Jeff Morgan founded Global Conservation to directly assist endangered UNESCO World Heritage and National Parks to achieve 'No Kill, No Cut' protection in the face of accelerating wildlife poaching, illegal logging, mining and encroachment.Global Conservation directly funds Global Park Defense programs for UNESCO and national parks deploying critically needed protection systems, technology and training.
Working the past fifteen years with national governments and local communities in twenty countries in the developing world, Jeff Morgan has secured over $40 million in international funding and $30 million in-country matching funding for world heritage conservation achieving major conservation and development outcomes.
He leads major conservation programs and manages initiatives on behalf of philanthropic foundations, families and individuals that result a lasting legacy for world heritage, national parks and wildlife conservation.
Prior to Global Conservation, Jeff founded Global Heritage Fund (GHF), which he grew over 10 years as Executive Director before becoming Vice Chairman. GHF is now one of the leading international conservancies for preserving world heritage and building communities in developing countries.
For the past 22 years, Jeff Morgan has served as Trustee of the Morgan Family Foundation, one of California’s leading environmental foundations.
Major initiatives include Mirador National Park, the Northern Sierra Partnership, Feather River and Truckee Donner Land Trust, and protection of the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra, Indonesia.
Mr. Morgan is the author of several books - Saving Our Global Heritage and Cracking the Japanese Market - and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), Stanford University. He lives in Portola Valley, California and has three children.

Max's educational background is in management of natural resources. His expertise in biodiversity conservation, protected area management, agroforestry and ecosystems restoration has been developed over almost twenty years working with communities, farmers and indigenous people.

He has worked for Conservation International and the Tropical Science Center as technical staff, program manager and project coordinator in the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve conservation initiative. He was responsible for developing reforestation programs and payments for ecosystem services, monitoring globally endangered species, coffee production conservation practices, and biological corridors.

From 2007-2011 he worked as a consultant for The Nature Conservancy, Humane Society International and local NGOs in Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua in biodiversity conservation issues and sustainable development.

Since 2012, Max has worked at Osa Conservation in Costa Rica as Land Stewardship Manager, Operations Manager, and until 2019 as Executive Co-Director. He has led the consolidation of the Osa Wildlife Refuge and has promoted conservation through financial mechanisms that recognize the important work of private owners in the protection of biodiversity through his position as the president of the Local Council of Corcovado National Park and as a member of the special committee of the Sustainable Biodiversity Fund. In order to facilitate the processes necessary to guarantee the conservation of the natural wealth of the Osa Peninsula, Max works to create links with government institutions, local governments, NGOs and communities. He believes faithfully that conservation must be born of each person and each community.

He currently serves as Director of Tortugas Preciosas de Osa, a nonprofit program working to protect the sea turtles in the Golfo Dulce. He is also board president of Namá Conservation, an NGO whose mission is to contribute to the conservation of carnivores, their prey species, and their ecosystems in Costa Rica through the development of research and collaboration.

Ms. Margoth Quispe is a trained attorney well-known in Peru for her effective work representing indigenous communities of the Amazon and nature conservation to protect rainforests and wildlife. She holds a law degree focused on Indigenous Rights and undergraduate degree from Lima.

Margoth joined Global Conservation from Rainforest Foundation Peru. As Director of South America she now leads Global Conservation’s work in Peru (Sierra del Divisor), Colombia (Los Katios World Heritage Site), and Ecuador (Yasuni World Heritage Site).

Currently, she is leading our deployment of Global Park Defense to protect Sierra del Divisor National Park. This initiative is integrating park rangers, local communities, and the marines as a coordinated patrolling and surveillance force against illegal logging, coca plantations and wildlife poaching inside the park and bordering community lands.

Oliver Fankem is a conservation biologist from Cameroon and our new Director for Central Africa. 

Oliver’s dedication to conservation began in his childhood, when he spent most of his days exploring for “forest snacks” and fishing. He was in awe of a TV program called “Splendeur Sauvage” and of videos from Jacques Cousteau’s marine expeditions. 

Later, he completed two MSc degrees (Wildlife Management at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and Conservation Biology at the University of Kent, UK). During his studies, he carried out work in the Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, taking part in wildlife censuses, anti-poaching patrols, community engagement, and more in various national parks.

Over the last 15 years he has worked on conservation in Cameroon, providing technical support in protected area management, law enforcement, and wildlife monitoring, eventually securing a position with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Since 2009, he advanced within ZSL from Assistant Manager in 2009 to ZSL TRIDOM Landscape Manager in 2019. As TRIDOM Landscape manager, he was responsible for the management of all of ZSL’s activities, including liaising with other partners, in TRIDOM (a network of protected areas in Cameroon made up of Dja Wildlife Reserve, Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary, Ngoila Wildlife Reserve, Nki National Park, Boumba Bek National Park, and their peripheries).

This work gave him the opportunity to implement site-based protection systems in focal sites, coordinate community engagement, develop intelligence networks including a community surveillance network, coordinate multiple landscape law enforcement operations, and test several approaches to addressing Cameroon-Gabon transboundary wildlife crime. 

He has contributed to successful grant applications such as ECOFAC VI, USFWS African Elephant Conservation Fund, IWT Challenge Fund, Rufford, Arcus, and Save The Elephants, for a total of over three million dollars. Over the last three years, he has managed the delivery of ZSL’s TRIDOM Conservation Programme to ensure effective operations and delivery of ZSL’s strategy in Cameroon. 

Alejandro is an oceanologist and former director & manager of UNESCO Marine World Heritage Sites in the Gulf of California, and our new Director for Mexico. Alejandro is a dedicated oceanologist and former MPA Director with fourteen years of solid experience, knowledge and skills in marine and coastal ecosystem conservation. He comes from a background in management of Marine World Heritage Sites and marine protected areas in the Gulf of California, Eastern Mexican Pacific, and the Southern Mexican Caribbean. His experience in managing marine parks, and his extensive knowledge of Mexican ecosystems, makes him an excellent addition to the GC team.

Alejandro also has proven experience in strengthening surveillance and inter-institutional collaboration in national parks, as well as establishment of relationships and alliances with key stakeholders such as governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations, universities, researchers and local communities. He has participated in regional-scale projects as well as international initiatives & projects focused on effective marine management, biodiversity conservation, biological monitoring, marine & coastal restoration, strengthening of MPAs, local communities’ welfare, capacity building, ecosystem services, ecotourism & networking.

Mustafa Gönen is a trained urban planner with more than twenty-five years of experience in urban planning and management. He worked with Global Heritage Fund as the Director of the Turkey Heritage Program for almost twenty years, where he led Kars, Göbeklitepe and Sagalassos cultural heritage preservation projects and numerous investigations in Turkey, Kosovo, Armenia, and Greece.

He was a research affiliate to Harvard University’s Center for Urban Development Studies and Institute for International Urban Development in Turkey for three years. Mustafa has extensive experience in international projects in France, Thailand, Russia, Finland, Benin, Morocco, Albania, Macedonia, and Kosovo.

He was lecturing on ‘Cultural Heritage Management and Economics’ in Ankara Science University and is currently a visiting lecturer in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Gazi University, Ankara.

Mustafa Gönen has a MSc. in Urban Planning from Gazi University, Ankara; an MA in Urban Management from Erasmus University, Rotterdam. He is fluent in Turkish and English.