The best talent
Leadership
The Painted Wolf Foundation pulls together the best talent from multi-disciplines, each individual passionate about securing the future of the painted wolf.
The leadership team at the Painted Wolf Foundation brings together conservationists, scientists, entrepreneurs, financiers and marketers, each of whom have played a leading role in their respective field.
We believe that having this broad range of talent helps us to think outside the box and provide the best solutions to securing the future of the painted wolf.
We take an entrepreneurial approach to the work we do, valuing our independence and seeing ourselves as venture capital conservationists, where investing our donors’ money wisely is paramount.
Trustees
The Trustees of the Painted Wolf Foundation are responsible for the strong governance of the organisation.
They are comprised of scientists, conservationists and business professionals, each a pillar of strength to ensuring PWF succeeds in its mission to secure the future of the painted wolf.
Michael Cuthbert (Chair)
Mike serves as Chair of the Painted Wolf Foundation and lives in the Eastern Cairngorms mountains in Scotland after a successful career in investments in the City of London. He has had a lifelong passion for the natural world and conservation projects. His love of Africa came after serving with the British army in Kenya in 1978.
His Scottish wife Ali was brought up in Scotland and West Africa and together they have undertaken many riding/walking safaris in Africa over the last 35 years. Mike has been breeding working dogs in the UK for 30 years and has been fascinated by painted wolves since tracking them in Zimbabwe in 2013. Mike is determined to help this endangered species, raising awareness of its plight wherever he can.
Ravida Clay
Ravida, a SOAS graduate and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society has a lifelong passion for the environment and wildlife borne from witnessing the destruction of the environment and the conflict between the environment and economic development while growing up in Thailand.
She has worked for a variety of NGOs including the Population and Community Development Association (PDA) in Thailand and for Rainforest Concern in the UK with a focus on communication, dissemination of knowledge and research and development. Ravida has also run her own design and property management business for the past 30 years.
Peter Blinston
Peter first learned of the plight of the painted wolf as an eight-year-old boy growing up in England. He moved to Zimbabwe in 1997 to help establish Painted Dog Conservation (PDC) with his rare combination of passion, interpersonal skills and business and management expertise.
Peter has guided the development and execution of programmes to address the threats directly impacting the painted wolves, from the deployment of anti-poaching units to establishing the world-class Iganyana Children’s Bush Camp. He has hired a capable and dedicated team of local staff, who are also playing a critical role in changing local attitudes towards conservation.
When Peter takes on a new initiative, it will be done well, with full regard for the complexities of doing conservation in Zimbabwe. Peter is also highly regarded by his peers as an effective manager who is rigorous about producing outcomes.
Dr Irene Amoke
Irene, the Executive Director of Kenya Wildlife Trust, is an accomplished landscape ecologist with over fifteen years of experience in field ecology, GIS, and programme management. Her research interests lie in the intersection of wildlife, people, and emerging land uses, specifically how to mitigate and adapt to negative impacts, especially in fragile ecosystems. She is passionate about formulating policies that protect wildlife while promoting responsible development.
Irene has had diverse work experiences in academia, government, and the private sector, both locally and internationally. She collaborated with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) on projects aimed at promoting harmonious coexistence between humans and wildlife. She also conducted ground and aerial surveys of wildlife populations and administered a national database on elephant mortality. In addition, Irene led field surveys in private game reserves in South Africa and managed various environmental and sustainability projects for the Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom.
She holds a BSc in Zoology from the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton, Kenya, in addition to an MSc in Environmental Assessment and Management and a Ph.D. in Landscape Ecology from Oxford Brookes University in the UK. As a 2022 Eisenhower Fellow, she serves on the boards and advisory councils of various national and international conservation organisations.
Dr Harriet Davies-Mostert
With an early career focused on large carnivore conservation, Harriet is passionate about the role of conservation evidence and applied science in driving effective action. She also understands that good decision making is both a science and an art.
Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Harriet spent the last 23 years at the Endangered Wildlife Trust in South Africa, driving its strategic direction and later building its Conservation Planning and Science Unit. Harriet sits on various national and international advisory and technical committees and is an active member of the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group and is Chairman of the Wild Dog Advisory Group (WAG).
She has published over 50 scientific papers and book chapters covering topics from large carnivore ecology and conservation, natural resources governance and policy, the wildlife economy, road ecology, and restorative justice.
Qualifications include an MSc in Tropical Resource Ecology from the University of Zimbabwe, and a Doctorate on African Wild Dogs from Oxford University’s WildCRU. Harriet is excited by the opportunity to assist Conserve in delivering enormous conservation impact across Africa.
Prof. Claudio Sillero
Born and bred in the Argentine Pampas, Claudio graduated as a zoologist (Universidad Nacional de La Plata 1984), before heading off to East Africa. He joined WildCRU in its early days to study the behavioural ecology of Ethiopian wolves (DPhil Oxford 1994).
A conservation biologist interested in threatened species, disease dynamics, protected area management and human-wildlife coexistence, his experience spans four continents and many countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mongolia, Mozambique, Niger, Peru and Senegal.
His work focuses on the relationships between wildlife and rural communities, tackling the impact of viral diseases on wildlife, people and their livestock using a One Health approach. He promotes the coexistence of wildlife and human interests and contributes whenever he can to biodiversity conservation policy and practices, and maximising the value of networks in conservation.
As the Director of WildCRU’s Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice, he aspires to train and inspire an inclusive and more diverse generation of conservation practitioners.
He is a keen naturalist and loves nothing better than being out and about, whether on foot, horseback or driving on a rugged track. Taxonomically, he is drawn to all mammals, large and small, but has a predilection for carnivores, particularly all wild canids.
Claudio is the founder and director of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme and the chair of the IUCN Canid Specialist Group , the international body responsible for the conservation of wolves, jackals, dogs and foxes.
Executive
The role of the Chief Executive is to develop the Painted Wolf Foundation’s strategy and analyse investment opportunities that will make a transformational difference to the species.
PWF actively works with organisations to shape proposals and develop collaborations to bring investment efficiencies and the spreading of best practice.
PWF is supported by a number of experienced advisors who are leading lights in the painted wolf conservation world.
Nicholas Dyer (CEO)
Raised in Kenya, Nick spent much of his life working in the City of London as a fund manager before running his own investment marketing business. Returning to Africa in 2012, he refocused his life on something more worthwhile and emotionally rewarding – photography and conservation.
Nick has an enormous passion for painted wolves spending seven years following three packs on foot in Mana Pools, studying, photographing and documenting their lives with deep intimacy.
He is the co-author of the highly acclaimed coffee table book, Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog’s Life, which he wrote with Peter Blinston, providing a powerful insight into the lives of the painted wolves and what is being done to save them.
He is a founding Trustee of the Painted Wolf Foundation which he set up to help raise awareness of this highly endangered creature and support their conservationists in the field.
Nick gives talks around the world on behalf of the painted wolves, appears on TV and radio and has articles and photographs published in myriad publications globally including National Geographic.
Nick was a finalist in the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition with his photograph ‘Ahead of the Game’. He is a Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society in London and a member of The Explorers Club in New York.
Granting Committee
The Granting Committee is is comprised of senior members of the Painted Wolf Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Network.
Their role is to scrutinise and evaluate proposals submitted by PWF’s Chief Executive and determine whether grants should be awarded. The Chief Executive sits on the granting committee but does not have a vote.
Paul Thomson
Paul specialises in highly threatened and endangered species, incubating conservation startups, and building leadership capacity in the environmental field.
At WCN, Paul is accountable for the strategic deployment and tactical implementation of WCN’s Wildlife Funds Strategy, including current and future ones. In addition to his work with WCN, he runs Save Pangolins, a project he co-founded to address the illegal trade of the little-known pangolin, the world’s most illegally trafficked mammal.
Prior to WCN, Paul was a Director of Ewaso Lions and helped start, grow, and run the project. Paul is an alum of the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders programme and now serves on the board. Paul holds a BSc from the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources & Environment and received his Master’s from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. He was raised in the Bay Area.
Peter Blinston
Peter first learned of the plight of the painted wolf as an eight-year-old boy growing up in England. He moved to Zimbabwe in 1997 to help establish Painted Dog Conservation (PDC) with his rare combination of passion, interpersonal skills and business and management expertise.
Peter has guided the development and execution of programmes to address the threats directly impacting the painted wolves, from the deployment of anti-poaching units to establishing the world-class Iganyana Children’s Bush Camp. He has hired a capable and dedicated team of local staff, who are also playing a critical role in changing local attitudes towards conservation.
When Peter takes on a new initiative, it will be done well, with full regard for the complexities of doing conservation in Zimbabwe. Peter is also highly regarded by his peers as an effective manager who is rigorous about producing outcomes.
Dr Peter Lindsey
Peter joined WCN in 2017 as the Conservation Initiatives Director and brings a lifelong passion for African wildlife conservation to the organisation. He has been working on and with African wildlife since 1993, when he started out as an apprentice in Save Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe.
Peter went on to study at Oxford and ultimately graduated with a PhD from the Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria. Developing an early expertise on painted wolves, Peter went on to work on a broad array of conservation issues ranging from predator conservation, to the threats facing them and other wildlife, to wildlife ranching and community conservation, and most recently to Africa’s vast protected area network.
Peter has worked in Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and brings a unique ‘big picture’ perspective to our African conservation efforts. Prior to joining WCN, Peter worked for Panthera’s Lion Program as the policy coordinator and completed some major overviews of the issues facing the conservation of lions in Africa’s protected area network.
Dr Harriet Davies-Mostert
With an early career focused on large carnivore conservation, Harriet is passionate about the role of conservation evidence and applied science in driving effective action. She also understands that good decision making is both a science and an art.
Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Harriet spent the last 23 years at the Endangered Wildlife Trust in South Africa, driving its strategic direction and later building its Conservation Planning and Science Unit. Harriet sits on various national and international advisory and technical committees and is an active member of the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group and is Chairman of the Wild Dog Advisory Group (WAG).
She has published over 50 scientific papers and book chapters covering topics from large carnivore ecology and conservation, natural resources governance and policy, the wildlife economy, road ecology, and restorative justice.
Qualifications include an MSc in Tropical Resource Ecology from the University of Zimbabwe, and a Doctorate on African Wild Dogs from Oxford University’s WildCRU. Harriet is excited by the opportunity to assist Conserve in delivering enormous conservation impact across Africa.
Nicholas Dyer
Raised in Kenya, Nick spent much of his life working in the City of London as a fund manager before running his own investment marketing business. Returning to Africa in 2012, he refocused his life on something more worthwhile and emotionally rewarding – photography and conservation.
Nick has an enormous passion for painted wolves spending seven years following three packs on foot in Mana Pools, studying, photographing and documenting their lives with deep intimacy.
He is the co-author of the highly acclaimed coffee table book, Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog’s Life, which he wrote with Peter Blinston, providing a powerful insight into the lives of the painted wolves and what is being done to save them.
He is a founding Trustee of the Painted Wolf Foundation which he set up to help raise awareness of this highly endangered creature and support their conservationists in the field.
Nick gives talks around the world on behalf of the painted wolves, appears on TV and radio and has articles and photographs published in myriad publications globally including National Geographic.
Nick was a finalist in the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition with his photograph ‘Ahead of the Game’. He is a Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society in London and a member of The Explorers Club in New York.
