His soft demeanor and classy appearance may not suit the portrait of a typical militant environmentalist, but his passion for nature conservation is just too big for an investment banker, a profession he has held for nearly 30 years.

After years of volunteering in various conservation programs, Russell Leiman decided in 1999 to make it his full time job and left the global finance company where he had built a successful career. Leiman joined The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and took over leadership of the organization's Asia Pacific Region.

"I was approaching 50 and I realized if I did not do something different then it would have been too late," he told The Jakarta Post. At the time, Leiman had chaired and directed a number of securities companies in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Nearly a decade after such an unlikely switch of career paths, he says he is grateful he is able to do what he loves doing.

Leiman confidently describes his position as "the best job in the world" -- the only thing he misses from his past life as a financier is the moment when he used to take the first left when boarding a Boeing 747; traveling business or first class.

Some of his colleagues were not surprised by his decision because they knew Leiman was involved in conservation programs long before he joined TNC, but his ex-wife Ashley, who works for the Orang Utan Foundation, was upset by his decision.

"I could understand because she thought this was her world and that was mine and I should not come and interfere, but she's over it now," he said.

Russel, however, was often asked by his fellow businessmen how to switch in the way he did. He was happy to provide them with answers, but says they often "didn't like the advice I gave them".

"You can't just have a vague idea of wanting to do good. Everybody wants to do good things. It is very difficult to find a way to do it," he explains.

"You have to decide what your passion lies, what you are really passionate about ... You have to find something which really gets inside your heart. When you have decided, look for organizations which are involved in that area. Volunteer, get involved, learn how to do it and see what happens."

Conservation is Leiman's passion. He was born in Johannesburg, the most populous and largest city in South Africa. His father was a doctor and since he was a child he has been exposed to the wonders of the wildlife of that continent.

"I'm returning to the part of my life in South Africa," he said.

A black sheep in his family, Leiman did not follow the family tradition of working in the medical world. Young and restless, Leiman spent only 10 days at university for his dislike of studying mathematics.

Before turning his interest to the stock exchange, he worked as an assistant to the famous South African eminent photographer Sam Haskins.

"I was very fortunate to be his assistant ... It was a fascinating experience," he said.

Having undergone some quite extreme career changes and living in different areas -- from Johannesburg to London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and now in the redwood forest in San Francisco -- he found no difficulty adapting himself to TNC -- despite the potential conflicts of interest many perceived businessespeople and environmentalists would have.

"There's no question there are some NGOs who are very strong advocates and they protest and make demonstrations or something like that, but I don't think that's effective," Leiman says.

He believes people are now looking for common ground and almost all corporations in the world today recognize the value of sustainability. The core philosophy of TNC, he says, is "to work with people who utilize natural resources".

"TNC's philosophy is to work with these people, not against them, to find out how it is they can do what they need to do and do it with the least environmental impacts. And my strong belief is that almost all responsible companies in the world today recognize they cannot continue to utilize resources at a rate that is unsustainable," he adds.

TNC, founded in 1951, is one of the world's wealthiest environmental organizations and has protected more than 69,000 square kilometers of land in the Unites States and more than 473,000 square kilometers globally.

"It is a big wealthy organization. Consequently, we can afford occasionally to fail. We hate to fail, but we can afford to fail. Many conservation organizations cannot afford that luxury so they cannot try very risky things. We can carefully select risky things. If we fail, it hurts, but we survive," Leiman says.

TNC usually buys land, especially in the U.S., to protect it from being damaged. It therefore does not rely entirely on donations to fund its activities. TNC invests the it receives to generate money to manage the land it buys.

"Last year, half our money came from investment income, and roughly half came from donations. And of the donations, the big proportion of them come from private individuals and private foundations and a little bit from the government, not a little bit, but much much less," he says.

In the 2007 fiscal year, TNC's total support and revenue was US$1.28 billion, with assets totaling $5.42 billion.

"One of the most impressive things for me who came from the investment world ... was my surprise to find how financially sophisticated they are. Incredible. Even in Indonesia, I was impressed," he says.

TNC has been working in partnership with the Indonesian government and people, including the private sector and indigenous peoples, since 1991, especially in Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua, which are the heart of the coral triangle.

"Most people, when they think of the most biologically diverse countries, think only of Brazil or the Congo. The truth is, if you take terrestrial (on land) and marine biodiversity, I think Indonesia is almost certainly the most biologically diverse country on earth," Leiman says.

Leiman claims he has no plan to switch careers again, saying he will continue his conservation activities "for as long as I feel I'm making a contribution and people feel the value".

In the end he had only one wish.

"When I die, I want to be able to look back and point to something of really great significance and value and say I have had some part in making that happen."

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