Amy Fraenkel

Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals

Ms. Fraenkel has over 30 years of experience in international environmental law and policy. She has held senior positions in several UN agencies, the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. Government, and worked in the private sector as an attorney. 

She joined CMS after working for six years with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada, where she was part of senior management and led the Division on Mainstreaming, Cooperation and Outreach. She also served for six years as the Director of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Regional Office for North America in Washington, D.C.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Ms. Fraenkel was Senior Counsel of the Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. There she worked on legislation related to   climate change, fisheries, endangered species, ocean and coastal ecosystems, ship and land-based sources of pollution, and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Ms. Fraenkel also worked as a senior policy advisor in the Office of International Affairs within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). There she focused on chemical pollution, oceans, and trade and environment. She served on many delegations to meetings of multilateral bodies, including UNEP, the International Maritime Organization and the World Trade Organization, and co-chaired a working group on trade and environment in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Ms. Fraenkel worked for seven years in private law practice with the firms Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton, and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae, focusing on international and environmental matters.

Ms. Fraenkel is a graduate of Grinnell College and Harvard Law School.