For a cleaner, more prosperous world, ACC mobilizes conservatives around environmental issues, fostering collaboration in the pursuit of environmental conservation.
The American Conservation Coalition was built on simple ideas: conservation works best when it is rooted in place, community, and a clear love of country. That belief is what makes us excited to welcome Rob Sisson to ACC’s Board of Directors.
Rob’s conservation story began far from Washington. In the late 1990s, while working as a commercial banker in southwest Michigan, he started asking why conservation had drifted so far from the Republican Party’s sense of responsibility and stewardship. Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy still mattered to him, and he believed there was room for a serious, community-based conservative environmental movement.
That conviction led him to Republicans for Environmental Protection, where he became president of the Michigan chapter. His leadership stood out because Rob brought credibility across ideological lines, and environmental organizations sought his involvement because he spoke about stewardship without abstraction or posturing. Around that time, he worked closely with Martha Marks, a conservationist and Lake County, Illinois commissioner, who later helped guide the organization nationally. Under her leadership, REP became ConservAmerica, a shift meant to broaden reach and influence while staying focused on practical outcomes.
For nearly fifteen years, ConservAmerica carried much of the center-right conservation conversation. Rob’s work during that period also extended into public service. In August 2019, he was appointed by President Donald Trump to the International Joint Commission, an American-Canadian bi-national body responsible for managing shared border waters. The appointment reflected a long-held trust in Rob’s steady, pragmatic approach to stewardship and cooperation, especially where land and water demand seriousness rather than rhetoric.
Then Rob encountered ACC.
When he connected with ACC in 2016, he immediately recognized something familiar and encouraging. Young people cared deeply about conservation, and ACC was organizing them with energy and confidence. It was doing what Rob had long hoped conservative environmental groups could do: build a real base grounded in community and action.
What resonates most with Rob about ACC is its ability to connect conservation to patriotism and local leadership. Hunters, students, landowners, and young professionals all belong in the same movement. In a world where environmental groups are increasingly losing focus and becoming progressive political entities, he sees how ACC treats stewardship as lived responsibility, not political leverage. That matters to him.
Rob joins the Board at a moment when cultural leadership matters more than ever. Policy follows trust, and trust is built through consistency, honesty, and work. Rob brings decades of experience, a deep belief in community, and a steady hand to ACC’s next chapter.
We are grateful to have him with us.