Executive Director
Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK)
The Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK) team is pleased to welcome incoming Executive Director, Juan Pérez Sáez, to the ELK organization. Juan has dedicated his personal and professional life to conservation, environmental education, advocacy, nature, and stewardship. While building community and creating opportunities for many others to connect with the outdoors.
Juan is originally from Panama, and his love for nature started at an early age, while working at his family farm, and learning about tropical ecosystems.
With more than 14 years of experience in this field, Juan was most recently working for The Wilderness Society (TWS). Juan has worked for several nonprofit organizations in Latin America and the United States, as well as the U.S. Federal Government. He was also a Fulbright Scholar between 2012 – 2014. Before moving to Colorado, Juan was the National Coordinator for the Million Hectares Alliance in Panama. Juan led a multimillion-dollar public-private partnership that seeks to restore more than 2.4 million acres of degraded land in a 30-year period. He also led the first ever National Reforestation Day in his home country; this event mobilized in its first year more than 15,000 people and led to the revision and creation of a new National Forest Policy.