Robin Maritz, PhD - Conservation Alpha

Horris is a conservation scientist, with over 10 years of experience working as a scientist with Kenya Wildlife Service in Tsavo, during which time he supported Conservation Alpha to develop practical and verifiable rhino impact measurement systems.

More recently, Horris worked for Space for Giants leading their conservation monitoring and technology work, building capacity on quality data collection and management through SMART & Earth Ranger.

Horris is an accredited member of the IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group and an affiliate fellow of both the ZSL EDGE Fellowship and the Tropical Biology Association of Africa.

Under his role at Conservation Alpha, Horris has been seconded as the NATURAL STATE Research Team Lead, developing efficient and effective data flows for impact measurement of Carbon and Biodiversity.

Chris Barichievy has provided scientific advice to conservation management agencies in countries across Africa and the Middle East over the past decade. Chris is a dedicated conservation scientist who has worked for state and the NGO sector.

Chris has worked internationally, providing research support and management advice to address real conservation problems.

Chris’s competencies include the development of conservation management strategies, the design and development of novel strategies and methods to measure impact, the design and analysis of biological and law enforcement monitoring strategies, and investigations of effectiveness.

Chris brings technical expertise and his primary role in Conservation Alpha is ensuring that the outcomes frameworks, monitoring and evaluation systems are rigorous, auditable and verifiable to ensure confidence in the outcomes.

Andrew has spent the past 20 years working to advance conservation in Africa. He has extensive experience in both private and public PA management, having worked as CEO of Welgevonden and Sabi Sands Nature Reserves before joining African Parks where he worked firstly as Operations Director overseeing park management in Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda and later as Conservation Director to drive the growth and development of African Parks. Andrew joined Conservation International in 2018 as Senior Director of Conservation for Africa.

David has worked in both the academic and NGO sector of conservation since 2011. His work has primarily focused on the research, management and conservation of large carnivores in southern Africa where he combined high quality research into improving the conservation of endangered carnivores.

More recently, David has worked in the development of strategic, robust and impactful conservation projects across southern and eastern Africa across a range of different taxa.

David’s competencies include conservation strategy development, measurement of conservation impact, design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, design of sound data collection procedures and facilitation of multi-stakeholder engagement workshops.

David has a passion for novel, high-level and strategic conservation planning to help ensure the long-term survival of species, habitats and ecosystems.

Robin joined Conservation Alpha in early 2022, providing technical support and project management across our portfolio of work. Robin has a strong scientific background in biology, ecology and genetics, having attained her PhD in Molecular Biology from Cornell University before moving to South Africa in 2016.

As an affiliate research fellow at the University of the Western Cape, she has mentored a number of students within the biodiversity research sector.

Robin’s academic background aligns well with Conservation Alpha’s focus on impact measurement as a means of driving improved performance, bringing significant experience in study design, data science, validation, analytics and engineering – all of which are critical competencies for building out verifiable impact measurement.

Chris Gordon has worked in conservation in both Africa and Asia over the last 15 years. He has experience of managing successful conservation projects in Africa, including five years as the Kenya Country Director for the Zoological Society of London.

Chris understands the practicalities required for conservation success on the ground, and the importance of stakeholder engagement and relationships for achieving this, often set against difficult political contexts.

His competencies include Project management; Protected Area management; Species conservation; Law enforcement; Human-wildlife conflict; Disease management; Project Development; and Fund-raising.

Beyond this, Chris has a passion for project development, and highlights the importance of innovative and lateral thinking for creating new solutions to some of conservation’s biggest problems.

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