Kristine McDivitt Tompkins

Development Advisor

Kristine McDivitt Tompkins is the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, an American conservationist, and former CEO of Patagonia, Inc. For over twenty-five years, she has committed her career to protecting and restoring Chile and Argentina’s wild beauty and biodiversity by creating national parks, restoring wildlife, inspiring activism, and fostering economic vitality as a result of conservation. Having protected approximately 13 million acres of parklands in Chile and Argentina through Tompkins Conservation and its partners, Kristine and Douglas Tompkins, her late husband who died in 2015, are considered some of the most successful national park-oriented philanthropists in history.

Born in southern California, Kris spent most of her childhood on her great-grandfather’s ranch, which was formative in fostering her connection to the natural world. After graduating from College of Idaho where she ski-raced competitively, she returned to California and worked for her friends from her teenage years, Yvon and Malinda Chouinard, eventually helping to build Patagonia, Inc. Kris became the company’s CEO and collaborated with Yvon and Malinda to build Patagonia, Inc into a renowned “anti-corporation” and a leader in the outdoor apparel industry.

In 1993, Kris retired from Patagonia, Inc, married Doug Tompkins (founder of The North Face and co-founder of Esprit), and the two of them changed the course of their lives; they left their careers as business leaders of iconic American brands to devote their funds, time, and passion to biodiversity conservation. Kris and Doug decided to focus their efforts on national parks as they represent the “gold standard” of conservation—offering a unique set of ecological, cultural, and economic benefits, while also guaranteeing long-term conservation.

After years of collaborating with governments, local organizations, scientists, and communities, in January 2018 Kris, on behalf of Tompkins Conservation, and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet signed decrees to create five new national parks in Chile and expand three others, adding a total of more than 10 million acres of new national parklands to Chile. For scale, that is more than three times the size of Yosemite and Yellowstone combined, or approximately the size of Switzerland. With one million acres of land from Tompkins Conservation and an additional 9 million acres of federal land from Chile, this has been billed as the largest donation of land from a private entity to a country in history.

Kris recently was the first conservationist ever to be honored with the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, which she accepted on behalf of her, Doug, and Tompkins Conservation’s quarter century of work. She was also the recipient of the Lowell Thomas Award from The Explorer’s Club of New York, the Annual Tourism Award at the World Tourism Market in London, the BBVA Foundation’s Biodiversity Conservation Award of Latin America, and the Cynthia Pratt Laughlin Medal from the Garden Club of America. Additionally, Kris and Doug have received Scenic Hudson’s Visionary Conservationist Award, the African Rainforest Conservancy’s New Species Award, and Latin Trade’s “Environmental Leader of the Year” award, among others. Their conservation and activism work has been captured in over 20 books, published by their foundation.

Learn More: www.TompkinsConservation.org