Jorgen Thomsen
Director, Conservation & Sustainable Development

Email: jthomsen at macfound dot org

Stephen E. Cornelius
Program Officer, Conservation and Sustainable Development

Email: scorneli at macfound dot org

Stephen Cornelius is a Program Officer in the Conservation & Sustainable Development area of the Foundation's Program on Global Security & Sustainability.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Cornelius directed the Sonoran Desert Program for the Sonoran Institute focusing on cross-border collaboration between U.S. and Mexican resource managers, residents and non-governmental organizations. Before this he was a Peace Corps volunteer, helping to establish the Costa Rican National Parks System and later as Regional Wildlife Coordinator for World Wildlife Fund (WWF) managing WWF's conservation program in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean for seven years.

Cornelius has a M.S. in Wildlife Sciences from Texas A&M University and a B.S. in Wildlife & Fisheries Biology from Iowa State University.

Elizabeth Chadri
Program Officer

Email: EChadri at macfound dot org

Elizabeth Chadri joined the Foundation in 2003 as a Program Officer in the Conservation & Sustainable Development area of Global Security & Sustainability (GSS). She is responsible for grantmaking in Africa.

Chadri served as the first Manager of the African Wildlife Foundation's (AWF) White River Conservation Centre in South Africa from 2000 to 2002. Prior to that she was the Director in Training, Institutional Development & Education at AWF from 1997 to 2000. Chadri worked at AWF from 1994 until her latest appointment as Head of the Kampala Conservation Centre. She has extensive experience managing institutional development projects and capacity building programs in East, Central and Southern Africa. Prior to joining AWF, Chadri was a Program Officer at the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya and a biology teacher.

Chadri is a Kenyan citizen and has a MSc. in Training and Human Resource Management from Leicester University in the United Kingdom, and a Master of Education degree from Kenyatta University, Kenya.   Her undergraduate degree is in Zoology from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

Christopher Holtz
Asia Program Officer

Email: choltz at macfound dot org

Christopher Holtz is the Asia Program Officer in Conservation and Sustainable Development.

Chris comes to us from the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (CEPF) where he was the Asia Grant Director. He has experience supervising the development of investment strategies, building partnerships among donors, and managing grant portfolios—including in the Caucasus and several Asian nations including China. Prior to CEPF, Chris worked for Conservation International and consulted with a number of organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund. Chris holds degrees in political science and public policy from Baylor University and Haverford College.

Kate Barnes
Program Associate

Email: kbarnes at macfound dot org

Kate Barnes is a Program Associate in Conservation and Sustainable Development. She received her Masters degree in Environmental Management from Duke University, focusing on fisheries management in Namibia. Her interest in conservation began while researching reef fish populations in Belize as an undergraduate at Smith College. Kate has Midwestern roots, having grown up in Indiana and worked as a researcher in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago for several years between college and graduate school.

Other Staff