Dr. G A Bertrand (USA)

With over 30 years' experience in environmental science and conservation Jerry Bertrand's primary interest has always revolved around the preservation of habitat and species. Former Executive President of Massachusetts Audubon Society, former Chairman of BirdLife International and current Vice President, Jerry is currently a member on the board of the World Land Trust-US and the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest Trust (BART).

Chairman of the Trustees:

Prof. Renton Righelato (UK)

Former head of Research and Development for Tate & Lyle plc and former Director of the Brewing Research International. Now a freelance consultant. He has been involved with the World Land Trust since its inception and a trustee since 1997. A birdwatcher for most of his life Renton plays a major role in organising the conservation activities at the Kites Hill reserve in Gloucestershire.

[Biography]

Albertino Abela (UK & Lebanon)

An international businessman, working mostly in airline catering. Lebanese by birth, Albertino has lived in England most of his life, and was inspired by wildlife from an early age. He helped fund the purchase of the Ranch of Hopes (Estancia la Esperanza), and also funded a video about the ranch. In addition to his support for the work of the World Land Trust, he has also funded conservation activities in Lebanon.

Rohini Finch (UK)

Rohini has an Engineering background and also an MBA from the London Business School. Much of her career was spent as an Oil Trader in the City. She now spends her time on Charity work and is a trustee with the Generations charitable trust, which has funded land purchase as part of the GUYRA Paraguay project.

Jane Krish (UK)

A freelance consultant with a special interest in conservation having spent 14 years as Chief Executive of Wildscreen, the world's top biennial wildlife and environment film festival and creating ARKive, a website that gathers together film, photos and audio recordings of the world's species. She is also a Steering Group member of the Bristol Natural History Consortium that annually produces Bristol Festival of Nature for the Public and Communicate, the cross sector conference for all those involved in communicating conservation issues.

Dr. Simon Lyster (UK)

Simon is a lawyer by background (qualified in both the UK and United States). He has always been passionate about wildlife and has worked for environmental organisations for most of his professional life. He worked for WWF for ten years and went on to become Director General of the Wildlife Trusts, one of the largest conservation organisations in the UK. He is now Chief Executive of LEAD International (Leadership in Environment and Development) and on the Board of several wildlife conservation charities. Simon is a regular visitor to Brazil. His wife is Brazilian and runs conservation programmes for WWF-UK.

Dr. Nigel Simpson (UK)

Nigel Simpson is a professional chemist who specialises in materials science and ophthalmology. With a lifelong interest in natural history, he has been active in conservation in the Gloucestershire Wye Valley since 1970, and was a co-founder of the Jocotoco Foundation (Fundación Jocotoco) established in 1998 and founder of The Simpson Education and Conservation Trust (SECT). As well as being a WLT Trustee Nigel is also a member of the board of Jocotoco Foundation and was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2005, for his "services to environmental conservation and the local communities in Ecuador".

Mark Leaney (UK)

Mark is finance director and co owner of Discover the World tour operator specialising in destinations like Iceland, New Zealand, Namibia, and the Arctic and Antarctic regions. He is an accountant by profession and has had previous Hon. Treasurer roles with The Association of Independent Tour Operators and The Diamond Centre for Handicapped Riders.