John Beavers

John Beavers is the Executive Director of Amazon Conservation and is responsible for its overall leadership and management. John has spent his career focused on conservation in Latin America ranging from on-the-ground conservation in the Maya Forest of Guatemala, Belize and Mexico to strengthening conservation organizations across Latin America. Prior to starting with Amazon Conservation in 2019, he spent seven years leading Audubon's international conservation efforts to protect key bird habitats and biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean. While there, he launched Audubon’s first international conservation strategy to guide Audubon's efforts outside of the United States, and developed and led innovative projects, including a $2.6 million bird-based-tourism partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and a regional climate plan that linked conservation organizations across 12 countries. Previously, he worked for seventeen years with The Nature Conservancy in Latin America, and lived in Guatemala where he led the Conservancy’s Guatemala and Central America Programs and helped lead national level conservation finance and policy actions, including a $24.4M debt-swap between the Guatemalan and US Governments. John has a Master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in Natural Resource Economics and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Rutgers University.

Matt Finer

For the past two decades, Matt has been dedicated to investigating threats to the Amazon. As part of this effort, he has been especially focused on advancing the dynamic field of real-time, satellite based threats monitoring from deforestation and fires. Following years of Amazon-based work, Matt came aboard Amazon Conservation in 2013, and in 2015 launched MAAP (Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project) as the organization's dedicated real-time monitoring program. Under his leadership, MAAP has published over 130 high-impact public reports on critical topics including Amazon fires, illegal gold mining, illegal logging, expansion of the agricultural frontier, and road construction. He also works closely with colleagues in Amazonian countries to convert the technical findings into effective policy action. Matt received his Ph.D. from the School of Biological Sciences at Washington State University in 2003 and got his start as an undergrad in the Ecology and Evolution department at the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to joining Amazon Conservation, he was a Project Scientist for the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) Sustainable Loreto project and Staff Ecologist at Save America’s Forests.

Ana Folhadella

Ana is a Brazilian-born communicator and fundraiser. As the Philanthropy and Communications Director, she helps share the stories of the people of the Amazon internationally and raises millions to protect the world's most important forest. Ana designs fundraising and external communications strategies for the organization and oversees their implementation. Previous to joining Amazon Conservation in 2016, Ana worked for six years in the areas of program management, volunteer management, marketing, and fundraising with nonprofits in Michigan and Illinois. Ana has studied and volunteered abroad with several NGOs implementing community-based conservation projects in Chile and Brazil, including personally planting over 1,000 trees to help reforest the Atlantic Forest. She has a Bachelor's in International Studies from the University of Michigan and a Master's in Public Administration from Oakland University. In her free time, she volunteers with Dimensions Sciences, an organization working to build diversity in science by providing scholarships and mentoring to underrepresented groups.

Meryl Cohen

Meryl leads the program strategy for the Alliance and supports the management of projects in Peru and Bolivia. She is in charge of developing grant proposals and managing relationships with foundations, governments, and other grant makers. Prior to starting with Amazon Conservation in 2019, Meryl developed and implemented rights-based conservation strategies across the Amazon and Mesoamerica with Forest Trends and the Rights and Resources Initiative. Prior to that, she supported Rapid Assessment Projects in Peru to quantify species diversity with Conservation International. Meryl has a Master’s degree in International Development and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Nadia Mamani

Nadia provides technical support for Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP). She conducts real-time monitoring analysis and identifies the drivers, patterns, hotspots and deforestation trends across the Amazon region using remote sensing and GIS techniques at a regional, national and local landscape scale. Previous to working with Amazon Conservation, she worked in environmental conservation and sustainable natural resources management with government and nonprofits organizations in Peru. Nadia has collaborated in the implementation of land restoration activities in indigenous communities and community-based conservation projects in Madre de Dios. She received her BA in Forest and Environmental Engineering from the National Amazonian University of Madre de Dios and pursues a Master’s degree in Climate Change and Sustainable Development from National University of San Antonio Abad of Cusco.

Blair Scott

Blair provides programmatic support for Amazon Conservation's conservation programs in Peru and Bolivia, assisting with grant development and management. Prior to working with Amazon Conservation, Blair worked at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as the program coordinator for the Middle East Program. She has also worked in the democracy and governance space as a project assistant with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and as an intern with PartnersGlobal. She received her BA in International Studies and History and minors in Spanish and Environment from the University of Michigan.

Heather Hutchison

Heather provides development support for Amazon Conservation’s fundraising campaigns and manages the organization’s giving programs and donation processing. Prior to joining Amazon Conservation, Heather coordinated fundraising and events for Conservation Northwest in Seattle, WA and international volunteer programs in community development for Fundación Ecuador Volunteer in Quito, Ecuador. She holds a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with Certificates in International Development and Latin American Studies, as well as a M.S. in Socio-Environmental Studies from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Ecuador (FLACSO-Ecuador).

Alina Ariñez

Alina provides technical support for Amazon Conservation's Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP). She performs near real-time monitoring of deforestation and identifies critical points in the Amazon region through the use of remote sensors and GIS tools. Before, she worked and still coordinates with our sister organization, ACEAA of Bolivia, in the monitoring of deforestation and fire in different Protected Areas and Indigenous Territories. She has also worked in various institutions for the Bolivian government, applying her knowledge of GIS and Remote Sensing. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Geographic Engineering from the Universidad Mayor de San Andres, in La Paz Bolivia, as well as the Specialization in Remote Sensing and GIS from INPE in Brazil and the Specialization in Remote Sensing Applied to Territorial Information at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

Maya Rodriguez

Maya oversees and performs administrative tasks at the Amazon Conservation, conducting office management, coordination, and general operations. Prior to joining Amazon Conservation, Maya worked as an Outreach Assistant Intern at the Chesapeake Conservancy, and helped in reaching out to marginalized communities and increasing engagement in parks and recreation. She received a BA in International Studies at American University's School of International Service and minored in Creative Writing.

Lauren deVilla

Lauren brings Amazon Conservation's voice to life by running all of our social media accounts, coordinating digital content, developing campaign strategies, and more! She graduated from James Madison University in 2021 with a BA in Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communications, and a double minor in Spanish and Creative Writing. Before joining our team, Lauren interned with various marketing departments in both nonprofit and other organizations. Throughout her life, she has lived in 5 different countries and continues to show her appreciation for cultures, customs, and languages through different modes of communication.

Carmen Sahonero

Carmen leads ACA’s financial management and oversees compliance, budgeting, financial reporting, and management of all sources of income. She is in charge of implementing financial strategies and risk assessments across the organization. She brings international experience, having worked in global organizations such as Ericsson Corp, Coopers & Lybrand, The Nature Conservancy, Care, Just Associates, Women for Women International, and Forest Trends. Carmen is an Accountant and has a Master’s Degree in Financial Control and Auditing from Universidad Católica (La Paz, Bolivia) in collaboration with Harvard Institute for International Development. She also has completed Project Management studies at George Mason University.