Mark Duda

Mark Damian Duda has devoted his career to wildlife conservation.

He studied wildlife biology at West Virginia University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1982. In 1985, he graduated from Yale University with a master’s degree and an emphasis on natural resource policy and planning, where he attended on two academic scholarships.

Duda is a Certified Wildlife Biologist® and social scientist. In 1990, he founded Responsive Management, an internationally recognized research firm specializing in natural resources and outdoor recreation, and has employed more than 2,200 people. Over the past 35 years, Duda has managed more than 1,200 studies on how people relate to conservation and the outdoors. He is the author of more than 200 journal and popular articles as well as four books on wildlife and outdoor recreation. Duda has taught at Yale, Texas Tech, and the University of Florida.

His work has been featured in many of the nation’s top media, including NPR’s "Morning Edition," Fox News, CNN, The New York Times, Newsweek, and the front pages of The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA Today. For seven years, Duda served as a columnist for North American Hunter and North American Fisherman magazines.

He has been named Conservation Educator of the Year by the Florida Wildlife Federation and National Wildlife Federation, was a recipient of the Conservation Achievement Award from the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and was named Wildlife Professional of the Year by the Virginia Wildlife Society. Duda also received the Conservation Achievement Award in Communications from Ducks Unlimited and an award from the Potomac Ducks Unlimited Chapter for his contributions as a researcher and writer. He was honored as Qualitative Researcher of the Year by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and received the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Hunters’ Leadership Forum.

Duda is an avid birder, hunter, sport shooter, angler, and boater.