We are extremely grateful to the Advisory Council members who support our mission through the generous contribution of their skills, services, and/or expertise.

 

Jonny Baxendale is a safari expert and conservationist. Born and educated in Kenya Jonny lived with George Adamson raising lions when he was young. He was a Warden with Kenya Wildlife Service, helped establish the Mara Conservancy. With over 30 years of experience of wildlife and the safari business, Jonny is today an honorary Warden of the Kenya Wildlife Service.

 

Richard Bonham is the son of an early well known Kenyan Game Warden, Jack Bonham. After a spell of bush flying in the Sudan, Zaire and East Africa Richard went into the safari business, concentrating in walking safaris in the remoter and wilder parts of East Africa.

In the mid-80’s, Richard negotiated a 300,000 acre concession on a Maasai-owned ranch, Mbirikani Group Ranch, where he still lives. This ranch forms an integral part of the Amboseli ecosystem. It became clear to Richard from the outset that the only way that the Wildlife and the habitat of the area could be sustained was to partner and involve the local community themselves, through economic incentive-based conservation enterprises, employment and participating in law enforcement themselves.

He started the Maasailand Preservation Trust, and now runs Big Life Foundation in Kenya.

On November 26, 2014 in London, Richard was awarded The Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa at the Tusk Conservation Awards.

 

 

John Carver attended the University of Miami and Eastern Michigan Universities obtaining a BBA Degree. John has a long history of conservation work active in marketing the National and the Michigan ‘Nature Conservancy’ organisations. He is co-founder of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters and the National Wildlife Federation’s President’s Council. He co-founded the Wolfpack, a pioneering action-oriented group of conservation-minded leaders operating under the auspices of the NWF. John was awarded the Ann Arbor, Michigan ‘Key to the City’ for community work and the Golden Paintbrush Award for commissioning public art projects.  He received the National Wildlife Federation’s Virginia Ball Award, a national award presented at the Smithsonian Institution. He has supported Amara Conservation for a number of years and is a founding member of the Tsavo Keepers Society.

 

Mike Griffin has been a creative professional working in the Detroit-area marketing and advertising scene for almost 40 years. After managing his own creative shop from the mid-seventies to the early eighties, Mike became co-founder and partner of Eidos Group—a full-service advertising agency—in 1984. For more than 20 years, Eidos Group successfully serviced an impressive mix of national CPG and retail banking accounts. Along the way, Eidos was recognized for its uniquely strategic creative vision by numerous industry groups, with work prominently featured in Creativity 18, Print Magazine’s Regional Design Annual, as well as other prestigious publications. Mike himself was honored by the New York Type Directors Club, which included his poster work in Typography 35. In 2005, Mike was named creative director for Garden Fresh Gourmet, a specialty food manufacturer headquartered near Detroit. He was promoted to partner and Chief Creative Officer in 2009. After a period of unprecedented growth that saw the company cross the $100 million mark in annual sales, Garden Fresh was sold to the Campbell Soup Company in 2015. Today, along with several other former owners of Garden Fresh, Mike is a partner in a new food manufacturing venture called Clean Planet, where he heads up the company’s marketing and branding efforts. Mike makes his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, along with Anita, his wife of 31 years. He created the stunning logos for Amara and the TKS and is our designer for business cards, letterheads and promotional materials.

 

Patricia Carver is a founder of Community Drive, Inc. with a deep commitment to social justice. Her dedication began with the birth of her brother and recognition that his being “special” meant his being set apart. She headed local advocacy agencies, statewide leadership development programs and coordinated the international Center for Self-Determination. Pat co-founded the Partners for Freedom in Michigan; MI SIBS (Michigan Supporting and Including Brothers and Sisters); the statewide Academy on Self-Determination and coordinated the nationwide competency-based leadership training program – Partners in Policymaking. In 2014, Pat chaired the National Sibling Leadership Network. She has co-edited a book on the promise of self-determination. Currently, she serves on the board of Disability Rights International. Pat earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education and Journalism from the University of Michigan in 1980.