# Mike Korchinsky

> Mike Korchinsky is the Canadian founder and president of Wildlife Works, a conservation business he established in 1997 after a visit to Kenya exposed him to human-wildlife conflict. A former management consulting entrepreneur, he connected local employment and apparel manufacturing with wildlife protection before expanding into REDD+ forest carbon finance. His recent work includes advocacy for community participation in conservation markets and biodiversity stewardship finance.

- **Role:** Founder and President at Wildlife Works
- **Organizations:** Wildlife Works, Code REDD, Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network, Axiom Management Consulting
- **From:** Brookville, Ontario, Canada
- **Nationality:** Canadian
- **Education:** B.S.E., Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham
- **Known for:** Founded Wildlife Works in 1997., Helped develop the Kasigau project that issued the first VCS REDD credits in 2011., Built an approach linking apparel jobs and wildlife habitat protection at Rukinga.

## Career timeline

- **1980s** — Worked in management consulting before co-founding Axiom Management Consulting; published biographies differ on its founding year.
- **1995** — Axiom was sold to Cambridge Technology Partners.
- **1996** — Visited Kenya and began investigating human-wildlife conflict.
- **1997** — Founded Wildlife Works and established the Rukinga conservation project.
- **2001** — The Wildlife Works eco-factory released its first organic cotton T-shirt collection.
- **2008** — Launched Wildlife Works Carbon LLC.
- **2011** — Kasigau Corridor Phase I issued the first REDD credits under the VCS Program.
- **2012** — Founded Code REDD.
- **2025** — Discussed carbon-market reform and biodiversity stewardship in public interviews.
- **2026** — Wildlife Works reported his participation in a Stanford event on nature-based emissions reductions and removals.

## Achievements

- Founded Wildlife Works in 1997.
- Helped develop the Kasigau project that issued the first VCS REDD credits in 2011.
- Built an approach linking apparel jobs and wildlife habitat protection at Rukinga.
- Founded Code REDD in 2012.
- Serves on the Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network board.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Wildlife Works reported that Korchinsky spoke at Stanford’s Natural Climate Solutions Initiative event, Better Together: Nature-Based Reductions & Removals.
- **2025-10** — Wildlife Works described his Climate Week NYC discussion with Chief Tashka and Laura Yawanawa about biodiversity stewardship.
- **2025-08** — Appeared on This Week in Carbon to discuss REDD+, market criticism and Equitable Earth.
- **2025-05** — Appeared on 4Nature to discuss valuing intact nature and conservation finance.

## Links

- Website: https://www.wildlifeworks.com/founder
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-korchinsky-4b1242

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/mike-korchinsky
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-27