Renee Baiorunos Carstensen
Renee Baiorunos Carstensen is the Chief of Staff at Rare, the leading behavior change organization in the conservation world. For over 45 years and across 60 countries, Rare has motivated individuals, their communities, and their local leaders to adopt behaviors that benefit both people and nature. As Chief of Staff, Renee works in close collaboration with Rare’s CEO and Executive Team to support the design and execution of Rare’s strategic priorities and cross department initiatives.
Renee brings 20 years of experience in the public and private sector to her work. Prior to joining Rare, she worked for 10 years as a consultant based in Washington, D.C., leading projects for nonprofits and government agencies ranging in size from $2M to $100+M in areas such as strategic planning, organizational culture, leadership development, financial sustainability, and cross-sector collaboration. Through this work, Renee built several experiential coaching programs, most notably, Future 44, a 2016 transition program for President Obama’s White House appointees.
She also taught a range of continuing education programs, including "Introduction to Cross Sector Leadership: Building Teams" as a member of the Presidio Institute’s faculty and “Effective Board Governance” as a member of Georgetown’s Nonprofit Management Program faculty. Renee recently completed a certificate in coaching through the Coach Diversity Institute.
Renee’s goal is to build powerful teams and effective organizations to tackle complex social challenges, while ensuring these teams are able to maintain the energy required to sustain themselves and their passion for the work.