Kerry McGowan’s (‘16) Interdisciplinary Background Leads to Role at the Conservation Fund

The Office for Sustainability is so excited to be bringing back our Sustainability Champions series to highlight students, faculty, staff, and alumni who are accomplishing great things in sustainability. This month’s Sustainability Champion is Kerry McGowan, Senior Grants Administrator at The Conservation Fund. She graduated from the University of Richmond in 2016 with a degree in International Studies and continues to apply what she learned at UR in her professional work. Read the full interview below to learn more about Kerry’s career journey, her interdisciplinary path, and her advice for students interested in sustainability.

Can you share a bit about your career journey and how you came to work in grants and conservation?

At UR, I majored in International Studies and double-minored in Spanish and Environmental Studies. I also worked in the Office for Sustainability as a Sustainability Research and Planning Intern, so I was definitely interested in the environment and conservation coming out of college. I kind of ended up falling into grants by happenstance—I didn’t really know what it was before I did it.

Long story short, my first job after college included office administration, finance, and event planning—a bit of a hodgepodge of things. I found that I was good with budgets, numbers, and managing money. As I was applying for jobs in nonprofits and government, I noticed many positions required grant experience. I realized this was a useful skill for the industries I was interested in. I started getting calls back for grant management positions, and I decided to try it out. It ended up working really well.

Were there any experiences at UR that helped shape your interest in environmental work or nonprofit management?

It wasn’t one thing; it was a combination of experiences. I was always interested in sustainability. My parents both worked in agriculture. My father worked for the USDA, and my mother worked for the Maryland Department of Agriculture. I grew up in a more rural area, so I was just sort of always more interested in the environment. At Richmond, my International Studies major, environmental studies minor, and the professors I followed shaped my interests. I took classes with Dr. Salisbury, especially focusing on Latin America and the environment, which led me toward sustainable development. I also studied abroad—one semester in Mexico and a summer program in Argentina—which gave me a broader perspective.

On campus, I worked in the Office for Sustainability starting my freshman year and participated in Earth Lodge for my sophomore year. These experiences reinforced my interest in environmental work and introduced me to sustainability in a practical, hands-on way.

What does a typical day or week look like for you as a Senior Grants Administrator at The Conservation Fund?

My work mostly involves helping project managers with their budgets. Organizations—often governments or donors like the Gates Foundation—provide grants for specific projects, and each comes with rules about how funds can be spent. I focus on federal grants and the regulations that govern them.

I prepare financial reports for project managers, track spending against budgets, and help plan the remainder of project work. I also assist with reporting to sponsors, ensuring compliance, and responding to audits. On top of that, I write and update policy and procedure documents to help project managers understand the rules and how to manage their grants effectively.

Are there skills or experiences you’ve found particularly valuable for success in this sector?

My experience at UR was very interdisciplinary, which has been essential. My job involves elements of finance, policy, and project management, so having a mix of backgrounds helps. It’s helpful to have an experience that's a little bit of history, a little bit of policy, a little bit of science—a little bit of everything—because I do have a very interdisciplinary job. I never expected that my job would have so much math in it, frankly. I didn’t take any math coursework during my time at UR, but I still need to understand politics because I’m reading federal regulations. I also have to be able to read really complicated rules and laws and understand them, and sometimes I wish I had done the readings more in college.

Surprisingly, skills from extracurriculars like a cappella have also been incredibly useful. I was in Off the Cuff all four years, and I loved it. I started as a singer, and by my senior year, I was the music director. That meant teaching myself how to play basic piano to teach people their parts, leading rehearsals, and making sure everyone knew their roles and was attending. It was honestly harder than any job I've ever had. I had lots of music experience, but I wasn’t really good at music theory, so I had to learn on the fly. It taught me leadership, organization, and communication—managing peers, giving feedback, and motivating a group. Performing and directing made public speaking so much easier; giving a presentation to 100 coworkers is nowhere near as stressful as singing in front of a thousand people. All of that experience has been surprisingly relevant to my career.

What advice would you give to students interested in pursuing careers in sustainability, conservation, or nonprofit management?

My advice is to focus on skills you can learn and tasks you can get good at. Early in my career, I had interests but no hard skills, so I tried different roles: research, writing, office finance, scheduling, event planning. Over time, I discovered what I enjoyed and what was valuable to organizations. You may not know exactly what job title you want, but if you build skills, you can find roles that fit. One thing I have found is that if you work in a smaller organization, it is easier to try a lot of different things, move around, and pick up individual tasks. Whereas if you know more specifically what you want to do, a bigger organization will hire a whole league of people who do the same task. 

Also, think about lifestyle. Consider work hours, office versus remote, travel, and the type of relationships you’ll manage. Some positions involve a lot of donor interaction or events, which can be stressful if it doesn’t fit your personality. For example, sometimes it seems glamorous to go to a cocktail party, and then you're like, “I don't want to wear a suit, that's extremely uncomfortable.” Finding the right fit in terms of skills, interests, and lifestyle is key.

Thank you Kerry for all you do to contribute to sustainability. Do you know someone who should be featured as a Sustainability Champion? Let us know at sustainability@richmond.edu.