Jen Rice

Jen Rice is committed to catalyzing transformative change through collaborative leadership, values-based organizing, and human-centered design. Guided by decades of experience spanning natural resources, community development, philanthropy, and consulting, she works alongside committed individuals, organizations, and networks to unlock capacity, strengthen relationships, and envision bold, effective futures. Central to her work is a deep belief in the leadership potential of those closest to the issues and an insistence on approaches that are racially just, inclusive, and grounded in shared values.

Over the course of her career, Jen has consistently brought diverse players together to address challenges no single group could tackle alone. In her early professional years, she worked in physically and mentally demanding natural resources roles while completing her degree, developing the resilience, adaptability, and vision that continue to shape her leadership today. Shifting from federal land management to regional nonprofit leadership in the mid-1990s, she expanded her focus from watershed restoration to community systems. Her work has included designing and facilitating multi-agency collaborations, pioneering inclusive engagement strategies for rural, Native, and Spanish-speaking communities, and securing millions in funding for projects that bridge environmental, social, and cultural priorities.

During a decade with the Humboldt Area Foundation & Wild Rivers Community Foundation, Jen led initiatives that advanced racial equity, supported Native cultural revitalization, strengthened disaster response infrastructure, and fostered regional climate resilience planning. She built capacity within organizations and networks through coaching, co-design processes, and professional development, all while centering community-led change. Mentorship from Native culture-bearers deepened her leadership approach, reinforcing the importance of relational trust, shared decision-making, and honoring lived experience.

Today, as Principal of Jen Rice Consults, she partners with environmental organizations, state agencies, and international nonprofits to embed equity into culture and strategy, transform community engagement practices, and co-create solutions with—and for—the communities they serve. Her recent projects include guiding a statewide environmental organization through a values-driven DEIJ process, supporting a new state agency in cultivating generative engagement practices, and helping a global nonprofit rebuild through inclusive, co-designed strategies.

Jen holds an M.A. in Organization Development & Leadership from Fielding Graduate University and a B.S. in Natural Resources Planning from Humboldt State University, where she was recognized as HSU Woman of the Year in 1994. Her career reflects a throughline of innovation, convening, and coaching—anchored by a readiness to take on challenges often deemed impossible, and a conviction that lasting change is achieved when communities lead the way.