Steve Hobbs is the inaugural Director of the Land & Community Initiative at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), where he is building a program that teaches the practical skills — negotiation, transaction design, finance, and coalition building — that the next generation of conservation practitioners will need to protect lands and waters. He brings nearly four decades of experience closing complex land and water deals across the country, from his early career with The Nature Conservancy in Virginia and Nevada, through leadership of Minnesota watershed districts and the Belwin Conservancy, to state and regional director roles with The Conservation Fund in Minnesota, California, and Hawaiʻi. His work has repeatedly turned policy design into durable conservation funding: he conceived and helped pass the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, which has generated $4.2 billion for conservation; designed Virginia’s first Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) program in Virginia Beach; helped design and lead the campaign for Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, which has generated more than $6.3 billion since 2010; and directed the largest land exchange in Minnesota history, protecting more than 50,000 acres within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and returning more than 28,000 acres to the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa.

Much of his recent work centers on returning land to Indigenous ownership and community control. As lead staff on three landmark acquisitions completed in 2024–2025, he helped return more than 30,000 acres to Indigenous ownership in California, and in 2024 he led the acquisition of highly-prized senior water rights on the Lower Colorado River by securing more than $115 million in state and federal funding in under six months. In Hawaiʻi, he assisted in establishing the Molokaʻi Heritage Trust and the Lahaina Community Land Trust and initiated the acquisition of the largest private landholding on Molokaʻi for return to community ownership. Steve has an appointment as a Fulbright Specialist (2026-2029) and also serves as the first Executive Director of the Global Land Restoration Fund, a nonprofit helping Indigenous communities reacquire their ancestral lands. He holds a B.S. and an M.A. in Biology from the University of California, Riverside.