ABOUT ME

I am a senior wildlife biologist and conservation scientist with over 15 years of cross-continental experience designing and managing high-impact wildlife, fisheries, biodiversity, and ecosystem initiatives across Canada and Africa. As a registered Professional Biologist (P.Biol.) and IUCN Species Survival Commission member, I specialize in field ecology, regulatory compliance, and community-led natural resources management. My work integrates quantitative ecology with natural resource policy and Indigenous Ecological Knowledge to conserve species at risk and restore degraded habitats.

Applied Leadership in Canada

As the Fisheries and Wildlife Manager for the Adams Lake Indian Band (Secwépemc Nation) in British Columbia, I led complex terrestrial and aquatic conservation programs rooted in Indigenous stewardship priorities. In close collaboration with partner institutions, I successfully secured over $600,000 in environmental project funding to drive major regional initiatives, including the Sinmax Creek watershed restoration and the Columbia Valley remote wildlife camera trap studies. Bridging rigorous quantitative science with community-led priorities, I oversaw critical caribou road deactivation and habitat restoration frameworks, analyzed caribou telemetry data in R and GIS platforms, and led vital salmon habitat and limnological water-quality assessments on Momich Lake. My role sat at the intersection of environmental policy and natural resource management, where I managed regulatory compliance—conducting project referral reviews under the Fisheries Act, Wildlife Act, and SARA—while representing the Band across about a dozen working groups and mentoring the next generation of local field technicians.

Global Research and Academic Contributions

I was a postdoctoral researcher with the University of Calgary, Canada and the University of Oslo, Norway. My international research spans landscape ecology, wildlife conservation and management, population genetics and geospatial modeling. I have designed and led extensive wildlife and habitat research initiatives to protect species at risk (including Bale monkeys, geladas, Ethiopian wolves) and critical ecosystems such as the bamboo forest and Afroalpine ecosystem. I have published 44 peer-reviewed articles, contributed extensively to IUCN Red List assessments, and secured over 30 international research and conservation grants.

Beyond my scientific contributions, I am known for my collaborative leadership style and my dedication to mentoring guardians, wildlife managers, and conservation biologists. Throughout my career, I have successfully collaborated with governments, Indigenous communities, funders, and NGOs. I am deeply passionate about bridging Western science, Indigenous knowledge, and natural resources/environmental policy to drive meaningful conservation outcomes that benefit wildlife, fish, habitats, and people.

Academic Instruction and Professional Service

I have taught core environmental and ecological courses at international institutions including the University of Calgary and Addis Ababa University. Additionally, I served as an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Primatology from 2018 to 2025.