Wildlife Conservation Expo Speakers

Rocío Palacios
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru

The Andean Cat Alliance (AGA) works in four countries throughout the Andes, protecting the most endangered cat in the Americas. With less than 1,400 adult cats remaining, few know this elusive animal exists. Rocío, general co-coordinator at AGA, works tirelessly alongside the rest of AGA’s team to ensure that their vision is achieved through multinational programs that have a long-lasting, impactful effect on Andean cat conservation.

10:00 am Fisher Banquet Room

Rebecca Klein & Jane Horgan
Botswana

Rebecca founded Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) to protect Botswana’s important cheetah population. Rebecca and the CCB team—including Jane Horgan, CCB’s engagement and awareness coordinator—work with the local community, especially farmers, to reduce incidents of human-cheetah conflict through a range of programs, including livestock guarding dog deployment and training, educational bush camps for local schools, and national radio outreach on predator co-existence issues.

11:30 am Robertson Auditorium

Dr. Laurie Marker
Namibia

Laurie is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on cheetahs and a pioneer in the field of cheetah conservation. Cheetah Conservation Fund works closely with local farmers to understand the root of human-cheetah conflict and to mitigate it through innovative programs, such as their livestock guarding dogs, education and outreach initiatives, and their Bush Project, which harvests excess thorn bush and turns it into clean-burning fuel logs—a renewable energy source for rural Namibians without electricity.

10:00 am Fisher Banquet Room

Dr. Jorgelina Marino, Dr. Claudio Sillero, & Dr. Girma Eshete
Ethiopia

Having worked with the species over 20 years, Dr. Jorgelina Marino serves as the science director of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program (EWCP), an organization—founded by executive director, Dr. Claudio Sillero—that focuses on saving this rarest of canids. Joining them onstage is North Ethiopia Coordinator Dr. Girma Eshete. Working closely with local communities and partners, EWCP plays a crucial role in fending off disease outbreaks and expanding efforts across Ethiopia.

2:30 pm Fisher Banquet Room

Resson Kantai Duff & Jeneria Lekilelei
Kenya

Resson and Jeneria serve as Directors of Ewaso Lions (EL), together with Executive Director Dr. Shivani Bhalla. They are dedicated to saving Kenya’s lions. Resson is the youngest member to be elected by the Board of Conservation Alliance of Kenya, giving EL a voice in the national conservation agenda. Jeneria’s vast knowledge about lions and ability to diffuse human-lion conflict is essential to EL’s mission. Jeneria is a recipient of the African Ranger Award, has been named a Disney Conservation Hero and is a finalist for the Tusk Award for Conservation in 2019.

4:00 pm Robertson Auditorium

Belinda Low Mackey
Kenya

Belinda, co-founder of Grevy’s Zebra Trust (GZT), is a native Kenyan dedicated to saving the highly endangered Grevy’s zebra; the world’s largest zebra species found only in Kenya and Ethiopia. In partnership with communities, conservancies, county governments and the Kenya Wildlife Service, GZT has implemented effective conservation strategies that engage people sharing Grevy’s zebra range, to protect and monitor this endangered species and the resources it depends on. GZT’s Grevy’s Zebra Scouts program involves women and men from local Samburu communities in conservation.

4:00 pm Robertson Auditorium

Dr. Pablo Borboroglu
Worldwide

Penguins have always been important in Pablo’s life. He founded the Global Penguin Society to study and protect all 18 species of penguins in the Southern Hemisphere. Pablo works closely with communities, local governments, and other conservation groups to establish guidelines for penguin conservation. So far, over 32 million acres of marine and coastal protected areas have been created, thanks to his tireless efforts. Pablo is a 2018 Whitley Gold Award winner and a recipient of the 2018 National Geographic/Buffet Awards for Leadership in Conservation.

5:15 pm Fisher Banquet Room

Marc Ancrenaz & Ahbam “Bam” Abulani
Malaysian Borneo

Orangutans, Asia’s only great ape, are globally classified as endangered due to habitat destruction, fragmentation, and poaching. HUTAN conserves orangutans by surveying and monitoring orangutans, creating solutions for better management of palm oil plantations, working with communities to ensure local development is compatible with long-term conservation of orangutans and their habitat, and working to influence wider policy.

11:30 am Robertson Auditorium

Dr. Peter Lindsey
Africa-wide

Peter began working with African wildlife in 1993 and has extensive experience with an array of conservation issues ranging from predator conservation, to threats facing predators and other wildlife, to wildlife ranching and community conservation, and to Africa’s vast protected area network. Prior to joining WCN, Peter worked as a policy coordinator for Panthera’s Lion Program. Today, as the director of the Lion Recovery Fund, Peter is using his unique ‘big picture’ perspective to help save lions across Africa.

2:30 pm Robertson Auditorium

Dr. Sam Williams & Maricela Pizarro-Porter
Costa Rica

With just 1,500 individuals left, the magnificent great green macaw teeters on the edge of extinction. Macaw Recovery Network (MRN)—founded by Dr. Sam Williams—collaborates with partners across the parrots’ range to boost their population in the short term while protecting and reconnecting habitat for the long term. They hope to see thriving populations of these charismatic birds flying over protected forests throughout their range. Sam will be joined onstage by Maricela Pizarro-Porter, a Costa Rican biologist working with MRN to protect macaws and their habitat.

11:30 am Fisher Banquet Room

Dr. Rachel Graham
Belize and the Western Caribbean

Rachel has been fascinated by the ocean ever since her childhood in Tunisia. She has worked with fishers to establish effective conservation goals for over 20 years. In 2011, Rachel won the Whitley Fund for Nature Gold Award, and in 2014 she founded MarAlliance to promote impactful and inclusive grassroots science and conservation of marine wildlife, including sharks, rays, and threatened finfish.

5:15 pm Fisher Banquet Room

Dr. Louisa Ponnampalam
Malaysia

Dr. Louisa Ponnampalam co-founded the MareCet Research Organization, Malaysia’s first nonprofit organization dedicated to the research and conservation of marine mammals and their environment. Her research on endangered dugongs and their seagrass habitats is being used to establish a protected area, which would provide valuable habitat for dugongs in Peninsular Malaysia. MareCet is also using their research in dolphin distribution, abundance, social structure, and behaviors and their understanding of human-dolphin interactions to inform conservation efforts. Additionally, they work with authorities and local communities to reduce the impact of human activities on dolphins and porpoises. Louisa is a Member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Cetacean Specialist Group.

1:30 pm Fisher Banquet Room

Dr. Colleen Begg
Mozambique

Colleen, Keith, and their family live and work in one of the world’s last remaining great wilderness areas, leading a team of 100 Mozambicans in Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique. Niassa Lion Project has 12 different programs that range from anti-poaching and education to building community partnerships and livelihoods. Building these relationships with local communities is key as it helps people and lions live together and thrive.

2:30 pm Robertson Auditorium

John Lukas & Lucas Meers
Democratic Republic of Congo

For over three decades, the Okapi Conservation Project (OCP) has combated threats to the survival of okapi by supporting the efforts of wildlife rangers to control illegal mining, deforestation, and poaching within the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. John Lukas, OCP founder and president, with support from program officer, Lucas Meers, applies a holistic approach to okapi conservation—promoting local and national understanding of and appreciation for okapi, their habitat, and the Reserve, while assisting communities with developing sustainable ways to co-exist with endangered wildlife.

2:30 pm Fisher Banquet Room
4:00 pm Robertson Auditorium

Peter Blinston
Zimbabwe

After watching a documentary on painted dogs over 30 years ago, Peter was determined to save them. Since then his leadership has helped anti-poaching units find and dispose of thousands of snares. His team has also established educational bush camps that take children into the field to see wildlife, many for the first time. Painted Dog Conservation’s efforts are proving successful, with painted dog populations growing within the areas where they operate.

11:30 am Fisher Banquet Room

Johanna Vega & Juan Carlos Barrios
Colombia

Under the leadership of Rosamira Guillen and with support from Proyecto Tití’s subdirector of social programs, Johanna Vega, Proyecto Tití recently purchased 187 acres of land, doubling the size of their biological reserve, and helping to create critical corridors for cotton-top tamarins. Their projects continue to expand throughout the country, protecting forests and showing hundreds of children and adults the value of this endangered little monkey, endemic to Colombia. Johanna will be joined onstage by Juan Carlos, coordinator of Proyecto Tití’s Forest Restoration Program.

2:30 pm Fisher Banquet Room

Dr. EJ Milner-Gulland
Central Asia

In 2015, a disease rapidly killed over half of the world’s remaining saiga. The saiga are recovering and Saiga Conservation Alliance (SCA) is helping protect the remaining population from poachers. EJ co-founded SCA in 2006; she has conducted extensive research on the illegal wildlife trade and uses her research to design, monitor, and evaluate effective conservation interventions to address the poaching crisis. SCA’s community outreach, women’s empowerment, and children’s environmental education programs are critical in helping protect the saiga antelope.

4:00 pm Fisher Banquet Room

Frank Pope & David Daballen
Kenya

Save the Elephants (STE) is a leader in the effort to fight the elephant ivory crisis sweeping across Africa. Together with WCN they created the Elephant Crisis Fund to address poaching, trafficking, and demand for ivory. STE was founded by Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton during his pioneering career spanning more than 50 years in elephant research and conservation. Frank Pope now serves as the CEO of Save the Elephants. Frank will be joined onstage by David Daballen, STE’s head of field operations.

5:15 pm Robertson Auditorium

Dr. Jim Sanderson & Tiasa Adhya
Worldwide

Small wild cats are threatened by habitat loss, indiscriminate killing, and conflict with humans. Jim Sanderson, founder & director of the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, leads the way in protecting these endangered cats by working with local partners to identify and mitigate these threats. He will be joined onstage by one of their local partners, Tiasa Adhya, a WCN scholar who works with fishing cats in India.

1:30 pm Robertson Auditorium

Dr. Rodney Jackson & Maria Azhinova
Asia and Eastern Europe

Dr. Rodney Jackson, director of the Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC), is a leading expert on the snow leopard, having devoted over 30 years to conserving this elusive cat in South and Central Asia. SLC advances community-based stewardship of the snow leopard through education, research, and grassroots conservation. Rodney will be joined by Maria Azhinova, executive director of Baikal Buryat Center for Indigenous Cultures and head of the Land of Snow Leopard Network.

1:30 pm Robertson Auditorium

Robyn Appleton & Francis Aurich
Peru

Robyn fell in love with spectacled bears over ten years ago at a bear research symposium where she realized how little was known about the species. Since then Robyn and her team were the first to fit a GPS collar on a spectacled bear in Peru and they continue to improve our knowledge of these bears through scientific research. SBC also provides education and outreach to local communities. Robyn will be joined onstage by Francis Aurich, a WCN scholar who has been volunteering and working with SBC since she was 13 years old.

4:00 pm Fisher Banquet Room

Darren Pietersen
PANGOLIN CRISIS FUND GRANTEE
Zimbabwe

The Tikki Hywood Foundation strives to bring awareness and sound conservation practice to the plight of lesser known and endangered animals globally, such as the African pangolin. They undertake public awareness, train law enforcement, conduct research, and rehabilitate pangolins that have been confiscated from the illegal trade. They also engage with other organizations and governments throughout Africa to highlight the plight of pangolins, raise awareness of their conservation status, and educate them as to the need for conserving pangolins.

10:00 am Robertson Auditorium

Dr. Jean-Gael “JG” Collomb
Executive Director

JG’s career in wildlife conservation started 21 years ago in the rainforests of Central Africa, where he tracked chimps and gorillas. His interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to conservation drives his support to field-based conservationists. JG is committed to enhancing everyone’s ability to protect wildlife.

10:00 am Welcome in Fisher Banquet Room

Charles Knowles
President and Co-founder

A Silicon Valley entrepreneur who transitioned to wildlife conservation in 1994, Charlie recognized the need for a new model in his new field. In 2002, he co-founded Wildlife Conservation Network. WCN’s network of thousands of passionate supporters now fuels a rising generation of conservation pioneers whose work ensures a future for wildlife and wild places around the world.

10:00 am Welcome in Robertson Auditorium