Mary Brown

Education

M.Res., Primate Biology, Behavior and Conservation, University of Roehampton

B.S., Integrative Biology, University of Illinois

Mary Brown has been involved in conservation in many capacities over the past decade through work in project management, program development, research, wildlife rescue, public outreach, donor relations and grant writing with numerous animal welfare and conservation organizations. Her conservation career began in South Africa, where she helped to lead an international volunteer program, providing care for primates affected by human-wildlife conflict and wildlife trafficking. After working in both animal care and conservation education, Mary applied her animal welfare and conservation passions to research, working with Lincoln Park Zoo’s Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes and Hunter College’s Department of Anthropology to conduct a multi-institutional collaboration for studying great ape behavior and physiology. She also studied the effectiveness of forest protection efforts in conserving mammal diversity in Peru and examined how habitat protection can impact community livelihoods and perceptions of conservation.

Mary’s work is now primarily focused on cultivating and managing funding relationships and collaborative partnerships for advancing strategies to conserve wildlife and wildlands worldwide. Her work has taken her across Africa to collaborate with organizations working to safeguard forests for the world’s most endangered species and build the capacity of communities to protect habitats and wildlife. She has held positions with Rainforest Trust, developing and managing organizational partnerships for establishing and expanding protected areas across western and southern Africa, and she provides significant program management support to the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), Africa’s largest association of wildlife centers.

Mary serves as GWC’s Conservation Partnerships Coordinator, working across GWC Program areas to manage grants and foster relationships with organizations working with GWC to conserve global biodiversity.