Staff
KENT WOMMACK, Executive Director
Kent joined the Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation as Executive Director in September 2016.
Prior to joining LCAOF, Kent worked for 34 years with The Nature Conservancy, where he was one of the organization's most respected and accomplished conservation leaders. He led three of TNC's most successful state and country programs -- in Maine, Australia and Canada. During his tenure, each program undertook groundbreaking projects and campaigns that changed the scope and scale of conservation in those places. Kent then led the Conservancy’s Global Lands Strategy Team, which advised TNC field programs on emerging trends and strategies. He is one of just nine TNC leaders featured in the book "Nature Keepers", a profile of TNC's extraordinary growth and success over its first half century.
Kent is on the Board of the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, a large Maine-based foundation that supports integrated conservation and human well-being projects with a strong focus on equity and underserved communities. He is also an investor, advisor or board member to several start-up and privately-held natural resource companies.
LILLIAN BIGELOW, Senior Program Officer
Lillian joined the Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation in April 2018. She works with civil society organizations, government entities, Indigenous communities, and funding partners at the local, national, and international levels to support community-led conservation initiatives in key wildlife landscapes around the world.
Prior to joining LCAOF, Lillian spent four years at the Helmsley Charitable Trust supporting grantmaking efforts in the Trust’s conservation program. She has also worked at an environmental consulting and engineering firm, and has developed energy efficiency retrofit projects as an EDF Climate Corps Fellow with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles.
Lillian holds an MS in Sustainability Management from The Earth Institute at Columbia University and a BS in Marine Science from the University of Connecticut. She currently serves on the board of
the Biodiversity Funders Group, a professional association of environmental grantmakers.
JESSICA DEICHMANN, Program Officer
Jessica joined the Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation in February 2023.
Prior to joining LCAOF, Jessica worked for 12 years as a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution where she led applied conservation research, primarily in North and South America as well as Central Africa. During this time, she worked with multi-sectoral partners to implement interdisciplinary biodiversity conservation science programs with the goal of informing sustainable ecosystem management that produces co-benefits for people and wildlife.
Jessica earned a degree in Zoology (BS) and minor in Spanish at Colorado State University before completing her PhD in Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University. She is a Founding Member of the Women in Nature Network, a global network that aims to build connections between women around the world to enhance their abilities to manage natural resources and to protect the environment.
ARIA GALLO, Senior Program Associate
Aria joined the Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation as Program Associate in June 2020. Previously, Aria was the partnerships manager at a New York City-based food recovery nonprofit, strategically catalyzing support from institutional partners within the five boroughs and nationally. Aria has also worked at the Wildlife Conservation Society, assisting with development for the organization’s global priority regions and flagship species.
Aria serves as Board Chair of UnLocal, a nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to New York City’s undocumented immigrant communities. She holds a master’s degree in Biology from Miami University’s Advanced Inquiry Program and an executive certificate in Nonprofit Fund Development from the University of Notre Dame. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from The City University of New York’s Baruch College.
LORI COHEN, Operations Manager
Lori joined the Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation as Program & Administrative Coordinator in January 2007. She has a degree in History and moved to New York in 2002 to continue her education at Columbia University studying conservation biology. Prior to joining LCAOF, she worked with the Wildlife Conservation Society in their Exhibits & Graphics Arts Department and later as Program Assistant for their Africa Program.