Charles S. Potter, Jr. is president and CEO of the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation. For more than 40 years he has been a leader in conservation throughout North America, both as a professional and as a volunteer. Since 2000, he has been the “Voice of the Outdoors” as host of WGN Radio’s “Great Outdoors Show,” America’s most popular radio show on conservation issues.
Potter is also the author of two books: “Following the Flight” (published in 1999), and “A Lifetime In Waders” (published in 2022).
Potter is executive producer of the McGraw led Imax 3D conservation film series that is now 7 films, Wings Over Water, Secrets of Great Salt Lake, Running Wild: Return to the River, Wetlands: Saving a Vanishing Wonderland, Treasure of the Everglades, Our Living Forests, and America the Beautiful, in celebration of our nation’s 250th Anniversary. He has served on numerous national and international conservation boards, worked with gubernatorial and presidential campaigns to advance agricultural and conservation policy, and developed agriculture and sporting properties across the United States in association with his conservation interests.
He is a graduate of Northwestern University, and his honors include induction into the Illinois Outdoor Hall of Fame, receiving the Chevron/Times Mirror Conservationist of the Year Award, National Blue Wing Teal Award, and being named a Reader’s Digest “Hero of The Land.”