An Era Ends

In a moment of near perfect symmetry, tomorrow, on her last day of work at NOLS, Molly Hampton, our administration and partnerships director, will be participating in the NOLS Wellness Ski Day. Molly’s NOLS career started on skis when she was a student on a NOLS Winter course in Yellowstone Park. The skis used in the backcountry have changed a lot in the 31 years since Molly first hit the slopes with NOLS, but with Molly’s leadership, the changes that the school has experienced in that time, are more remarkable.

Since 1975 the school has grown from around 1,000 students per year to 10,500. Those 1000 students were spread across 3 NOLS locations. Now NOLS operates in 14 locations worldwide. From a funky little outdoor school in 1975 NOLS has distinguished itself as the industry leader in wilderness education. Whether it is risk management, curriculum and publishing, student satisfaction and educational outcomes, alumni relations, employee satisfaction, you name it NOLS leads the way.

The incredible thing about Molly is that she has played a leadership role in nearly every aspect of the school. As the school has grown Molly has also grown and expanded her portfolio. Most recently she was a key player in NOLS acquisition of the Wilderness Medicine Institute, but more importantly she oversaw the integration of WMI into NOLS. The school had never done anything like this before and through diligence, compassion and hard work on the part of both Molly and the WMI team an incredibly smooth transition took place.

Molly was also responsible for the launch of NOLS Professional Training paving the way for a new business model for NOLS, assembling a winning team to run the programs and measuring the results. Just five years later NOLS is an important element of NASA’s astronaut training, U.S. military groups choose NOLS for portions of their leadership training and schools, colleges and corporations around the country look to NOLS to train their staff and consult on risk management.

Personally, Molly has been a great friend and mentor. From 1991 until 1997 Molly was my supervisor and since then we have served together on NOLS’ executive team. I have learned a ton from her and am constantly inspired by her passion for NOLS and our unique style of education. Molly leads with balance, recognizing the many sides of the issues, but always centering on the NOLS mission and values. She cares deeply about NOLS, wilderness, people and inspired, ethical leadership.

In two weeks Molly starts her new career as the Philanthropy Director at the Wyoming Field Office of The Nature Conservancy. They are getting a passionate, fun, steady leader. I hope they realize how lucky they are.

Have fun on the slopes tomorrow NOLS Wellness skiers. Have fun at TNC, Molly. It’s just across the street so I imagine we’ll be able to stay in touch, eh?

Bruce Palmer, NOLS marketing director

Note: Post updated 11/7/2018