Dr. Helen Gichohi
President, African Wildlife Foundation

Dr. Helen Gichohi joined the African Wildlife Foundation in February 2001 as Director of the African Heartlands Program and quickly moved on to become the Vice President for Program in February 2002.

She was elected President of the organization by the Board of Trustees in January 2007. Dr. Gichohi provides overall strategic leadership to AWF’s Conservation Program in Africa. She is responsible for building strong partnerships with large donors for funding of AWF’s conservation work and represents the organization at the highest levels of government in Africa.

Working with the Regional directors, Heartland Directors and senior technical staff, Dr. Gichohi directs and supervises the implementation of the African Heartlands Program. She is responsible for a multi-disciplinary team of scientists, economists, business specialists, development specialists and researchers working in globally important wildlife landscapes (African Heartlands) across central, eastern and southern Africa.

Her team works to understand threats to conservation, selecting and implementing strategies that reduce these threats and also improve the socio-economic conditions of those who live with wildlife.

She also serves on the board of Trustees of the Kenya Wildlife Service. Prior to joining AWF, she was the Director of the African Conservation Centre (ACC), supported by Wildlife Conservation Society, where her key focus had been to provide vision, leadership and strategic direction towards the development of the ACC as a centre for conservation excellence.

She brings to the organization over 15 years of experience, ranging from ecological research, working with local communities in enterprise development and wildlife management.

Dr. Gichohi is a graduate of the University of Leicester, where she attained her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Ecology. She also holds a Master of Science degree in Biology of Conservation and a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University respectively.