Kristian Parker is Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Oak Foundation and a member of its founding family. Oak Foundation commits its resources to address issues of global social and environmental concern, particularly those that have a major impact on the lives of the disadvantaged. He has overseen the Oak Foundation’s environment program since its inception in 1998. The Oak Foundation’s environment programme dedicates a majority of its resources to: climate change mitigation, marine conservation (plastics/industrial overfishing/small scale fisheries), and illegal wildlife trade.

Kristian was born in Aalborg, Denmark and raised in Switzerland. He graduated from Colby College (Waterville, Maine) and received a Doctorate in Environmental Sciences from the Duke Marine Laboratory (Beaufort, North Carolina). From 2001 to 2002 Kristian held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Kewalo Marine Laboratory in Honolulu, Hawaii. Kristian was also a founding board member of OceansFive and European Climate Foundation and is a member of the Board of Oceana, ClimateWorks, and Oceano Azul.