Dr. V.B. Mathur has been appointed as the Director of Wildlife Institute of India. He took over the position from Shri R.K. Goel, Director, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun on 18 February, 2014. Speaking during the special event organized by the Institute’s faculty, staff, researchers and students he said that his endeavour would be to make WII an institution which is liked and coveted by researchers, students and academics as an institution to conduct research and acquire knowledge and skills; sought after by policy makers and administrators as an institution to seek advice and build capacity; and an institution that is respected by national and international peers, as a world class institution not only in the field of wildlife conservation but also in natural resource  conservation. He said that in order to achieve the above vision, the priorities would be to enhance institutional infrastructure and research environment so as not only to retain talent but also to attract talent from outside and to build a high performance work environment that generates both enthusiasm and nurture’s talent.