Seligmann is chairman of Conservation International, an Arlington, Virginia-based environmental nonprofit organization, and from 1987 to 2017 served as its founding chief executive officer.

[2] He is also the founding CEO[3] of Nia Tero, a global collaborative[4][5] whose name translates in Esperanto to "our Earth.

On July 20, 2000,[12] President Bill Clinton appointed Seligmann to the Enterprise for the Americas Board.

[19] Seligmann is married to glassybaby founder Lee Rhodes, and the two reside in Seattle, Washington.

Seligmann has said his vision is to support an environmentally healthy world that provides economic opportunities and security, and he fulfills it by bringing together everyone from business and religious leaders to bureaucrats and scientists to local and indigenous people.