CSF Staff
John Reid
CSF Founder & President, Sebastopol, California
John has worked in conservation since 1991, promoting the use of economics to address conservation challenges. John has pursued that goal through an innovative training program and by the example of practical, policy-relevant analyses on a number of themes in the Amazon, Central America and the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. These issues include energy and transportation infrastructure, logging, ranching, protected areas and agriculture, among others. John founded Conservation Strategy Fund in 1998 after positions with Resources for the Future, Conservation International and Pacific Forest Trust. He designed CSF as an independent technical organization with the aim of spreading economics skills among conservation professionals. John’s work has appeared in many CSF publications, in Scientific American, Conservation Biology, Environment, the Journal of Political Economy, Megadiversidade and Ambio. He speaks Portuguese and Spanish, and holds a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University.
Fernanda Alvarenga
Brazil Research Analyst, Lagoa Santa, Brazil
Fernanda joined CSF as a research analyst in July 2010. She has experience in financial analysis of projects, financial and process management, and in systems implementation management. She has a degree in Business Administration from PUC Minas, a masters degree in Globalization, Spatial Dynamics and Sustainable Development in Southern Countries from the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) and graduate degrees in Business Economics from PUC/MG and in Socio-Educational Projects Management from UNA/MG. Fernanda started in CSF in 2008 as a consultant working in projects related to rural credit in the Amazon and the financial feasibility of fish processing by local fishermen in the Corumbau Extractive Reserve, in Bahia. She has previous experience as a management and economics consultant and analyst at PUC Minas. She was born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.
Marcos Amend
Brazil Executive Director, Lagoa Santa, Brazil
Marcos Amend is the Director of CSF-Brazil. He holds a Masters degree in Economics and Forest Policy from UFPR (Federal University of Parana - Brasil) and has been working in conservation since 1987. Before joining CSF, Marcos was the president of the Speleological Studies Group, an organization dedicated to the study and conservation of Brazilian caves. Additionally, Marcos coordinated the development of a "Producing Forest Program" which gained national and international recognition, and managed the field Ecotourism Program for the Sustainable Development reserve of Mamirauá in the Amazon. More recently, was the coordinator of the MPE Ecotourism Program of Brazilian Biodiversity Fund. Marcos was a student in CSF's 2001 Brazil course and then attended CSF's first advanced course in the Pantanal Wetlands in 2002. He is originally from Paraná, in southern Brazil.
Cecilia Ayala
Bolivia Program Director, La Paz, Bolivia
Cecilia joined CSF at the end of 2005 as Director of the Bolivia Program. She has a degree in Economics and a Masters in Public Policy and Development from the Universidad Católica Boliviana, and brings to CSF her experience applying economic analysis and environmental valuation techniques to Bolivia's environmental challenges. She has over ten years of professional experience working on sustainable development with indigenous communities, and for the past six years she has been working in collaboration with SERNAP, Bolivia's protected areas agency. Prior to joining CSF, Cecilia worked as a consultant on conservation issues with various national and international NGOs, private foundations, and public institutions. Cecilia participated in CSF's first Bolivia course in 2001 in Madidi National Park.
Cynthia Bomtempo Franco
Brazil Financial Manager, Lagoa Santa, Brazil
Cynthia joined CSF-Brazil at the end of 2008 as the Financial and Administrative Manager of the Brazil Program. She has a degree in Systems Analysis from UNA/MG, a postgraduate degree in Direct Marketing from ABMD/SP and MBAs in Business Management from FGV/MG and in Controlling from UFMG/MG. She has several years of experience in direct marketing and in administrate and financial management in international NGOs. She is a native from Minas Gerais.
Kim Bonine
Training Director, Arcata, California
Kim joined CSF in 2001 after three years with the Center for Environmental Science and Policy at Stanford University. Her work with Stanford focused on ecological and economic research in the mangrove forests of Kosrae, Micronesia. She has also studied the impact of forest habitat fragmentation in Mexico and worked on community development strategies for poverty alleviation with the World Bank in Zimbabwe. Kim holds a Master of Science degree in Earth Systems and an undergraduate degree in Human Biology, both from Stanford University.
Irene Burgués Arrea
BUILD Program Operations Manager, San José, Costa Rica
Irene Burgués Arrea managed a successful CSF program on integrating biodiversity and infrastructure agendas in Central America from 2004-2007. The initiative contributed to: providing information on 400 infrastructure projects, generating consensus about analysis priorities and avoiding several poorly conceived projects, including roads in the Maya Forest region and the Tenosique dam on the Usumacinta River in Mexico. She then started an organic farm project and continues to tend to it. Most recently, Ms. Burgués had been researching payments for ecosystem services at CATIE. Ms. Burgués came back to CSF at the end of 2011 and is currently engaged in the Biodiversity Understanding in Infrastructure and Landscape Development (BUILD) program in the Albertine Rift, Andes and Amazon. Ms. Burgués has a BSc in Economics, Environment and Ecology from the University of York.
Holly Busse
Chief Financial Officer, Arcata, California
Holly Busse joined CSF in 2006 as the Director of Finance and is responsible for overall financial management, fiscal planning, budgeting, reporting and accounting. She has 20 years of experience with accounting, contract and project management. Holly has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance and holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Humboldt State University in California.
Conrad Gregory
Financial Assistant, Arcata, California
Conrad joined CSF in 2010 as Financial Assistant and is responsible for all financial areas of CSF, focusing on accounting, grants management, and personnel. He corresponds daily with each CSF location, including Bolivia and Brazil. Conrad came to CSF with 6 years of experience working in finance in various roles, and attained his Masters of Business Administration degree from Humboldt State University in 2009.
Aja Heisler
Administrative Assistant, Sebastopol, California
Aja joined CSF in 2011 as the Development and Communications Intern, focusing mainly on marketing and outreach, and was hired in 2012 as Administrative Assistant. She graduated in 2011 from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, with an emphasis in Management and Organization, and a minor in Political Science. She has many years of experience with administrative tasks as well as event planning. Her interest in environmental conservation really peaked when she served as Fundraising Coordinator for Volunteer Latin America in college and had the opportunity to travel to the Costa Rican rain forest to help with the conservation of the mono tití.
Daniel Leguia
Research Analyst, La Paz, Bolivia
Before joining CSF, Daniel worked as a consultant on forestry issues, climate change and environmental funds in governmental and non-governmental national and international cooperation. He has experience in designing forestry programs and projects and in developing proposals for fundraising. He has conducted research on deforestation, tourism and forestry, applied economics and spatial analysis. In 2010, Daniel participated in the Economic Tools for Conservation course and completed a comprehensive analysis of CSF projects in Peru. In 2011, Daniel was brought on as a Fellow where he completed his research on the opportunity costs of forest conservation within the margins of three roads in the Amazon region of Bolivia. He obtained his economist at the Catholic University of Bolivia.
Courtney Lewis Cheng
Communications Manager, Sebastopol, California
Courtney joined CSF in 2009 after 5 years of working as Program Assistant in the Biology Department at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She worked as CSF's Program Coordinator until she became CSF's Communications Manager in 2012. She holds a degree in Outdoor Experiential Education with a minor in Sustainable Development from Appalachian State University in North Carolina. She has many years of experience with computers and design, event planning, database management, and working for mad scientists.
Alfonso Malky
Bolivia Technical Manager, La Paz, Bolivia
Alfonso joined CSF-Bolivia at the beginning of 2008 as the Bolivian Economic Analyst. He has a Master's degree in Agricultural Economics from the Catholic University of Chile and an undergraduate degree in Economics from the Bolivian Catholic University. He has experience in conservation economics, with projects related to land use, natural resources management and ecotourism; he also has extensive experience in the design, monitoring and evaluation of public policies, with emphasis on agriculture, forestry and environment. Prior to working in CSF Alfonso worked in the Unit of Social and Economic Policy Analysis (UDAPE) and he has participated in the design and evaluation of policies related to regulation of natural resource use, rural development, sustainable forest management and climate change, among others. He also has experience in micro finances and designing proposals for economic development and poverty reduction in Bolivia. Alfonso first came to CSF as a participant in the economics tools course in the Madidi National Park (2006); since then he has participated in several international courses and workshops related to economic tools for conservation, natural resource management and valuation of environmental goods and services.
Rocío del Pilar Moreno Sánchez
Senior Economist, Colombia
Rocío del Pilar Moreno Sánchez has been working for 15 years on issues related with the role of economic incentives, local resource users, and institutions for biodiversity conservation. She has conducted specific research on topics such as opportunity cost and economic valuation studies for payments for environmental services initiatives, adaptive capacity of resource-dependent communities at marine protected areas, economic valuation of protected areas, co-management of common-pool resources and conditional-transfer programs, among others. Rocio´s work has been published in several books and scientific journals such as World Development, Environment and Development Economics, Ecological Economics, Biodiversity Conservation and Gaceta Ecológica. She received her Masters of Science in Environmental and resource economics (Universidad de los Andes-University of Maryland) and her Masters of Science in Agricultural, Environment and Development Economics (Ohio State University).
Mônica Rocha
Brazil Administrative Assistant, Lagoa Santa, Brazil
Mônica joined CSF-Brazil in 2009 as the Administrative Assistant of the Brazil Program. Mônica has a graduate degree in Accounting from FAESA/ES and a posgraduate degree in Public Administration from FPL/MG. She has several years of experience as a teacher, as a social projects supervisor and in administrative and financial management in international NGOs. She is a native from Minas Gerais.
Thales Oliveira Rosa
Brazil Research Analyst, Lagoa Santa, Brazil
Thales joined CSF in August 2010. He has degree in Business Administration from UNA/MG, he is studying MBA in Project Management with emphasis in Environmental from Technological Education Institute (IETEC-MG). Thales has experience managing data used in market analysis for private companies. He also attended the training program for young entrepreneurs of NGO Junior Achievement, and participated in project monitoring routines in a logistics company at the Port and International Airport in Miami. He lived in USA for seven months and was born in Belo Horizonte, MG.
Natalia Sanin
Program Assistant, La Paz, Bolivia
Natalia joined the team in October 2011 through an agreement between CSF and FUNDECO (Bolivia). She is working as the Program Assistant to the ICAA II project team in Bolivia. A native of Colombia, Natalia studied biology with emphasis in strategic planning, having applied the methodology Open Standards for Practice of Conservation and Miradi program in a protected area in the Colombian Caribbean and the Chiquitano Model Forest in Bolivia.
Carlos Solis
Research Analyst, La Paz, Bolivia
Carlos joined CSF for the first time in 2010 as a research fellow at the Economic Research Program for the Conservation of Southern Tropical Andes. His work focused on an econometric analysis to guide strategy for the expansion of tourism in the North of La Paz, Bolivia. Before joining CSF, he worked in environmental economics and conservation with several NGOs and international cooperation agencies. His has a degree in economics from the Universidad Mayor de San Simon in Cochabamba. He received an award from his university for the best thesis in economics in 2010.
Cristian Vallejos
Latin America Director, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Cristian has over 20 years of experience working in tropical conservation and sustainable development. He worked for Fundacion Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN) and Proyecto BOLFOR in his native Bolivia. Before joining CSF, Cristian helped the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) -where he was regional director for the Americas- establish its network of national initiatives in Latin America. He also served as Amazon Conservation Association’s (ACA) first executive director for 4 years, guiding this organization to regional prominence in the southwestern Amazon. Cristian holds a degree in Social Anthropology from the Universidad Catolica in Lima, Peru and received training in resource economics and environmental policies at Duke University’s School of the Environment and at Indiana University’s Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis.
Venetia Hargreaves-Allen
Research Fellow, Nassau, Bahamas
Venetia is conducting environmental economics research in the Bahamas in partnership with the Bahamas National Trust and The Nature Conservancy. This research follows successfully completion of doctoral research with CSF in Belizean marine protected areas. She was recently a visiting scholar with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego and with the Marine Biology department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Prior to pursuing her PhD, Venetia conducted economic and ecological fieldwork in the Caribbean, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, filmed and produced conservation films for audiences in Kenya and Indonesia, and was a researcher and writer for The Ecologist Magazine. She holds a Bachelors in Biological Sciences from Oxford University and a Masters and PhD in Environmental Economics and Politics from the Imperial College London.
CSF mission
The mission of Conservation Strategy Fund is to teach environmental organizations around the world to use economics and strategic analysis to conserve nature.
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Upcoming CSF Courses
CSF offers training in economic tools to empower local conservation organizations, decision-makers, and communities.
Herramientas Económicas para la Conservación en la Amazonía Andina - Perú 2012
Monday, 28 May, 2012 - Friday, 8 June, 2012
Friday, 23 March 2012
Economic Tools for Conservation and Infrastructure Planning in the Albertine Rift
Monday, 11 June, 2012 - Friday, 22 June, 2012
Monday, 30 April 2012
Ferramentas Econômicas para a Conservação e Planejamento de Infraestrutura na Amazônia - Formulário de Inscrição
Monday, 13 August, 2012 - Friday, 24 August, 2012
Saturday, 16 June 2012
