Meet the People Who Make it Happen

With guidance from the Board and Scientific Advisors, the MFG staff plan, implement, oversee, and evaluate our conservation projects. MFG funds about 90 personnel along with other temporary positions and most have lived their entire lives in Toamasina. Their understanding of local needs and their ability to proceed within the framework of local policies and politics, coupled with the consistency of the  MFG's presence in the community, has enabled the MFG to become a respected voice for conservation within Madagascar.

Executive Director
Karen Freeman, PhD

Karen graduated with a BA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University. She served in Mauritius as Field Coordinator of Mauritian Wildlife Foundation's Pink Pigeon Conservation Project from 1996 until 1999 when she returned to England to enter a PhD program at Queen Mary, University of London. In 2004, Karen was hired as the MFG’s Program Director and she served in that capacity for four years before returning to the UK where she continued to work with the MFG as Research Director to oversee the MFG’s broad research program including facilitating and coordinating local and international research collaborations. To meet the growing needs of the MFG, Dr. Freeman was selected as Executive Director in 2020. Her unique history with the organization, work ethic, commitment to conservation, knowledge of Madagascar, relationships with stakeholders, and overall abilities made her the perfect choice to lead the MFG.

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MFG Program Manager
Jean Jacques Jaozandry

Jean Jacques joined the MFG in spring of 2021. His career choices and experiences make him ideally suited to expertly manage the MFG's on-the-ground efforts. He has more than twenty years in the field of conservation including over a decade working for Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).  He was a key leader in the core team for the creation and implementation of MaMaBaie (Makira-Masoala-Baie d'Antongil), a land and seascape of over one million hectares. He served as WCS's Coordinator of this Project for five years. He has experience managing over 100 people and $1 million USD budgets. Jean Jacques has consulted on livelihoods and development around national parks and presented at many workshops and symposiums. and  Recently, he held leadership positions in the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD) and the Ministry of the Environment, Ecology, and Forests (MEEF) including coordinating the implementation of Madagascar's national reforestation policy. In addition to multiple certifications on sustainability issues, Jean Jacques has a Master's degree in Geography from the University of Toamasina.  

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MFG Administrative Staff

Human Resources Manager
Michella Nantenaina 

Accountant
Jacques Razafimpiheno

Office Assistant
Geraldine Ursula 

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​Betampona Natural Reserve

Betampona Head Agent
Jean Noel

Jean Noel lived in Ambodirafia when he was hired in 1997 to be part of the MFG's ruffed lemur restocking research team. He attended a military high school in Fianarantsoa and attended a year of college at the University of Toamasina when his studies were interrupted. Jean Noel's keen observational abilities were obvious from the onset and, in combination with his intense interest in amphibians and reptiles, he has become a mostly self-taught, highly skilled herpetologist. His leadership qualities led the MFG to promote him to Head Agent in 2009 and he now supervises a team of seven full-time agents, four part-time assistants, four guides, a maintenance worker and guard. The Betampona Conservation Agents are involved in multiple research projects. Karen Freeman, MFG Research Director, and the agents develop a work plan every year with the goal of accommodating new approved projects into the scheduled ongoing long-term research projects (e.g., monthly ecological and amphibian species presence/activity data at two sites since 2009, weekly fauna transect surveys in primary and secondary forest sites, annual survey of nine botanical plots). Regular duties also include patrolling the Reserve for infractions, assisting Saturday School teachers (2 agents), working with local communities on the reforestation project (2 agents), daily weather records and transferring field notes into a database. All outside researchers must be accompanied by MFG staff but the number of agents and duration of the study vary, e.g. graduate students require at least one guide for the duration of their project while lemur health surveys may require a team of agents but only for a two to four week period.

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Parc Ivoloina Zoo

Parc Ivoloina Director/Manager
Bernard Iambana Richardson

​Bernard  graduated with a degree in Biology from the University of Antananarivo in 1997. That same year he was hired as a research assistant by Dr. Adam Britt who was studying the feeding ecology and behavior of the captive born black and white ruffed lemurs released in Betampona Natural Reserve.  Bernard's research, for which he earned his Master's degree, focused on the phenology of the thirty most important fruits consumed by ruffed lemurs.  In 2004 Bernard relocated from Betampona's Research Station in Rendriendry to Toamasina to become Chef du Parc Ivoloina.  Bernard oversees the zoo's animal collections and serves as the MFG's National Representative.

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Head Keeper
Georges Totozandry

The species exhibited at Ivoloina Zoo reflect the reality that the majority of confiscated species are lemurs and tortoises but visitors can also observe amphibian and several other reptile species as well as native wildlife that inhabit the Parc. As Head Keeper, Georges, supervises a staff of seven keepers who care for the animals, maintain the grounds and answer questions for guests and students. The MFG ensures that animal care standards at Ivoloina Zoo reflect those expected from modern zoos.  Zoo professionals from MFG member institutions provide the animal staff with training in areas like husbandry methods, enrichment, and record keeping. Scale training lemurs (below photo) is done to monitor weight as one measure of health.

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Center for Environmental Education

L-R: Andre, Saby, Rostand

Center for Environmental Education Manager
Tsiry Harison

Tsiry Harison, who has a Master's Degree in Communication from University of Antananarivo, joined the MFG in 2016 as the Manager of the Center for Environmental Education (CEE). In addition to Tsiry, the staff includes one full-time and three part-time educators and two teachers for each of the three Saturday Schools in the Betampona area.

The MFG Educational Program has three main components. First, the formal component: basic education that targets mainly children and the public primary schools. The second component is non-formal: a series of environment-related training courses focusing on secondary and high school and even university students. The third component is informal: programs dedicated to the general public. All three depend on the CEE and the natural laboratory of Parc Ivoloina.

Other employees also play an important role in the MFG’s education programs such as when a camp program includes children learning how keepers take care of the animals, or when school children are given tours of the agriculture sites or learn about the tree nurseries devoted to propagating endangered Malagasy tree species. 

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Ivoloina Conservation Training Center

ICTC Manager
Veronique Ravololonarivo ​

​Veronique (or Vero) had just earned a post graduate certificate in natural resource management from the University of Toamasina, when she was hired under an Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) grant awarded to Dr. Christof den Biggelaar. The goal of the grant, to increase local capacity in ecoagriculture research and practice, included equipping ICTC's lab to do qualitative soil analysis. Vero was brought on as an intern and was trained how to use and care for the specialized equipment, analyze soil samples for ongoing research projects, and assist students. Vero proved to be a very competent lab manager and at the end of the grant, was hired to continue in that role. Vero’s responsibilities expanded over the years and in 2016 she was promoted to ICTC Manager. 

Vero also diversified the activity of the center by welcoming different kinds of events, notably meetings and workshops, conferences, etc. ICTC receives students from public and private schools from the primary level up to high school of Toamasina. Vero developed programs introducing young children to microscopes and in 2013 spearheaded the first girl’s leadership camp that is now held annually. Vero’ s team includes Zafy Lucia and Rasoarmalala Clara, who after having received training in culinary arts in Toamasina in 2019, run the ICTC dining facilities. Germaine works with Vero to ensure housekeeping of the ICTC, while Jacques Ely, Zefania Ruffin and Todivelo Narcisse are responsible for security, maintenance and ICTC groundskeeping.

Above L-R: Zafy Lucia and Rasoarmalala Clara; Jacques Ely; Germaine; Zefania Ruffin; and Todivelo Narcisse

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Community Mobilization and Outreach Program

Outreach Manager
Christian Rambeloson

Christian graduated from the University of Mahajanga with a degree in agriculture in 2001 and worked with several development NGOs before he was hired in August 2004 by Toamasina Technical Center for Horticulture (CTHT).  At CTHT Christian worked with farmers throughout the region to plant and care for their cash crops in ways best adapted to the eastern climate and soil conditions.  In June 2007 Christian accepted a position as a research intern (funded through a grant from AZA) to extend agroforestry field trials at Parc Ivoloina under the supervision of Dr. Christof den Biggelaar.  At the end of the grant, Christian was hired to manage the Model Station and to continue the ecoagriculture and agroforestry research and training activities initiated through the grant.  The ecoagriculture team includes Sostene Randrianarison  (middle in left photo below) and Jacquis Misilahy (right photo).  Today, Christian focuses on community outreach for diverse ecoagriculture activities and training.

Ivoloina Forestry Station

Ivoloina Forestry Station Manager
Jean Francois

Jean François Solofoniaina Fidy, is from Ambonivato village, located near the Ivoloina Forest Station (SFI), within the Region of Atsinanana – Toamasina II. Jean François began working for Madagascar Fauna & Flora Group (MFG) in 1998, as a day-to-day laborer for the Toamasina Rotary Club reforestation project.

In 2004, because of his excellent skills in the seedling production techniques, he was then hired as a permanent nurseryman for the KEW Garden Project and worked for this project promoting the conservation of Malagasy endemic palm species. In 2007, Jean François began working as a nurseryman for threatened plant species conservation project which was jointly developed and implemented by MFG and Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG).

Since 2014, Jean François has been appointed as Ivoloina Forest Station Manager. In this role, he heads up team of four forest agents, including Marolahy Michelin, Misilahy Jacquis, Randrianarison Daniel Sosthène and Ihira Alfred (at left).

​Jean François is responsible for SFI restoration, maintenance of infrastructure, and the forest landscape. He also undertakes a mission of control and protection of the SFI against various anthropogenic pressures as well as raising awareness of important issues among the local population.   

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Research Program

Research Coordinator
Juliana Rasoma

Holder of a doctorate (PhD) degree in Zoology and Animal Biodiversity from the Sciences Faculty of the University of Antananarivo, Dr. Rasoma was hired as the MFG Research Coordinator in 2017. Since she began in this position, she has actively strengthened the department by: 

• Gathering all the MFG research data and creating a database. This significantly helps in getting research results.
• Implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of research protocol requirements.
• Strengthening the knowledge of conservation research agents as well as the university students. As a result of this support, the MFG is currently able to accommodate about fifteen trainee students, not only from the University of Toamasina, but also from international universities every year.
• Coordinating the travel and stay of international or Malagasy researchers who want to work at Betampona Natural Reserve or the Parc Ivoloina Zoo.

With her strong educational background, Dr. Rasoma is also a fervent environmental defender and never misses the opportunity to participate in the celebration of related events such as the World Environment Day and the Lemur Festival.
  

Buvette Team

The buvette (gift shop and refreshments) is where visitors are directed to purchase entrance tickets for Ivoloina Zoo. The buvette team is, in essence, the MFG's  Guest Services. In addition to selling tickets, they provide visitors with information about the zoo, walking trails, demonstration stations and education programs, and also answer visitors’ questions. An important objective of the buvette is to generate revenue to help support zoo operations, and thus the team needs to evaluate which products sell well in this region. To that end, Bruno Randriarimalala (left photo), who showed great initiative in generating new ideas, was mentored by former intern, Charlotte Gressin-Welsch, in computer skills, bookkeeping, inventory management and guest services. He mastered it all and, promoted to Buvette Manager in 2010, he oversees two employees Alfred Ihira (below) and Patrice Saby (red t-shirt). Bruno's ideas were central to the design of the new Buvette kitchen.