Speakers

Erin Hunt, California Wolf Center Erin Hunt

Erin Hunt grew up in Los Angeles, California. Her family encouraged her love for nature and animals of all kinds as well as her strong interest in science. Spending much of her childhood looking through microscopes at pond scum and watching animals to learn more about their behavior, she dreamed of someday working to protect wildlife. Erin moved to San Diego to study biology and ecology, and as a student, she began volunteering at the California Wolf Center to gain experience with wildlife conservation. She was hired as a staff member in 2006, and she became General Manager in 2007 and Director of Operations in 2013. Erin’s day to day responsibilities involve human resources management, finance, nonprofit administration, strategic planning, and improvement of protocols and procedures. She manages participation in the Mexican Wolf Species Survival Plan and directs the Mexican Wolf Fund, a fund dedicated to fostering coexistence, reducing conflicts, and protecting critically endangered Mexican gray wolves in the wild. Erin is also involved with supporting animal care, research, outreach, public relations, and fundraising efforts at the California Wolf Center conservation center in San Diego County.

 

Karin Vardaman, California Wolf Center Karin Vardaman

Karin grew up in Laguna Beach, CA. Her background is in Marine Science. She began her career working as the Director of Animal Care and Operations at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. In 1989, she joined the Ocean Institute (an environmental education center) in Dana Point and spent 24 years with them holding several positions including Senior Director, Maritime. Karin started volunteering with the California Wolf Center in 2011, working in animal care and education, and was hired in March 2013 as the Development Director. She currently serves as the Director of California Wolf Recovery.

 

David Braun, Environmental Activist OrganizerDavid Braun 1

David Braun is a co-founder of Americans Against Fracking and New Yorkers Against Fracking. He has recently relocated back to his home state of California to fight fracking, where he’s working with Californians Against Fracking, a coalition of over 150 organizations fighting for a ban. While in New York, David founded and worked with several grassroots anti-fracking organizations including United for Action and Sane Energy Project, among others. Previously, he was the grassroots coordinator for the films “Gasland” and “Gasland II”. Before working on the fracking issue, he worked with MoveOn and has also been engaged with numerous other social, environmental and economic justice campaigns.
Americans Against Fracking

 

Bill Wisneski, Director and Producer – “Breaking Point”Bill W

Bill Wisneski is an award winning documentary director, producer, writer, and cinematographer.   He has received eleven Pacific Southwest Emmy Awards and dozens of other national accolades for his compelling environmental documentaries.

Abbey Smith, “I Heard”

Abbey Smith is a freelance writer, producer, PR directorAbbey Smith/consultant and professional rock climber based in Los Angeles, California. For over a decade, Abbey has pieced together an unconventional but envious climber-writer-traveler lifestyle and career path. She has carved our her own niche of mountain athlete, taking her passion for adventure, writing and exploratory bouldering to the extreme altitudes of the Indian Himalayas and the Peruvian Andes. Her international exploits have been featured several feature-length films, online web series, commercials, and in the pages of ESPN, Men’s Journal, Outside, Backpacker, Climbing, Alpinist, Rock & Ice, Women’s Adventure and other print and online publications. Currently she’s a Marmot and La Sportiva athlete, clips and programs video content for Yahoo, and PR Director and Producer for the Adventure Film Festival.

James Karl Fischer, “Brilliant Darkness: Hotaru in the Night”

James Karl FischerArchitect James Karl Fischer began his explorations of light while majoring in physics. His advanced explorations in the history, theory and practice of professional ethics in medicine, law and architecture led to a unique contribution to the understanding of designers’ environmental responsibility. He is the executive director for the Zoological Lighting Institute, a full service lighting design practice that contributes its expertise in the nascent science of environmental photo biology to key zoological and wildlife conservation projects worldwide.The Institute works as environmentalists– interested in the various relationships of light to life, as physicists–interested in the radiometric aspects of light as a physical quality, and as artists—interested in the role of light in cultural understanding.

For more information on the Zoological Lighting Institute please visit http://www.zoolighting.com.

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