IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Frank is a conservation biologist and policy advisor with many years of experience working with governments, civil society and local communities in Africa and around the world.

Prior to joining IUCN, Frank was Senior Vice-President at Conservation International (CI). In addition to leading CI’s programme in Africa and Madagascar, he worked closely on green economy policy and land-use planning issues, emphasizing the value of nature as the basis for sustainable development, particularly in Liberia, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and South Africa. He has collaborated with the US government and US-based institutions on a range of policy issues based on that field experience, including links between economic growth and natural resource use, mechanisms for promoting green investment, and multi-stakeholder engagement processes. He has organized events to highlight the potential for public-private partnerships to deliver nature-based development.

For 20 years until 2007, Frank worked primarily in Madagascar, with CI and other NGOs, where he conducted research on birds, lemurs and carnivores, and supported the government, local communities and local NGOs in implementing the National Environmental Action Plan. He has written or co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed papers and 10 books, the latest of which, the Birds of the Malagasy Region, will be published later this year.

Frank has joint UK and Canadian nationality, and is married with two teenage daughters. When not sampling the manifold delights of biodiversity around the world, he enjoys cycling, cheese and cinema, not necessarily in that order.
 

Ang joined the IUCN Washington, D.C. Office as Financial Officer on April 06, 1998, and was named Senior Finance Manager in April 2008. Prior to joining IUCN Washington, D.C., Ang was the Senior Finance Officer of the IUCN Nepal office from December 1992 to March 31, 1998. Prior to IUCN Nepal, Ang worked for projects under the Government of Nepal jointly funded by the Government of Nepal and donors (such as Swiss Development Corporation, USAID, UNDP, World Bank and AsDB in Nepal).
 

At IUCN Washington DC, Ang is responsible for overall management of the Washington DC Office Finance Unit and submission of IUCN Financial Reports to US based donors. Ang also serves in the capacity of CFO of IUCN-US (a US non-profit organization) under contract between IUCN and IUCN-US.

Ang is a graduate of Tribuvan University in Nepal,  received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree from Strayer University in Washington, D.C. and is a Certified Public Accountant from the Commonwealth State of Viriginia.  Ang is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Ang is married to Ms. Phurba Sherpa and has two boys, Kalden and Nima Gyalgen.
 

To contact Ang, please email him at ang.sherpa@iucn.org.

Debbie Good is the Human Resource Manager and the U.S./Canada Membership Focal Point of the IUCN Washington, D.C. Office. She also serves as Executive Assistant to the Director.

Debbie began her career in the international environmental field in 1972 at the US Environmental Protection Agency where she worked in the Office of International Activities on various environmental issues. After spending 18 years in the government, Debbie joined the Environmental Defense Fund (an IUCN member), working with the International Counsel on climate change issues. She joined the IUCN Washington, D.C. Office in 1994 as the Executive Assistant to the Executive Director and soon thereafter took on management of human resources and membership for the office. Outside of work, Debbie enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren, skiing and working with stained glass. 
 

To contact Debbie, please email her at deborah.good@iucn.org.

All the way from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Carlos has worked in the financial field for over 10 years.  Carlos worked for the Peace Corps here in Washington before returning to La Paz where he worked for the American Embassy as an accountant. After six years, Carlos and his family returned to the States as an accountant and book keeper for Booz Allen Hamilton and the PA Consulting Group. 

Carlos is married to Luz and they have three sons, Miguel, Leandro and Cristian. On the weekends Carlos enjoys spending time with his family and playing, watching or listening to soccer.

Carlos may be reached by email at carlos.mendez@iucn.org.

Hailing from the Isle of Spice Grenada, Roxanne Halley joined IUCN at the end of August 2011 as the Finance & Administrative Assistant for the team. She is a 2010 Graduate of the historical Howard University, receiving a BBA in the field of Accounting. In the summer of 2007 she interned with PricewaterhouseCoopers in her homeland, gaining financial experience from a Fortune 500 Company. She returned to the US to continue her studies and also to work as the Business Office Assistant for the University’s bookstore (reporting to the Accountant & Operations Manager) for the remainder of her academic life. In addition to juggling a part-time job and a full-time study grind, Roxanne also volunteered at The Messenger - WPFW 89.3fm here in Washington DC, where she hosted a 15-minute program called “The Pulse” reporting on Caribbean news and also interviewing Reggae & Dancehall artistes live on-air and in concert. In her quiet time she enjoys art, cooking, music, photography, reading, writing and traveling. 

Sajid Ali started working with IUCN in May 1998 at the Pakistan Country Office and then moved to the IUCN Asia Regional Office in Bangkok (Thailand) in May 1999 where he worked as a Human Resources Officer for IUCN Asia. In 2006 he moved to Hanoi (Vietnam) to take up the position of Country Group HR Manager for IUCN offices in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam.

In 2007 he was transferred to the IUCN Headquarters in Switzerland to establish global systems for compensation & benefits management, performance management, job evaluation etc. He is also the HR focal point for assisting the regional and outposted offices on operational HR matters.

From July 2011 Sajid’s position has been moved to the IUCN Washington DC Office where he currently works as a Human Resources Manager, Global HR Services.

Before joining IUCN, Sajid worked as a journalist in an English daily newspaper “The News” and has around 150 published articles. He also worked as an International Merchandiser in a leading cloth and garment manufacturing firm in Karachi.

Sajid has a SHRM certified Masters degree in HR Management, a post graduate degree in Law and a Bachelors degree in Commerce. His Master thesis topic was “comparative study of work environment as perceived by female and male professional employees in the NGO sector in Thailand and Pakistan”. 

Larissa Hotra is the Development and Strategic Partnerships Officer of the IUCN Washington, D.C. Office, part of the Strategic Partnerships Unit in Gland, Switzerland. Prior to joining IUCN, Larissa has worked for over six years on issues relating to the environment, including environmental education, justice, human rights, resource-based conflict, community-based conservation, green technology, development and sustainable agriculture.

Larissa holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs and a B.S. from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources.

To contact Larissa, please email her at larissa.hotra@iucn.org.

Lorena has more than twenty-five years of experience in projects and initiatives involving public policy development, building local institutions and the incorporation of social and gender issues into development. She established and consolidated the IUCN Global Gender Office, which is the preferred partner for international governments and non-governmental organizations seeking to promote gender equality and women empowerment for achieving biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. She has created and/or is part of some of the most influential international gender networks; e.g. the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders of the Environment and the Global Gender and Climate Alliance.

She has developed strategies for mainstreaming gender in leading organizations, including the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). She supports governments to develop gender policies and to create organizational capacity in the area of gender equality and women¹s empowerment. Lorena has authored over seventy publications, including thirty books, on gender, development, disaster risk, water, health and environment.

She is often a keynote speaker at several international conferences, congresses and high-level events. 

Narinder Kakar is IUCN’s UN Permanent Observer in New York. Narinder will devote half of his time to working for IUCN and the other half to his work as Director of the UN Liaison Office in New York of the University for Peace. Narinder also serves as Visiting Professor to the University, teaching a course on the United Nations System.

An Indian citizen, Narinder has extensive experience of the UN, including 30 years' work with UNDP, both in New York and at country level, as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative. He also was associated with the work of the IPCC.

Narinder obtained his B.A. from the Delhi Polytechnic and received a Diploma in Journalism from the Institute of Journalism in Delhi. He also received an MBA degree from Haceteppe University in Turkey. He was a Research Associate at Harvard University in Massachusetts, USA, in 1994, carrying out work in the field of social development.

He has served on a number of important boards and committees, including the UN Joint Staff Pension Board and the Board of Directors of the UN Federal Credit Union, of which he was Chairman. Within the United Nations he served as Chairperson of the UN Joint Appeals Board for a number of years.
 

Narinder may be contacted by email at Narinder.Kakar@iucn.org.

Carole Saint-Laurent is IUCN's Senior Advisor on Forest Policy and Partnerships, and coordinator of the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration. She has 20 years of experience in environmental policy and programme development.

To contact Carole, please email carsaintl@bellnet.ca.

A forester by training with a Masters of Arts in International Studies, Patrick has worked for NGO, private and public sectors both at home in his native Canada and in Ecuador, Bolivia and pan-Asia.  Having worked with land-use planning, remote sensing, forest certification and community forest development over the last decade, he recharges by canoeing, cycling and mountaineering the landscapes in which he works.

A passion for islands and island people are the reasons that Kate Brown loves her job. Kate is from New Zealand (an island country) and spent eight years working on island issues at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme in Apia, Samoa prior to joining IUCN. She also worked in Western Australia on promoting sustainable farming systems in agriculture.

Kate now leads the GLISPA Coordination Unit based in IUCN Washington, D.C. Office. GLISPA is a partnership of which IUCN is a partner, with a steering committee to help with the functioning of the partnership.

The main focus of her work with GLISPA is to raise attention of island issues globally, facilitate the sharing of experiences between island countries and countries with islands, to support island leadership and commitment by facilitating both technical and financial resources to help islands meet their goals and to enable GLISPA members to work together to advance island conservation and sustainable livelihoods.

GLISPA is recognized as one of the mechanisms to advance the Convention on Biological Diversity’s island biodiversity programme of work and was called for by island leaders at the Mauritius international meeting for Small Island Developing States in 2005.

To contact Kate, please email kate.brown@iucn.org.

Jessica’s focus is on planning and implementation of communication initiatives that help to advance sustainable livelihoods and conservation of biodiversity for island communities. Jessica has a unique role that helps to advance the mission of the Global Island Partnership to promotes action for island conservation and sustainable livelihoods. IUCN is pleased to host the GLISPA Coordination Team as part of its commitment to the Partnership and island conservation.

As part of her role, Jessica also supports the coordination of strategic communication initiatives that use Entertainment-Education to stimulate behavior change around priority issues in Caribbean and other island regions with another GLISPA partners, PCI Media Impact who co-funds the role.

Prior to joining the Global Island Partnership and IUCN in January 2011, Jessica spent three years working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Centre based in Suva, Fiji Islands. Her core experience is in knowledge management, specifically in implementing systems to improve the sharing of knowledge between the Pacific and small island states globally to enhance development effectiveness.

Before her position at the UNDP, Jessica worked in a telecommunications research laboratory as a user research specialist on the development of new broadband technologies for low bandwidth access countries. Jessica is originally from the island state of Tasmania, Australia and has a strong drive towards conservation of islands, globally. An avid hiker, diver, traveler and foodie, she finds her travels to islands are a continuous adventure. 

To contact Jessica, please email her at Jessica.robbins@glispa.org.

Prior to joining IUCN, Martha served as Marine Science faculty at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Martha was also a study director for the Ocean Studies Board and Polar Research Board at the National Academy of Science and has served as a congressional fellow for Senator Lautenberg (NJ) focusing on ocean acidification legislation. She has spent time teaching on sailing school vessels at the Sea Education Association, Inc., and participated in two fields seasons in Antarctica for aerogeophysical research projects. Martha holds a BA in geology from Colgate University and a MS and PhD in paleoceanography/paleoclimatology from the University of South Carolina. 

To contact Martha, please email her at martha.mcconnell@iucn.org.

Working within the IUCN Global Marine and Arctic Programme, Harlan Cohen has responsibility for IUCN’s international ocean governance work. He has extensive experience with multilateral institutions, having participated in meetings at United Nations headquarters in New York, including of the General Assembly, and of other bodies on a number of subjects including biodiversity, climate change, chemicals, desertification, fisheries, governance, pollutants, science, shipping, trade, wastes, and wetlands.  He advises on IUCN’s policies and positions with respect to a wide range of international oceans and fisheries fora to ensure that IUCN’s positions are coordinated, balanced, practical, and in keeping with resolutions and recommendations as adopted at IUCN’s World Conservation Congresses.

Harlan is a former senior member of the U.S. Foreign Service, where he worked on marine, Antarctic and Arctic issues. He served in Curaçao, Frankfurt am Main, Paramaribo, and Geneva. While in Geneva, he focused on environmental and scientific issues and worked with the staff of Secretariats for six global environmental conventions, four regional environmental conventions and with a number of other environmental and scientific organizations. Harlan edited the 9th edition of the Antarctic Treaty Handbook. He has a B.A. from Columbia University, a Ph.D. in modern European history from Cambridge University and also completed a year of graduate study in science, technology and public policy at the George Washington University.

To contact Harlan, please email him at harlan.cohen@iucn.org.
 

Vivian is deeply interested in wildlife conservation, especially with creatures of the sea. Prior to joining the IUCN family, she interned at the UNEP/Convention for Migratory Species (CMS) Secretariat in Germany, where she supported the conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on global migratory sharks. She is a member of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group (SSG) and has extensive experience working with fisher communities and documenting traditional ecological knowledge.
She holds a Master of Philosophy degree in Ecology and Biodiversity and a Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Life Science from the University of Hong Kong. Her graduate research focused on the historical shark fisheries in southern China, aimed at providing information to aid the conservation and management of sharks in the region.
Her ultimate goal in life is to work towards the conservation of animals, through the bridging of sound science into policy and implementation. Other passions include music, travelling and food. Her motto: if you believe it, you can achieve it.

To contact Vivian, please email her at Vivian.Lam@iucn.org.

Charlotte's experience in marine conservation spans 15 years and ranges from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States Senate to the establishment of marine parks in East Africa. She also ran the Greenpeace oceans campaign in Washington for two years. Charlotte completed her Master's degree in Marine Policy at the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. in Marine Studies at the University of Delaware. In addition to international diplomacy and field work, Charlotte has extensive teaching experience, having taught at the University of Delaware and American University in Washington, DC, as well as spending almost two years teaching marine policy for Boston University in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Charlotte has been associated with IUCN since 1998 and is a member of three of IUCN's commissions, the Marine Turtle Specialist Group, the World Commission on Protected Areas and the Commission on Environmental Law. She co-authored three major IUCN publications on marine biodiversity, international fisheries and high seas resources. Charlotte is currently working with WCS on the establishment of marine protected areas to enhance resilience of coral reefs to climate change in Madagascar and on fisheries sustainability in Morocco. In her spare time, Charlotte is a Divemaster and a budding triathlete.
 

To contact Charlotte, please email her at cdefontaubert@gmail.com.

Suzanne comes to IUCN as a marine conservationist who has been passionate about the ocean realm since childhood. Previously, she worked on Oceana's deep-sea coral campaign and helped establish their “Dive into Ocean Conservation” program, which engaged the Scuba diving community in marine conservation. An avid diver herself, she has a Master's in marine policy from the University of Miami where her research focused on coral reef conservation. She brings her experience in marine ecosystems and conservation policy to many IUCN initiatives, including MPAs and climate change.

To contact Suzanne, please email her at slgarrett@hotmail.com.

Martin Sneary is a Senior Information Management Adviser, working on a shared programme of work with BirdLife International and Conservation International, splitting his time between Cambridge and Washington DC. In his capacity he is involved with the development of a number of software applications supporting the compilation, management and reporting/analysis of scientific data, notably for species and priority sites for conservation, the presentation of these data on the web site, and training.

On the fun side, as a mad keen wind surfer he's often found in rubber battling 40 knot winds and can occasionally be seen in the field with a pair of bins hanging around his neck.

To contact Martin, please email him at martin.sneary@birdlife.org.
 

Neil Cox is a Programme Officer of the Biodiversity Assessment Unit, a joint initiative of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and Conservation International's Center for Applied Biodiversity Science based in Washington, DC. At present, his primary focus is the Global Amphibian Assessment, a comprehensive review of the conservation status for each of the world’s 5,500 amphibian species.

Before joining IUCN, Neil was a Programme Officer for the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (Cambridge, UK). At UNEP-WCMC, Neil worked on a wide range of global and regional biodiversity related issues including conservation assessments, species trade (CITES) and biodiversity indicators. Neil has been associated with the IUCN Red List, since 1994, in a variety of capacities including species assessment and data collection and management.

To contact Neil, please email him at n.cox@conservation.org.

Marcelo is a Programme Officer within the Biodiversity Assessment Unit, a joint initiative of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the Science and Knowledge Division of Conservation International. The main focus of his work is to provide support to ongoing global assessment initiatives and to synthesize, manage, and analyze species conservation data. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in his native Argentina, and his Ph. D. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis. After completing his graduate studies, Marcelo was involved in conservation planning research in Chile, both in the terrestrial and marine realms. He has also conducted research in Argentina combining species distribution modeling and conservation planning to identify conservation priority areas for several groups of species. Prior to joining IUCN, Marcelo worked at the University of California in Davis reviewing and selecting environmental and socio-economic indicators in two watersheds in Northern California.

To contact Marcelo, please email m.tognelli@conservation.org.

  Nieves is a Progamme Officer of the CI/IUCN Biodiversity Assessment Unit, a joint initiative of IUCN Global Species Programme and the Science and Knowledge Programme of Conservation International. Prior to her present position she was part of IUCN´s Freshwater Biodiversity Unit in Cambridge (UK) where she worked on the EU-funded project "The integration of freshwater biodiversity in the development process throughout Africa." She begun her career at IUCN on Earth Day 2008, when she joined its Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation in Málaga (Spain) to work on regional Red Lists for the Mediterranean and North Africa, and support the organization of the World Conservation Congress held in Barcelona. She is editor of the publication "The Status and Distribution of Freshwater Biodiversity in Northern Africa" and co-author of "The Mediterranean: a biodiversity hotspot under threat." She graduated in Environmental Sciences at Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (Spain) and University of Hertfordshire (UK) and has carried out research field work in bird ecology at Universidad Nacional de León (Nicaragua), and marine turtle conservation in Costa Rica. Nieves works to expand the knowledge on the conservation status of freshwater species in South America, the key services that they provide to ecosystems, and importance to livelihoods.

To contact Nieves, please email her at n.garcia@conservation.org.

 Ian Harrison is part of IUCN’s Global Species Programme, coordinating fundraising for the Global Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment, a joint program run by IUCN, Conservation International and NatureServe. The objective of the GFBA is to compile data on the distribution and conservation status of freshwater species in order to expand the taxonomic and geographic coverage of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Ian is a member of the IUCN SSC Freshwater Conservation Sub-Committee and IUCN SSC/Wetlands International Freshwater Fish Specialist Group. He is co-leader of the Freshwater Ecosystem Change Working Group of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), and part of the World Water Forum’s ‘Target and Solutions Group’ for Ecosystem Valuation. Ian is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Fish Biology, an Adjunct Research Scientist for the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, Columbia University, and Research Associate in the Department of Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. He has published several scientific papers and book/report chapters on the systematics, biogeography, and conservation of coastal and freshwater fishes. He has conducted literature surveys on extinctions in freshwater fishes over the last 500 years, GIS-based studies of African freshwater fishes, and research on the taxonomy and biogeography of the Gobioidei (gobies and sleepers) and the Mugilidae (mullets). He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Fish Biology. He has conducted fieldwork in Europe, Central and South America, Africa, the Philippines, and the Central Pacific.

To contact Ian, please email him at ian.harrison@iucn.org.

Frances is a current Master in Environmental Management (MEM) candidate at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. While a undergraduate at Yale, she majored in Environmental Studies and intered at the IUCN Washington D.C. Office in during the summer of 2010. During this position,  Frances became the website manager for the office. Prior to her internship with the IUCN Washington, D.C., Frances conducted sociological field research in New Zealand and ecological field work in Connecticut and western Texas.  Aside from working on environmental issues, she enjoys backpacking, baking, and astronomy.

To contact Frances, please email her at FrancesDouglas@gmail.com.