Alex Siple, Executive Director

 In Alex’s experience, confidence and willingness to take risks are the foundation of a fulfilling life. Born and raised in southwest Virginia, Alex has always had a taste for adventure, but it wasn’t until after high school that she was fully able to discover her passion for the outdoors. She led outdoor excursions as the president of her college’s outdoors club and was fortunate to live abroad in both Egypt and South Africa, as well as travel extensively over the years. As her confidence and curiosity grew, these experiences served as a catalyst to continue to push her boundaries. This led to many challenging and unique opportunities, like working as a horse wrangler in Colorado, teaching ESL in a Maasai village in Kenya, and solo-hiking the  Haute Route in the Alps.

In 2010, Alex began working at Total Action for Progress (TAP) as a grant writer. In 2014, she founded her company, Atlas Grant Solutions LLC, and has since worked as a consultant in resource development in the Roanoke Valley and across Virginia. Over the past decade, she has raised $103 million in funding for local governments, nonprofits, schools, and universities. She has helped design and fund programs in employment training, youth education and college access, early childhood education, athletics, juvenile justice and criminal justice, arts and culture, substance use treatment and prevention, international development, and much more.

In 2021, she decided to make her passion for the outdoors her life’s purpose. Her dream is to help young women—specifically those who may not have access to the outdoors—opportunities to explore the natural world and learn new skills. She founded The Wild Way to increase girls’ access to outdoor experiences, encourage them to push their boundaries, and help them build confidence as they grow from girls into young women.

Alex holds an undergraduate degree from the College of William & Mary, a post-graduate degree in development from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and Wilderness First Aid certification. In her free time, you’ll find her hiking, riding her road bike, stand-up paddleboarding down a river, and spending time with her two corgis, Winston and Mosby.