Ed Wilson: A Long Road to the Top
Ed Wilson aims to boost Earthwatch's profile
By Susan Chaityn Lebovits | August 27, 2006
Ed Wilson
Earthwatch US CEO
©Earthwatch Institute
Edward Wilson may well be the only local CEO who has spent a night in a Sudanese prison.
Wilson is the new president of the Earthwatch Institute, one of the world's largest private funders of scientific field research. The Maynard-based organization is marking its 35th anniversary.
Wilson's African adventure occurred while on break from studies at Kings College in London in his native Britain. He visited Sudan with a friend, whose father worked for Shell Oil in Khartoum, during the famine of 1982.
Planning at the time to become a journalist, Wilson snapped photos at a refugee camp that the government was establishing on barren ground. "I had the burning righteousness to expose to the world that foreign aid was being used as a tool of the government and perpetuating the famine," he said.
Within hours, the two friends were picked up by secret police, separated, and tossed into prison.
"It was pretty scary," said Wilson.
While he was being interrogated the next morning, Wilson heard English voices coming from outside the building.
"I ran past the guard and began shouting my name out the window, and that I was being held," he said.
It turned out to be a smart move. The voices were of British Embassy staff members, who had been looking for Wilson and his buddy. The diplomats were leaving the prison after being told by police that they had no record of an Edward Wilson being held there.
The college students were released and given 24 hours to leave the country.
Today, Wilson presides over a staff of 150 in Maynard's landmark Clock Tower Place. The 19th-century wool mill is now a clearing house for environmental research projects conducted worldwide. Earthwatch receives some 300 applications from scientists looking for research funds and volunteers. The organization recruits people willing to pay for the privilege of working as a research assistant in the field. Their payments -- about $2,000 for an average two-week trip -- help cover the costs of the research.
Through its offices in the United States, England, Japan, and Australia, Earthwatch annually recruits 4,000 volunteers to take part in 140 projects in 55 countries. They include opportunities to study global warming at such farflung locations as the Arctic and Australia's rain forest.
"It's one of the most brilliant forms of nonprofit development ever created in terms of raising funds," Wilson said.
Wilson has expanded Earthwatch's efforts by establishing a media unit that produces interactive educational material and documentaries. This winter the Discovery Channel will air "A Year on Earth," which follows teenagers on expeditions across the world, including Brazil and Sri Lanka. One of the teens is Tyler Robinson from Lincoln.
The son of a career military officer, Wilson had seen much of the world by the time he was 7. At that point, his parents decided he needed stability and enrolled him in boarding school in Britain.
After earning a bachelor's degree in geography with a specialization in African studies and Third World development, Wilson followed his father into the service. He attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served five years in the British Army as a counterterrorism specialist.
But Wilson's real love was the environment, the seeds having been planted during a year off from college that he spent with Ian Player, founder of the Wilderness Leadership School in Natal , South Africa. After leaving the military, he worked at game preserves and eco tourism operations in Africa.
Vacationing in the United States, he was introduced to Earthwatch founder Brian Rosborough through a friend of his parents. He was so enthralled that when he learned there were no paying jobs available, he volunteered in the mailroom. He proceeded to rise through the ranks and went on numerous expeditions. One of his favorites took him to Inner Mongolia, where he studied the expanding Gobi desert.
Wilson was transferred to the main office in Maynard as a vice president in the late '90s and was named president and CEO in November. Now 39, he lives in Concord with his wife, Imogen, and two children.
Perhaps Wilson's interest in government policy, the environment, and human rights explains the answer to this cocktail party question: If he could have a drink with two influential figures, who would they be?
"First I'd like to meet George Bush, as I really, really want to find out what if anything goes on in that mind," said Wilson. "It would be illuminating and fascinating at the same time. If I recovered from that, I'd love to have a drink with Nelson Mandela."
That, he said, would provide him enough balance between the spectrums.
"I'd like to save Mandela for last so I'd leave on a high, or at least with some optimism."
To learn more about Earthwatch, log on to its website, www.earthwatch.org.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
See also Ed Wilson's interview in Grist