Board Members

The management of the organization lies with a Board of Trustees and the Chief Executive Officer. The board is composed of seven diverse professionals, with common ground in their passion for wildlife conservation in Africa.

Dr. Vincent Nyirenda

As ZCP’s Chairman Dr. Nyirenda brings decades of expertise as a wildlife biologist in Zambia, former Head of Research for the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, and a Senior Lecturer at Copperbelt University with areas of expertise including ecology and human-wildlife conflict.

Thandiwe Mweetwa

Thandiwe grew up in Mfuwe, Eastern Province, and was a former ZCP-Chipembele Conservation Club member. She joined ZCP as an intern in 2009, and worked with ZCP’s Luangwa Valley Project for over 13 years. Thandiwe holds a master’s degree from the University of Arizona and her thesis focused on lion demographic response to conservation policies in the Luangwa Valley. As a supporter of community-based conservation, Thandiwe is dedicated to exploring effective ways of integrating local communities in wildlife conservation and increasing the representation of women in the field. Her future research focuses on human-carnivore interactions across changing landscapes. In 2016, Thandiwe was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer for her efforts to protect lions in Zambia. In 2023 she took on the position of Integrated Landscape & Custodianship Manager for the Nsumbu Tanganyika Conservation Programme, but remains involved in ZCP’s ongoing activities as a board member.

John Lemon

John is the former ZCP Chairman and he brings several decades of experience with large carnivore research and conservation as the Chairman of Painted Dog Conservation Inc. and Manager of Zoology at Perth Zoo.

Dr. Nyambe Nyambe

Dr. Nyambe is currently the Secretariat of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) and brings several decades of experience in conservation and policy to this position. He was formerly the Director of WWF-Zambia and has worked with a wide array of conservation organizations and issues throughout his career.

April Johnston

April worked in research in wetland ecology and Everglades Restoration from 1995-2006 at the South Florida Water Management District. Her research in isolated wetland trophic cascades between macroinvertebrates and wading birds led to a reduction in permitted water use by utilities during Florida's dry season.

In her time as a state Senior Environmental Research Scientist, she worked in a leadership position in collaborative federal-state teams to design and implement a ten-year Everglades Restoration ecological monitoring and assessment plan. She was also part of a multi-agency adaptive management task force charged with developing nimble and responsive resource management strategies for large federal and state agencies. During this time she worked intensively in developing and improving internal state systems to streamline budget-procurement processes for resource management work.

In 2006 she moved to Montana where she served first as Conservation Director and later as Executive Director of a wildlife-habitat nonprofit called American Wildlands. Her conservation work with this non-profit focused on working with state and federal biologists in mapping landscape corridors used by large and meso carnivores and ungulates and working to create private-public partnerships to protect key wildlife movement areas. She was also primarily responsible for fundraising via grants for the organization.

April has the unique experience of having served as a funder and a grant-writer in her work with both state agencies and non-profit work. She also has worked heavily in non-profit management, and as a state researcher, and has the ability to see and implement process improvements in agencies that are often burdened by proverbial red tape.

April became involved in volunteering with the Zambia Carnivore Programme in 2014 and helped secure their 501(c)(3) status. She is passionate about the work ZCP does with both the wildlife and people of Zambia. Her primary role is helping ZCP with high-level administrative processes.

In 2010 April left formal conservation work to pursue working with her favorite ungulate horses, and has a successful private equine physiotherapy practice. She returned to graduate school in 2014 to initiate pursuit of a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine degree and looks forward to adding human patients to her practice in late 2020.