Peter Seligmann
Commencement Speaker
Rutgers is proud to welcome Peter Seligmann as this year's Commencement speaker. For nearly 40 years, Seligmann has been an influential and inspiring voice in conservation. His efforts have been shaped by a belief that societies will not thrive without a shared and integrated commitment to equity, environmental health, and economic vitality. He has worked closely with governments, multi-lateral and bi-lateral organizations, corporations, foundations, and civil society partners across multiple continents.
As a first-generation U.S. citizen, Seligmann graduated from Rutgers University in 1972 and from Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Science in 1974. He worked for The Nature Conservancy in California from 1976 to 1986, and from 1986 to 1987, he led their International Program. In 1987, Seligmann, along with several colleagues, founded Conservation International (CI), where he served as CEO and chair through 2017. Since its inception, CI and its partners have protected 1.5 billion acres of land and sea, benefiting millions of people in more than 100 countries. CI has emerged as a global leader in supporting healthy societies through the protection of vast ecologically vital regions on land and in the oceans. Seligmann was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree in 2003 by Rutgers for “distinguished service to science.”
As chair of CI, in 2017, Seligmann, along with several colleagues, founded Nia Tero, an organization dedicated to supporting Indigenous Peoples’ guardianship of their territories. In the first seven years, Nia Tero partnered with over 300 Indigenous Peoples to support the protection of over 300,000,000 acres of their territorial waters and lands. In January 2025, Seligmann stepped down as CEO and continues to serve on Nia Tero’s Board of Directors.
In January, Seligmann became the chair of Silvania, a natural capital fund committed to establishing nature as an investable asset class. In March, Seligmann was appointed distinguished professor of practice at Arizona State University.
He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of the Mulago Foundation and the New School’s Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility.
Seligmann is a board member of Azul, a Brazilian Airline, and First Eagle Investment Holdings. He is on the advisory boards of BDT/MSD Partners and GITI, a Singaporean corporation. Seligmann and his wife, Lee Rhodes (the founder of Glassybaby), split their time between Montana and Seattle, and have between them six children and a growing number of grandchildren.