon Harris Thompson (1888-1890)
Otto Hilgard Tittmann (1889-1890) (1902-1938)
Juan T. Trippe (1943-1976)
Paul B. Tylor (1991)
Mike Ulica (2018)
Frederick G. Vosburgh (1963-1979)
Ted Waitt (2009-2017)
James H. Wakelin, Jr. (1963-1986)
B. H. Warder (1891)
Earl Warren (1955-1974)
James E. Webb (1967-1980)
James C. Welling (1888-1890)
Oscar Westover (1936-1938)
Alexander Wetmore (1933-1975)
Henry White (1914-1927)
J. B. Wight (1896-1897)
Edwin Willits (1892-1894)
John M. Wilson (1905-1919)
Lloyd B. Wilson (1943-1967)
Conrad L. Wirth (1957-1984)
William E. Wrather (1952-1963)
Louis B. Wright (1965-1974)
Tracy R. Wolstencroft (2008-2021) (Vice Chairman 2016-2021)
Note: Prior to 1920, the board was referred to as the Board of Managers. Prior to 1906, those serving as other officer roles in this time period are included in this list as having served on the board.
Committee for Research and Exploration
The Committee for Research and Exploration (CRE) is an external, interdisciplinary advisory body of experts who actively support National Geographic’s mission to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. The CRE provides strategic advice to help improve the impact of NGS’s funding opportunities.
Photo Credits from top of page: Renan Ozturk. Below: Michael Nichols, Andy Mann, Paul Nicklen, Ami Vitale, Christian Tryon, Kenneth Garrett, Mark Thiessen.