Board of Directors

Dr. Richard Leakey – Chairman

Internationally reknowned paleontologist and conservationist. Formerly Director of the National Museums of Kenya and the Kenya Wildlife Service, Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Public Service, Kenya. Kenyan, residing in Nairobi.

Bill Cleary

Marketing specialist, founder of CKS, instrumental in launch of leading web brands including Amazon.com, Yahoo and eBay. US citizen, residing in California.

Francois-Xavier de Donnea

Parliamentarian and Minister of State. Former Belgian Minister of Defence, Minister for International Cooperation, Mayor of Brussels and President of the Brussels Region. Belgian, residing in Brussels.

Carole Wainaina

Carole is the Executive Assistant to the Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola where she is the Chief of Staff for the Chairman’s office and Strategic thought partner for Mr. Neville Isdell particularly in the areas of sustainability and community Affairs.

Harold Wackman – Secretary / Treasurer

Various senior roles in Africa with international donors, including World Bank Country Director, Kenya. Canadian, residing Washington, DC.

Craig Hatkoff

Philanthropist from New York City, he has co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Institute in 2002. He has also authored multiple children’s books including Owen & Mzee: The True Story Of A Remarkable Friendship which describes the friendship between a tortoise and an orphaned hippopotamus in Kenya after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

The Team

Paula Kahumbu – Executive Director

Paula is in charge. She makes sure that all our projects address important conservation concerns in an appropriate way. Paula is an ecologist and a passionate tree hugger. She spent many years studying monkeys and elephants in Kenya and worked for the Kenya Wildlife Service on wildlife policy, trade and park management issues and later managed a quarry restoration company. She is passionate about Africa and conservation, saving wild species and wild places – all for a purely selfish reason, so that she can enjoy them. Her life goal is to revert the people of the world to loving nature, starting with Joshua her son.

Mary Muthomi – Senior Finance Officer

Mary looks after Finance, Staff and contracting. She is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Accounting. She has over 16 years experience working in various sectors including banks, real estate and the oil industry. When she is not busy working with numbers, Mary likes to read, watch movies and documentaries, travel and visit new places and of course shopping (her major weakness). Mary has a husband Bernard and two children (Brian and Diana) and loves to experiment with making exotic dishes for them over the weekend.

Victor Ngeny – Blogger Training Officer

Victor believes that blogging is the new form of expression. He handles blogger training and makes sure that all bloggers are up-to-date with new blogging techniques and practices. He also handles social media promotion of WildlifeDirect through Facebook, Twitter and many of the other social networking platforms online.

Joy Omulupi – Office Assistant

In this life Joy is a woman, with a daughter called Jamilla. In her next life, she’d like to come back as a bear. When you’re a bear, you get to hibernate for six months of the year. Joy could handle that. Before you hibernate, you’re supposed to eat yourself stupid. Joy could handle that too. When you’re a girl bear, you give birth to children the size of walnuts while you are sleeping and wake up to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. Joy could definitely handle that.

Samuel Maina – Media and Communications Manager

Maina handles publicity, media and communications. Formerly an assistant editor for Swara Magazine, he has produced countless articles, editorial material and newsletters. Maina wants to go everywhere, see everything and know everyone. He’d like to take along his wife Linda, and daughters, Neema and Imani.