Profile 5: Clive Desiré-Tesar - WWF

Clive Tesar is an educator and contractor in Arctic communications and policy. He worked for more than a decade as a journalist, starting in print, then working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a reporter, host, and editor mostly in the Canadian north.

After journalism, he worked as a contractor, mostly specializing in Arctic and Indigenous issues. During this time, Clive worked for the Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat of the Arctic Council, Canadian federal and territorial governments and NGOs. He delivered research and designed strategies and communications products that produced measurable benefits for his clients, improving public education on issues, and achieving changes in policy.

This left Clive with a good understanding of Arctic issues, and the perspectives of national and regional governments, the NGO sector, and Indigenous peoples’ organizations. For nine years, Clive was the Head of Communications and External Relations for WWF’s Global Arctic Programme.

• 1. What are the primary responsibilities and tasks in your current job?

  I am responsible for coordinating WWF’s communications on Arctic issues – this includes devising an agreed set of messaging on Arctic issues to be used across the network, creating an annual communications strategy, and editing “the Circle” magazine. I also help create and maintain relationships with stakeholders and governments around the Arctic, with a particular focus on Arctic Indigenous peoples. Lastly, I lead WWF’s “Last Ice Area” project.

• 2. How did you get this position?

  I applied for it after a friend forwarded me the job advertisement.

• 3. Had you always intended to pursue a non-academic career? If not, what led you to it?

  I had never intended to pursue an academic career – while I believe strongly in better integration between the needs of policy and advocacy, and the insights of academia.

• 4. What would you have done differently to be better prepared for your current position? Which choices in the past were successful?

  Two things are key to my current position, having well-honed communication skills, and being a generalist. My background in print, radio, television and graphic design have given me a broad understanding of communication skills, and having been a journalist has meant proficiency at becoming an instant expert on a broad range of issues. This means you develop research skills that rely more on speed than on comprehensiveness – there is a great pressure to be accurate and correct, but also a great pressure to deliver a product quickly. Having a broad and general understanding of issues allows me to make connections and see patterns that are not as visible to people with specialized knowledge.

• 5. Are there opportunities in your working place for candidates having a PhD degree?

  Yes there are, several of my colleagues have PhDs, but I would say that in most cases, a PhD is not an essential qualification for the work.

• 6. Do you have any advice for working towards this career?

  As suggested in my response to Q #4, I would suggest developing broad-based communication skills (and demonstrate them in real world environments, outside of academic publications), and broadening to a more generalist perspective if you do not already possess that.