Mark Tercek is president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, the global conservation organization known for its intense focus on collaboration and getting things done for the benefit of people and nature. He is the author of the Washington Post and Publisher's Weekly bestselling book Nature's Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature.

Growing up as a city kid in Cleveland, Mark was a late-bloomer to conservation. It was becoming a parent that sparked his passion for nature. "I want to be able to look my kids in the eye," he says, "and tell them I did all I could to leave the world a better place."

A former managing director and Partner for Goldman Sachs, where he spent 24 years, Mark brings deep business experience to his role leading the Conservancy, which he joined in 2008. He is a champion of the idea of natural capital -- valuing nature for its own sake as well as for the services it provides for people, such as clean air and water, productive soils and a stable climate.

During his time at Goldman Sachs, Mark managed several of the firm's key units, including Corporate Finance, Equity Capital Markets and Pine Street, the firm's leadership development program. In 2005, after two decades as an investment banker, Mark was tapped to develop the firm's environmental strategy and to lead its Environmental Markets Group.

Inspired by the opportunity to help businesses, governments and environmental organizations work together in new, innovative ways, Mark left Goldman Sachs in 2008 to head up The Nature Conservancy.

In 2012, Mark appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to serve on the New York State 2100 Commission, which was created in the wake of Superstorm Sandy to advise the governor and the state on how to make the state's infrastructure more resilient to future storms. Mark is also a member of several boards and councils, including Resources for the Future and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mark earned an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1984 and a B.A. from Williams College in 1979.

Visit http://www.marktercek.com

Jonathan Adams has spent more than two decades writing about the science and practice of conservation. A science writer and conservation biologist, he often writes as an insider with an outsider's perspective. He is the author most recently, with Mark Tercek, of "Nature's Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive By Investing in Nature" published by Basic Books in 2013. He is also the author of "The Future of the Wild: Radical Conservation for a Crowded World" published by Beacon Press in 2004, about which Library Journal wrote (in a starred review): "Visionary, optimistic, doable, and essential, Adam's approach is a pioneering 'guidebook to nature."

Jonathan was co-editor of "Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States", published by Oxford University Press in 2000 and he is the co-author, with Thomas McShane, of "The Myth of Wild Africa: Conservation Without Illusion." W. W. Norton published Myth of Wild Africa in 1992, and the paperback edition published by University of California Press continues to sell after more than a decade in print. Writing in the New York Times Book Review, Robert S. O. Harding said about the book, "The authors make the complexity of the continent, its ecosystems and its political problems abundantly clear."

Jonathan received an MS in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development from the University of Maryland, an MA in Writing About Science from Johns Hopkins University, and a BA from Columbia University.

Visit him online at www.pangolinwords.com