Dermot is a global sustainable development leader with 25 years’ experience in envisioning, ideating, and implementing solutions to protect wildlife and the environment. He has worked with WWF for more than two decades, serving as the CEO of WWF-Australia, WWF-Pacific, and WWF-China. He also holds several board positions, including at the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) and the Luc Hoffmann Institute, as well as being the Chair of OpenSC.
Since joining WWF-Australia, Dermot has transformed the organisation into a leader in collaboration across sectors which supports people, governments and NGOs see global challenges as opportunities to co-create a better future for humanity and nature. Following the devastating bushfires of 2019-20, he oversaw the launch of the largest wildlife and landscape regeneration program in the nation’s history, Regenerate Australia. Dermot also led the establishment of WWF-Australia’s award-winning global innovation program, WWF Panda Labs.
His approach to building bridges and mobilising people around a common cause has seen WWF-Australia partner with Indigenous communities, governments, multilateral aid agencies, businesses, and the broader conservation and climate movement. Over the past five years, Dermot has been focused on the future, thinking about how WWF and other NGOs globally can use innovation to meet the challenges of a changing world.
As a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Digital Civil Society Lab in 2022, he explored the intersection of digital technology, civil society, and big philanthropy; how it’s fundamentally changing the charity sector; and how people, governments, and NGOs can collaborate on new ways forward to achieve a sustainable future.
See Dermot at the 2022 Better Futures Forum:
Wednesday, 7 September 7:30am - 8:30am AEST| Better Futures Breakfast with Minister Bowen
Wednesday, 7 September 9.20am - 10.25am AEST | Panel - Renewable Export Opportunities