Pipa Elias is deputy director of the Walton Family Foundation’s Environment Program, where she oversees environmental grantmaking and helps shape the program’s strategic direction. She also manages team operations, supports professional development and represents the foundation in external partnerships.

Before joining the foundation, Pipa worked at The Nature Conservancy as director of agriculture for North America and as a senior policy advisor leading land use policy at United Nations climate negotiations and other multilateral forums. She also served as policy lead on a team that published a seminal paper on natural climate solutions.

Pipa received a Master of Science in Forestry from Virginia Tech and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from the University of Notre Dame.