Leadership

Leadership

lorem ipsum subtitle here

Board Members

Chairperson (Also Chairs the Governance Committee)

Elizabeth Gitari-Mitaru
Vice Chairperson

Cissy Walker
Treasurer (Also Chairs the Finance & Fundraising Committee)

Nahashon Maina
Board Member and Chairperson of Editorial Committee

William Pike
Board Member and Chairperson of Advocacy Committee

Michael Wamithi
Board Member (Fauna & Flora Representative)

Serah Munguti
Board Member

Davinder Sikand
Member (Uganda representative)

Captain Otekat
Member

Elizabeth Migongo
Executive Director and Secretary to the Board

Nancy Ogonje

Chairperson (Also Chairs the Governance Committee)

Elizabeth Gitari-Mitaru

Ms. Elizabeth Gitari – Mitaru is the Chairperson of the East African Wildlife Society and also leads the Governance Committee. She is an environmental lawyer with over ten years of experience and has diverse experience in wildlife law enforcement, environmental law, sustainability law and energy law. She is the managing partner of OGO-LAW Advocates. She has presented papers at Cambridge University, UK and Stetson university USA. She is also a law lecturer at Riara University Law School.  She spends her free time mentoring youth and taking long walks in nature with her family.

Vice Chairperson

Cissy Walker

Cissy Walker is the Vice-Chairperson of the East African Wild Life Society and has been involved in wildlife conservation work in Kenya for the past twenty-five years. She lives between Kenya and the UK and believes that EAWLS should be the voice of East Africans in supporting the conservation of habitats and species in the region. Cissy has been with EAWLS since 2014.

Treasurer (Also Chairs the Finance & Fundraising Committee)

Nahashon Maina

Mr. Nahashon Maina is a Board Member of the East African Wild Life Society and sits in the Finance and Fundraising Committee. He is an ex-banker with 33 years of experience in East Africa. He retired in 2019 from Stanbic Bank having mainly worked in the credit and relationship management divisions of the bank. He spent the last 5 years of his career as the Regional Credit Coach. While in the bank, he developed an extra interest in finance and investment. These are the skills he brings with him to the EAWLS board. As an ardent traveler, he wishes to see the wildlife and ecosystem maintained for eternity.

Board Member and Chairperson of Editorial Committee

William Pike

William Pike, 69 years old, is a veteran journalist and publisher in East Africa. He is now the Convergence Director for the Radio Africa Group with special responsibility for supervising the print and digital operations of the Star newspaper. He is also the Managing Director of Capital Radio 2015, Uganda’s leading English language station. He chairs the Editorial board of SWARA Magazine as well as sitting on the board of the EAWLS.

Board Member and Chairperson of Advocacy Committee

Michael Wamithi

Michael Wamithi, 59 years old, is a Board member of East African Wild Life Society and chairs the Advocacy Committee. He is a conservationist with over 35 years successful career in Nature conservation to which he remains actively involved as an independent consultant and serves on the Boards of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the East Africa Wildlife Society (EAWLS) and Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) Kenya chapter and the current chairman of the Wildlife Conservation& Management Professionals society of Kenya. He is also Co-founder-CEO of The Africa Conservancy Foundation (ACF). 

He has previously served as officer and CEO of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and the CEO Kenya Wildlife Trust (KWT) and Kenya Country Director and International Advisor for Africa of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Advisory council of PASA (Pan-African Sanctuaries Association) and Supervisory

Board member of the Wildlife Justice Commission, The Hague (WJC). In these roles Michael has initiated and oversight many conservation projects across Africa aimed at enhancing the status of Protected Areas and Conservancies, enhancing local communities, guided training and supervision of law enforcement staff, campaigned against destruction of forests, poaching and international illegal wildlife trade. He has also participated in the review of the wildlife law and policy in Kenya.

Working in conservation, he has developed a strong love for outdoors and the realization that even conservation, as with other positive societal values, to take hold one has to start early with young people. He finds much joy in providing opportunity and mentorship to young people especially, and creating awareness in Kenya citizens in general regarding the environment, current social causes, building their social capital and developing healthy physical and mental lifestyles.

Michael carries a strong passion for conservation and extensive skills in donor relations, protected area management, institutional management and administration. He holds an Msc. in Security management and lives in Nairobi, Kenya.

Board Member (Fauna & Flora Representative)

Serah Munguti

Serah is a Board member of East African Wildlife Society and sits in the Advocacy committee. She has longstanding experience in conservation programme development, policy and advocacy, community development, and land use planning among others. She has a strong passion for environmental advocacy and has had many successes in this field. She is currently the Country Manager, Kenya at Fauna and Flora International. Fauna and Flora International is a major partner of East African Wild Life Society.

Board Member

Davinder Sikand

Davinder is the Treasurer for East African Wild Life Society and chairs the Finance and Fundraising Committee. He is a long-standing member of EAWLS with a great passion for wildlife conservation in the region of East Africa. He has 24 years of experience in private equity and investment banking gained in the United States, Europe and East Africa. He holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University, USA and is qualified with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK).

Member (Uganda representative)

Captain Otekat

Member

Elizabeth Migongo

Executive Director and Secretary to the Board

Nancy Ogonje

Nancy Ogonje is the Executive Director for The East African Wild Life Society and Secretary to the Board. She has 19 years of work experience in environmental management, development management, project management, strategic management and communications management. She is passionate about wildlife and their natural habitats and through East African Wild Life Society initiatives, oversees their protection and conservation. She encourages both individuals and corporate organizations to support conservation as it is a collective responsibility for the mutual benefit of both wildlife and mankind and for the future health of our planet.

Management Staff

Advocacy and Programs Manager

Jabes Okumu
Finance Manager and Secretary to Finance and Fundraising Committee

June Wangui
HR and Administration Manager and Secretary to Governance Committee

Fridah Mung’athia
Development & Marketing Manager

Gideon Bett
Communications Manager

Kaimuri Kiriinya
SWARA Magazine Editor

John Nyaga
Membership Officer

Rose Chemweno

Advocacy and Programs Manager

Jabes Okumu

Jabes holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Wildlife Management from Moi University and has over seven
years of experience in the development and management of projects in various aspects of
conservation including but not limited to policies, institutional development, livelihoods and
Community-Based Natural Resource Management. Over the years, he has supported the
coordination of various natural resource fora, among them, Kenya Wetlands Forum, Kenya Forest
Working Group and Kenya Wildlife Conservation Forum.
Jabes is an Alumni of Tropical Biology Association (TBA) having received training on designing and
implementing impactful projects, and basic training on effective Environmental Impact Assessment
as a tool in conservation.
At the East African Wild Life Society, Jabes heads the Programs and Advocacy Unit. He provides
leadership and coordinates all program and advocacy activities including forums per the strategic
plan. He develops and implements advocacy strategies including campaign strategies; and
spearheads advocacy and policy projects. Jabes also provide leadership in fundraising for the
projects through partnerships and writing proposals.
Jabes genuinely takes a positive and enthusiastic approach in his work and engage with simplicity,
and professionalism for his creativity and passion to be expressed. He enjoys teaching, and
proximately, learning new things.
Jabes is motivated by the impacts he creates through his work in the organization and the lives of
people locally, regionally and on the global scale.

Finance Manager and Secretary to Finance and Fundraising Committee

June Wangui

June is the Finance Manager for East African Wild Life Society and the Secretary to the Finance and Fundraising Committee. She is a qualified Certified Public Accountant in Kenya (CPA-K) and has over 15 years of working experience with various donors. She has further undertaken financial administrative training offered by the Ministry of Industrialization & Enterprise Development, Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA), Fraud & Corruption Risk Management, various Tax-related training amongst other training sponsored by USAID, Wetlands International Africa, Fauna & Flora International, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Act Change Transform Kenya (ACT!)

June oversees all the financial management and accounting of EAWLS including organizational budget, operational and projects accounting. She has managed various project funds ensuring we comply with various donor requirements including United Nations Development Fund (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Wide Fund (WWF), Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), USAID (PROMARA, SECURE & PREPARED), Fauna & Flora International (FFI), Wetlands International Africa – Kenya Office, Act Change Transform Kenya (ACT!).

June also sits in the Procurement Committee and ensures that requests being reviewed are within budgetary limits and adhere to the organization’s financial policies. She is also instrumental in overseeing the coordination and success of The Forest Challenge initiative.

HR and Administration Manager and Secretary to Governance Committee

Fridah Mung’athia

Fridah is The Human Resources and Administration Manager for East African Wild Life Society. She is also Secretary to Governance Committee. She is a dedicated HR/Admin. Manager with more than five years of working experience in personnel management and ensuring that all employees comply with organizational policies. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Studies from the University of Glamorgan (UK) and a Higher Diploma in Business Management from the Association of Business Executives (ABE-UK).

Development & Marketing Manager

Gideon Bett

Gideon is the Development & Marketing Manager for the East African Wild Life Society. He is responsible for planning, writing, designing, and executing integrated strategies and plans to grow membership of EAWLS and raise funds through marketing and entrepreneurial activities locally, regionally and globally. 

Gideon is a consummate marketer, a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) with two professional diploma qualifications in marketing (CIM) and computer software development. He has over the years acquired relevant skills and certificates in Social Media Tools courtesy of United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR), Report Writing, training offered by Media Train Consultants (UK), Teaching, Training & Assessing being part of City & Guilds (UK) Continuous Career Training (CCD) programme.

Gideon is never shy to exercise leadership skills when called upon.

Communications Manager

Kaimuri Kiriinya

Kaimuri is the Communications Manager for East African Wild Life Society. She has vast experience in Communications, Public Relations and Brand management having worked with various brands in East Africa since 2008. She has a Masters Degree in Strategic Management and a Degree in Journalism; Public Relations and Marketing  both from United States International University. She is passionate about branding and handles all communications at EAWLS.

SWARA Magazine Editor

John Nyaga

John is the Editor for SWARA Magazine at East African Wild Life Society. He is a journalist with years of experience in international newsgathering and writing. His career in journalism dates back to 1990 when he joined Agence France-Presse (AFP) to work as a reporter and sub-editor in the agency’s East Africa bureau. John also previously worked as a public information officer in the United Nations, producing materials on all issues of global concern as well as reporting on breaking developments within the Organization. He is passionate about conservation and collates content for the excellent SWARA Magazine.

Membership Officer

Rose Chemweno

Rose is the Membership officer for East African Wild Life Society. She handles membership inquiries, services members, follow-up on membership renewals, manages membership databases, liaises with EAWLS representatives overseas, ensures proper handling of membership dues from different sources and organizes Imre Loeffler conservation talks at Muthaiga Country Club, Karen Country Club and Nanyuki. She is passionate about wildlife and for many years served EAWLS members.