About Denny McGrath

Denny McGrath’s lifelong commitment to conservation includes more than 20 years of management and leadership experience with The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

Beginning his work as an intern in their Indiana office, Denny’s career advanced through several management positions in Indiana, Connecticut, Michigan and Virginia.

At TNC, McGrath was instrumental in setting the conservation agenda for the Great Lakes ecosystem and establishing the Ohio River basin ecosystem conservation effort as part of his responsibilities as Midwest/Canada Division director.

As a state director, McGrath led the development and implementation of statewide land and water conservation strategies. In Indiana he was instrumental in the implementation of a 7,200-acre prairie/wetland restoration project in the midst of a 25,000-acre national priority conservation area along the Indiana/Illinois border. While in Connecticut, he oversaw the planning and development of a four-state Connecticut River conservation project and implemented a 15,000 acre, $100 million forest conservation acquisition project, the largest in Connecticut’s history.

Since 2004, Denny has served as acting director of external affairs in TNC’s worldwide office in Arlington, Va. There he was responsible for the organization’s U.S. government relations, international multi-lateral relations and international conservation policy and finance. One of his primary focuses has been the leveraging of partnerships with multiple international non-government organizations to increase funding for conservation outside the United States.

Denny was a 1997 McCluskey Fellow at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He received master’s degrees in environmental studies and geology from Indiana University, Bloomington, and a bachelor’s degree in wildlife sciences from Purdue University. During college he spent a summer working with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources as a deer biologist.

Denny and his wife, Sherry, have three children, 12-year-old twins and a 10-year-old. They currently live in Michigan and are eager to relocate here and become Pennsylvanians. Sherry, who is an attorney, is looking forward to continuing her career. Their children, Dan, Mary and Will are active in sports, particularly soccer. In his free time, Denny enjoys wilderness canoeing, hunting and fishing.

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