Area of Focus
Upon joining WRA in 2014 as president, Jon Goldin-Dubois set about getting the team to scale around its seven-state region and ensuring that the organization has the resources needed to influence states to decrease carbon emissions; connect and protect critical landscapes; and ensure healthy river systems. Together with his leadership team, he has built a skilled and passionate staff of 70 with the resources necessary to identify the many threats posed to the region by climate change and to implement effective and proven strategies to address those challenges through enduring solutions.
Throughout his tenure at WRA, Jon has tackled the urgent climate crisis head-on. He and the team he has built have made great strides on the issue by ensuring resources are trained squarely on creating a healthier and more equitable future for the West. Under his leadership, the organization has increased its effectiveness across the region. The WRA team has more staff in more states and is driving plans that address climate change with an urgency and ambition commensurate with the scale of the crisis the region faces. The organization has seen a record increase in funding – revenue has tripled during his tenure – fueling the expansion of the team and resulting in an exponential increase in impact across the Interior West.
Background
Jon understands the challenge of climate change but isn’t discouraged by the scale of the work to be done to address the climate crisis in the Interior West. His deep connection to the natural world, particularly the mountains, rivers, and deserts of the West, drives his desire to find and present opportunities to rebuild our economies and societies in harmony with the environment.
A Colorado native, he is driven by his passion to improve the world that future generations will inherit. He grew up skiing, but really came to love the outdoors when he started backpacking with friends in Colorado’s mountains. It was the 1989 Exxon-Valdez oil spill that spurred him to action and ignited his passion for preserving and protecting land and the natural environment.
Accomplishments
Jon has been at the center of successful negotiations with utility executives to decommission coal-fired power plants and replace the energy with clean, renewable power. One example is the Colorado Energy Plan, which was approved in 2018 and put the state’s largest utility on a path to cut carbon emissions by over 50%.
Additionally, WRA has helped to negotiate agreements to protect the West’s rivers and ensure they can continue to support healthy wildlife populations and ecosystems and provide drinking water to our cities and water for the region’s agricultural industry. The organization secured stream protections for the San Miguel and Dolores rivers in Southwest Colorado and worked with the City of Aspen to find smart alternatives to secure water supplies and avoid building two proposed dams on Castle and Maroon creeks. Nevada and New Mexico both adopted measures to protect 30% of their lands by 2030.
Education
- Bachelor of Arts from the University of Denver in International Studies
- Master of Public Affairs from the University of Colorado at Denver
Favorite thing about the West
“I love the West and am inspired by the way the air feels and smells in the mountains after a rainstorm, the sense of insignificance and solitude of a desert overlook and the way running a river makes my heart beat not just faster but also stronger.”
In his free time, Jon enjoys hiking (he recently realized a 30-year goal by hiking the Colorado Trail from Denver to Durango), skiing, cycling, running, and cooking.
