Neal Kemkar

Neal’s lifelong love of national parks began with the magic of an early family road trip to the Grand Canyon.  While he’s been lucky enough to explore parks all over the country from Acadia to Zion since then, his favorite will always be Shenandoah, where he proposed to his wife.  Today, he’s passionate about protecting these unique, iconic places forever and helping a new generation of kids find their favorite park. That’s why he’s proud to support the National Park Trust’s mission to preserve critical parklands today and create park stewards for tomorrow. 

Neal is a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute.  He held policy and regulatory affairs leadership roles at General Electric and at a climate-focused global investment firm.  He served in the Obama Administration, with the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, and in state government with the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office.  He also has experience in private law practice, as an adjunct professor, and as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  He began his career as a grassroots organizer, leading advocacy campaigns for environmental nonprofits.  

He is a graduate of Brown University, Georgetown University Law Center, and the Senior Managers in Government Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.