Dr du Plessis is well known in the environmental sector.

He has successfully headed WWF South Africa as CEO since 2007. He also serves both globally and continentally on several WWF network committees and working groups.

Through a varied and diverse career path, he has been part of several services and boards including the WWF Nedbank Green Trust, the Leslie Hill Succulent Karoo Trust, the National Parks Trust of South Africa, the Table Mountain Fund and the Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria. He also chairs the Academic Advisory Board of the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies. 

Before joining WWF, he was the director of the Percy FitzPatrick Institute at the University of Cape Town - one of just six national Centres of Excellence in South Africa. He has also served as the assistant director at the former Natal Parks Board and was a post-doctoral research associate at the University of California, Berkeley.

Du Plessis holds a BSc in Agriculture from Stellenbosch, an honours in Zoology from Pretoria, a PhD in Zoology from the University of Cape Town and an Executive MBA from the Graduate School of Business in Cape Town.

He has authored and co-authored over 50 scientific publications in the fields of conservation biology and behavioural ecology and published two books, earning the National Research Foundation’s first President’s Award in the animal sciences.