Deborah Spalding

Deborah Spalding is the Global Head of the Nature Finance at Conservation International where she works to unlock investments for nature at scale, helps drive finance toward nature-based solutions for climate and biodiversity, develops investment partnerships and builds the division’s portfolio of carbon projects. 

Prior to Conservation International, Spalding served as Chief Investment Officer of Commonfund OCIO. Previously, she was Chief Investment Officer for the State of Connecticut. Additionally, she has worked for Working Lands Investment Partners, Schroder Investment Management, Scudder Kemper Investments and has been teaching forest finance at the Yale School of the Environment since 2010. She received a bachelor’s degree in international relations and Asian studies from Tufts University and holds graduate degrees from Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley and Yale University, where she received a Master of Forestry.