Barborak is an associate and former co-director of the Center for Protected Area Management at Colorado State University. His specialties are protected areas and corridor planning and management, wildlife management, conservation finance, policy and governance, capacity building and ecotourism. Barborak has long been interested in public-private partnerships for protected area management.

Since he began his international career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras, Barborak has worked in more than 25 countries throughout the Americas and in Africa on USAID-funded programs, on joint initiatives with USFS and the National Park Service, and as a consultant to the World Bank, UNESCO, and other organizations.

Barborak’s academic experience includes work in undergraduate and graduate programs at Idaho, Tulane, CATIE, the UN University for Peace, INCAE Business School and CSU. He is an active member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and serves on several of its specialist groups, including those on World Heritage, Tourism and Capacity Building.

Barborak earned his M.S. in regional resource planning and development and his B.S. in wildlife management – both from Ohio State University.