Jon Paul Rodríguez has been working for the conservation of Venezuelan species and ecosystems since he was a biology undergraduate at Universidad Central of Venezuela (UCV) in the late eighties. With ...
SSC Leadership
SSC is governed by a Steering Committee, which is headed by the Commission Chair.
The Steering Committee represents a balance of regional and thematic perspectives and provides overall direction to the work of the Commission. The governance structure of the SSC must be reconstituted every four years, as per the IUCN Statutes.
The SSC Chair, in consultation with the Steering Committee, can establish various SSC Committees and Task Forces. The Chairs of these Committees or Task Forces are often members of the SSC Steering Committee. Additionally, the SSC Chair, in consultation with the Steering Committee, must appoint Chairs for the various SSC Specialist Groups at the beginning of each Quadrennium. Specialist Group Chairs are then mandated by the SSC Chair to appoint group members.

Prof Jon Paul RODRÍGUEZ - Commission Chair
Dr Rima JABADO
Deputy Chair
Dr Rima Jabado is the Deputy Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and Chair of the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group. As a scientist and conservationist, she has spent ...
Ms Asha DE VOS
Asha de Vos is an internationally acclaimed Sri Lankan marine biologist, ocean educator and pioneer of long-term blue whale research within the Northern Indian Ocean. She is also an Adjunct Research ...
Ms Domitilla RAIMONDO
Domitilla Raimondo is the Threatened Species Programme Manager at the South African National Biodiversity Institute.
Mr Ehab EID
Ehab is an expert in terrestrial and marine biodiversity conservation, zoology, CITES and protected areas management from Jordan and the West Asia region. Holds a master's degree in conservation ...
Dr Gabriela LICHTENSTEIN
Gabriela Lichtenstein is the Regional Vice-Chair for Meso and South America. Gabriela has a MSc in Biology, University of Buenos Aires (1992) and completed a PhD in Behavioral Ecology, King´s College ...
Dr Jean-Christophe VIE
Mr Michael (Mike) HOFFMANN
Mike Hoffmann, a South African national, is currently based at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) where he heads up the organization’s cross-cutting conservation programmes.
Ms Nunia THOMAS
Nunia Thomas-Moko is a passionate advocate for the conservation of Fiji’s natural heritage and environmental sustainability. In 2007 Nunia joined the newly formed NatureFiji-MareqetiViti - Fiji’s only ...
Mr Tomas DIAGNE
Tomas Diagne is an African freshwater turtle and tortoise expert who has been working to save threatened and endangered turtle species throughout West Africa for the past 28 years.
Institutional observers
Dr Stuart BUTCHART - Birdlife International
Stuart Butchart is Chief Scientist at BirdLife International – a global Partnership of over 120 national environmental organisations.
Dr Robert SHUMKAER - Indianapolis Zoo
Rob Shumkaer was appointed as President and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoological Society effective January 2020. Dr Rob Shumkaer, Ph.D., joined the Zoo in 2010 and led the opening of the Simon Skjodt ...
Mr Richard SCOBEY - TRAFFIC
Richard Scobey joined TRAFFIC as the new Executive Director in June 2021. He previously worked as the President of the World Cocoa Foundation for 5 years, focused on sustainability of the cocoa ...
Dr Elizabeth BENNETT - Wildlife Conservation Society
Elizabeth Bennett is currently Vice President for Species Conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) based at WCS’s head office in New York. In this role, she oversees WCS’s species ...
Ms Karen FIFIELD- Wellington Zoo
Karen has been the Chief Executive of Wellington Zoo since 2006 and is a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit MNZM for services to Business and Animal Welfare. Karen is a member of the World ...
IUCN Secretariat
Dr Richard JENKINS - IUCN Secretariat
Richard is the Deputy Director of IUCN's Global Species Programme and is based in Cambridge, UK. Before joining IUCN, He lived in Madagascar where his work concentrated on species conservation, and he ...
Dr Thomas BROOKS - IUCN Secretariat
Thomas Brooks, from Brighton, U.K., holds a B.A. (Hons) in Geography from the University of Cambridge (1993) and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee (1998). He ...
Ms Ana NIETO SERRADILLA
Ana is Head of Species Conservation Action at IUCN Global Species Programme. She is part of the Global Species Programme, leading the work of species conservation action, including the management of ...
Ms Dao NGUYEN - IUCN Secretariat
Dao is from Vietnam. She has 20 years of experience at local and regional levels in Asia, Africa and Oceania, as well as globally through international policy advocacy work. Between 2012 and early ...