Mary Ruckelshaus

Mary Ruckelshaus

Managing Director, Natural Capital Project, Stanford University

Mary Ruckelshaus is the Managing Director of The Natural Capital Project (NatCap) and a Senior Research Associate at Stanford University. Mary has previously held leadership positions with the US government (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and was an Assistant Professor of biological sciences at The Florida State University. The main focus of her recent work is on developing standard approaches for valuing nature and mainstreaming them into high-leverage decisions globally. She has been a lead author and reviewer for the 2013 and 2017 US National Climate Assessments. Ruckelshaus is currently on the Board of the Wild Salmon Center, and has served on the Board of Directors for The Nature Conservancy, COMPASS, and is past Chair of the Science Advisory Board of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS).  Ruckelshaus has a bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford University, a master’s degree in fisheries from the University of Washington, and a doctoral degree in botany, also from Washington.