Our Board of Trustees

Dr. Helen Gichohi 

President - African Wildlife Foundation

With a smile that would make a rhino blush, Dr. Helen Gichohi takes command of AWF's programs with style and determination. Helen is responsible for directing the African Heartlands Program in eight massive landscapes throughout central, eastern, and southern Africa.

Like a queen bee orchestrating the coordination of a complex colony, Helen works with a wide variety of scientists, community officers, government officials, lawyers, donors, and partners to ensure the future for Africa's wildlife. She designs and manages conservation strategies which will reduce threats to wildlife in the Heartlands and improve socioeconomic conditions for the people living there. However, achieving this objective is not always straightforward, since threats to wildlife are often the product of a complex interaction of ecological, social, political, economic factors.

This work has not gone unnoticed either. During the 42nd Independence Day celebrations, the President of the Republic of Kenya awarded Helen the Order of Great Warrior of Kenya Award in recognition of her sterling contribution to conservation.

Helen is a founding Trustee of KLCT.

Mr. Allan Earnshaw 

Vice Chairperson

Allan was born in November 1951 and is a fourth generation Kenyan. He schooled in Kenya,he then went to Oxford University in England where he received his Masters degree in Human Sciences. 

In 1980, Allan joined Ker & Downey Safaris, becoming a Director of the firm in 1982 and Chairman of the Board in 1987, a position he still holds. 

Conservation is a high priority for Allan.  He is not only pro-active within Ker & Downey on conservation issues, but also chairs organisations at a national level. He has been instrumental in the formation and running of Campfire Conservation, a very effective wildlife management company which deals largely with community conservation. From January 2005 to 2007 he was appointed to the Board of the Kenya Wildlife Service, and chaired the Board's Business Committee.

He has served on the Kenya Association of Tour Operators finance committee.Chairman of Campfire Conservation, Founder member of Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association, acted as Treasurer for the Kenya Tourism Federation (KTF).

Currently he is Chairman for the KTF Environment Committee, and serves on the KTF Executive Committee.

Allan has been a Board of Trustee members since 2009.

Mr. Linus Gitahi 

NMG Group CEO

Mr.  Linus Gitahi, NMG Group CEO,  47, holds an MBA from USIU and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) from the University of Nairobi. He was appointed the Group Chief Executive Officer on November 1st, 2006 and to the Board in December 2006. Linus previously worked with a leading pharmaceutical company as Managing Director based in Nigeria. He is Director of the Group's subsidiary companies, Equity bank and Property Development and Management Limited. Mr Gitahi serves on the Strategic Planning, the Editorial and the Nominations Committees. He is also a member of the board of Federation of Kenya employers and fellow of the Kenya institute of management  and the Africa Leadership initiative.

Linus has been a Board of Trustee members since 2008.

Dr. Patricia Kameri-Mbote 

Chaiperson of the Board, Associate Professor of Law, University of Nairobi

Dr Patricia Kameri-Mbote is a Founding Director of IELRC and the Programme Director for Africa. She studied law at the University of Nairobi, the University of Warwick, the University of Zimbabwe and pursued her doctoral studies at Stanford Law School, Stanford University. She is currently an Associate Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Nairobi and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.

She has also taught international environmental law at the University of Kansas. She is a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, a board member of the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE-Uganda) and Women and Law in East Africa (WLEA). She has consulted for many international and national agencies including the World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and the government of Kenya.
She is also the Africa Editor of the Law, Environment and Development Journal (LEAD Journal), a peer-reviewed academic journal jointly published by IELRC and SOAS.

She has published widely in the areas of international law, environmental law, women's rights and property rights. Her research interests include public international law, environment and natural resources law and policy, human rights, women's rights, intellectual property rights, biotechnology policy and law and economic law.    

Patricia has been a Board of Trustee members since 2008.

Dr. Julius Kipng'etich 

Director, Kenya Wildlife Service

Julius Kangogo Kipng’etich joined KWS as the Director in 2005.

Before this, he was the Managing Director of Investment Promotion Council.

Kip, as he prefers to be called, is an ardent believer in continuous improvement. His tenure at the KWS has seen him transform the government parastatal into a serious business outfit.

In a bid to ensure World Class Parks, Kip has greatly improved the management of our parks, while giving conservation a strong scientific approach. All these measures have resulted in safer and more pleasurable experiences within our wildlife protected areas.

A Starehe Boys’ Alumni, Kip has over 17 years experience in Business Process Re-engineering and Change Management.

He was Director of the Student Welfare Authority, University of Nairobi, where he also lectured in the Department of Management Science.

He is a member of the Kenya Tourist Board, and serves on the boards of Kenya Forestry Authority, Equity Bank, Police Oversight Board, Moi Girls Eldoret, Starehe Girls, Starehe Boys, Red Cross, a Member of the Mau Task Force and the Steering Committee for the Marketing of Kenya Stadia prior to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

He is also the patron of AISEC – University of Nairobi.

Kip is the acclaimed winner of the Chief Executive Officer of the Year Award, COYA 2009. He has also been given two national awards ie. CBS and EBS.

His hobbies and interests? Philanthropy, systems theory, mountain climbing (climbed to Point Lenana, Mount Kenya), traveling, reading, golf and classical music.