Carrie Besnette Hauser
Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser is president and CEO of Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit working to ensure everyone has access to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. TPL partners with communities across the United States to create parks, trails, and schoolyards, and to protect public lands and vast landscapes that strengthen health, climate resilience, and connection to nature.
Before joining TPL in 2024, Carrie served as president and CEO of Colorado Mountain College, where she led the system’s eleven campuses to record graduation rates, closed equity gaps, expanded affordable housing for students and employees, and developed academic and training programs aligned with the outdoor industry. She was named the first President Emerita in the college’s history.
Carrie has also held leadership roles with major private foundations, including the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Daniels Fund. While at Daniels, she was a loaned executive to the Metro Denver Sports Commission, helping lead efforts to attract world-class sporting events to Colorado, including the Olympic Games. She co-chaired Denver’s 2012 NCAA Women’s Final Four basketball tournament.
Her extensive board service includes the American Council on Education, Vail Valley Foundation, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, Great Outdoors Colorado, and American Rivers.
Carrie earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, her master’s and Ph.D. from UCLA, and completed the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton School of Business.
An avid outdoorswoman, Carrie has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, a growing number of U.S. “high points” including Mt. Whitney, Mt. Rainier, and Katahdin, and all of Colorado’s 58 fourteeners. She has also climbed to the Everest Basecamp and spent many summers as a “Swamper” on Colorado River trips through Grand Canyon National Park. She and her husband, Jeff, live in Colorado with their yellow lab, Gracie, and spend their free time exploring wild and remote places around the world.
