New Co-Executive Directors

The Board of International Rivers is excited to announce the appointment of two interim Co-Executive Directors, Isabella Winkler and Josh Klemm.

Isabella has helped lead nonprofits in fundraising, strategy, management, and operations functions for the past fifteen years. She joined International Rivers in 2021 as Development Director. 

“It’s an incredible honor and privilege to be a part of the critical mission of International Rivers and step into this role with Josh. I’m excited to work with the entire staff and Board as International Rivers moves into this next chapter of its venerable history.” -Isabella Winkler

Josh joined International Rivers in 2014 as Policy Director, successfully leading our work targeting the world’s major financiers bankrolling destructive dams. Within International Rivers, Josh has helped strengthen collaboration across programs around common targets such as Chinese dam-building companies. 

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to help shape the next iteration of International Rivers. This is an exciting moment as we reimagine the ways we work to better reflect the change we seek in the world.” – Josh Klemm

We would like to thank Darryl Knudsen, who has decided to step down as Executive Director this month to allow the organization to adapt and evolve new organizational structures for shared leadership, self-organizing teams, and distributed management. We are grateful for Darryl’s passion for rivers and for International Rivers’ mission, for his many accomplishments and efforts as Executive Director, for his true dedication and hard work, and for his kindness and care shown to our diverse, global staff while managing during this pandemic. Darryl brought his years of management experience and work on labor issues to help improve our human resources processes and administrative operations. He also strengthened key departments, invested in growing the Board, and secured additional foundation support for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion work.

International Rivers has innovated throughout its 36-year history, including the commitment in 2011 to expand our presence in the Global South by establishing regional offices where the world’s few remaining free-flowing rivers are most threatened.

Our Board and global staff are excited to take these next steps toward developing new models of leadership and distributed management that embody our commitment to participatory governance principles. Moving forward, we will continue to count on the effective alliances we have with communities and partner organizations worldwide to protect rivers and support riverine and Indigenous communities in upholding their rights.