Staff Biographies

Ray Powell
Four Corners Regional Director

Ray Powell brings natural enthusiasm and distinguished experience in conservation and government service to the job of educating and empowering young people.

Powell is head of Roots & Shoots-Four Corners States — Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. In this capacity, the former New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands is coordinating more than 140 groups of young people in service learning and environmental education projects.

Roots & Shoots is the Jane Goodall Institute's environmental and humanitarian education program, supporting youth of all ages in projects that benefit people, animals and the environment.

Mr. Powell can speak on many issues such as youth education and community service, citizen participation in environmental preservation, natural resource management, and public land use.

A veterinarian, Mr. Powell has an extensive record of engagement in civic life. He served as special assistant to New Mexico Governor Bruce King, advising him on policy related to the environment, natural resources, health and recreation. He was also executive director of the Valle Caldera Trust, which oversees the 89,000-acre Valle Caldera National Preserve in the Jemez Mountains.

He received his veterinary degree from Tufts University with an emphasis on wildlife rehabilitation and an M.S. in Systematic Botany and Plant Ecology from the University of New Mexico, where he had also earned a B.S. in Anthropology and Biology.

To inquire about engaging Mr. Powell as a speaker, please Contact Nona Gandelman.