Above photo: Adam Falk, who joined WCS as President and CEO on July 1, 2025. Pictured here at the Bronx Zoo. Credit: ©️WCS

New York, July 1, 2025 -- Adam Falk joined WCS today as President and CEO. In this role, he leads one of the world’s foremost conservation organizations, overseeing five iconic zoological parks in New York City—the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, and the New York Aquarium—and the largest on-the-ground field conservation program, active in more than 55 countries. WCS leverages the combined strength of its zoos, aquarium, and international conservation efforts to protect wildlife and wild places around the world.

Watch a video message from Falk here:

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"One of the things about the Wildlife Conservation Society that was at the heart of what has drawn me to this institution is that science is at its absolute core, and has been from the very founding," said Falk.

A theoretical high-energy physicist, Falk brings a deep background in science, philanthropy, and institutional leadership. He previously served as President of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, where he championed initiatives in scientific research, higher education, and public understanding of science and technology. Earlier, he was President of Williams College and Dean of the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, where he was also a professor of physics.

Falk is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and has received numerous honors for his research and teaching, including young investigator awards from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. He was awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship in Physics and received the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award. His service to the scientific community includes roles on the Physics Advisory Committee at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the American Physical Society’s Panel on Public Affairs.

He is an elected Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations. Falk serves on the boards of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Scholars at Risk, and the Science Communication Lab. He has also held trustee roles with Mount Holyoke College, the Quad Preparatory School, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Falk earned his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University and his B.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar. He completed postdoctoral research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and the University of California, San Diego. He holds honorary degrees from Amherst College and Williams College, has received the University of North Carolina’s Distinguished Young Alumnus Award, and is an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford University.