CEO/Administration Team

Zambian Carnivore Programme

In order to conduct the collaborative activities of ZCP across the country we rely on a close-knit management team to coordinate with all projects, partners and stakeholders.

Dr. Matthew Becker

A wildlife ecologist, Matt joined the project in 2008 as the CEO and Programme Manager and oversees all research, conservation and capacity-building/education efforts for the organization. An Affiliate Research Faculty at the Montana State University’s Department of Ecology, he has over 25 years experience on a variety of wildlife field research and conservation projects in North America, Antarctica, and Africa, studying numerous endangered species. Matt conducts and coordinates programme activities with the support and collaboration of Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW). His fields of research interest and expertise include predator-prey dynamics and conservation biology. Matt is also an Honorary Wildlife Police Officer for DNPW.

Dr. Terry Brncic

Terry joined ZCP as the Deputy Director in 2022 and is responsible for general program management. She has a DPhil in Tropical Forest Ecology from Oxford University in the UK and has completed two postdoctoral research positions in Central African paleoecology at Oxford University and Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Terry has worked in Central and West Africa for over 20 years, most recently spending six years in northern Congo-Brazzaville as the Director of Research and Ecological Monitoring in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, and over three years in Kinshasa, DRC as a Regional Coordinator for the World Resources Institute. Apart from forest ecology, she has studied bongo populations in Congo, chimpanzees in Sierra Leone, lowland gorillas in the Central African Republic, and caterpillars in Panama. Outside of work she is an enthusiastic beach volleyball player.

Masauso Nkhoma

Masauso Nkhoma joined ZCP as Accounts and Administrative Assistant in May 2016. He was born and educated in Lusaka, where he began his training as an accountant. Over the course of his career he has worked in both the commercial and nonprofit sectors, including tourism, the food industry and now conservation. In his spare time, Masauso is studying to take exams for higher level qualifications in accounting and taxation, with the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Tarsitius Chilekwa

Tarsitius Chilekwa joined our ZCP team in 2023 as our Bookkeeper/Accounts Assistant. He is a Chartered Accountant with over 8 years of experience in the field. As an associate member of Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants, Tarsitius holds a Chartered Accountants Zambia Certificate and a National Accounting and Technician (NATECH) certificate. He has obtained a bachelor’s degree of accounts (conversion of Chartered Accountants Advanced Diploma) and is currently pursuing his final qualification stage in finance with the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Caz Sanguinetti

Caz joined ZCP in 2014, after completing her Master’s degree in Cape Town, South Africa. Her thesis focused on the use of underwater camera traps to monitor species abundance and diversity of fish in marine protected areas. Prior to joining ZCP, she worked on various research projects across Africa, including okapi in the Democratic Republic of Congo and gorillas and chimpanzees in Gabon. Caz has worked across all three sites, including as Project Manager for ZCP’s Kafue Project, and is now the Operations Manager for ZCP. 

Jenn Dillard

Jenn has been working with us as our Media, Communications and Student Support Manager since 2020. She earned a M.S. in Natural Resource Management in 2006 from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and has spent the last 18 years working with a variety of conservation agencies in the U.S. and around Africa. In the U.S. she worked as an Interpretive Park Ranger for the National Park Service in Alaska, as a Youth Conservation Corps Crew Leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in California, a Park Programme Development Specialist for the Florida Park Service and as the Director of Education for Agassiz Environmental Learning Center in Northwest Minnesota. She found herself in Africa in 1999 serving as a Community Health and Outreach Educator in rural Madagascar with the U.S. Peace Corps. This amazing opportunity eventually segued into opportunities to volunteer with Conservation Research Africa in Malawi, and a consultancy with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Congo-Brazzaville. Before joining our Luangwa Valley team, she worked with Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust as their Conservation Education Manager and Conservation South Luangwa as their Human Wildlife Conflict Programme Manager.