(Note:  Please keep in mind that the Nature Conservancy only publicly admitted to having had an interest in the Darby part of Ohio since late 1998; this 'bio' for Mr. Possiel documents not only interest, but action and activity a full ten years earlier. Bill Possiel - National Forest Foundation) NFF President Bill Possiel has served as President of the National Forest Foundation (NFF) since 1998. He has conducted conservation activities in the Caribbean and South America, as well as in the U.S., and prior to joining the NFF served as Vice President and Western Regional Director for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) .  In 1989 Mr. Possiel initiated one of TNC's first large-scale conservation projects on the Big Darby Watershed in Ohio, and successfully completed the Ohio 'Let's Save the Best to Last' capital campaign. In February 1990 he established TNC's Brazil program, developing partnerships focused on conservation of the Atlantic Forest, Pantanal, Cerrado, Caatinga, and the Amazon, and successfully completed the Brasil Verde capital campaign. He negotiated acquisitions that resulted in doubling the size of the Pantanal National Park and in 1992 negotiated the first debt-for-nature swap in Brazil. As TNC's Montana State Director, Mr. Possiel worked with staff and trustees to create a strategic focus for TNC's Montana program, resulting in community-based programs with greater conservation impact. He also worked with teams to develop strategies for TNC's Latin America and Caribbean Division, Canada Program, and served on the Conservation Committee, helping to define a new strategic direction for the Conservancy (TNC) called Conservation by Design. Mr. Possiel graduated from Kean College of New Jersey with a Bachelor of Science in Management Science in 1974, received a second B.S. from the School of Forestry at Oregon State University with honors and went on to receive his M.A. in Anthropology from Oregon State with a graduate fellowship. In 1996 he completed the Stanford Executive Program in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Excerpted from: http://www.natlforests.org/staff.htm