Dr. Meredith Palmer is an ecologist operating at the intersection of conservation, computer science, and engineering. As the head of the conservation technology team at the international wildlife NGO, Fauna & Flora International, she supports conservation and rewilding programs across a global portfolio. After earning her PhD in Ecology & Evolution at University of Minnesota, she went on to conduct postdoctoral research at Cedar Creek LTER and Princeton University. She is an editor for multiple scientific journals, sits on the steering committees for conservation technology organisations and partnerships, and serves as an Emerging Youth Conservation Ambassador for CoalititonWILD. Meredith firmly believes that empowering underrepresented groups generates innovative ideas, novel solutions, and diverse perspectives that drive science forward and engender conservation success. She has been committed to building an inclusive and diverse STEM community throughout her academic and conservation careers, and currently focuses on upskilling and empowering marginalized researchers through her research programs and capacity-building outreach at field sites worldwide.

Jessie Birckhead is a wildlife biologist and nonprofit leader whose work focuses on building the next generation of conservation leaders. She received her B.S. in Wildlife Management from NC State University and her M.S. in Wildlife Science from the University of Tennessee Knoxville where her research focused on integrating grassland bird habitat into working agricultural landscapes. In the past 12 years Jessie has worked for the NC Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, and NC State University as a conservation practitioner, program manager, and leadership educator. Currently she serves as the Executive Director of Conservation Corps North Carolina, a nonprofit that offers paid training and internship opportunities in natural resources for youth and young adults across North Carolina. Jessie is passionate about creating safe, equitable pathways into careers in natural resources and believes that the work of organizations like FI is essential to the future of conservation. 

Sarah Hollis earned a BA in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to better understand how culture and experience impacts individuals and inspires them to change within and
create change without. She is an advocate, visionary thinker, family woman, wordsmith, believer in the power of culture, place and community, lover of vast landscapes and paper books, walker of
great distances, and poet who is deeply moved by the complexity and beauty of this planet and the creatures that inhabit it. Professionally, Sarah is an expert in administration and creating infrastructures that drive innovation and support community and conservation impact. She is passionate about equity and access, stewarding the natural environment so ecosystems and communities can thrive, and supporting initiatives and business models that create sustainable, inclusive economies and communities that offer ample resources and pathways to impact. Sarah has been with North Carolina Wildlife Federation since 2017 as the Donor Services Manager and served as co-chair of NCWF’s Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Awareness committee for more than two years.

Dr. Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez earned her Bachelor’s degree at the National University of Costa Rica in Tropical Biology, and her Doctorate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University, with a strong focus on population biology and quantitative ecology. The focus of her research program is to work at the interface between science and application to deepen our understanding of the environmental factors that shape where and when species occur on a given landscape to improve decision-making and conservation.  Her research group works on developing and applying novel quantitative modeling techniques to understand how human drivers of land-use change (e.g. agriculture) affect biodiversity using birds as indicators. Her team works collaboratively with practitioners, decision-makers, industry, and local communities to design research that supports the development and implementation of strategies that reconcile biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and human well-being.