Carl Safina
Co-Founder
Blue Ocean Institute
2010 Award Winner for Conservation

Carl Safina is author of more than 100 articles and three books, including the award-winning Song for the Blue Ocean, Eye of the Albatross, and the most recent Voyage of the Turtle.

His work has been profiled in the New York Times, on Nightline, and in the Bill Moyers television special “Earth on Edge.” Safina is a recipient of the Pew Scholar’s Award in Conservation and Environment, a World Wildlife Fund Senior Fellowship, the Lannan Literary Award for nonfiction, the John Burroughs Medal for literature, and a MacArthur Prize. Safina’s scientific prowess, sense of adventure, and elegant descriptions of the mystery, magnificence, and importance of the sea and its creatures make him one of today’s most important conservation voices.

Alastair Fothergill
Director "Earth"
Executive Producer "Frozen Planet" & Planet Earth BBC Natural History Unit
2010 Award Winner for Media

Alastair Fothergill is a producer of nature documentaries for television and cinema. His is the Executive Producer of the multi-award winning series The Blue Planet (2001) and Planet Earth (2006) and the co-director of the associated feature films Deep Blue and Earth.

Dr. Laurie Marker
Co-Founder, Director
Cheetah Conservation Fund
2009 Award Winner for Conservation

Co-Founder and Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund
based in Namibia, Africa. Dr. Marker’s Project is sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN).  Both Dr. Marker and WCN will present keynotes at the 32nd IWFF in May 2009.

With over thirty years experience, Dr. Laurie Marker is a pioneer in cheetah conservation. On research trips to Namibia early in her career, she learned firsthand of the dire situation facing wild cheetahs. She knew someone had to do something, and she would be that person. In 1991 Laurie sold most of her possessions and relocated to Namibia to co-found and direct the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF).

Chris Palmer
Director, Center for Environmental Filmmaking
American University, Washington DC
2009 Award Winner for Media

In the early 1980s, Chris Palmer gave up his successful career as an energy policy expert and devoted his life to producing environmental and wildlife films that promote conservation. He has spent the last 25 years producing hundreds of hours of award-winning films for television and the global network of IMAX theaters. All his films document threatened species and habitats and expose damaging commercial practices while celebrating environmental success stories.

In addition to being a professor at AU, Chris is also president of the MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation, which produces and funds IMAX films on conservation. MacGillivray Freeman Films is the world’s largest and most successful producer and distributor of IMAX films. Chris is also chief executive officer of VideoTakes, Inc., a film production company in Arlington, Va, which produces environmental films, videos, DVDs, and new media.

Dr. Alan Rabinowitz
2008 Award Winner for Conservation

Dubbed the "Indiana Jones" of wildlife science by The New York Times, Dr. Rabinowitz is one of the world's most renowned field scientists. His goal in life is to find and survey the world's last wild places with the intention of saving as much land in protected areas as he can and securing homes for some of the world's most endangered large mammals.

Dr. Rabinowitz is best known for his work with wild cats. At present, Dr. Rabinowitz is committed to the success of two major long term objectives: Establishing and securing a contiguous wild jaguar corridor on public and private lands ranging from Mexico to Argentina as well as setting up the world's largest tiger reserve in Myanmar.

Hardy Jones
Founder & Executive Director, www.BlueVoice.org
2008 Award Winner for Media

Mr. Jones is a former news journalist with CBS and UPI. He is best known for his more than two decades of making award-winning television documentaries about the oceans and marine mammals.

Mr. Jones founded and directs www.BlueVoice.org, a website dedicated to saving the marine mammals that inhabit the seas.

Dr. George Schaller
2007 Award Winner

Dr. Schaller is considered by many to be one of the greatest wildlife scientists in the world and is the first ever recipient of the IWFF Lifetime Achievement Award.

As Vice President for Science and Exploration at the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York, he works to bring together the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and Tajiskstan in support of an International Peace Park. Part of the Greater Pamir Initiative, these efforts rely on the management of joint resources and cooperation toward mutual benefit of wildlife and humans.