Mike Phillips

Mike Phillips has served as the Executive Director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund and advisor to the Turner Biodiversity Divisions since he co-founded both with Ted Turner in June 1997. Before that, Mike worked for the U.S. Department of Interior, leading historic efforts to restore red wolves to the southeastern US and gray wolves to the Yellowstone National Park. He also conducted important research on the impacts of oil and gas development on grizzly bears in the Arctic, predation costs for gray wolves in Alaska, and dingo ecology in Australia. These days, Mike is an advisor to the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project.

Mike worked in Colorado and assembled a political team that successfully passed a ballot measure in 2020 that mandated wolf restoration to the western half of the state. This marked the first time in history that direct democracy had been used to advance endangered species recovery. He was the 2021 recipient of the Aldo Leopold Award, the highest honor bestowed on wildlife biologists by The Wildlife Society recognizing wildlifers’ lifetime contributions to the field.