- Mongabay has appointed Linda Dakin-Grimm and Geo Chen to its board of directors, adding legal, philanthropic and investment expertise to support its mission of independent environmental journalism.
- Their appointments come amid rapid organizational growth, with traffic up 166% and story production rising 44% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year.
- The organization continues to expand its editorial capacity and global reach, including new investments in key reporting areas, additional language offerings, and a fellowship program that is expected to nearly double in size.
- Mongabay’s growth is guided not by scale alone but by how its reporting informs decisions by policymakers, practitioners and communities working on environmental challenges.
Mongabay is pleased to announce that Linda Dakin-Grimm and Geo Chen have joined its board of directors, strengthening its capacity to advance its mission of producing high-impact environmental journalism.
Dakin-Grimm joins the board following a distinguished legal career as a senior consulting partner at Milbank LLP, where she handled complex litigation across U.S. courts before focusing on pro bono immigration work. Her experience navigating legal systems and public-interest issues aligns with Mongabay’s role in supporting transparency, accountability and informed governance.
“At this moment in history, I cannot imagine a more important mission than Mongabay’s journalism, informing the public and raising awareness worldwide about conservation of ecosystems and wildlife,” Dakin-Grimm said. “I am honored to be part of this board.”
Chen brings experience at the intersection of philanthropy, finance and impact investing. He is principal of the Huang Chen Foundation and his family office, Three Quays Holdings, where he supports initiatives in conservation, climate and humanitarian response, alongside investments across global markets. His perspective reflects a growing recognition among investors that credible, independent information is essential to effective decision-making in an era of environmental risk.
“I deeply admire Mongabay’s work and have been impressed by their ability to grow their audience and their impact,” Chen said. “I’m excited to support them as they continue to scale and innovate!”
Their appointments come at a time of continued growth for Mongabay.
“We are building on an excellent group of board advisors, now covering more deeply our global footprint” said Holt Thrasher, Mongabay’s Board Chair.
In the first quarter of 2026, traffic rose 166% compared to the same period last year, while story production increased by 44%, reflecting both expanded editorial capacity and rising demand for coverage of environmental issues.
This growth builds on momentum from 2025, when Mongabay reached 111 million unique visitors and produced more than 7,200 stories. While these figures indicate scale, the organization evaluates success primarily through how its reporting is used — by policymakers, practitioners, researchers and communities whose decisions shape environmental outcomes.
To support this focus, Mongabay has recently expanded five core reporting desks: Wildlife, Solutions, Indigenous, and Oceans. These are areas where demand for rigorous, evidence-based reporting continues to grow. These expansions aim to deepen coverage of both emerging threats and practical responses, including community-led conservation, fisheries governance and nature-based solutions.
Mongabay is also investing in the next generation of environmental journalists. Its paid fellowship program supports young, aspiring and transition journalists, particularly in biodiversity hotspots where local reporting is often under-resourced. The program provides training, editorial support and paid opportunities to produce original reporting grounded in local contexts. In 2026, the fellowship is expected to nearly double in size, reflecting both strong demand and the commitment to building a more representative and locally rooted global newsroom.
At the same time, Mongabay has broadened its language offerings with the addition of Swahili and Bengali, extending access to environmental journalism in regions where information gaps are often most acute. This expansion reflects a longstanding strategy: to ensure that reporting is not only global in scope, but also locally relevant and accessible.
Chen and Dakin-Grimm join Mongabay at a moment when the need for independent, fact-based journalism is increasing. Environmental decisions are shaped across complex networks of governments, markets and communities. As such, providing reliable information to those actors remains central to the organization’s approach.
Their addition to the board reinforces that effort, bringing complementary expertise in finance, law and public-interest work to support Mongabay’s continued growth and impact.
Banner image: Elephants in Dzanga Bai in Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve, Central African Republic. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler
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