2026 9NEWS Nonprofit Leader of the Year Finalist Carlos Fernández
Leading Colorado honors leaders who are shaping the future of our state through innovation, service, and impact across every sector. This year, we are proud to recognize finalists across three categories: For-Profit Leader of the Year, Nonprofit Leader of the Year, and Public Sector Leader of the Year.
The Nonprofit Leader of the Year award recognizes nonprofit executives who lead with purpose, build strong partnerships, and deliver measurable impact while addressing some of Colorado’s most complex social and environmental challenges.
As the State Director for The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, Carlos Fernández leads a staff of more than 60 employees and a board of 22 trustees to create a world where people and nature can thrive.
With more than 20 years of experience at TNC, Carlos has helped guide conservation projects of great impact. This includes helping create the Yampa River Fund in 2019 and raising $5 million to support river health and restoration projects, as well as working to establish Fishers Peak State Park which benefits outdoor recreation, conservation and the local community, and is a critical landscape within TNC’s Southern High Plains Initiative. Carlos supported staff in launching the Catalyst Fund, an internal funding initiative for forward-looking projects that enable innovation and rapid learning. Most recently, Carlos has been working alongside leaders across the West to implement TNC’s new Western Dry Forests Program, which aims to put 50 million acres of dry forests on a trajectory toward increased resilience by 2030.
To guide TNC’s work in Colorado, Carlos and his team developed an ambitious strategic plan to address the most pressing environmental challenges, with a particular focus on tackling climate change, sustaining biodiversity and advancing a more equitable future. Carlos is leading the chapter to create a better future for Colorado's lands, waters, forests, cities and climate, and building relationships with diverse communities and Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities to ensure everyone has a voice when planning for a more sustainable future.
To provide diverse perspectives and spread awareness of the need for conservation and protecting our planet for future generations, Carlos builds deep relationships and collaborates with many media outlets and partners. Carlos has co-hosted the series Conservando Nuestro Estado with Telemundo’s Niurma Sanchez, and has been interviewed by media outlets such as Telemundo, Univision, The Colorado Sun and other regional and national media outlets. To further apply his expertise to conservation across Colorado, Carlos is a member of and/or on the Board of Keep it Colorado, Colorado Outdoor Strategy, Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s Institute for Science & Policy, Colorado State University’s Salazar Center for North America Conservation, University of Colorado’s Master of the Environment Advisory Council, State of Colorado’s Office of Outdoor Recreation Advisory Council and Member of Great Outdoors Colorado and Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Colorado Outdoor Strategy’s Steering Committee.
Before joining the Colorado Chapter, Carlos served as TNC’s Southern Andes Conservation Program Strategies Manager and was based in Bariloche, Argentina. He led the Patagonia team in their efforts to safeguard the grasslands through private lands conservation, sustainable sheep ranching initiatives and creating and strengthening public protected areas. Prior to leading the Patagonia team, he was based out of TNC's World Office in Arlington, VA, working as TNC's Senior Foreign Legal Advisor for South America.
Born and raised in Argentina, Carlos earned his law degree from Argentina’s Mendoza University before completing a graduate law degree at Georgetown University. Before joining TNC, he worked at international law firms in Buenos Aires and Washington, DC, specializing in corporate and financial transactions.
Carlos is fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese. Carlos first fell in love with hiking, biking and fly fishing as a child, and he continues to spend his free time enjoying the nature surrounding him wherever he goes. Fly fishing is his favorite pastime, whether in the Rockies or the Argentine Andes. He and his wife enjoy sharing their love of the outdoors with their daughter, which inspires them even further to protect the outdoors for future generations.
