Frans Schepers

Frans Schepers is the co-founder and Executive Director of Rewilding Europe. He started loving nature as a teenager, was always out in the field and decided to start a career in conservation. In 1985, he graduated in forestry, land – and water management after which he took various positions in nature conservation, starting in Dutch government. He became responsible for the design of one of the largest river restoration projects in the country, reshaping 50 km of the transboundary river Meuse. From 2000-2014 he worked at WWF Netherlands, responsible for international conservation programmes. 

During his professional career, which now spans over 30 years, he specialised in rewilding large landscapes (in particular in Africa, Europe and Central Asia), where wild nature and wildlife can bounce back and where people can enjoy and benefit. Many of the experiences he build up from across the world have been used to design and develop Rewilding Europe to what it is today.  As the Executive Director of Rewilding Europe since 2011, he is leading a central team of now 35 people based in different European countries.