Jamie Rappaport Clark (born 1957 or 1958)[1] is an American conservationist and former government official working as the president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife.[2] She joined the organization as executive vice president in 2004.[3]
Clark has a long career in conservation, both inside the government, mostly with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and with non-profit conservation organizations.[4][7]
As president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife, Clark has been at the forefront of endangered species and habitat conservation in the non-profit community.[16][17] She has been frequently called on to testify on Capitol Hill, providing guidance to members of Congressonconservation issues.[18] Under her tenure, Defenders has played a key role in the reintroduction of bison to tribal reservations,[19][20] secured protections for right whales,[21][22]sea turtles and piping plovers[23] and many other species and habitats.[24] In November 2023, Clark announced her intention to step down as President and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife sometime in 2024.[25]
While under Clark’s leadership, Defenders of Wildlife gained a reputation for toxic work culture. Employees criticized Clark for perpetuating an internal “culture of fear” within the organization.[26] The term was coined in a report summarizing the results of an internal survey of 144 staff members by the Avarna Group in 2021. “When asked who staff were afraid of, the primary source of fear was not immediate supervisors, but specific individuals on the Executive Team, including the CEO.”[27] On March 29, 2021, management staff spanning several departments at Defenders of Wildlife wrote a group letter to Clark citing efforts by Defenders of Wildlife’s executive team to sanitize the Avarna Group’s report. The letter also censured the executive team for downplaying, ignoring, or rejecting consistent themes of fear in previous organizational assessments conducted by the Raben Group and Stratton Consulting Group.[28]
Matters worsened in 2022. According a deeply researched article by to Politico, “current and former staff blame Defenders CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark for setting the tone and establishing a ‘culture of fear’ within the organization. Upsetting Clark over even minor issues, they say, can result in getting fired.”[29] In August 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found Defenders of Wildlife management had violated labor law by terminating a former employee for their union organizing efforts, failing and refusing to provide the staff union with information needed for contract bargaining, and bypassing the union and direct dealing with staff. [30][31][32][33] Clark's name is listed alongside other Defenders of Wildlife senior managers as "supervisors of Respondent" in the subsequent Consolidated Complaint issued by the NLRB in December 2022.[34][35] In protest of these violations, the staff union held a 3 day rally in front of Defenders HQ in Washington, DC, and issued a public petition in February 2023 calling for Clark to negotiate a fair contract or resign as CEO, which garnered 561 signatures.[36]
The above charges were settled between the parties in early 2023. [37][38] As of May 2024, however, several subsequent unfair labor practice charges against Defenders of Wildlife management are still pending investigation by the NLRB.[39] According to the staff union, Clark deprived union members of access to improved leave benefits[40] and annual merit increases in late 2023. [41] As of May 2024, Clark has an approval rating of 28% on Glassdoor.[42]