Dechen Dorji

Board Member

Dechen Dorji brings two decades of leadership and expertise in conservation and sustainability. He currently serves as Vice President for Asia for the Wildlife Conservation program at WWF-US in Washington, DC, and had also previously contributed as a public policy and governance researcher with the Peoples Project during Bhutan’s transition to democracy. In his current role, Dechen oversees programs in more than 10 Asian countries, collaborating with WWF offices and corporate partners such as P&G, Apple, and Discovery, focusing on biodiversity conservation, tiger recovery, and community engagement. He has managed multi-million-dollar biodiversity projects funded by the U.S. government in Vietnam. Dechen began his career with the Royal Government of Bhutan, managing a World Bank and Swiss-funded project across six eastern districts on community-based forest management, forest industry infrastructure, and capacity building. For Bhutan’s Centenary Celebrations in 2008, he led fundraising to establish the Environmental Training and Research Institute at Lamegompa, Bumthang. He served as the first Coordinator of the DeSuung and Camp Raven programs and as inaugural Project Director for the Druk Gyalpo Institute. As WWF Bhutan’s Country Representative, he launched the “Bhutan for Life” initiative, raising over $43 million to secure permanent financing for Bhutan’s protected areas. Dechen has also served on the boards of DHI, Bhutan Telecom, NRDCL, RSPN, BPV, Lhaksam, and the Snowman Race, and is a recipient of the National Order of Merit (Gold).