Tia Nelson
Honorary Degree Recipient
Biography
Tia Nelson is internationally recognized as a champion of environmental stewardship and conservation. She graduated from UW–Madison with a bachelor of science degree in wildlife ecology before moving to Washington, D.C., where she spent 17 years at The Nature Conservancy in several roles, including as founding director of TNC’s Global Climate Change Initiative. She received the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Protection Award for this work.
Nelson returned home to Wisconsin in 2004 to serve as executive secretary to the Wisconsin Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. In that role, she led efforts to increase agency efficiencies, strengthen relationships with local governments, and improve School Trust Land management. Her work produced significantly higher Common School Fund earnings, the sole source of state support for public school libraries, as well as higher Normal School Fund earnings, which fund scholarships for UW students, while increasing sustainable forestry revenues and natural areas protection.
She left state service in 2015 to become managing director of the Outrider Foundation’s Climate Change Program, where she led initiatives on climate science education and solutions advocacy. Early in 2026, she returned to public service at the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.
She currently serves on the board of directors for Ploughshares and ecoAmerica, as board member emeritus of the UW Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and as an ambassador for Wisconsin’s Green Fire.