017: National Geographic CEO Dr. Jill Tiefenthaler

Dr. Jill Tiefenthaler, the first female CEO of the National Geographic Society, joins App State Chief Sustainability Officer Lee Ball in the podcast studio to discuss the journey that led her to her current position. She shares her thoughts on the importance of higher education and the history of the Society’s National Geographic magazine, as well as a few of her favorite National Geographic Explorers.

 

 

Show Notes

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/society/our-leadership/

sustain.appstate.edu

 

Transcript

Lee Ball:

Welcome back to another episode of Find Your Sustainability, where we talk to many of the world's experts about sustainability and what the heck that means. On today's episode, we spoke with Dr. Jill Tiefenthaler, who is the CEO of National Geographic. Jill was on App State's campus for the 11th annual Appalachian Energy Summit, and it was my pleasure to have a chance to interview her on the podcast. As Chief Executive Officer at the National Geographic Society, Dr. Tiefenthaler oversees the development and implementation of the society's mission driven work and programmatic agenda. She leads our global community of explorers, scientists, innovators, educators, and storytellers in our mission to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Jill sits on the Society's board of trustees and the Board of National Geographic Partners. To read more about Jill, you can find a link to her bio on our show notes. Dr. Jill Tiefenthaler, welcome back to North Carolina.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Thanks. It's great to be back, Lee. It's fun to be with you today.

Lee Ball:

You did your graduate work at Duke, you were the provost at Wake Forest and more recently you were the president of Colorado College for nine years. How's it feel being back on a college campus and especially back in North Carolina?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Well, it's wonderful to be back on a campus. It's one of the things I miss most about leaving higher ed and being in my new role at National Geographic is the dynamism and excitement of a college campus. And back when I was college president and provost too, I used to teach every year, so I really miss teaching and being in the classroom and that interaction with students, especially. It's also great to be back in North Carolina, especially up here in Boone. I used to enjoy escaping the heat of Winston-Salem and coming up here and hiking and camping. I have very fond memories of my time both at Duke and Winston-Salem.

Lee Ball:

Yeah, it's funny, I go to Winston-Salem and I tell people that, "Yeah, we just came here for the day." They're like, "Oh my gosh, it's so far away." I'm like, "No, it's not. You should be coming here often."

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Yeah, just a couple hours.

Lee Ball:

What role do you think higher education plays or can play to help promote the type of education that is in line with Natural Geographic's mission?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Well, I think higher ed is critical. I'm obviously a true believer in getting students to have awareness of these critical issues. And now more and more, I think they have that awareness through the media and through high school education, but they really still need those skills to figure out how to put them to work. To get the work done, we need to do both for climate change and biodiversity loss. I think they see the urgency. I also hope higher education really focuses on solutions, because I don't want our students to feel hopeless about the future. I want them to feel hopeful and motivated, inspired to make the change that we need to see in the world.

Lee Ball:

Yeah, that's definitely something that we focus on here is engagement opportunities, and I'm a real big believer that it does inspire hope when you can get your hands dirty or whatever.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Yeah, when you can see something change. When you can see something get better and you can see how the power of collaboration and community can make that happen, I think it can be really inspiring. I love that you're all doing that hands-on education opportunities here.

Lee Ball:

May I ask you a little bit about your childhood?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Sure.

Lee Ball:

I'm fascinated by the stories I get to hear about my guest connection's to nature and place. Is there a memory or experience from your childhood that helped contribute to your development as such a strong advocate for the natural world?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Well, I grew up on a farm in Iowa, so my everyday was being part of the natural world. And in fact, when a lot of people, as a grownup, I escape and had to the nature for my vacations. As a child, we escaped nature for the city or something. But we just saw... I was so lucky to grow up in a very small town on a farm where every day we were out there, and my mom would send us outside in the morning and shut the door and say, "See you at lunch," and then same thing after lunch until suppertime. I had the opportunity to love the natural world. And then as in my adult life, and especially spending time in Colorado in the West and in North Carolina when I was here, just the beauty of this country and the awe of what we have. And I think every day that awe inspires me now today as well, to do the work we do at National Geographic.

Lee Ball:

I really applaud the work that National Geographic does to really help people feel a connection to nature. It's an important part of my work and a personal interest of mine, to try to help people maintain that connection however they can. And I think that you all do such a beautiful job with all the different ways that you tell stories, and I just thank you so much for that.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Thank you. At the Society, we often say that science and exploration and education are our foundation, but storytelling is our superpower, and it's one of the things. There are so many great organizations out there doing incredible conservation work in supporting science and education, but we really feel like our biggest comparative advantage is with the brand telling those amazing stories so we can get more people to care, more people to be motivated, more people to be hopeful and to act.

Lee Ball:

Right. Exactly. If you were anything like me, having access to a National Geographic magazine was like a treasure that enabled me to explore some of the world's most beautiful and mysterious places. Can you share any early memories of reading a National Geographic magazine?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

I can. When I was in grade school, I went to this very small little Catholic grade school in Iowa called St. Bernard's School. There were about 20 kids in a class and we had a little library at our grade school and National Geographic was always there. And so, I always remember grabbing it when I was in the little library, but I particularly remember the 1977 when King Tut's funerary mask was on the front cover. And I remember it, the magazine was propped up so you could see the cover on one of the shelves. And I remember vividly being drawn to it and just felt like I was being transported to another world when I was reading about Egypt and King Tut and these amazing stories. When I travel the world on behalf of National Geographic, I hear so many amazing stories from people about their connection to the magazine. The stories, of course, the photography, and also just as you said, that inspiration to be somewhere else. In a day, especially in the past, when we had very few opportunities to do that like we do today with social media and the internet.

Lee Ball:

I remember that one.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Do you? Yeah.

Lee Ball:

Very well.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Yes. Stunning.

Lee Ball:

My grandparents had Nat Geo and so when I would visit them, I would devour them. And my grandfather was a world traveler, worked for a tobacco company as a salesman, and he was from North Carolina. And he had gone to Egypt with my grandmother on a vacation, and so they had brought also just some gifts and trinkets back to me. But I just remember just that wondrous sensation of not really even being able to imagine what it was like. Not just being in the culture they visited, but just imagine what it was like to live way back then when the pyramids were constructed and just all the historic culture.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Absolutely. And so, it's another way to be inspired by human ingenuity and what we can do and to be hopeful about the future, to look at that distant past.

Lee Ball:

I can't imagine all the incredible places you have visited since taking the helm as CEO of the Natural Geographic Society. Is there some place or experience that was not on your radar that surprised you or that you find yourself still thinking about?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Well, it's funny because you were just talking about Egypt and King Tut, and just in 2022 was the hundredth anniversary of the discovery of King Tut's tomb. And so, I got an invitation to attend a bunch of celebrations in Luxor and in Cairo around that time. And after seeing that incredible image as a child and then now getting to go see it in person as well as to experience the tomb and to enjoy... I went to a conference specifically on King Tut's tomb while I was there in Luxor, so had both the academic and the amazing experiential opportunities when I was there, so that was special.

The other thing I'm completely drawn to is we have a project in the Okavango Delta in Botswana and working in the highlands of that delta in Angola, and I had the amazing opportunity to be out in the field with our team last fall as well, in September. And to see the work they're doing, they've done thousands of miles of transects of the rivers and the land there, and now we're really working on with the local communities, a education and preservation of that critical delta, as well as they found over 100 new species to science in their work there. To be out with those experts and seeing the wildlife there and the beauty and the birds. Oh, the birds were amazing. It was really a special experience.

Lee Ball:

I can imagine. I'm a birder, so.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Oh, the birds were just... You'd love it. You got to go.

Lee Ball:

Do you find that the locals are very receptive to your work?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Yes, we're working very hard. All of our big projects and all of our grantees, part of the requirement is in a plan to be working with the local communities, and we're doing much more to be funding not the traditional way of funding. An American to go and look at something and to learn and to explore, but really to work to fund explorers in every country in the world. Our 6,000 now explorers come from more than 140 countries and we're funding about two thirds of our work is non-US citizens working in their own regions around the world. When I go with National Geographic, if I have a cap or a pin or whatever, everybody's dying to get National Geographic. I've only been to one place in the world where when people heard National Geographic, they didn't recognize it. That was up in the very north part of Kenya and their Turkana Basin. But otherwise, everywhere I go, the National Geographic receives an incredible reception and people know we do the brand and the magazine.

Lee Ball:

It sounds like it's very local community centric and you work on-

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Very.

Lee Ball:

... capacity building.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

We know National Geographic's been around 135 years and there's been a history of colonial exploration and imagery exploitation, and we look back on it, aren't proud of everything that has always happened, but the only thing we can do there is recognize what wasn't right and move ahead in a new way, and that's what we're committed to doing. And we also know that conservation and really great work is only going to happen if it's led by communities. These are the people who care and know their places, indigenous knowledge being so critical. When you can get amazing indigenous knowledge together with some of the cutting edge sciences developed, that's what we're hoping we will really find the sustainable solutions that we need.

Lee Ball:

Oh, that's incredible. Along those same lines, is there a National Geographic explorer who has particularly inspired you?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Well, I'm here in App State, so I have to say Baker Perry, who has now been to Everest three times, as well as Tupungato in the last couple years. And he's such a humble guy too, but so committed to the work at National Geographic and such a great model of an explorer for us. Someone who has this amazing scientific background, but also is truly an adventurer. And what we're looking for in our explorers is that talent and depth of knowledge and experience, but also that wonder and awe that really want to be out there in the world and talking to people and educating. Not just talking to other scientists, which is important, but can't be everything because at National Geographic, as I mentioned before, our superpower is taking that science and really sharing it with the world in a way that we can engage a lot more people. I'd say the work that Baker has done here has been a great example of that.

Lee Ball:

I couldn't agree more. Have you had a chance to meet one of my heroes, Dr. Jane Goodall?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

I have had a chance to meet Jane. She is amazing. I started my job during the pandemic, so a lot of my opportunities to meet our explorers was delayed. But in 2022, a little over a year ago, I had the great opportunity. We have a exhibit that's been traveling the country called Becoming Jane, and it's about Jane's journey. It debuted in the society, in our headquarters in Washington DC and is now been traveling around the country, and then we'll do even around the world. And so, after the pandemic, it reopened in LA and I got a chance to spend time with Jane and tour it and spend some private time with her as well. And she is an amazing force and we're so proud. We were the first to fund her through her mentor Louis Leakey in Gombe way back when, and her work with the chimpanzees. And she is a wonder and how her energy and what she manages to do today, the number of talks she's given, the places she travels, she's truly an inspiration.

Lee Ball:

Yeah, she is certainly a she-ro of mine. We were under contract to have Jane come to campus. And then the pandemic struck and she was going to come to Western North Carolina and they were going to have multiple stops, and she ended up doing a virtual event with us.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Oh, yeah. She's really gotten amazingly good at that during the pandemic because she was determined to keep her work moving forward during the pandemic.

Lee Ball:

And she did. And we had, kind of like what we're going to do tonight, we had students that were able to interview her on her Zoom. And she was just a force to be reckoned with. And she's funny and and humble.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

I've gotten to watch her with little ones, grade school kids, and it's magical to watch her with them too. That's when you know really see greatness, when someone who can resonate with people who have known and watched her since her earliest work, to little kids and teenagers and everybody in between. I've had so many young women tell me how inspired they're by Jane.

Lee Ball:

Her Roots & Shoots program is so important to her. And she still really focused a lot of their attention on supporting that all around the world.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

I think that's one of the things is true of so many of our explorers, and Jane is a great example of that. Bob Ballard, who's the famous oceanographer who found the Titanic, he has a big education program. He works with us. As well as Sylvia Earle, Her Deepness, who also has her Hope Spots, and she really is committed to education through that. I think everybody realizes that we can't do this on our own, and one of the best ways you can galvanize others is to get that next generation excited about the work.

Lee Ball:

We were invited to a fundraiser in Atlanta because her team wanted to meet us to test the waters with us, and I was able to watch her work the room because it was a fundraising event, and she was just tireless. And she stayed and shook hands with everyone who wanted to meet her and took pictures, and it was just so amazing to see. Even towards the end when people were sitting down, they were tired and she was just still up and fundraising, and it was just incredible to be around her spirit.

Congratulations on being the first woman to serve as CEO of the National Geographic Society.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Thank you.

Lee Ball:

It's clearly been a long time coming. I know National Geographic has featured numerous women over the years who have contributed to National Geographic's mission of sparking curiosity, empowering exploration, inspiring change. Is there another woman whose work is particularly inspiring to you?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Well, I mentioned two of our incredible women, Jane and Sylvia Earle. But in addition to that, there's Louise Leakey, who's the third generation of the Leakey family who is now working in Kenya and just doing amazing discoveries for paleoanthropology. And then some amazing young women, Paula Khumbu, who is a Kenyan and is just tirelessly working for the protection of elephants on the African continent. She recently was featured in our National Geographic series on Disney+ called Secrets of the Elephants, which was produced by explorer at large, James Cameron, and it is so inspiring.

But Paula's also done a series called Wildlife Warriors, which is for Africans to really get people right there living next to elephants every day to care and love these animals, because they're the ones where the conflict happens and the difficulty happens, and to really get kids to fall in love with them.

I'm so inspired by Paula, and then I have to mention Tara Roberts, who was our explorer of the year last year in 2022, and she is a storyteller. And her mission became... She went to the African American History Museum and saw the divers with the purpose work who are diving scientists and historians and others who are diving to understand and uncover the mysteries of those enslaved Africans who died during shipwrecks in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. And she, determined to tell their story, went out and learned to dive, became an expert diver. And then she just tells the most beautiful stories about this project in her podcast, Into The Depths. And then last year she became the first black woman explorer appear on the cover of National Geographic Magazine. Again, too long coming, but to see her in her dive suit and truly a badass, she's amazing and we're excited about the projects that she has to come in that area as well.

Lee Ball:

Yeah, I remember that. I have that issue.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

It's a great issue.

Lee Ball:

Yeah. The National Geographic Society has a long and storied history. What can you share with us about your organization's future?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

A lot of exciting things happening. We have a new strategic plan, NG Next, that I helped to develop with the community when I arrived a couple years ago at National Geographic. And the big focus of our strategic plan is doubling down on the support for our explorers. We truly believe that when our work is explorer-led and they bring us their best ideas, we will achieve the most we can. We are increasing funding for our explorers, but also, maybe even more importantly, increasing opportunities for career development, for collaborative work across explorers, and for amplification on our media platforms and with our partners at Disney to get their work out even more.

We're also really excited about a big renovation of our base camp in Washington DC that's now underway, and it'll be a couple years. But we're quadrupling our public space and going to include so many new opportunities, including a public archives experience and an amazing education center for kids and families to visit when they come to National Geographic, to learn, of course, more about our work of our explorers, taking that geographic approach to understanding our world.

Lee Ball:

Well, I can't wait to visit it.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

Yeah, I can't wait to have you.

Lee Ball:

My favorite thing about the National Geographic Society is your phenomenal ability to tell stories. Is there a story that you would like to leave us with today?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

That's a good question.

Lee Ball:

Or another story?

Jill Tiefenthaler:

I know, so many stories. Let me think. Well, I think I'll just tell a story maybe of some of our history, because I think it's fun to think about all these amazing things that we've done. But National Geographic was founded in 1888 by 33 gentlemen who came together. You see these pictures of them all standing around in the Cosmos Club in Washington DC, and they were determined to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge. And through the history, because of amazing leadership, Alexander Graham Bell sat in my seat at one time. He was the head of the Society, for example, and he even expanded our mission more and said, "We cover the world and all that's in it."

And the idea of really moving away from being that original scientific journal that people had imagined and figuring out how to talk about the world to broader audiences, and to take science and complicated facts and ideas and present them in a way that can engage everybody. And I think that's what's so inspiring about our work, because that's given us a platform, I think, where the brand is so strong, so recognized, and it's bipartisan and it's loved by so many. And so, I think a story of that founding, of being focused on exploration, but also sharing it is a story that we try to live and be true to every day now, as we leverage all the important work that our explorers are doing around the world.

Lee Ball:

It's almost like it was Life Magazine for the Earth, but they probably influenced Life Magazine because they came before Life Magazine.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

And it's funny, because I'm going to talk tonight about the controversy that started in the early 20th century when photos started to show up in the magazine. Because originally, one of the board members quit because he thought it dumbed down the magazine. And if you think about what National Geographic is so known for, is not just the great narrative and the science, but of course the images that, as we talked about earlier, really transported you to another place. A place that you could never go in the past, but many of us can't go to today. And so, the beautiful imagery and the awe and wonder and empathy that I think that inspires for our world.

Lee Ball:

Well, Dr. Tiefenthaler, thank you so much for coming today to campus, to my podcast, Find Your Sustainability, and it's just a pleasure having you here.

Jill Tiefenthaler:

It's great to be here with you, Lee. Thank you for inviting me.

Outro:

Find Your Sustainability is a production of the University Communications Department at Appalachian State. It's hosted by Appalachian's Chief Sustainability Officer, Lee Ball. For more information about Appalachian State's sustainability, check out sustain.appstate.edu. For more podcasts, videos, and articles related to Appalachian State, check out today.appstate.edu.