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The LCF Conservation Team

Chairman of the Board:

John Alexander is an accomplished and well-respected photographer whose photographs, taken in remote regions around the globe, commemorate at once the biodiversity and fragility of life on the planet. Originally, he recorded mountain climbing expeditions before focusing his attention on the vast variety of the natural world. His pictures appear in many prestigious natural history arenas, including Chicago's John G. Shedd Aquarium, The Center for Marine Conservation, The Lincoln Park Zoo, The World Wildlife Fund, and Wild Bird magazine. His work is also represented in many private collections throughout Europe, Australia, and North America.

Mr. Alexander spent his professional life in the world of investment and finance, acting as Director of Research for a New York Stock Exchange member firm and, for nearly 20 years, as an officer and consultant to The Harris Trust and Savings Bank in Chicago where his primary responsibilities were for dissemination of trust and investment strategies and implementation. In addition, he served as Treasurer of the Copley Healthcare Foundation in Aurora, Illinois, and as the Illinois State Director for the Nature Conservancy. It is his passion for the living world and his willingness to share his experience and expertise to advance the mission of LCF that brought John Alexander to the lemur project.

Executive Director:

Penelope Bodry-Sanders directs the Lemur Conservation Foundation. In 1999, she retired from New York’s American Museum of Natural History where she served for over 18 years in a number of capacities. From 1988-1999 she was the Education Coordinator for the Museum’s study/travel program, directing all educational aspects from hiring and managing staff to researching and securing educational literature for over 50 study programs a year. She is also Field Associate in the Museum’s Division of Anthropology. Previously, she served alternately as Manager of Special Collections – Archives, Photographs, Films and Art/Realia, Film Archivist and conservationist in the Museum’s Department of Library Services, and as colony manager for a breeding colony of zebra finches in the Museum’s Department of Ornithology.

Her book, African Obsession: the Life and Legacy of Carl Akeley, about the legendary hunter-turned-conservationist who saved the mountain gorilla from extinction, was well received and lauded as an enormous contribution to the body of conservation literature. Ms. Bodry-Sanders is Research Associate of Duke University Primate Center and served as Council member of the African Wildlife Foundation from 1988-1991. She is a member of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, a Fellow of the Explorers Club and the Royal Geographic Society in London, and is a frequent lecturer on conservation issues in the United States, Africa, and India.

Treasurer:

Gail Erickson received her degrees from Stanford University (BA 1955 summa, Phi Beta Kappa) and Harvard Law School (JD 1958 cum laude) and is a retired member of the New York bar. She served as General Counsel of W.R. Grace & Co., a diversified international company with chemical, health care, natural resources and other interests. Her areas of legal expertise were securities regulation and stockholder relations matters, financings, corporate acquisitions and dispositions and corporate secretarial matters.

Ms. Erickson is currently involved as a Community activist, Director of Citizens Union, a New York City good government group, and the Director of The Appleseed Foundation, an organization dedicated to the creation of a national network of public interest legal organizations that seeks to effect systemic change. Ms. Erickson brings a wide range of talent and experience to the LCF to help direct strategic planning for the future of the Foundation so that we may better preserve and conserve these endangered prosimians.

Secretary:

Michael T. Martin has a long history of unfailing advocacy in preserving the natural world. Michael has served on the board of Sarasota’s prestigious Mote Marine Laboratory for over 13 years, three of those as chairman. He is currently Chairman of the Mote Foundation, an overseeing committee, and serves on the boards of Animal Rescue Coalition, based in Sarasota, and the Morris Animal Foundation, based in Denver. Michael has a special passion for thoroughbred horses, which he owns, breeds, and races. But it is his fascination for lemurs that brings him to LCF, along with his desire to see them survive into the next century. With Michael’s participation on our team, we believe that shared vision will come to fruition.

Trustees:

Dr. George Amato is Director, Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Prior to his work at the AMNH, he served as Director, Genetics Research, and Senior Conservation Biologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society – Bronx Zoo. He has been an invaluable advisor to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) through his continued counsel to a number of Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs) including the prosimian TAG. Dr. Amato’s research focuses on ameliorating threats to endangered species by combining field and laboratory based research. Using technologies from molecular biology and genomics, he examines genetic threats to species at a landscape level and uses this information to design applied conservation strategies.

Anne Bladstrom is a retired but still active librarian. She received her BA from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and her MLS from Columbia University, NY. During her professional life she headed research and corporate finance libraries on Wall Street, serving such institutions as Standard and Poor, C. J. Lawrence, and Prudential Bache. Her pro bono work includes serving on several boards in Connecticut   Waterbury Foundation, Mattatuck Museum, and Flanders Nature Center. Anne is currently the President of The Casey Key Library Association. She and her husband, Walter, moved to Florida in 1994.

Mark Braunstein, a resident of Ulster County, New York, is the founder of markertek.com, a specialized manufacturer and distributor of technology products for film, television and theater.

He is one of the largest employers in his region and is known for his tremendous philanthropic efforts supporting hunger and the arts. He was named Business Person of The Year for 2007 in Ulster County and has received numerous awards for his charitable contributions. Mark had his start at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Connecticut as a theater technician and carried that inspiration for theater technology to create one of the largest companies of its kind.

He is married to Katharine McKenna, daughter of Malcolm McKenna, LCF Trustee, and has three children. His home is in Woodstock, New York and he spends most of the summer in the mountains of Colorado.

Mark is well known in his area as the proud owner of a 1964 red Amphicar boat car that he drives from his house in Woodstock directly into the Hudson River - without stopping.

"I like to call lemurs furry old souls, and I find them fascinating creatures. The energy of the reserve and the wonderful people associated with it that I have met, create a valuable opportunity for me to be a part of the lemur legacy."

Blair Brown has had a long and successful career in television, motion pictures and theater. She is perhaps best know for her starring role in the television series, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, for which she received three Emmy nominations. She also stared, as a primatologist, in Ken Russell’s classic Altered States, and as an ornithologist/conservationist, with co-star John Belushi in Continental Divide. Winner of the Tony award for her Performance in Copenhagen, she also starred in James Joyce’s The Dead, Tom Stoppard’s hit drama, Arcadia, the award-winning production of Cabaret. These are but a few highlights in Ms. Brown’s career. Of more importance to LCF, Blair Brown has been a political activist and spokeswoman for various causes close to her heart. In her position as Co-Director of Creative Coalition, with actor Christopher Reeve, Ms. Brown spoke out on such issues as gun control, reproductive rights, government support of the arts, the war against hunger and campaign finance reform. She passionately continues her efforts on behalf of these last two causes.

What brings Blair Brown to LCF is her fascination with the study of lemurs and what it can teach us about our own very ancient history. We are proud that she has joined us in our efforts to conserve lemurs and to promote their study and promulgation.

Dr. Virginia Cunningham is currently the Director and Team Leader of Environment, Health and Safety Product Stewardship for GlaxoSmithKline. The primary responsibilities of the group include serving as GSK champions for sustainable development, life cycle assessment approaches to EHS issues, and environmental hazard and risk assessment, communication, mitigation and management. The group also leads initiatives in sustainable product design, green chemistry, technology and packaging, and life cycle assessment of products and processes.

Prior to this role, Dr. Cunningham headed the SmithKline Beecham Environmental Research Laboratory, with responsibilities for the generation and assessment of environmental fate and effects data for new pharmaceutical products as well as the evaluation, mitigation and management of the potential environmental impacts from production. Dr. Cunningham also works with other pharmaceutical industry scientists and with the US FDA and other regulatory agencies on technical issues connected with the environmental risk assessment of human pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Cunningham has an A.B. degree in Chemistry from Immaculata University, a Ph.D. degree in Physical Organic Chemistry from Bryn Mawr College, and an MBA in Finance and Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Stephanie Guest has been an activist for social change and an advocate for education during much of her adult life. She has served on the boards of Barnard College (1975-1985), the East Harlem School at Exodus House (1994-1996), and the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter since 1995, serving as its President for the last four years. Her international education was both eclectic (she studied philosophy at Barnard College and Columbia University) and broad in scope. This along with extensive travel (especially to India) has given her a worldview that nourishes her commitment to social change and to preserving global biological diversity.

Entrepreneurial in spirit, Ms. Guest has founded, co-owned and operated several successful and popular New York restaurants, the latest being "Punch," which recently received excellent reviews in the New York press. Ms. Guest brings many logistical talents and insights to the LCF Board as we deepen our dedication to the conservation and preservation of lemurs.

Charlotte "Mopsy" Lovejoy, born in Washington, DC, grew up in the world of art. Her father, Charles Seymour, Jr., was the first curator of sculpture at Washington's National Gallery of Art. He later helped to establish the Art History Department at Yale University, where his father was president and he himself was an art history professor until his death.

Throughout her adult life, Mopsy has built on this liberal arts foundation a passion for the natural world, traveling extensively and participating in the work of noted conservationist Thomas E. Lovejoy III, her husband for many years. An outspoken advocate for scientific research and conservation, she received a degree in Marine Zoology, in addition to an earlier BA in French. Until her retirement, Mopsy was a respiratory therapist at Arlington Hospital in Virginia.

A ship's captain and an expert diver, Mopsy assisted Dr. Eugenie Clark of Mote Marine Laboratory in her behavioral studies in Ichthyology. After twice visiting Madagascar and becoming enchanted with its lemurs, Mopsy's concern for their fragile existence crystallized into a desire to help ensure their future.

Mopsy brings tremendous vitality and verve to LCF's fundraising efforts. She served on the boards of the Georgetown Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC and the Stonewall Democratic Club in Ft. Myers, FL where she lives with her partner, Martha Kiser. Mopsy is currently a Hope Hospice volunteer.

Dr. Malcolm C. McKenna is the Emeritus Frick Curator in the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History. He also serves Columbia University as a Professor of Geological Sciences and as a member of the Faculty of Pure Science. His primary scientific interest is higher-level mammalian phylogeny. He has collected and studied Mesozoic and early Cenozoic mammals in many parts of the world, concentrating much of his work in Asia and North and South America. Though his current focus has been on Mongolian paleontology, Dr. McKenna has done extensive field research in the Arctic regions as well, collecting and studying early Cenozoic mammals, including ancient lemurs. His North American exploration in other than Arctic areas has been mainly in the Rocky Mountains.

Much of Dr. McKenna’s time has been devoted to developing a classification of extant and fossil mammals, and to the interface of plate tectonics and mammalian paleontology. He and Susan K. Bell have recently completed a monumental work, Classification of Mammals above the Species Level, 631 pp., published by Columbia University Press. Dr. McKenna has also served on numerous scientific advisory councils, including LCF’s and the boards of the Raymond M. Alf Museum in Claremont, CA; the Philip M. McKenna Foundation, Inc.; and the Flat Rock Brook Nature Association and the John Harms Plaza in Englewood, NJ.

Judy Rasmuson was born and raised in Alaska, coming east to attend Smith College. For 26 years, she lived in New York and Connecticut, working primarily as a lighting designer for Broadway musicals (Annie), rock n roll legends (Emerson, Lake and Palmer), and regional theatre (Long Wharf in New Haven and Center Stage in Baltimore). In 1994, Judy retired from lighting design to train Golden Retrievers full time, a passion and avocation begun as a youth in Alaska and avidly continued through the 1980s. While field training at the local and national level, she has developed an extraordinary roster of champions. Judy has been a director of the Golden Retriever Foundation since its inception in 1997. She is also a director of the Rasmuson Foundation, a family foundation that makes grants to improve the quality of life in Alaska. She and her husband, Ron Wallace, live in Wilsall, Montana, and Madison, Florida.

Advisory Council:

Dr. George Amato is Director, Genetics Research, and Senior Research, and Senior Conservation Biologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society – Bronx Zoo. He chairs the Systematics Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) for AZA as well as officially advises a number of Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs) including the prosimian TAG. He is also Research Committee Chairman for St. Catherine’s Island Wildlife Survival Center, which maintains a colony of free-ranging lemurs.

Dr. Kenneth E. Glander is Professor of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy at Duke University. Dr. Glander’s research has focused on studying plant-primate interactions. His long-term field project of over 25 years centers on the interaction between plant-produced chemicals and primate feeding behavior as well as the impact this has on primate social organizations and related aspects of primate physiology, evolution and behavior.

Andrea Katz is Madagascar Program Specialist, Duke University Lemur Center. She is responsible for the Center’s conservation and research programs in Madagascar and serves as institutional representative for the Madagascar Fauna Group. During her 17-year sojourn in Madagascar, Andrea was responsible for the planning, development, implementation and management of international biodiversity conservation programs through Project Ivoloina and Project Betampona. These efforts focused on endangered lemurs and their habitats, captive management and reintroduction, eco-tourism development, environmental education programs, and the training of Malagasy staff. In 2004, she was awarded the highest honor from the Malagasy Government – the "Chevalier de l'Ordre National" - in recognition of her contributions to conservation.

Dr. Elwyn L. Simons is Scientific Director of Duke University Primate Center. An expert in the biology and behavior of living and fossil primates, he has contributed substantially to our understanding of primate history. Dr. Simons is especially interested in anthropoid origins, interpreting the radiation of Miocene-Pliocene apes, and the appearance of bipedalism and what it implies for the origin of Hominidae. Much of his recent research has dealt with the description, classification, behavior, reproduction and captive conservation of living prosimians, primarily lemurs.

Dr. Eleanor Sterling, as Director of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) at the American Museum of Natural History, oversees strategic planning and project development, leads fundraising efforts, and manages a multidisciplinary staff of over 20 individuals. In her capacity as a conservation biologist, Dr. Sterling also conducts fieldwork, studying the distribution patterns of biodiversity in tropical regions of the world and translating this information into recommendations for conservation managers. Her work combines analyses of resource use by local communities and examination of faunal and floral distribution patterns in order to identify potential and actual threats to biodiversity.

Dr. Robert Wald Sussman is Professor, Physical Anthropology, at Washington University at St. Louis and Editor of American Anthropologist. He is currently conducting a long-term study of the demography, ecology and social organization of the ring-tailed lemur at the Beza Mahafaly Reserve in southwest Madagascar, of which he is Co-founder. There, Dr. Sussman participates in a cooperative program of research, conservation, education, and development, working closely with botanists, geologists, and social anthropologists on this and other conservation/development projects. Using satellite images, they are also attempting to monitor deforestation and to determine its causes. Dr. Sussman has recently begun research in Central and South America as well.

Dr. Ian Tattersall is Curator in the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History. An expert in paleoanthropology, primatology, evolutionary biology and evolutionary theory, Dr. Tattersall is an authority in the biology and evolution of the primates of Madagascar. There is a lemur named for him, Propithicus tattersalli.

Dr. Linda Taylor is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Miami and the Section Chair for Anthropology, Florida Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on the social behavior of captive lemurs, having conducted research in several zoos and at the Duke Primate Center. Her current interests include behavioral gerontology in lemurs and long-term colony management. She is especially interested in the ways in which kinship relates to reproductive success in captivity. She also teaches field research methods and scientific writing for undergraduates and has received the University of Miami Excellence in Teaching Award.

Program Manager: Myakka City Lemur Reserve

Monica Hoffine is a graduate of New College of Florida with a major in biology/chemistry. Monica has extensive experience in plant pathology and handling animals. In the past, she has volunteered at the Lemur Conservation Foundation and conducted animal behavior studies with the Lemur catta and Eulemur fulvus rufus. She also served as Assistant Lemur Caretaker and Executive Assistant to the LCF Board for two years, during which time she has performed brilliantly. She is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Conservation Biology.

Assistant Program Manager:

Tyann Marsh graduated from Central Washington University in 2000 with a B.A. in Anthropology and a B.S. in Primate Behavior and Ecology. During undergraduate school, she conducted field research in Bali, Indonesia on Macaca fascicularis, the long-tailed macaque, and completed internships at both Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, and the International Center for Gibbon Studies in Santa Clarita, California. In 2003, she began an internship at the Wildlife Survival Center in Georgia, at the time operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society, working with several species of lemurs. In 2004 she accepted an offer to pursue an MSc in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, England, and conducted her field research in Madagascar on Eulemur macaco flavifrons, the blue-eyed black lemur. She completed her studies and was awarded her Master's in 2006.

Veterinarians:

Dr. David Holifield

Dr. Cathy Williams

Librarian:

Kate Lippincott graduated from Centre College of Kentucky with a B.A. in English. She received her M.A in Library and Information Science in 1997 from the University of South Florida in Tampa. She has worked in a variety of libraries including Georgia State University in Atlanta, Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama, Selby Public Library in Sarasota, and most recently at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. Though her professional title has most often been reference librarian, she has been very involved since she first started working in libraries in the early 1980s, with the technical side of libraries, implementing library management systems, planning web sites, teaching computer classes, and systems support. Kate also teaches an occasional class in the graduate program as an adjunct faculty member for the School of Library and Information Science at USF.

Updated 2007-11-02