Guillermo Castilleja, Ph.D.Chief Program Officer
Guillermo Castilleja is the chief program officer for the Foundation's Environmental Conservation Program, which includes the Andes Amazon Initiative, the Conservation International commitment, the Marine Conservation Initiative, and the Wild Salmon Ecosystems Initiative.
Most recently, Castilleja oversaw and coordinated World Wildlife Fund’s global conservation efforts, leading the development of global priorities for the network, overseeing implementation of its activities, and monitoring progress and assessing impact. Castilleja came to WWF International in 2006 after serving as senior vice president for field programs for World Wildlife Fund in Washington, DC. Prior to that, he was the vice president and regional director for the Latin America and Caribbean Secretariat. Castilleja was the representative of WWF in Mexico for six years, where he led the development of one of the largest field programs in the WWF network. Before joining WWF in 1991, he worked for the World Bank and the National Wildlife Federation.
Castilleja graduated from the National University of Mexico (1980), and received a master’s degree in forestry (1983), a master’s degree in philosophy (1985), and a doctorate in forest ecology (1991) from Yale University.