Build foundations, not monuments.

I'm Crista Valentino. I design and lead community-led development work that sustains people, place, culture, and nature.

My work spans three arenas: community stewardship, leadership and capacity building, and facilitation and strategic planning. What connects them is a belief that leadership isn't about having all the answers, it's about creating conditions where the right answers emerge from the people closest to the work. My goal is to build foundations, not monuments, to create systems and nurture capabilities that outlast my involvement.

I've been doing this work for over a decade. It started at the Murie Center in Grand Teton National Park, where I spent five years learning about the roots of American conservation from the front porch of Mardy and Olaus Murie's cabin. In 2013, at 26, I founded CoalitionWILD, a global youth-led conservation organization that grew to train more than 3,000 emerging leaders across 30 countries and built partnerships with UN Environment, IUCN, UNDP, the US Department of the Interior, and others. I led it for nine years, then transitioned out in 2022 as part of a planned intergenerational handoff that was baked into the organization from day one.

Alongside CoalitionWILD, I founded Current Consulting in 2014 to take on projects that widened the aperture: entrepreneurship on the Wind River Indian Reservation, sustainability certification for Teton County businesses, tourism governance work with the Oglala and Rosebud Sioux Tribes, and a year in Saudi Arabia leading the activation of five nature reserves in the UNESCO World Heritage region of AlUla on behalf of the Royal Commission.

Today my work is anchored in two current chapters. I serve as Executive Director of Visit Jackson Hole, the destination marketing and management organization for Teton County, Wyoming, where I lead a team stewarding one of the wildest landscapes in the lower 48 toward a regenerative future. And I work with the National Wildlife Federation's Tribal Partnerships Program on buffalo rematriation, supporting tribal nations across Indian Country in returning buffalo to their ancestral lands.

Across all of it, the practice is the same. Listen closely. Build with, not for. Hold tension productively. Leave capacity behind.

Consulting engagements are contracted through Current Consulting LLC, which I founded in 2014. Depending on the scope of a project, I bring in trusted collaborators, subject matter experts, and complementary partners so the right people are in the room for the work.

I completed my Master of Arts in Global Leadership at Royal Roads University in 2022, where my thesis focused on community-led development on the Wind River Indian Reservation. I hold a Project Management Professional certification, a Conflict and Collaboration Management certification from the University of Utah, and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Quinnipiac University. I'm a member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and a longtime volunteer and advocate with the Jackson Hole Community Safety Network.

When I'm not answering messages, you can usually find me in the shadow of mountain peaks with my phone on airplane mode, reconnecting with the places that inspire the work.