Tony Anella was born and raised in Albuquerque and spent his early summers working on farms and ranches in New Mexico.  First and foremost he considers himself a conservationist.  As principal of Anthony Anella Architecture, an award-winning architecture and planning practice, the professional accomplishment he is most proud of is the protection from development of 30,828 acres of the Montosa Ranch with a conservation easement.  This project is profiled in Saving the Ranch: Conservation Easement Design in the American West, Island Press (2004), which he co-authored with John B. Wright.  In 2008, to diversify his architecture practice, he founded Tony Anella Design LLC, a product design company committed to using minimal resources and environmentally sensible materials.
Educated at Dartmouth College (Bachelor of Arts in History, 1979) and the University of Colorado (Master of Architecture, 1986), he served as a board member of the New Mexico Land Conservancy from 2004-2012, and currently serves as board secretary of the Aldo Leopold Foundation in Wisconsin.