MOONGORILLAS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- CHIEF CORPORATE AFFAIRS OFFICERS, YUM! BRANDS, INC
Job Titles:
- CHIEF PHILANTHROPY OFFICER / ATLANTA
- CHIEF PHILANTHROPY OFFICER, ATLANTA, GA
- Officer for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
Beth A. Warner serves as the Chief Philanthropy Officer for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. In this role, she is responsible for the strategy, execution and integration of fundraising and communications initiatives for the organization.
Beth has worked in nonprofit management, fundraising and marketing for more than fifteen years. Most recently Beth served as the Chief Philanthropy Officer at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta where she was responsible for providing vision and strategic direction for fundraising efforts. Prior to joining Federation, she was the Major Gifts Officer at the Atlanta Community Food Bank and the Atlanta Director for Share Our Strength. She is continuously inspired to build relationships between people and their passions for more purposeful philanthropic outcomes for the greater good.
Beth holds a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree from New York University. Beth is a member of the board of trustees at The Alfred & Adele Davis Academy, a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and a member of the Georgia Planned Giving Council.
Job Titles:
- FOUNDING PARTNER, the PRIDE LAW FIRM
Job Titles:
- VP & GM, PUBLIC SECTOR, PARAVISION
Job Titles:
- CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, LANSOLUTIONS LLC
Job Titles:
- PRESIDENT and CEO ( RETIRED ) OMAHA's HENRY DOORLY ZOO & AQUARIUM
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- Researcher
- BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH PROGRAM MANAGER, RWANDA
Deogratias Tuyisingize is a wildlife biologist, researcher, and ecologist whose research focuses on biodiversity conservation in Rwanda. He first arrived at Karisoke in 2004 as an intern working on the habituation and behavioral ecology of the endangered golden monkey (Cercopithecus mitis kandti). Since 2006, he has been working as a researcher at the Karisoke Research Center collecting long-term behavioral data on the golden monkey in the Volcanoes National Park (VNP). In 2010, after completing his master's degree in conservation biology from the University of Cape Town, he was appointed as the Biodiversity Program Manager for the Karisoke Research Center, and he is honored to remain in this role today.
His primary areas of research for more than 11 years have been the golden monkey and its habitat, as well as developing effective conservation and management strategies to protect Rwandan biodiversity. An enthusiastic and ambitious conservationist, he has implemented multiple research projects, including an investigation into the population size and range of the golden monkey in the VNP in 2007 and 2011, studying the distribution of large and small mammals, piloting the camera trapping in the VNP, examining the phenology of bamboo in the both VNP and Kahuzi-Biega National Park in Congo, and he has conducted an extensive bird and amphibian monitoring program. In addition, Deogratias is responsible for mentoring and supervising undergraduate students from Rwanda's national universities and teaches applied conservation biology field courses for university students at Karisoke. In April 2016, Deogratias was admitted as a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Rwanda where his research focuses on the "conservation ecology of the golden monkey in their remaining habitats in Rwanda" while remaining the biodiversity research manager at Karisoke.
Job Titles:
- Key Staff Member
- DIRECTOR, DATA & DONOR INFORMATION
Job Titles:
- Begins Research in Rwanda
- Leadership
Dian Fossey was born in San Francisco, Calif., in 1932. She was extremely interested in animals from a very young age. At age 6, she began horseback riding lessons and in high school earned a letter on the riding team.
However, when Dian enrolled in college courses at Marin Junior College, she chose to focus on business, following the encouragement of her stepfather. On the summer break following her freshman year of college, she went to work on a ranch in Montana. At the ranch, she fell in love with and developed an attachment to the animals, and then returned to school as a pre-veterinary student at the University of California. However, she found some of the courses quite challenging, and ultimately turned her focus to obtaining a degree in occupational therapy at San Jose State College, graduating in 1954.
Following graduation, Dian interned at various hospitals in California, working with tuberculosis patients. She then moved to Louisville, Ky., serving as director of the occupational therapy department at Kosair Crippled Children Hospital. While in Kentucky she lived on a farm where the owners encouraged her to help work with the animals.
Dian often dreamed of experiencing more of the world and its abundant wildlife, and after seeing photos and hearing stories from a friend who had just traveled to Africa, Dian decided that she must travel there herself.
In 1963, Dian took out a bank loan and began planning her first trip to Africa. She hired a driver by mail and prepared to set off to the land of her dreams.
Dian Fossey worked tirelessly every day until the political situation in Congo worsened. On July 9, 1967, she and Sanwekwe returned to camp to find armed soldiers waiting for them. There was a rebellion in the Kivu Province and the soldiers had come to escort her down the mountain to safety.
Dian spent two weeks in Rumangabo under military guard until, on July 26, she was able to orchestrate a way out. She offered the guards cash if they would take her to Kisoro, Uganda, to register "Lily" properly and then bring her back. The guards could not resist and agreed to provide an escort. Once in Kisoro, Dian went straight to the Travellers Rest Hotel and the Ugandan military were called. The soldiers from Congo were arrested, and Dian was safe.
In Kisoro, Dian was interrogated and warned not to return to Congo. After more questioning in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, she finally flew back to Nairobi where she met with Dr. Leakey for the first time in seven months. There they decided, against the advice of the U.S. Embassy, that Dian would continue her work, but this time on the Rwandan side of the Virunga mountains.
"More than a decade later as I now sit writing these words at camp, the same stretch of alpine meadow is visible from my desk window. The sense of exhilaration I felt when viewing the heartland of the Virungas for the first time from those distant heights is as vivid now as though it had occurred only a short time ago. I have made my home among the mountain gorillas." - "Gorillas in the Mist"
Dian faced a number of challenges while setting up her research site. Upon the departure of her friend Alyette, she was left with no interpreter. Dian spoke Swahili and the Rwandan men she had hired spoke only Kinyarwanda. Slowly, and with the aid of hand gestures and facial expressions, they learned to communicate.
In the course of her years of research, Dian developed close attachments to many of the gorillas she studied. However, there was one gorilla with whom she formed a particularly close bond. Named Digit, he was about 5 years old and living in her study Group 4 when she encountered him in 1967. He had a damaged finger on his right hand (hence, the name) and no playmates his age in his group. He was curious and drawn to her and she came to consider him a close friend.
Dian had not been back in Rwanda long when, a few weeks before her 54th birthday, she was murdered. Her body was found in her cabin on the morning of Dec. 27, 1985. She had been struck twice on the head and face with a machete. There was evidence of forced entry but no signs that robbery had been the motive.
In September 1967, Dr. Dian Fossey established the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda's Virunga mountains and set in motion one of the longest-running studies of any animal species anywhere in the world. Her focus, courage and passion have inspired many conservationists who have followed since. And her legacy lives on today, in the gorilla protection, science, education and people programs of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
Dr. Dian Fossey founded the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda's Virungas Mountains in 1967 starting with just two tents, determined to protect and study the endangered mountain gorillas. Although Fossey's life was cut short, we have continued and expanded her work ever since. In 2022, we opened our first permanent, purpose-built facility: the Ellen DeGeneres Campus, which now houses all of our work protecting mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Our work in DR Congo, which began in 2000, is based in the Nkuba Conservation Area, which we established with local communities in 2012 to provide increased protection to the rapidly decreasing Grauer's gorillas.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER
- PRESIDENT
- PRESIDENT & CEO / CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER / Atlanta, GA
- President and CEO and Chief Scientific Officer for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
Dr. Tara Stoinski serves as President and CEO and Chief Scientific Officer for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Prior to taking on the CEO role in 2014, she worked with the Fossey Fund for 13 years in a scientific capacity. Tara has studied gorillas for more than two decades and is the author of over 100 scientific publications and books. Her work has been featured in numerous press outlets, including National Geographic Magazine, CNN, and NPR. She holds degrees from Tufts University, University of Oxford and the Georgia Institute of Technology and is an adjunct professor at Emory University. Dr. Stoinski also serves in a number of leadership positions within the conservation, primate and academic communities.
Job Titles:
- PUBLIC RELATIONS / COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST
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- RESEARCH & CONSERVATION PROGRAM MANAGER, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Escobar Binyinyi obtained his bachelor's degree in management in 2003 in Goma and specialized in GIS in 2004 at the University of Rwanda in Butare. He has been working with the Fossey Fund's Congo program since 2004. After seven years working as GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and database expert at the Fossey Fund's Goma office, Binyinyi changed career direction and became one of the Fossey Fund's key field staff. He is now based in the small village of Nkuba where he organizes the Fossey Fund's expeditions in the low-altitude forests of eastern Congo. He is also in charge of the Fossey Fund's camera trap network in Congo.
Job Titles:
- Director, Rwanda Programs
- DIRECTOR, RWANDA PROGRAMS & KARISOKE RESEARCH CENTER / RWANDA
- First Rwandan Director of the Fossey Fund 's Karisoke Research Center
- Karisoke As a Research Assistant
Felix Ndagijimana became the first Rwandan director of the Fossey Fund's Karisoke Research Center in January 2012. He oversees all of the Fossey Fund's programs in Rwanda, which include protecting gorillas, conducting scientific research, training future leaders in Africa conservation and helping local communities. He leads a staff of more than 120 and manages the Fossey Fund's many partnerships in the country.
Felix joined Karisoke as a research assistant in 2004 and served as deputy director after
George Schaller's earlier work served as a basis for the techniques Dian would use to habituate the gorillas to her presence. Schaller laid out suggestions in his book, "The Mountain Gorilla," which Fossey had used to guide herself through the process of successfully habituating gorillas while she was in the Kabara region.
Now, at Karisoke, Dian continued to rely on Schaller's work and the guidelines he set forth. She also came to depend on the gorillas' natural curiosity in the habituation process. While walking or standing upright increased their apprehension, she was able to get quite close when she "knuckle-walked." She would also chew on celery when she was near the groups, to draw them even closer to her. Through this process, she partially habituated four groups of gorillas in 1968.
Job Titles:
- EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CEO, DALLAS ZOO and the AQUARIUM at FAIR PARK
Job Titles:
- EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CEO, DETROIT ZOO
Job Titles:
- EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
- OFFICE MANAGER
Job Titles:
- COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MANAGER / RWANDA
- Community Development Manager for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
Hilary Hilsabeck serves as the community development manager for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Hilary has worked in community development across the U.S. and East Africa for the past nine years, with seven of those spent in Rwanda. She began her career with the U.S. Peace Corps as a community health volunteer and moved into leading the growth and scale of two social enterprises that deliver impact to women. Hilary is passionate about sustainable and impactful community development. She believes that a local, eco-feminist approach is critical to conservation efforts and that protecting natural resources provides opportunities for both men and women to rise from social and financial hardships.
She holds a bachelor's degree in communication studies from the University of Iowa and a master's in public health from the University of Minnesota.
Job Titles:
- SENIOR MANAGER of PROGRAM OPERATIONS
- SENIOR MANAGER of PROGRAM OPERATIONS, RWANDA
Jean Paul Hirwa ("JP") joined the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in 2009 as a research assistant. He progressed into management and leadership positions, and now serves as senior manager of program operations in Rwanda. He is responsible for more than 100 Fossey Fund staff and for liaising with local Fossey Fund partners, including local communities, government officials and NGOs.
Job Titles:
- SENIOR MARKETING and COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR
Job Titles:
- EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN of the BOARD and CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, ORACLE CORPORATION
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
- CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, ATLANTA, GA
Marcie Beskind serves as Chief Financial Officer for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. In this role, she is responsible for the accounting operations and financial reporting for the organization. She also provides support for HR, IT, and other administrative areas.
Marcie began her career with Deloitte and held management positions at GE Capital, BellSouth and Turner Broadcasting prior to shifting her focus and passion to the nonprofit sector. Most recently, she was the CFO/Chief Administrative Officer at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. Marcie is an alumna of Emory University.
Job Titles:
- Key Staff Member
- DIGITAL MARKETING and COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
Job Titles:
- PARTNER, KILPATRICK TOWNSEND & STOCKTON LLP
Job Titles:
- DONOR GIFT PROCESSING SPECIALIST
Job Titles:
- FOUNDER and PRESIDENT BROOKFIELD COMMUNITIES, INC
Job Titles:
- SAN DIEGO ZOO GLOBAL EXECUTIVE BOARD and TREASURER
Job Titles:
- SAN DIEGO ZOO GLOBAL EXECUTIVE BOARD and TREASURER
Job Titles:
- Key Staff Member
- MANAGER of GRANTS and FOUNDATIONS
Job Titles:
- Director of the Fossey Fund 's Congo
- DIRECTOR, CONGO PROGRAMS
- DIRECTOR, CONGO PROGRAMS / DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC of the CONGO
Urbain Ngobobo is the Director of the Fossey Fund's Congo programs. Since he joined the Fossey Fund in 2011, Ngobobo has led the Fossey Fund's work to create community-based conservation areas for the critically endangered Grauer's gorillas. The last five years has seen this program grow from 700 square kilometers to more than 2,400 square kilometers of protected forest, which is home to an estimated 200-400 Grauer's gorillas plus a host of other endangered species.
Ngobobo's expertise is the research and development of policies and strategies to protect Grauer's gorillas and their habitat, in partnership with local communities and authorities.
Ngobobo holds a master's degree in innovation and development. He is completing his Ph.D. in natural resources management and development, with a specialty in ethno-primatology. Before joining the Fossey Fund, he worked with the Zoological Society of London and with the Frankfurt Zoological Society and did field work in several Congolese protected areas, including Virunga, Maiko, Garamba and Upemba National Parks.more
Job Titles:
- GORILLA PROGRAM SENIOR ADVISOR & REGIONAL PR DIRECTOR, RWANDA
Veronica has worked for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda since 2005. She manages the gorilla program for the Karisoke Research Center and also takes responsibility for the public relations work of the center. She has worked in Africa since 1999, based in several countries, including the Central African Republic, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Veronica has extensive experience working with wild apes and other primate species such as western lowland gorillas, bonobos, mangabeys and mountain gorillas.
Among her skills are: field research techniques, camp management, gorilla habituation, field data collection, program management, communications and capacity building.
A native of Rome, Veronica earned a master's degree from the University of Rome in conservation of nature and other resources, with a dissertation on western lowland gorillas in the Central African Republic.
Job Titles:
- SENIOR MANAGER of
- SENIOR MANAGER of PRIMATE RESEARCH
Winnie has many years of practical experience with gorilla behavior, ecology and conservation, reaching back to 2004 when she joined the Fossey Fund's Karisoke Research Center as a research assistant. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Chester, UK, with a dissertation on maternal investment in mountain gorillas. Afterward, she returned to Rwanda as a teaching fellow with the National University of Rwanda to train and supervise graduate students conducting research at Karisoke.
From 2011-12, she spent a year and a half working at Karisoke to study the physiology of stress among mountain gorillas in relation to their health and to help to collect data on mountain gorilla behavior and fecal samples. From 2013-14, she analyzed those data at the Fossey Fund's headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., in collaboration with Emory University and the Davee Center for Epidemiology at Lincoln Park Zoo.
In 2015, Eckardt returned to the Fossey Fund in Rwanda to work as research manager. Her duties include supervising the ongoing long-term data collection and current research projects, supporting the publication and scientific writing process of Fossey researchers and students, implementing electronic data collection, ensuring high-quality field data, strengthening scientific collaborations, supporting grant writing, helping to build the next-generation of conservationists in Rwanda, and continuing her own gorilla research projects.