Akshay Vishwanath strives to solve some of our greatest natural resource problems through leadership, empowerment, social justice and entrepreneurial initiatives.

Beyond his work at PILAE, Akshay volunteers with several groups and campaigns that seek to protect public green spaces in Kenya and strengthen good governance of these resources. He was in the leadership of the Friends of Nairobi National Park from 2013-2018, during which time he was the lead coordinator of the SaveNNP Campaign which sought to protect the Nairobi National Park from infrastructure development such as the Standard Gauge Railway. He now serves as an advisor to the Friends of Oloolua Forest.

Akshay previously worked at Maliasili, an organization that supports leading African conservation organizations become even better through leaderhsip training and organizational development. Prior to that, Akshay worked at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for close to a decade implementing conservation projects across Eastern and Southern Africa.

Akshay has an MBA from the African Leadership University, a MSc in Environmental Studies from Macquarie University (Australia) and a BSc in Environmental Studies from Bangalore University (India). Akshay was selected one of the Top 100 Young African Conservation Leaders in March 2021 by a collaboration between the Africa
Alliance of YMCAs, World Organization of the Scout Movement, African Wildlife Foundation, and WWF.