Sara Oldfield - Secretary General

With a career in international plant conservation spanning over 30 years, Sara joined BGCI as Secretary General in May 2005. Previously she worked as Global Programmes Director for Fauna & Flora International. She has worked for a wide range of other conservation organisations, including UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and also as a freelance consultant for over ten years, working as a researcher and policy advisor for international biodiversity conservation.

Sara is also Chair of the IUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group, responsible for promoting and implementing projects to identify and protect globally Red Listed tree species. She is an accomplished author, and has published a number of research papers and books, the most recent of which is the Great Botanic Gardens of the World.

Enquiries for Sara Oldfield should be directed to her PA, Barbara Bridge

Suzanne Sharrock - Director of Global Programmes

Suzanne Sharrock is BGCI's Director of Global Programmes and manages BGCI's climate change and human well-being programmes. Suzanne is co-editor of BGCI's twice-yearly botanic garden journal (BGjournal) and oversees the production of BGCI's technical publications. Suzanne also works on policy issues connected with the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and provides support to the European Botanic Gardens Consortium.

Before joining BGCI, Suzanne worked for the International Plant Genetics Resources Institute (now Bioversity International) and has also worked on plant genetic resource projects in Nepal, Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Caribbean.

suzanne.sharrock@bgci.org

Joachim Gratzfeld - Director of Regional Programmes

Joachim joined BGCI as Director of Regional Programmes in November 2006. In this capacity he manages BGCI’s programme development at regional and national levels, working with botanic gardens and affiliated organisations and partners in many parts of world, notably in China, South East Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Prior to joining BGCI, he was responsible for the implementation of numerous conservation projects and programmes, in particular capacity building in biodiversity conservation and dryland ecosystem management based at the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in Pakistan and Switzerland, the latter being his home country.

A trained field biologist and plant ecologist specialising in the interface between conservation and human development, Joachim has a keen interest in promoting botanic gardens as custodians of plant diversity through advancing their role in the integration of ex and in situ plant conservation efforts.

joachim.gratzfeld@bgci.org

Douglas Gibbs - Conservation Initiative Manager

Doug coordinates BGCI international staff teams and travels a lot, particularly in Africa and South America. He is currently coordinating the global threatened Magnoliaceae survey. So if your garden is growing a Magnolia, Doug wants to know about it.
douglas.gibbs@bgci.org

Per Bogstad - Communications and Partnerships Manager

Per manages BGCI's corporate and other partnerships.

per.bogstad@bgci.org

Julia Willison - Head of Education

Julia is responsible for BGCI’s education activities. This involves co-editing Roots journal, BGCI’s education review, overseeing the education content of BGCI’s website, developing education policy, running education training courses, organising international congresses and working with botanic gardens to develop individual education projects.

Julia is a passionate advocate of education in botanic gardens and believes that, given the current environmental crisis we face, education has to be a top priority for botanic gardens.

julia.willison@bgci.org

Bruce Jamieson - Head of Finance and Administration

Bruce manages the financial reporting for the organisation. He prepares and maintains both statutory and management accounting information, as well as controlling bank accounts, payments, receipts and Payroll. Bruce also manages the day to day running of the office including HR, IT and health & safety.

bruce.jamieson@bgci.org

Meirion Jones - Head of Information Management

Meirion Jones is our database expert. Meirion is your contact for queries on PlantSearch and GardenSearch databases.

meirion.jones@bgci.org

Belinda Hawkins - Research and Communications Officer

A trained conservation scientist, specialising in medicinal plants and climate change impacts on plants and ecosystems, Belinda has been working on the recent BGCI projects on Magnoliaceae, Medicinal Plants and Climate Change as well as education resources. Belinda is also responsible for managing the BGCI website and newsletters.

She looks after wolves in her spare time.

belinda.hawkins@bgci.org

Lauren Evans - Development Officer

Lauren is responsible for fundraising and for helping develop programme proposals for projects worldwide.

She is a trained ecologist and worked as a conservationist in natural resource management in East Africa before joining BGCI, implementing a sustainable forestry initiative in Kenya and researching land use conflict and community-based conservation in Tanzania.

Please contact Lauren if you have any queries about supporting BGCI's work.

lauren.evans@bgci.org

Vivien Isaac - Accounts Officer

Vivien can answer your accounts queries and you can send your membership payments or donations to her!

vivien.issacs@bgci.org

Xiangying Wen - China Projects Officer

Xiangying manages BGCI's projects in China.

BGCI China Website

xiangying.wen@bgci.org

Andrea Kramer - BGCI U.S. Executive Director

Andrea Tietmeyer Kramer brings an extensive knowledge of plant conservation, gathered from her work at the Chicago Botanic Garden and with the Center for Plant Conservation.

From 2001-2003, Andrea worked as an endangered plant specialist until becoming a research associate and working on her PhD in the ecology and evolution of the flora of the American Great Basin.

Andrea is responsible for establishing the BGCI US office at Chicago Botanic Garden and implementing elements of BGCI's Five Year Plan 2007-2012 working with US botanic gardens and partner organisations.

andrea.kramer@bgci.org

More BGCI International Staff

Dr Igor A. Smirnov - Chairman, BGCI-Moscow Division

BGCI Russia Website

Nikita Mergelov - Assistant of Igor Smirnov, BGCI-Moscow office

Stella Simiyu - BGCI Global Strategy for Plant Conservation Officer

The GSPC

UK Volunteers

• Simon Barber
• Jan Chamier
• Christopher Hobson
• Zoe Poulsen
• Liz Smith
  

Interns

• Currently we have no interns in place

If you are interested in gaining valuable experience in the plant conservation sector please contact our HR department giving a brief description of your experience. Please include your current CV.

Contacting Staff

To contact a specific member of staff, volunteer or intern by email, our address format is - First name, period, second name followed by @bgci.org