Pip Coe

Pip Coe is one of the most accomplished and enduring figures in American outdoor education, with a career spanning more than four decades at the intersection of whitewater instruction, wilderness leadership, and institutional development. Her journey began in 1985 at the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in western North Carolina — one of the country's premier whitewater training grounds — where she spent seven years honing her skills as a paddler and instructor on the demanding waters of the Nantahala Gorge.

In 1992, Coe joined the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) as a field instructor, a role she has maintained continuously for over 34 years. The following year, she joined the NOLS administrative team, helping run operations in Utah, Kenya, and later alumni relations at NOLS headquarters in Lander, Wyoming. From 1993 to 1997 she served as Utah Base Manager, overseeing operations for one of NOLS's busiest domestic campuses, before taking on the role of East Africa Operations Manager.

Returning stateside, Coe stepped into the role of Alumni and Development Director in December 2001, a position she held for over 16 years. She introduced a mindful staff education process to permanently embed an understanding of the ways that philanthropic contributions enhance and are critical to NOLS's mission, and during her tenure the organization's culture shifted to recognize the extent to which fundraising helps NOLS achieve its goals.

The results were transformative. The philanthropic support Coe fostered enabled NOLS to increase its annual reach from 9,000 students to more than 21,000, with the school anticipating awarding $1.7 million in scholarships annually.

In 2015, her contributions were recognized when the Wyoming Business Report honored her as a Wyoming Woman of Influence in the nonprofit field. Throughout all of it, Pip Coe has remained at her core what she has always been: a whitewater professional and wilderness educator whose technical mastery on the river informs everything she does on land.