Fred Koontz, Ph.D.

After growing up in Maryland, Dr. Koontz received a Ph.D. in Zoology in 1984 from the University of Maryland. As a graduate student, Fred was a Smithsonian Pre-Doctoral Fellow, conducting ethological research from 1978-1984 with the National Zoological Park’s Department of Zoological Research. From 1984-1998, Fred worked in New York at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), including ten years as a mammal curator at their Bronx Zoo and five years as director of WCS’s Science Resource Center, with a mission to train conservation professionals to integrate cutting-edge methodologies and technologies into their work. At WCS, Fred’s expertise included wildlife conservation, zoo-based breeding programs for endangered animals, environmental education, and science technology.

From 1999 to 2004, Dr. Koontz worked for Wildlife Trust, New York, NY (no longer active) as Program Director and Executive Vice President. Wildlife Trust, a global wildlife conservation organization focused at that time on empowering conservation scientists worldwide to protect nature and safeguard ecosystem health. During his time at Wildlife Trust, Fred worked both internationally directing international partnerships and locally when he led their “New York Bioscape Initiative,” which aimed to protect biodiversity and ecological health in metropolitan New York. Also, while working at Wildlife Trust, Fred helped the team to establish the Consortium of Conservation Medicine with partners from Harvard Medical School and Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine. The Consortium, among other issues, addressed the growing concern that human-caused changes to the environment and illegal wildlife trade increased the likelihood of a global viral pandemic that would threaten human health worldwide.

From 2005 to 2011, Fred served as Executive Director & CEO of Teatown, a regional environmental organization devoted to nature conservation in New York’s Hudson Hills and Highlands with a 1000-acre preserve and education center in Westchester County, New York. Fred directed Teatown’s programs, fundraising, finances, and management. Under Fred’s leadership, Teatown became a member of the Land Trust Alliance and established a reputation as an environmental leader in southeast New York. At the time, Teatown employed 25 staff with an annual budget of $1.7 million and an endowment of $2.5 million.

From 2011 to 2017, Dr. Koontz served as Vice President of Field Conservation at Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ), Seattle, Washington USA. In these years, WPZ supported 40 field projects in the USA’s Pacific Northwest and around the world with an annual investment of nearly $2 million. WPZ field projects focused on recovering populations of threatened animals and protecting their habitats, while at the same time supporting the human communities where these animals live. During Fred’s tenure, WPZ projects were carried out with strong collaboration and partnerships with local people, organizations, and government agencies, including Washington state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. Fred also led the creation of the Zoo’s Living Northwest Program that strengthened WPZ’s regional wildlife conservation actions and local partnerships. A notable international effort while at the Woodland Park Zoo was Fred’s partnering with conservation organizations Panthera and Rimba to launch a Malayan tiger conservation program in Peninsular Malaysia.

Dr. Koontz’s work at WCS, Wildlife Trust and Woodland Park Zoo took him around the world: for example, studying howler monkeys in Belize and Nicaragua; conducting training courses for wildlife professionals in Argentina, Belize, India, and Mexico; helping launch and direct a tiger conservation program in Malaysia, leading safari tours to Kenya and Tanzania; and lecturing on giant panda captive breeding in China. He also consulted on conservation projects in Latin America, Africa, and Asia from 1999-2001, when he was Wildlife Trust’s Director of Conservation Programs and oversaw a portfolio of more than 65 projects in 20 countries from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Dr. Koontz is perhaps best known among field conservationists for co-leading a team of scientists, veterinarians, and park managers, who from 1991-1997 successfully reintroduced howler monkeys into the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize.

Dr. Koontz was on the adjunct faculty at Columbia University for ten years (1994-2004) and served at the same time on their Executive Management Committee for Columbia University’s Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, based in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology. At Columbia, and as an adjunct faculty at Fordham University and New York University, Fred helped mentor 12 graduate students, and regularly provided career advice to young scientists. Dr. Koontz also was an adjunct professor in University of Washington’s College of the Environment, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, 2014-2017.

Dr. Koontz has published more than 75 articles and written commentaries for scientific and lay audiences. Throughout his career, he was a sought-after speaker on nature conservation and animal behavior, having delivered hundreds of public lectures. Dr. Koontz has been interviewed by numerous television and radio stations, including appearances on CNN, WCBS News, WABC News, ABC’s Good Morning America, NPR’s Sounds of Science, NPR’s Science Friday, and King 5 (Seattle). Dr. Koontz’s work has been noted in the New York Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, Wildlife Conservation, Discover, Popular Science, New Scientist, Natural History, USA TODAY, Poughkeepsie Journal, The Journal News (Westchester, NY), and others. Op-eds have been published in The Hill, Seattle Times and Crosscut.com. Fred has served on professional committees for the World Conservation Union (IUCN), NASA, New York State, Westchester County (New York), and others. While a curator of mammalogy at the Bronx Zoo, 1984-1994, Fred participated on professional committees of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA), including the Field Conservation Committee, Old World Monkey Taxonomic Advisory Group, and the Species Population Management Advisory Group.

Throughout his career, Fred gained experience in facilitating meetings, developing wildlife projects and strategic planning. Dr. Koontz’s civic appointments while working in New York, included: serving on the New York’s Department of Conservation Hudson River Estuary Management Committee; Westchester County’s Climate Change Advisory Council; Westchester County’s Forest Health and Deer Study Task Force; Lower Hudson Valley’s Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management; Hudson Valley’s Climate Change Speakers Bureau; and on the board of the Hudson Highlands Land Trust. In recent years, Fred has volunteered to review books and journal articles for Biological Conservation and Society & Animals.

After moving to Washington state in 2011, Dr. Koontz engaged in state wildlife conservation. In 2016, Dr. Koontz was co-organizer of the Washington Wildlife Leaders Forum, a conference of 50 leaders who strategized methods for wildlife agency reform in Washington state, especially aimed at improving non-game wildlife conservation. Fred served on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wildlife Diversity Advisory Council, 2012-2018; Budget and Policy Advisory Group, 2018; and the Snoqualmie Wildlife Area Advisory Committee, 2020. He also served in 2021 as a Commissioner on the Washington Fish & Wildlife’s Commission. Other Washington state community participation has included leading the Biodiversity Task Force of the Central Puget Sound Regional Open Space Strategy (ROSS), 2015; serving on Forterra’s Central Puget Sound Leadership Council, 2015-2017.

Since retiring in 2017, Fred served on the Advisory Council of Wildlife for All, 2022-2024; and 2020-2026 he served on the Board of Directors of Wildlands Network, including as Board President, 2023-2025. Currently, Dr Koontz is an Emeritus Fellow at PAN Works, an ethics think tank dedicated to the wellbeing of animals. Fred lives in Duvall, Washington, with his wife, Dr. Wendy Westrom, a veterinarian.