Jean-Gael "JG" Collomb

Jean-Gaël "JG" E. Collomb, Ph.D. - Director of Conservation Programs, Wildlife Conservation Network.

"Originally from Paris, France, JG has spent most of his adult life between the U.S. and Africa. After getting his B.S. in Biology, he set off for a remote national park in Gabon working with inspiring ecologists studying chimps, gorillas, mandrills and dodging the occasional elephant, while learning that wildlife conservation also required some "bush mechanics" and a good dose of people skills. He focused on the latter, and spent the next six years with the World Resources Institute, coordinating an NGO network to monitor logging companies in Central Africa, and subsequently with the Wildlife Conservation Society providing technical assistance to help the development of national parks and ecotourism in Gabon. This led to JG's interests in rural development issues and their interface with wildlife conservation, taking him to Namibia to study the effects of tourism on people's wellbeing in the Caprivi strip for his Ph.D. dissertation. JG is thrilled to combine all of his interests through his work at WCN. "