RAINFOREST TRUST - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Asia - Pacific Conservation Strategist
- Pacific Conservation Strategist
Job Titles:
- Council Member
- Member of the Council
Adam wholeheartedly believes in using business as a force for good. Over the last 12 years he has built an award-winning business model with his office supply company Red-Inc, the company he founded in 2008. Red-Inc leads the way in how they rebalance both their own and their clients' impact, and were the UK's first office supplies company to become an accredited B Corporation when they were certified in 2017. The company has been a member of the Rainforest Trust Conservation Circle since 2018, and protects precious acres of rainforest with every box of paper sold. Red-Inc also provides pro bono printing for Rainforest Trust UK's marketing department.
Adam's love for the planet and nature has helped him develop his business ideas with passion and energy. A keen nature lover and enthusiastic birder, he will always be found outside when not working, either on the shores of Sussex or on the South Downs.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Trustee
Adela is ‘half Yorkshire and half Swedish', and from an early age her maternal grandmother would take her for nature walks in the deep Scandinavian forests, which gave her a deep love of nature. She has an MA in Interactive Design, and has worked for the BBC, BAA and WSPA (now World Animal Protection). Adela makes short films and animations with an environmental message, which have been shown at national and international festivals and climate events, including the COP15 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
Adela has been an active campaigner on a variety of environmental issues - particularly fracking, which threatens her native Yorkshire - and is deeply concerned about the impact of climate change on ecosystems and wildlife. She helped to establish Rainforest Trust UK in 2016 with her husband, Chris, and is interested in taking the conservation message to the younger generation and developing links with schools, colleges and universities in the UK.
Adela and Chris live in Catford, south-east London, and they enjoy watching the wildlife in their local parks as much as the amazing creatures that live in the world's rainforests.
Job Titles:
- Council Member
- Honorary Treasurer
- Secretary of the Brazilian Atlantic
Alan Martin is the Secretary of the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest Trust and acts as the main coordinator of the REGUA project in Brazil, which he visits regularly and for which he assists with governance and fundraising. He is a retired accountant and amateur birder who has published a Guide to the Hawkmoths of the Serra dos Orgaos, South-eastern Brazil and a Guide to Butterflies of the same area.
Alan has served as the Honorary Treasurer and a Council member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Treasurer and then Chairman of the British Trust for Ornithology, a trustee of Butterfly Conservation, a Director of Wetlands International, and a Council member of the World Land Trust as well as being a trustee of local charitable organizations.
Job Titles:
- Latin America Conservation Strategist
Andrea is a Brazilian who, since childhood, had a deep curiosity and admiration regarding the
natural world. Growing up in a coastal city and traveling through Brazil, she developed a great
Ann Kaupp retired after 34 years with the Smithsonian's Department of Anthropology. For 25 years she was head of the Anthropology Outreach Office, producing materials for public distribution, including an online bibliography on American Indians for K-12 students; organizing teacher workshops; collaborating with other anthropological organizations, with funding from grants; and producing videos through interviews with museum staff.
She also co-edited a biannual publication for teachers and professionals that led to an edited book. Ann was president of a section of the American Anthropological Association, the national organization. She has had a long-time interest in saving the environment and endangered species.
Job Titles:
- Africa Conservation Strategist
Antoine is Belgian but he grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Senegal, Mauritania, and Niger. Since then, he has immigrated to South Africa, but he now lives in Angola with his Brazilian wife.
Antoine has a Ph.D. in Zoology and a B.Sc. Honours in Wildlife Management from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. His Ph.D. work was on the digital 3D modelling of lion tracks in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, Tembe Elephant Park and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa. He is also an Engineer in Forestry and Wildlife Management (B.Sc. and M.Sc.) from the University of Liege in Belgium. His M.Sc. Project was on game count in Nazinga Game Reserve in Burkina Faso.
While working on a post-doctorate research on carnivore tracks to mitigate the human-wildlife conflict, Antoine was a research associate for Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) working on African Wild Dog reintroduction in Kruger National Park in South Africa. The post-doctorate position was held at the University of Mpumalanga in South Africa. Antoine then worked for African Parks in Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo, where he was first acting Special Projects Manager and then Field Operations Manager.
He is also the founder and Director of Wildlife 3D Tracking, a non-profit organization whose mission is "to revive the ancestral art of tracking using current technologies for the benefit of nature and traditional trackers"; with their goals focusing on nature conservation, human-wildlife conflict, indigenous people and local communities, and law enforcement - using indigenous knowledge, citizen science, computer vision and artificial intelligence.
Antoine is experienced in nature guiding, tracking and game capture, and he is passionate about wildlife photography and traveling on his motorbike.
Job Titles:
- Controller
- Member of the Leadership Team
Belinda Villanueva joined the Rainforest Trust team as the Controller in November 2021. Belinda is a seasoned and professional manager with over a decade of experience in the accounting and finance fields. Following years working in accounting with the for-profit sector, Belinda transitioned to local government before finding her passion utilizing her skills and experience to serve in the non-profit sector, where she spent the last four years serving as Controller for a national non-profit conservation organization. Belinda holds her Bachelor's degree in accounting from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. In her free time, Belinda enjoys paddle boarding, exploring recreational sites and trails on public lands, cooking, and playing board games with her family.
Job Titles:
- Council Member
- Adjunct Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Santa Cruz
- Member of the IUCN 's Invasive Species Specialist Group and Commission
Bernie is an Adjunct Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Santa Cruz, where he co-directs the Coastal Conservation Action Lab. He is the Founder of Island Conservation, which has created over 900,000 hectares of new marine and island protected areas and protected over 250 seabird colonies and 250 insular endemics from extinction. Bernie is also co-founder and Board Chair of Conservation Metrics, a for-profit social venture dedicated to improving conservation through better monitoring, and co-founder of Freshwater Life, which saves endangered freshwater species by eradicating freshwater invasives.
Bernie is a member of the IUCN's Invasive Species Specialist Group and Commission on Ecosystem Management. Bernie serves as a consultant to the Mulago Foundation's Henry Arnhold Fellows Program, and is on the boards of OneReef and the Tony Hawk Foundation. He earned his B.S. in Biology from UC-Santa Cruz, an M.S. in Marine Sciences from San Jose State University, and a Ph.D. in neurobiology and behavior from Cornell University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director of Philanthropy
Job Titles:
- Video Production & Digital Media Specialist
Job Titles:
- Manager Print & Digital Design
Job Titles:
- Conservation Strategy Officer
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Executive Director
Job Titles:
- Director of Conservation Programs
Job Titles:
- Conservation Science and Monitoring Specialist
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- President Emeritus
Job Titles:
- Director of Conservation Strategy
Job Titles:
- Vice - Chair of the Board
Job Titles:
- Data and Reporting Officer
Job Titles:
- Graphic & Digital Designer
Job Titles:
- Senior Conservation Grants Associate
Job Titles:
- Conservation Grants Associate
Job Titles:
- Council Member
- Member of the Council
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Trustee
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Conservation
Job Titles:
- Chairman Emeritus
- Member of the Board
Job Titles:
- Council Member
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Member of the Council
- Trustee
Job Titles:
- Conservation Programs Officer
Job Titles:
- Human Resources Operations Manager
Job Titles:
- Conservation Grants Manager
Job Titles:
- Social & Digital Media Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Director of Marketing
- Member of the Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Philanthropy
Job Titles:
- Institutional Giving Officer
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the CEO
Job Titles:
- Conservation Grants Associate
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Vice President of Strategic Initiatives
Job Titles:
- CFO
- Member of the Leadership Team
A lifelong wanderer and explorer of wonder, Mark Gruin passed away on August 13, 2022. He was surrounded by his family and very much in the thoughts of the extended family of conservation colleagues he had collected over his more than 40 years spent working to preserve nature, species and our planet.
Job Titles:
- Council Member
- Member of the Council
Job Titles:
- Madagascar Conservation Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Philanthropy Operations Manager
Job Titles:
- Council Member
- Member of the Council