Tigers for Tigers Hosts its First Leadership Conference in South Carolina

This weekend, The National Tigers for Tigers Coalition is excited to host our first Fall Leadership Conference for rising T4T leaders! Eight leaders of T4T clubs will gather in at Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina to learn valuable strategies, network and share best practices.

The purpose of the Tigers for Tigers program of the National Wildlife Refuge Association is to channel school spirit at tiger mascot universities across the country to support meaningful tiger conservation efforts abroad, provide career experiences for college students, and develop future leaders in wildlife conservation.

The event will focus on marketing T4T clubs on campus, member recruitment, strategies in fundraising, building relationships with key administration, as well as next steps for the T4T coalition. It will consist of rotating workshops, and group leadership and team-building activities.

This conference will provide students with a great opportunity to network with T4T clubs across the country and take new knowledge back to their T4T clubs. We will have a variety of conservation and business professionals speaking at the event to share their insights and experiences. This conference will be laid back, fun and engaging for all! By the end of the conference, students will have the skills and tools necessary to take their T4T club to the next level.

Meet our guest speakers:

Ms. Anjana Gosain

Chief Functionary Officer, Tiger Trust India

Ms. Anjana Gosain has been associated with the Tiger Trust as Chief Functionary Officer since 1989. She is the practicing attorney in Supreme Court of India since 1978. She has been appointed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India as an observer in Ranthambhore National Park as a member of Standing Committee. She is the one to train first time in India Women Forest Guards in Ranthambhore. She is pioneer in starting the capacity building training on wildlife crimes in association with Forest Department, non-profit organization across the country. She has also filed important public litigation in Supreme Court raising important issues regarding the census of tigers. She is the visiting faculty to Wildlife institute of India, Indira Gandhi National Forests Academy, Forest Research Institute. She has addressed on key issues on environment at national as well as international level. She is the recognize face in the field of wildlife conservation, known for her upfront approach and ever willing to take cause of conservation. She believes in principle of ‘Catch Them Young’ and works closely with the students to instill knowledge in them the need for conservation.

Brandi Geurkink

Field Coordinator, ONE Campaign

Brandi is a long-time ONE member who joined the Campus Team as the Campus & Field Coordinator in the summer of 2014 after serving as the campus leader of her ONE chapter throughout college. In her role as ONE Campus Coordinator, Brandi compiles metrics, provides logistical support to manage campus operations, and manages the Regional College Organizer program. Brandi graduated from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina where she studied Political Science and International Studies with a concentration in the Middle East and Africa. Brandi has previously worked as an editor for BORGEN Magazine and interned with ONE twice before joining the team.

Brendan Tate

International Affairs Specialist, Global Branch of Division of International Conservation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Brendan is the International Affairs Specialist at the Global Branch of Division of International Conservation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Previously, Brendan held positions at WWF as the senior administrative assistant for government relations and later as the legislative associate, where he worked with Congress to help shape legislation and appropriations issues. Brendan also served as liaison to congressional members and staff, administration officials and representatives from other groups on an array of issues such as increased funding for international biodiversity conservation, conservation programs in the Farm Bill, modernizing and strengthening the Endangered Species Act, and protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Prior to joining WWF, Brendan worked for Rep. David Obey (D-WI), the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee. Brendan collaborated with the elections office to help promote and develop fundraising events and he represented Congressman Obey throughout the 7th district of Wisconsin. In 2002 Brendan worked for the DC based lobbying firm Jefferson Government Relations assisting on issues such as education, agriculture, appropriations, energy and water. Brendan is a 2003 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point with a degree in Political Science.

Dr. David Tonkyn

Population Ecology Professor and Clemson T4T Advisor, Clemson University

Dr. David Tonkyn is a population ecology professor at Clemson University in South Carolina. He is the founding Academic Advisor of Clemson Tigers for Tigers and the National Tigers for Tigers Coalition. Dr. Tonkyn has been involved in T4T since its inception in 1997. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Tonkyn has led 10 student trips to India encompassing over 100 students. He has multiple graduate students working on tiger conservation projects in India and Russia, human-elephant conflicts in Myanmar, U.S. butterfly populations affected by climate change, and more. Dr. Tonkyn received his Bachelors, Masters and PhD from Princeton University.