Leigh Whelpton

Director of Environmental Infrastructure

Leigh joined the Connecticut Green Bank in 2023 as the Director of Environmental Infrastructure, where she leads the Green Bank’s expansion beyond clean energy into climate resilience, land conservation, parks and recreation, agriculture, water, waste and recycling, and environmental markets including carbon offsets and ecosystem services. Leigh oversees the design and implementation of new programs to leverage private capital, including a core goal of increased investment in vulnerable communities.

Prior to the Green Bank, Leigh served as the Executive Director of the Conservation Finance Network (CFN). For over a decade she advanced CFN’s effort to expand the use of innovative funding and financing strategies for social and ecological resilience. Before CFN, Leigh managed professional training programs and applied conservation initiatives for the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia.

Leigh holds a BS with honors from the College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley and an MESc. from the Yale School of the Environment.