Kris Tompkins
Rewilding expert
Kris Tompkins is a world-leading conservationist and environmental philanthropist whose rewilding projects in South America stand out for their sheer scale and overarching vision.
We have now set our sights on rewilding on a continental scale, because we refuse to accept a future without wildness, abundance, and dignified human communities.
Kris Tompkins
Protector and advocate of the wild
Over 30 years ago, entrepreneurs Kris Tompkins and her late husband Doug Tompkins started to buy millions of hectares of degraded land in Chile and Argentina with one sole purpose – to return it to its natural state, restoring its biodiversity. Under her leadership, the land has been gifted back to the two national governments and leveraged the creation and expansion of national parks.
From entrepreneurship to conservation
Kris Tompkins was on the founding team at outdoor clothing company Patagonia, where she served as CEO for several decades, helping to foster a deep commitment to environmental values. After stepping away from business in the early 1990s, alongside her husband Doug Tompkins, she co-founded Tompkins Conservation, buying and protecting 810,000 hectares (2 million acres) of land in Chile and Argentina with the aim of creating public access, restoring vast ecosystems and bringing back key biodiversity.
In the 2000s, the organization began to donate the land back to Chile and Argentina, convincing both governments to add more. This has led to the protection of some 6.5 million hectares (16 million acres) of land and 12 million hectares (30 million acres) of ocean as well as the creation and expansion of 16 national parks in the two countries, including the Gran Parque Iberá, the largest protected natural area in Argentina, and Patagonia National Park in Chile.
To ensure the legacy would continue, the projects in South America became two independent organizations, Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile, which have been embraced by Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative. Guided by Tompkins, their work restores ecosystems, reintroduces native species, and builds partnerships with local communities and governments to support sustainable development.
Kris Tompkins became a Rolex Testimonee in 2025.
