Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser is the president and CEO of Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit conservation organization focused on ensuring access to the benefits and joys of the outdoors, for everyone. Before joining TPL in 2024, Dr. Hauser served as president and CEO of Colorado Mountain College, where she led the institution to record graduation rates, closed equity gaps, expanded affordable housing for students, and developed academic programs aligned with the outdoor industry. She was named the first President Emerita in the history of the college. Her extensive board service includes the American Council on Education, Vail Valley Foundation, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, Great Outdoors Colorado, and American Rivers. Dr. Hauser earned her master’s and Ph.D. from UCLA, and completed the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton School of Business. An avid outdoorswoman, Dr. Hauser has summited Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Rainier, Mount Whitney, and Colorado’s 58 “fourteeners.”