AZZEDINE T. DOWNES
Azzedine T. Downes. As President and CEO of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) since 2012 and since joining the organisation in 1997 as its Executive Vice President, Azzedine Downes has worked closely with experts and decision makers from around the world, leading a groundbreakink period leading a groundbreakink period of geographic expansion and strategic consolidation.
Influencing international policies to create positive change on the ground, Azzedine led the signing of a historic lease agreement with a Maasai community near Amboseli National Park in Kenya, securing 16,000 acres of habitat for elephants, while helping to establish a first-of-its-kind cooperative framework between IFAW and INTERPOL’s Environmenta Crime Program.
Before joining IFAW, Azzedine served as the Chief of Party for the US Agency for International Development in Jerusalem and Morocco and as the Acting Regional Director for the United States Peace Corps in Eurasia and in the Middle East. In 2015, Fast Company named him one of “The Most 100 Creative People in Business”, and he has been listed among The Nonprofit Time’s “Power and Influence Top 50.” Azzedine is a member off Jane Goodall’s Council of Hope, dedicated to spreading a message of optimism and action in the face of challenges facing our planet. A graduate of Providence College and Harvard University, Azzedine is fluent in Arabic, English, and French.
NEHA PANCHAMIYA
Neha Panchamiya, Founder and President, RESQ.
Neha Panchamiya is an animal rescue specialist and conservationist with over 15 years of experience in working with animals at grassroots level in Maharashtra. She is the Founder and President of RESQ, Pune whose rescue and rehabilitation work has provided direct aid to thousands of animals of over 200+ different species since 2007. Neha runs a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Pune which receives over 2000+ wild animals annually. Additionally, the organisation provides rehabilitation and medical aid to over 10,000 abandoned animals annually. She leads a team of 60+ full time team who dedicatedly works towards the organisation’s vision of conservation and coexistence between wildlife, communities and their animals through their response and prevention verticals.
Neha’s work is focused on coexistence between animals and communities living in human-dominated landscapes, and her efforts are largely driven towards reducing negative interactions between communities and wildlife, developing animal emergency services, community education initiatives, building capacity to raise captive wildlife welfare standards and bridge gaps between public policy and its implementation in India.
PHILIP J. LYMBERY
Philip Lymbery is Global Chief Executive of the international farmed animal welfare environmental organisation, Compassion in World Farming (CIWF). He is visiting Professor at the University of Winchester in the UK, President of the Brussels-based umbrella body of nearly 100 leading animal welfare societies in Europe, Eurogroup for Animals, and is a founding Board member of the World Federation for Animals (WFA), a global membership organisation to represent the animal protection movement at intergovernmental level. Philip Lymbery has played leading roles in many major animal welfare reforms, including Europe-wide bans on veal crates for calves and barren battery cages for laying hens. Described as one of the food industry’s most influential people, he has spearheaded Compassion’s engagement work with over 1000 food companies worldwide, leading to real improvements in the lives of more than a billion farm animals every year.
His awards include Recipient of the ‘Outstanding Campaign’ award by Brussels based Eurogroup for Animals and the 2015 ‘International Golden Dove’ peace prize in Rome. His first book Farmageddon was listed as one of The Times Writers Books of the Year.