Glacier Institute hires new executive director

The Glacier Institute has named Anthony Nelson, a Kalispell resident and former member of the organization’s board of directors, as its new executive director.

Nelson, who is replacing Joyce Hassard, grew up in southern and central Minnesota. He earned a degree in widllife biology, which eventually took him and his wife, Allison, to Colorado Springs where Nelson began work as a zookeeper. According to a press release, he was eventually hired at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, also in Colorado Springs, where Nelson worked many years as an animal keeper focusing primarily on hippos and penguins.

During his time at the zoo, Nelson “truly fell in love with teaching, and gravitated toward any opportunity to inspire action through education.”

Nelson and his wife moved to the Flathead Valley years ago in search of a career that would allow Allison to achieve her goal of being a full-time mother to their two sons and one daughter.

After moving to the Flathead, Nelson was working for a local building company when he was asked to join the Glacier Institute Board of Directors. He served on the board one year before being asked for his resume for the position of executive director.

According to the press release, aside from having a passion for teaching, Nelson is “an avid wearer of suspenders, consumer of baked goods, and amateur rock skipper” and he is “excited to play a role in preserving wild places for future generations to enjoy.”

The Glacier Institute has been in operation for more than 30 years and is a nonprofit based in Columbia Falls. The organization serves adults and children as an educational leader in the Crown of the Continent ecosystem with Glacier National Park and Flathead National Forest at its center.