Our partners

BGCI’s Tree Conservation Fund works with partners across the world to save the world’s threatened trees. Here are some of our partners:

Aabid Hussain Mir
India

Anurag Dhyani
India

James Amponsah
Ghana

Yalma L. Vargas-Rodriguez
Mexico

Ana Sandoval
Chile

Andrii Tarieiev
Germany

Atty. Allan V. Barcena
Philippines

Persy Gomez de la Fuente
Chile

Namgay Tshering
Bhutan

Our team

BGCI’s Tree Conservation Fund is led by a small team of people within BGCI. We collaborate with partners across the world to achieve incredible conservation outcomes for tree species. 

Paul Smith

Secretary General

With a career spanning 25 years working in conservation, Paul joined BGCI as Secretary General in March 2015. He is the former Head of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) and, during his nine years at the helm, seeds from more than 25,000 plant species were conserved in the MSB.

Kirsty Shaw

Head of Ecological Restoration and Tree Conservation

Kirsty leads BGCI’s Global Trees Campaign programme and the Ecological Restoration Alliance of Botanic Gardens. She manages a range of practical tree conservation and forest restoration projects in Africa.

Brian Lainoff

Head of Membership Strategy and Services

Brian leads the BGCI Membership Programme, manages the BGCI Accreditation Scheme and the Global Botanic Garden Fund, and provides the strategic direction and services for BGCI membership.

Murphy Westwood

Director of Global Tree Conservation, The Morton Arboretum

Murphy is based at The Morton Arboretum in Chicago, U.S.A, where she works as the Director of Global Tree Conservation. Murphy operates as a US-based representative for BGCI’s tree conservation efforts. 

Noelia Alvarez

Plant Conservation Project Manager

Noelia develops and manages several conservation projects for threatened tree species in the Latin American region for BGCI.

Greetha Arumugam

Southeast Asia Botanic Gardens (SEABG) Network Coordinator

Greetha is from Malaysia and has a Ph.D. in Plant Science from the Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia. She is based at Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Our Ambassadors

BGCI’s Tree Conservation Fund is supported by a number of Ambassadors and Board Members. 

Karen Fawcett

Ambassador, BGCI

Karen is a Non-Executive Director of INSEAD and formerly Global CEO of retail banking as well as Head of Brand and Marketing at Standard Chartered. 

Martin Gibson

Board Member, BGCI

Martin is an experienced small business accountant and advisor with a deep interest in active conservation. He chairs BGCI’s Finance Committee. He is a trustee of several other charities where he looks for robust financial management and strong governance.

Michael Murphy

Board Member, BGCI

Michael is Vice-President (Advancement) at Imperial College London. Previously, Michael was the Chief Development Officer at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the Chief Executive of the Foundation and Friends of Kew gardens. He has extensive international experience in advancement, fundraising, marketing, management, strategic planning, and communications.

Stuart J. Clenaghan

Board Member, BGCI

Stuart is a Senior Fellow at the Climate Bonds Initiative and focuses on bonds and forest protection measures. He is also principal at Eco System Services Limited.