Nonprofits | Philanthropy 2023: LAWRENCE A. ‘LARRY’ SELZER

Selzer has led The Conservation Fund, an environmental nonprofit that aims to restore nature while creating economic and recreational opportunities, since 2001.

Last year was one of the fund’s most impactful years in its nearly 40-year history. The organization made significant strides in its efforts to expand public access to nature, protect at-risk Black history sites and secure land for Indigenous peoples, and it spearheaded local solutions to national issues such as food insecurity, public health and the climate crisis.

In Virginia, the fund acquired 964 acres along the Rappahannock River, part of Fones Cliffs, which has significance to the Rappahannock Tribe. The acquisition will permanently conserve the property and protect the site’s natural resources and cultural importance.

An avid outdoorsman, Selzer enjoys fishing and birdwatching. He serves as chairman of the American Bird Conservancy and is on the boards of Leading Harvest and Seattle-based timberland company Weyerhaeuser. He holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the University of Virginia. 

FIRST JOB: Manomet Center for Conservation Science, conducting research on marine mammal and seabird populations on the eastern Outer Continental Shelf