Dr. Brendan Moynahan

Chief Executive Officer

As CEO, Brendan guides CLLC with a perspective grounded in 30 years of experience at the intersection of science, policy, practice, and partnership.

Brendan has led efforts to build diverse partnerships organized under a shared commitment to ecocultural conservation—an approach that embraces place-based connections between ecology and human culture by honoring and reestablishing human connections to landscapes, wildlife, and natural systems. He is particularly interested in engaging with Indigenous and local communities to honor their connections to place and to advance OneHealth principles toward ensuring the well-being of people, environment, and wildlife.

Prior to joining CLLC in January 2026, Brendan was the chief of the Wildlife Conservation Branch of the National Park Service (NPS), where he led collaborative and co-production work across the U.S. and North America, emphasizing establishing active partnerships with federal agencies, states, and Tribal Nations. Since 2019, he coordinated federal bison conservation as Chair of the Department of the Interior (DOI) Bison Working Group, where he led the development of DOI’s Bison Conservation Initiative, metapopulation strategy, and the coproduction of a national Shared Stewardship Strategy with Tribes. He was a principal author of the NPS Director’s Policy Memo on Ecological Connectivity and Collaborative Conservation, as well as Secretary’s Order 3410 on Conservation of Bison and Prairie Grasslands.   

In addition to multiple lead science roles with the NPS, Brendan also worked for the Bureau of Land Management as a wildlife biologist and lived and worked within the Flathead Reservation in Montana as the lead biologist at what was then the National Bison Range. He started his career as a Presidential Management Fellow, a prestigious, two-year, paid government fellowship for recent graduate students seeking a career in a United States government agency.

Brendan is based in Missoula, MT, where he and his wife are immeasurably proud of their three adventuresome children. He enjoys hunting, fishing, and all forms of quiet pondering in wild places.

Education

• Ph.D. in Wildlife Biology (focus in quantitative population ecology), University of Montana
• M.S. in Restoration Ecology (focus in riparian restoration), University of Montana
• B.S. in Political Science (focus in environmental policy), Bates College