Leadership

John D. Shepperd
Executive Director

A sixth-generation Texan, John D. Shepperd has spent decades working to conserve the wild places of the Lone Star State. Save a brief stint co-founding two successful healthcare companies, Shepperd’s career has been entirely conservation-focused, including both on-the-ground work (forestry, coastal habitat restoration and liaising between state agencies, academics, and Texas landowners) and Texas legislative session projects (legislation tracking and analysis, educational outreach, fundraisers, PAC spending analysis, office communications, and lobby team coordination and strategy).

John is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and has held roles at the Texas State Capitol, Texas A&M University TAMU System, Texas Senate Natural Resources Committee and Blackridge Governmental Affairs.

In 2016, John became the first Executive Director of Texas Foundation for Conservation and the Texas Coalition for Conservation where he focuses on political, educational and grassroots conservation outreach.

George Bristol
Consultant

For more than fifty years, George Bristol has been a successful entrepreneur, political organizer, fundraiser, and lobbyist. During those years, he formed a deep interest in national and state parks. In 1984, he was named chairman of the Texas Conservation Foundation by Governor Mark White and served until 1988. That experience heightened his awareness of the need for a stronger commitment to a conservation ethic. In 1994, he received a six-year appointment to the National Park Foundation Board of Directors by President Bill Clinton and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt.

Upon completing his term, Bristol formed the Texas Coalition for Conservation to advocate for better funding for Texas parks. As its president, he led a statewide effort that culminated in success in 2007 when the Texas Legislature nearly tripled appropriations to parks. In 2015, the legislature voted for permanent funding for state parks. He was honored in February 2016 by the staff of the State Parks Division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Among the awards of the day was a scholarship to be named in his honor for the leadership advancement of outstanding park employees.

From 1999 to 2009, Bristol cofounded and served on the board of Directors of the Glacier Fund (now the Glacier National Park Conservancy). He cofounded and served as chairman of the Texas State Parks Advisory Committee from 2009 to 2016. He has also served as chair of Audubon Texas. In 2006, he was deeply honored to be chosen to be an advisor to the PBS series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns.

Bristol joined the Texas Foundation for Conservation as a consultant in 2024.