Gray started in conservation and then moved into NGO-based food, energy and water security work before working as the green economy coordinator at the Department of Environmental Affairs in the Western Cape Government. Gray has degrees in development studies, poverty, land and agrarian studies and a master’s degree in global change studies focusing on private finance in sustainable land-use management. He is also the co-chair of the carbon hub for the Sustainable Landscape Finance Coalition, which is presently establishing the Grasslands National Park in the Southern Drakensberg region.