New York, New York — June 12, 2025 — The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) hosted its annual gala tonight at the iconic Central Park Zoo, in celebration of WCS’s global mission to protect wildlife and wild places and to honor its former President and CEO Dr. Cristián Samper.

Samper, an esteemed conservation biologist and environmental leader, helped shape the organization’s legacy and expand WCS’s impact on a global scale. Samper now serves as the Managing Director and Leader for Natural Solutions at the Bezos Earth Fund, overseeing its work related to the protection and restoration of nature and the transformation of food systems. He played a key role in launching the Protecting Our Planet Challenge, a $5 billion commitment from 11 global foundations supporting the 30x30 vision of protecting at least 30 percent of the planet by 2030, reversing species decline, and ensuring future generations inherit a thriving planet.

“I just want to say that I feel incredibly fortunate to have spent my life doing what I love, to have shared it with Adriana, with my kids, and so many extraordinary people,” said Samper, whose wife, Adriana Casas Isaza, passed away in December after a courageous battle with cancer.  “And I vow to you that I plan to dedicate the rest of my life to caring for this planet and all life, in a tribute to Adriana, and as a gift to my children, to their children, and to all life.”

Said Alejandro Santo Domingo, Chair of the WCS Board of Trustees: “Dr. Cristián Samper made WCS stronger and more impactful during his ten years as our President and CEO, and he continues on his life-long path at the Bezos Earth Fund as a champion for wildlife and wild places. There is no better champion for nature than Cristián, and at WCS, we will always be thankful for his years of leadership with us.”

The WCS Gala is a signature event in New York City’s social season. It brings together WCS supporters, scientists, policymakers, and philanthropists to celebrate WCS’s impact on the planet’s most ecologically important wild places and the extraordinary species that call them home.

WCS inspires and educates the next generation of conservationists through its five iconic wildlife parks in New York City: the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and New York Aquarium. With the largest site-based conservation program in the world, WCS is working on the ground to protect vast, climate-critical, biodiverse landscapes and seascapes in more than 55 countries and all the world’s oceans.

About Cristián Samper
Dr. Cristián Samper is a conservation biologist and preeminent environmental policy leader who has dedicated his career to studying nature and building a nature-positive, carbon-neutral future.

Samper served as President & Chief Executive Officer of WCS from 2012–2022, and under his leadership we:

  • Built a global network of Nature’s Strongholds with more than 150 protected areas spanning 3.75 million square kilometers on land and sea
  • Created the world’s leading program to counter the illegal wildlife trade, including the successful 96 Elephants campaign to stop the killing and trafficking of elephants, and help reduce the demand for ivory
  • Provided tens of millions of visitors a window into the natural world by opening 12 new exhibits, including the Donald Zucker and Barbara Hrbek Zucker Ocean Wonders: Sharks! exhibit at the New York Aquarium
  • Raised more than $2 billion in public and private funding to advance our mission
  • Helped develop, adopt, and roll out: the 30×30 goal of protecting 30 percent of the planet by 2030 (30×30); nature-based solutions to the climate crisis; and the One Health approach to preventing future zoonotic pandemics

Samper now serves as the Managing Director and Leader for Nature Solutions at the Bezos Earth Fund, overseeing all its work related to the protection and restoration of nature, as well as the transformation of food systems. He helped the Bezos Earth Fund design and launch the Protecting Our Planet Challenge, a coalition of 11 foundations that are investing $5 billion to support the implementation of 30×30 globally.

Prior to joining WCS, Samper was Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History from 2003–2012, and in 1995 was founding Director of Colombia’s Alexander von Humboldt Biodiversity Institute. A biologist from the Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia with a PhD from Harvard University, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; he has served on many influential foundation and nonprofit boards. Samper was raised in Colombia; he now lives in New York.

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