FORT COLLINS — Beth Conover has spent her entire career working at the intersection of environmental policy and community development. She joins Colorado State University this month as director of the Salazar Center for North American Conservation, which is housed in the School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES).

The Salazar Center for North American Conservation was established in August 2017, thanks to the vision of former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and with support from a significant gift from Bohemian Foundation.

Conover most recently served as senior vice president at the Gates Family Foundation in Denver, where she had worked since 2011. She worked for John Hickenlooper from 2003 to 2007 when he was mayor of Denver.

During her tenure at the city and county, Conover developed the Greenprint Denver sustainability office and created a climate action plan for Denver. She was one of four senior policy advisors to the mayor, now Gov. Hickenlooper, and his former chief of staff and now U.S. Senator Michael Bennet.

Salazar, who preceded Bennet as U.S. Senator, applauded this new role for Conover at the center that bears his name.

“CSU’s North American Conservation center will teach our continent the best conservation practices to protect our land, air, water and wildlife for generations to come,” said Salazar, a native of the San Luis Valley. “CSU is a giant among universities in its work on conservation and sustainability. And we are fortunate to have Beth Conover appointed as the first director of the Center. Beth is a stellar and proven leader in planning and conservation in Colorado and around the nation.”

Salazar endorsed a founding gift of $500,000 to get the project off the ground. An additional $1 million gift from the Fort Collins-based Bohemian Foundation is meant to support the center’s early projects, and CSU hopes to raise $40 million to sustain the center for the foreseeable future.