Meet the Team

Paul Jones - North America Regional Manager

Paul originally joined the GVI team in the UK in 2004 as Africa Regional Coordinator, moving to head up our North American office in July 2006. He has a broad experience of travelling and volunteer work, from reforestation projects in the foothills of Australia's Snowy Mountains to several months as an environmental journalist in Sri Lanka.

A graduate of Physical Geography, Paul has had a variety of jobs including work as a gardener, fireworks tester and football writer but after deciding it was time to ‘do his bit' for the environment signed up to work for a conservation organisation in Australia, planting native trees in New South Wales and fencing National Parks in Queensland.

Looking back on a journey through four continents and eleven countries in little over a year, the islands of Thailand's Krabi Province and the vast expanse of the Queensland outback rank among his favourite destinations, while abseiling down underground waterfalls in New Zealand and trekking in Malaysia's Cameron Highlands were real highlights of the trip!

Richard Walton - Director and Founder of Global Vision International

Having lived and worked overseas for many years as a volunteer and expedition leader, Richard has been largely responsible for the development of Global Vision International from its early days on an island off the coast of Honduras. Richard has led and taken part in expeditions to Patagonia, the Amazon, Honduras and Malawi and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society. He continues to be involved in all aspects of the day to day running of GVI and travels extensively throughout the year to GVI field stations.

Steve Gwenin - GVI Corporate Alliance Director

Steve Gwenin is the founder of Global Vision International's Marine Conservation Expeditions, and has been key in the set up and running of almost all of GVI’s Expeditions, including 3 in Mexico, and one each in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Patagonia, Kenya, Seychelles and Thailand, and has also spent time on the South African expedition and helped in its development.

In 2007 he co-founded the GVI Corporate Alliance and has since created and managed international programs with Whole Foods Market (Fortune 100), Grameen Trust (Nobel Prize Laureate 2006), Global Giving, Kraft Foods, Emirates Foundation (UAE National Volunteering Program), Explore Travel and many others.

Steve is a qualified commercial diver, PADI Instructor, EFR Instructor Trainer, certified powerboat driver and Health and Safety off-site advisor and Off-Site Safety Management trainer, whom holds a B.Sc. in Oceanography and Fisheries Science and is certified in Firefighting and Offshore survival. Prior to joining GVI, Steve worked in the scientific field around Europe, Africa, South and Central America, and had used these opportunities to travel extensively. He disbanded his own successful and growing marine mammal research company, which operated around Northern European, Artic, and African waters, to join GVI and has now been part of the team for almost 6 years.

Steve has over 13 years field research experience spanning 5 continents, 4 oceans and a host of different eco-systems, including marine, coastal, tropical dry and rainforest, artic and savannah. His boundless energy and enthusiasm, commitment to conservation and determination to work with local communities, his strong background in working internationally with governmental, non-profit and commercial organisations in conservation, research and sustainable development initiatives, and his experience of living, training and working with volunteers, make him ideal for GVI.

Lindsey Hallen - North America Regional Coordinator

Lindsey graduated in 2005 with a degree in communications. While there she studied in Sydney, Australia for a semester and traveled all around Australia and New Zealand, going bungee jumping and having a great time!

Australia was so wonderful that she knew she wanted to move someplace just like it after college. That’s how she wound up living in Hawaii for two years working as a veterinary technician. Living close to the beach Lindsey spent her free time hiking, jumping off cliffs, and attempting to surf. During those two years in Hawaii she also volunteered on GVI's Wildlife Conservation Expedition in South Africa, and had an amazing time. We've been trying to get her to stop talking about it ever since!

She has traveled around Europe several times, also visiting Venezuela, the Caribbean and several states across the US. Lindsey joined the GVI team in the summer of 2008, first as an intern and now as Regional Coordinator for North America. In the winter months she can be found skiing/snowboarding, is a big believer in doing what you love and hopes to continue to live that way!

Stephanie Roberts - Ambassador Program Manager

Stephanie hails from Vermont and moved to the Boston area in June 2008 to join a vibrant group of Resident Assistants at Showa Boston, a Japanese International School, mentoring and creating an array of programs for its students. In May 2008 Stephanie graduated with a B.A. in French and minor in Anthropology from Dickinson College in rural Pennsylvania, enjoying the opportunity to study overseas in Toulouse and conducting an anthropological study in Suva, Fiji.

Growing up on the family farm in rural Vermont Stephanie volunteered with the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC), sleeping in the woods by night and restoring historic cemeteries by day. Her volunteering experience includes community service trips to a large Native American reservation south of Tucson, AZ, and besides volunteering Stephanie is passionate about organic and local farming, biking, running, baseball, baking/cooking, laughing, and spending time with family!

After enjoying her time as an office intern Stephanie was offered a full-time role with GVI as manager of our growing Ambassador Program, coordinating the many former GVI participants who are actively promoting GVI after their return and helping us to ensure we keep our marketing costs to a minimum and helping to encourage future volunteer to take the plunge!

Amanda Cota - Regional Coordinator

Amanda graduated from the University of Vermont in 2008 with a B.S. in Tourism, with a cultural anthropology minor. This insight into the wonderful world of sustainable travel and conservation has persuaded Mandy to pursue a career in those fields.

A trip to Costa Rica gave her a chance to study Eco-tourism in practice. Her appetite for travel grew, and thanks to a semester abroad in Kenya studying wildlife management and living in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro Amanda can handle conversation in Kiswahili. Her dedication to a life spent outdoors has also included an internship as a tour guide in the temperate rainforests of Southeast Alaska, an experience she describes as "very saturating, but good fun", and her latest adventures involved backpacking through Ecuador and Peru.

Besides In between all that travel Amanda somehow squeezes in some hard work, currently helping provide support to GVI's North American volunteers - she's also got her eye on GVI's marine research programs, saving every penny for her next trip!

Danielle Cuénoud - Regional Coordinator

Danielle graduated from Providence College in 2006 with a B.S. in Health Policy and Management. After graduating, she spent three years working for a public health consulting firm in Boston whose amazing employees quickly became her second family. Danielle enjoyed working on domestic projects but realized she wanted to give international public health a try. As luck would have it, an opportunity came up where she got the chance to travel to Haiti for a project that was evaluating HIV care. Her trip to Haiti opened her eyes to public health at the grassroots level, not to mention that traveling for work was an added bonus!

Growing up with half her family living in Switzerland, Danielle had the opportunity to travel at a young age. Her love for travel has continued to grow over the years and has lead to some amazing trips. Her most recent trip was to Ghana where she worked with partner eye clinics to screen for eye disease, implement education programs, and coordinate sight-restoring surgery for children and adults. Passionate about volunteering and traveling, Danielle is excited about joining the GVI team!

Elizabeth Schierloh - Regional Coordinator

Biography coming soon

Alix Collins - Regional Coordinator

More details coming soon