Our Alumni Board
Olivier Langrand
Board Alumni
With 27 years of experience in international conservation, Olivier is an expert on environmental policy and governmental sector engagement as well as the implementation and coordination of on-the-ground conservation projects. Olivier joined the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) in 2015 as executive director. CEPF is a fund dedicated to conserve the most biologically, yet threatened, ecosystems – the world’s biodiversity hotspots – through the action of civil society groups. Prior to joining CEPF, Olivier worked as the director of global affairs for Island Conservation where he spent three years working on the international policy framework and the public funding stream necessary for governments and NGO partners to prevent species extinction from islands. Before working for Island Conservation, Olivier spent eleven years with Conservation International, where he served as Executive Vice President in charge of the Center for Conservation and Government. His division was responsible for public funding, engaging with governments and multi-lateral institutions in environmental policy, and working with indigenous and traditional peoples.
In his previous position with Conservation International, Olivier led the Africa and Madagascar Division. Prior to joining CI, Olivier held similar positions in Madagascar and Central Africa with World Wildlife Fund where he worked for 14 years. Over the course of his career, of which seventeen have been spent in the field in various countries of Africa, Olivier has developed a wealth of experience and global relationships in support of his lifelong passion and commitment to protecting biodiversity. Olivier received his Masters of Science (MSc) from the Department of Zoology at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. He is an avid birder, an expert on the birds of southwestern Indian Ocean islands, and author and/or co-author of over 100 scientific publications, including three authoritative books on the avifauna of Madagascar, the Comoros, the Mascarenes, and the Seychelles Islands.