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.
Vice-Chair:
Penelope Bodry-Sanders retired as Executive Director of LCF
in 2010, but continues as vice-chairman of LCF's Board of Directors. 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.
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:
Dr. Virginia Cunningham is currently President, Sustainability Sciences, LLC, providing scientific consulting services, primarily in the area of the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals. Prior to this, she served as Director, Environmental Sustainability Sciences, Corporate Environment, Health and Safety, for GlaxoSmithKline, a position from which she retired in 2007. In this role, her responsibilities included serving as GSK champion for environmental sustainability, with a focus on the issue of pharmaceuticals in the environment.
Dr. Cunningham has also been active in developing life cycle approaches to EHS issues, environmental hazard and risk assessment and communication programs, environmental fate and effects data for pharmaceutical products, and identifying potential environmental impacts from production.
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.
Secretary:
Kate Lippincott
Michael T. Martin (1941-2010)
Obituary
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 has a feature role in the current hit
sci/fi drama Fringe. 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 starred, 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.
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 serving as a Vice Chairman of Citizens Union,
a New York City good government group, a director of Appleseed
Foundation, which has established a network of regional public interest
law and justice centers, and a trustee of Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy. 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.
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.
Judy Rasmuson was born and reared 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.
Scott Riviere
a passionate student and animal advocate, Scott attended
Millbrook School in New York, home to Trevor Zoo. At the teaching zoo,
he learned animal husbandry and falconry, inspiring a lifelong
fascination with birds. Later, he participated in field trips with
renowned scientists, Dr. Thomas Lovejoy among them. Scott assisted Dr.
Lovejoy in Brazil in his research on birds in the Lower Amazon and
interned with him at World Wildlife Fund.
The first non-UK citizen
employed at the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust (now Durrell Wildlife
Conservation Trust), Scott was responsible for care and maintenance of
the captive lemur population and helped develop a conservation training
program for international field workers. Through Friends of the
National Zoo in Washington, DC, Scott coordinated education outreach
programs. He also worked with Florida aviculturists and veterinarians
who helped pioneer conservation aviculture and captive breeding and went
on to establish his own breeding facility for the conservation of
endangered parrots.
Scott serves on the boards of Hitchcock Woods
Foundation in Aiken, SC (the largest urban forest in the US) and
Asheville Green Works, an environmental citizen action group in
Asheville, NC. In Deschapelles, Haiti, he serves as a volunteer
facilitator, bridging the needs of Hôpital Albert Schweitzer and the
community.
Charlene Heiser Wolff
is currently founder & CEO of Tria Publications International, LLC and
Tria Consulting. Tria Publications is a firm specializing in low tech
critical knowledge tools in the areas of environmental, health, and
security topics. Tria Consulting is a financial consulting group
specializing in asset management, estate planning, business succession
planning and planned giving. Charlene Wolff brings a long history and
understanding of the financial services business. Ms. Wolff was
a co-founder and Managing Director of Wood Asset Management, Inc., an
SEC registered investment advisory firm. Her
previous financial affiliations were with the Bank of Boston-Florida,
NA, Cohane Rafferty Securities, Inc. and as a co-founder of Empire
Financial Corporation. Prior to her financial career, she spent five
years in medical research, having worked at the Dana Farber Cancer
Center in Boston, Ma and Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in NY.
Ms. Wolff holds a B.A. from Boston University in Biology and a M.B.A. in
Taxation from Pace University. She is currently a founding board member
of Sabal Palm Bank in Sarasota, Fl and serves on the Endowment Committee
of the YMCA Foundation of
Sarasota, FL. She has served on numerous charitable committees
throughout her 20 years in Sarasota, with much of her time currently
devoted to the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Research Institute.
She has also devoted her efforts to Habit for Humanity. Additional fundraising efforts have focused
on New College Foundation and the Child Protection Center. She is a
former Trustee of Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, MA and a former
member of the Board of Directors of Goldie Feldman Academy, the Humane
Society of Sarasota County, and the Consortium for Children and Youth of
Sarasota County.
Advisory
Council:
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.
Dr. Kenneth E. Glander is Professor of Evolutionary
Anthropology at Duke University. Dr. Glander’s research focuses on
understanding how plant-produced chemicals affect mammalian feeding as
well as the role these chemicals have on social organization. His
long-term field project in Costa Rica of over 40 years evaluates
plant-primate interaction from an ethnobotanical perspective, the
evolutionary development of optimal group size and composition, the
relationship between food quality and quantity and body size, the
factors affecting short and long-term demographic changes in established
groups, and the role of regenerating forests on primate density. He also
is involved in efforts to manage wild populations of primates by
capturing individuals for genetic studies to determine how inbred
isolated populations are and to what degree individuals need to be moved
between these isolated populations by translocation or reintroduction.
Andrea Katz is the Curator of the Animal Collection at the
Duke University Lemur Center. She is responsible for collection and
breeding management of the Center's 225 lemurs, lorises and bushbabies.
She assists with strategic planning for the Center's conservation
programs in Madagascar, and serves as institutional representative for
the Madagascar Fauna Group. During her 17-year sojourn in Madagascar,
Andrea and her husband Charlie Welch were responsible for the planning,
development, implementation and management of the Parc Ivoloina and
Betampona Reserve conservation projects. 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. Erik R. Patel is a primatologist who has been working in Madagascar every year since 2000, where he has been studying the behavioral biology and conservation of one of the most critically endangered primates in the world, the silky sifaka lemur (Propithecus candidus). He has earned his PhD from Cornell University and his Masters degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He is also the Madagascar country field representative for the international environmental organization Seacology (www.seacology.org) and recently started the non-profit organization SIMPONA (www.simpona.org) which engages local communities to protect and study the silky sifaka and its remaining habitat. Beginning January 2011, he will be the Post Doctoral Project Manager for Duke University Lemur Center's conservation initiatives in the SAVA region of northeastern Madagascar.
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. 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.
Veterinarians:
Dr. David Holifield earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology from Mississippi State University. He then earned his DVM from Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1990. He moved to Sarasota, FL fifteen years ago with his wife, Donna, and son, Coyt. His practice has encompassed animals large and small, domestic and exotic. He has worked for the past four years in the field of emergency veterinary medicine. In addition to providing veterinary care for the lemur colony at the Myakka City Lemur Reserve, Dr. Holifield is a vet and co-owner at the Animal Emergency Room of University Parkway, LLC.
Dr. Cathy V. Williams is Staff Veterinarian and the
Director of Animal Health and Nutrition at Duke Lemur
Center and serves as consulting veterinarian for LCF. Cathy
received her undergraduate degree in Nutrition Sciences and her
veterinary degree at the University of California at Davis. Following
graduation from veterinary school, she completed a one year internship
in small animal internal medicine and surgery at the North Carolina
State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Cathy practiced small
animal medicine for 10 years before deciding to pursue her passion of
working with endangered species. She started working with the Duke
Lemur Center (previously the Duke University Primate Center) in 1996.
"Over the years I have grown to appreciate how complicated their medical
and nutritional needs are in captivity and how much still remains to be
learned about these amazing members of the primate family."
LCF Staff:
Executive Director:
Lee Nesler
Director, Research and Operations:
Pattie Walsh
came to LCF from Wildlife Conservation Society in the
Bronx, NY (WCS) where she worked for six years as a pathology
technician. Prior to this she was as an animal keeper at Disney Animal
Kingdom and Baltimore Zoo and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in
Madagascar. Pattie has a B.S. in Psychobiology and a certificate in
conservation biology. She’s also been engaged in conservation efforts in
Kenya with bongos (a rare forest antelope) and lions. She has several
publications -- on both pathology and animal husbandry – to her credit.
She is especially interested in animal enrichment and training.
Manager, Animal Care:
Alison Hunt Hodge, originally from Chicago, is a recent graduate Western
Illinois University. Alison has a Bachelor's of Science in Biology, with
a concentration in Zoology and a minor in studio art.
Librarian:
Kate Lippincott, a graduate of Centre College of Kentucky with a Master's in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida has
worked at LCF since 2006 in a variety of roles. Now serving on the Board and continuing as librarian
in a part-time capacity to continue building the Anne and Walter
Bladstrom Library, a library of all things lemur.
Animal Care Technician:
Samantha "Sam" Perry
Handyman:
Paul "Pete" Shover
retired from his job as an ASE master mechanic and has
worn many hats during his career – electrician, carpenter, and owner of
a house painting business. His passion is restoring motorcycles. He
completes any task set to him with alacrity and good humor and says he
is happy on the Reserve because he enjoys the staff and loves being
around the lemurs.
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