Margaret Williams is a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative.
Williams has worked for over 25 years on conservation issues in Russia and Alaska. She joined the Arctic Initiative from the World Wildlife Fund (U.S.), where she established and served as the Managing Director of the Arctic Field Program, a biodiversity conservation program in marine and coastal ecosystems spanning U.S.-Russian-Canadian boundaries. She chaired WWF's global Arctic team from 2004-2006 and remained an active contributor to WWF's global Arctic program.
In addition to her more than two decades of leadership at WWF, Williams served as a Member of the Polar Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences from 2018-2022. She is also a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her commentary and analysis have been featured in major news outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Time.
She holds a Master of Environmental Studies (MES) from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a BA in American Studies from Smith College.
