Partners

The Access Granted Group was founded by Amanda John Kimsey and Ángel Peña, two nationally recognized leaders in conservation, campaigns, and environmental justice. Both have dedicated their careers to advancing equity-driven conservation, building powerful coalitions, and expanding outdoor access for all communities. Together, they guide the firm’s mission to help organizations and movements achieve policy breakthroughs and lasting power. As founders, Amanda and Ángel also support a consortium of independent consultants and their clients—aligning expertise, strategy, and shared purpose to deliver meaningful results for people, communities, and the planet.
Read their bios below.

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Amanda John Kimsey is a nationally recognized strategist and coalition builder with more than 15 years of leadership advancing conservation and environmental justice across the United States. Guided by a “connection before content” philosophy, Amanda believes centering people in their full humanity leads to stronger ideas and collective success. Her leadership has united broad alliances toward ambitious conservation goals—from defeating damaging development projects to securing major policy and campaign victories that protect ecologically and culturally significant landscapes. Based in New Mexico after years in Montana, she applies that spirit to her work, particularly in helping to center sovereignty in philanthropy’s commitment to Indigenous-led conservation and co-founding the historic America the Beautiful for All Coalition, one of the largest and most diverse conservation networks in U.S. history.

Growing up in New England, her love of nature began exploring Massachusetts tide pools with her grandmother, whose resilience as a high school dropout turned late-in-life marine biologist shaped Amanda’s lifelong commitment to inclusion and resilience. Her career bridges philanthropy, advocacy, policy, and community organizing. As the former Philanthropic Strategies Officer at the National Congress of American Indians Foundation, she served as an intermediary grantmaker and advised foundations on aligning resources with Tribal priorities and reducing administrative burdens. Her previous roles as National Director of Conservation Policy Advocacy at The Wilderness Society and leadership positions with the National Parks Conservation Association and Potomac Conservancy honed her expertise in policy advocacy, coalition building, and inclusive leadership. Whether protecting national parks, leading the campaign to secure the once strongest local urban tree canopy ordinance, strengthening watershed protections, or guiding Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion efforts at major organizations, Amanda combines strategic vision with a deep commitment to people and place. Her work continues to invest in a democracy that works for all, elevates underrepresented voices, and strengthens the environmental movement for a just, sustainable future, so her children and others inherit a healthy, vibrant planet.

Amanda John Kimsey

Ángel Peña, The Access Granted Group

Ángel Peña is a visionary leader and architect of equitable conservation initiatives across the United States. A first-generation Mexican American raised in the Río Bravo Valley and father of four, he has dedicated his career to ensuring that historically excluded communities have a voice in shaping a conservation movement rooted in justice, science, and innovation. As the founding Executive Director of the Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project, Ángel has led transformative efforts to close the “nature gap,” championing access to the outdoors as a birthright rather than a privilege. He has played key roles in the creation of the New Mexico Outdoor Equity Fund, the protection of landscapes such as Castner Range, Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks, and Bears Ears National Monuments, and the advancement of national legislation to expand outdoor equity.

A founding member of the Next 100 Coalition, Ángel helped secure a Presidential Memorandum requiring federal land agencies to advance diversity and inclusion in public lands management. He is also a driving force behind the America the Beautiful for All Coalition and the Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E. initiative, both of which center the voices of communities of color and other marginalized communities in national conservation policy and access to the outdoors. With more than 15 years of experience in conservation and grassroots leadership, Ángel continues to collaborate with federal and state agencies, Tribal Nations, and community organizations to enshrine equity in the nation’s conservation agenda. Grounded in empathy, authenticity, and his family’s history as immigrant laborers and landscapers, he sees conservation as both community-building and legacy-keeping—connecting people to land and to one another through justice-driven action, shared heritage, and belonging.

Ángel Peña