Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan is a Franco-American entrepreneur, philanthropist, environmentalist, and art collector. He is the Chairman of precious metals-focused asset management firm The Electrum Group; past President and Chairman of 92NY, Manhattan’s premier cultural and community center; Co-founder and former Executive Chairman of Panthera, the global leader in wild cat conservation; Founder of The Leiden Collection, the world’s largest private collection of Rembrandt and Dutch Golden Age art; and past Chairman of the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage (ALIPH), a multilateral organization founded by France and UAE to preserve cultural heritage imperiled by conflict.

Dr. Kaplan stands among the world’s foremost advocates for wildlife conservation. In 2006, the Kaplans founded Panthera with Dr. Alan Rabinowitz to protect big cats from extinction, with the organization subsequently establishing 100+ partnerships in 40 countries. In 2009, the Kaplans endowed the Recanati-Kaplan Center at Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, creating the preeminent university-based center for felid conservation. In 2014, he launched The Global Alliance for Wild Cats, an international coalition of leading environmental philanthropists, together with H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed. Dr. Kaplan also founded The Orianne Society, a U.S.-based environmental organization protecting imperiled reptiles, and the Indian Ocean Tortoise Alliance (IOTA), a Seychelles-based NGO preserving Aldabra giant tortoises.

Dr. Kaplan earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in modern history from Oxford University. For services to France, he was made Officier in the Legion of Honor and Commandeur in the Order of Arts and Letters. He was also appointed Officier in the Order of Orange-Nassau for disseminating Dutch culture and building bridges between people through art.