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
Rima JABADO
Deputy Chair.
Rima Jabado leads the Elasmo Project, a non-profit initiative she founded in 2010 to encourage work in data-poor areas focused on investigating shark & ray fisheries & trade.
Amanda VINCENT
Chair of the SSC Marine Conservation Committee.
She is firmly convinced that we know enough to tackle conservation problems now, even if more information might be valuable.
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 ...
Axel HOCHKIRCH
Axel Hochkirch is an associate professor in the Department of Biogeography at Trier University, Germany. He is an expert in insect biodiversity and conservation genetics, and the author or co-author ...
Axel MOEHRENSCHLAGER
Dr. Axel Moehrenschlager is the Director of Conservation & Science at the Wilder Institute, Adjunct Professor at the U. of Calgary/Canada, Adjunct Associate Professor at Clemson U./USA, Erskine Fellow ...
Dilys ROE
Dr Dilys Roe is the biodiversity lead at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) – a UK-based sustainable development think tank – and Chair of the CEESP-SSC Sustainable Use ...
Domitilla RAIMONDO
Domitilla Raimondo is the Threatened Species Programme Manager at the South African National Biodiversity Institute.
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 ...
Gabriela LICHTENSTEIN
Gabriela Lichtenstein 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 ...
Gregory MUELLER
Gregory Mueller serves as Negaunee Foundation vice president of science at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Before joining the Garden, Dr Mueller worked for more than 23 years at The Field Museum as the ...
Ian HARRISON
Ian Harrison obtained his Ph.D. in systematic ichthyology at the University of Bristol, UK. He has conducted research on marine and freshwater fishes from several parts of the world.
Jean-Christophe VIE
Dr Jean-Christophe Vié is Director General of Fondation Franklinia, a foundation dedicated to the conservation of threatened tree species. He joined the foundation in January 2018 after 17 years ...
Luigi BOITANI
Chair of the IUCN SSC Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe.
Luigi is Professor Emeritus at the University of Rome - Sapienza, where he has been teaching Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology ...
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.
Mirza KUSRINI
As wildlife ecologist, Mirza focuses on the conservation of amphibians and reptiles in tropical forest ecosystems. She also doing research on the trade in amphibians and reptiles, and human wildlife ...
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 ...
Ann (Onnie) BYERS
Onnie earned her Ph.D. in reproductive physiology from the University of Minnesota and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo in Washington D.C.
Paul SMITH
Dr Paul Smith is the Secretary General of Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). BGCI is the largest plant conservation network in the world, comprising 650 member institutions in 100 ...
Piero GENOVESI
Piero Genovesi, PhD, Head of wildlife service with the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Chair of the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group and member of the Steering ...
Russell MITTERMEIER
He is currently Chief Conservation Officer of Global Wildlife Conservation. Among the other positions he has occupied, he was Vice-President for Science and Director of the Primate Program at WWW-U ...
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.
Topiltzin CONTRERAS MACBEATH
Former Minister of Sustainable Development for the Government of the State of Morelos in Central Mexico. For the past 36 years he has been Professor of ichthyology and Conservation Biology at the ...
Vivek MENON
Vivek Menon is a leading Indian wildlife conservationist, environmental commentator, author, photographer and policy think tank with a passion for elephants. Founder of five environmental and nature ...
Yan XIE
Yan Xie is an Associate Research Professor at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, focusing on Amur Tiger and Protected Areas conservation.
Institutional observers
Stuart Butchart - Birdlife International
Stuart Butchart is Chief Scientist at BirdLife International – a global Partnership of over 120 national environmental organisations.
Rob Shumaker - Indianapolis Zoo
Rob Shumaker was appointed as President and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoological Society effective January 2020. Dr. Rob Shumaker, Ph.D., joined the Zoo in 2010 and led the opening of the Simon Skjodt ...
Barney Long - Re:wild
Barney Long is the Senior Director of Conservation Strategies at Re:wild where he oversees all the species conservation efforts. He works on the conservation of highly endangered species and the site ...
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 ...
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 ...
Clément Lanthier - World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
Clément Lanthier leverages a distinctive blend of knowledge, experience, values and skills to lead wildlife conservation organizations with strong emphasis on animal welfare, science and customer ...
IUCN Secretariat
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 ...
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 ...
Ana Nieto - IUCN Secretariat
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 ...
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 ...