Mara Elephant Project USA

Mara Elephant Project USA (MEP USA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax ID 45-3996413) located in Carmel, Indiana in the United States. The purpose of the organization is to support the conservation efforts of Mara Elephant Project in Kenya through fundraising, communications and administrative initiatives. View the MEP USA donor information including previous Form 990 filings here.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Treasurer, Board Member
Erica is a Director of Global Marketing Functional Strategy & Planning for Salesforce working in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Prior to Salesforce, Erica was the Business Manager at an engineering firm and Financial Analyst at a construction firm which built stadiums and arenas. Erica’s passion for conservation and sustainability began as a child and flowed into her career as she became LEED Certified. She developed and led the LEED program while building arenas, resulting in the first LEED Gold Certified constructed professional basketball arena in North America. This focus on conservation & sustainability enhanced during her first visit to Kenya over a decade ago when introduced to MEP and has continued and grown ever since. Erica studied Finance and International Business at the University of Cincinnati with time at  Audencia Business School in Nantes, France. Combining her love for philanthropy and finance, Erica is Treasurer of the J E Fehsenfeld Family Foundation. You can find Erica and her family living in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Board Member

Kevin Rodrigues is an investment professional with over 13 years of experience in investment banking, merchant finance and private equity gained in the United States, Europe and Africa. Kevin currently works as a Director at LGT Lightstone, managing investment activities in Eastern & Lusophone Africa. Focusing on impact investing in key emerging economies, LGT Lightstone is a fully owned subsidiary of The LGT Group Foundation (‘LGT’). LGT is a multi-generational company, owned by the Princely family of Liechtenstein, consisting of multiple business verticals, including a Fund of Funds, Private Bank and Asset Management. Prior to joining LGT Lightstone, Kevin worked for Credit Suisse First Boston, International Finance Corporation, Black River Asset Management (now Proterra Investment Partners) and CDC Group. Kevin holds an MBA from London Business School, UK and a B.A. (Economics) from Northwestern University, USA.

President, Board Member

Marc has worked in the greater Maasai Mara for over a decade, starting as manager for Olchoro Oiroua Conservancy and then Mara North Conservancy. Marc assembled the first Rapid Response Unit for MEP in 2011 and in 2013 started working full-time with MEP. Before Marc moved to the Mara, he completed his bachelor’s degree at The Evergreen State College, Washington. During this time Marc started sustainable woodlot cycles and tracked the bongo antelope in Kenya’s Aberdare National Park under the guidance of Richard Leakey. He is also the current Kenya Wildlife Service Honorary Warden for the Maasai Mara.

Board Member

Dr. Jake Wall joined MEP in January 2019 as the director of research and conservation and leads MEP’s applied research agenda aimed at enhancing the protection of elephants and the habitats. Dr. Wall completed an undergraduate degree in physics and then a master’s degree in geography at Queen’s University in Canada specializing in RADAR remote sensing in the Canadian arctic. He began as a volunteer with Save the Elephants (STE) in 2003 and completed a PhD in geography at the University of British Columbia in 2015 studying the geospatial analysis of African elephant movement. Dr. Wall built a real-time monitoring system while at STE during his PhD, which advanced into the EarthRanger system built by AI2, which MEP now uses for the real-time tracking of elephants, rangers and other assets. Jake is originally from Canada but attended the International School of Kenya in Nairobi during the 1990s.

Secretary, Assistant Treasurer, Board Member

Claire joined Mara Elephant Project USA in 2016 as a communications consultant to tell the MEP story through an expanded social media presence, an updated website and more focused fundraising efforts. Her journey has carried her into the position of executive director. She studied journalism at Purdue University and previously owned her own consulting company that provided marketing and social media management for businesses in Indianapolis, IN. You’ll find her there running the Mara Elephant Project USA office. Email her, claire@maraelephantproject.org.

STAFF

Executive Director

Claire joined Mara Elephant Project USA in 2016 as a communications consultant to tell the MEP story through an expanded social media presence, an updated website and more focused fundraising efforts. Her journey has carried her into the position of executive director. She studied journalism at Purdue University and previously owned her own consulting company that provided marketing and social media management for businesses in Indianapolis, IN. You’ll find her there running the Mara Elephant Project USA office. Email her, claire@maraelephantproject.org.

Finance Director

Nancy Miller has thirty years of experience in accounting working in both the for profit and not for profit space. Email her, nancy@maraelephantproject.org.