Sharma Torrens
Executive Director
Sharma Torrens is the Executive Director of WTMC, bringing a new focus, energy, and life to the organization. She was born and raised in Phoenix, where she still resides. She received a B.S. in Biology from Arizona State University. She graduated from Project CENTRL (Center for Rural Leadership) and is a member of the International Leadership Alumni Conference Advisory Board, the Bureau of Land Management Arizona Resource Advisory Council, and AZDA’s Food and Agriculture Policy Advisory Committee.
Throughout her career, Sharma has worked for nonprofit organizations focused on her two passions - conserving agriculture and natural resources. She worked as a Wildlife Biologist for various nonprofit organizations and other entities, leading her to attend law school, where she focused on environmental law. She interned at three nonprofit conservation organizations and received her J.D. from Thomas Jefferson School of Law (in CA). Sharma’s time practicing civil litigation was brief as she decided to give up practicing law and get back to her roots.
She moved on to work for Arizona Land and Water Trust (ALWT), a nonprofit that works to conserve agriculture, wildlife habitat, and open space. After being offered a position as Legislative Liaison and Public Information Officer with the AZ Department of Agriculture (AZDA), she left ALWT to work for Director Mark Killian.
In 2019, Sharma opened her own company, Ag-Conserve Consulting LLC, and began her contract work with the AZ Association of Conservation Districts (AACD), a nonprofit that supports and promotes Arizona’s conservation districts. Shortly after, Central AZ Land Trust was added to her work when she was offered a job to help their mission of conserving agriculture and natural resources through conservation easements. As luck would have it, an additional opportunity opened with WTMC to become the Executive Director, taking her back to her original passion for the conservation of wildlife habitat. Working for all three nonprofit organizations allows Sharma to fulfill her passion for conservation.