Thomas Leuteritz

Dr. Thomas Leuteritz is the manager for the Conservation and Science Policy Branch under the Division of Scientific Authority and has been with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 2010. Prior to joining the Service, Thomas worked as the senior scientist for the Redlands Institute at the University of Redlands in California on desert tortoise conservation before becoming director for the Turtle Conservancy, where he oversaw desert and radiated tortoise-related conservation projects in Mexico and Madagascar. In 2009, he became the director of the Smithsonian’s Biodiversity Program in Gabon and worked on reducing oil industry impacts to biodiversity. After, Thomas came back to the States and joined the Service as a biologist for the next seven years until moving into his current role. As a manager, he coordinates CITES meetings and one of his greatest successes has been working with Asia and Africa to protect the world’s soft- shelled turtles - over 32 species under CITES. Originally from Canada, Thomas has a degree in zoology from the University of Guelph, finished his master’s in biology at the University of Michigan, has a PhD in environmental and public policy from George Mason University in Virginia, and completed his postdoc in South Africa.  

Languages: English, German, French