Meet the Team

Peter Bradford - Country Director - South Africa

South African born and bred, Peter joined GVI in July 2004 as the Karongwe Expedition Leader. His roles and responsibilities have expanded over the years and he now oversees both the Karongwe and Venetia bases, the SANParks internship programme and various other GVI projects in the country. He came to GVI with over three years experience guiding and managing safari lodges in the Timbavati and Sabi-Sands Game Reserves bordering the Kruger National Park. He is a level 3 guide with the Field Guides Association of South Africa (FGASA) and a registered South African nature guide. Peter has a National Diploma in Forestry and worked in the Kwazulu-Natal Midlands and Drakensberg region managing sustainable forests for four years before moving into eco-tourism and conservation. He is well travelled having spent two and a half years backpacking in Europe, North- and South America. He’s a qualified EFR instructor, has his advanced weapons handling certificate and, apart from English, also speaks Afrikaans and Zulu.

Graham Corti - Country Director - Kenya

Graham first joined GVI in November 2005 as Expedition Manager in Kenya, and has to date over 6 years experience working in East Africa, with 23 expeditions under his belt. He obtained his degree in Zoology at the University of Southampton, undertaking his thesis in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, with research on the behavioural ecology of a feral cat population. After graduation he followed his one real passion and came to Africa, volunteering on a conservation research expedition in central Tanzania before taking a staff position. In addition to Kiswahili language, his time in Tanzania provided him with a broad range of research experience in forest, savanna and wetland habitats. In addition to initiating the first long term research on Africa’s most conservation critical population of the puku antelope he was involved in research projects as diverse as butterfly, amphibian and small mammal biodiversity, bat netting, wetland bird surveys, large mammal tracking, boat-based crocodile surveys and fisheries monitoring. He also delivered training and assessment for BTEC qualifications, co-authored 6 scientific publications and trekked to the summit of Kilimanjaro. Since then he has added two years management experience from the business sector. In Kenya Graham has gained diverse knowledge and experience in environmental awareness, alternative livelihoods and sustainable development with both coastal and in land communities. He is a qualified Emergency First Response Instructor, RYA level 2 power boat handling certified, PADI open water certified as well as having completed basic freefall parachute training.

Jill Walker - Country Director - Thailand

Jill is the Country Director for GVI Thailand and is responsible for all GVI’s activities and personnel within the country. Jill has been living in Thailand for 4 years prior to joining GVI where she has been teaching English as a foreign language at a government high school and has completely fallen in love with the culture of Thailand and the vibrant colors and culture of Southeast Asia. Jill is fluent in Thai and enjoys connecting with the community. Jill has organized and led English camps, workshops for teachers and free English classes for rural students as well as salespeople, tour guides, and others who work in the tourist industry. Jill received her Bachelors degree in Environmental Education from the University of North Carolina and has just finished a Masters degree in Environmental Education with Nova Southeastern University. Jill is a qualified Emergency First Response Instructor and has more than 10 years experience teaching English language and ecology to people of all ages and walks of life in a number of formal and non formal settings. Jill is particularly interested in the possibility of integrating environmental education into English language learning and into everyday life.

Stephen Meyer - Country Director - Argentina

Stephen joined the team in October 2006 as the Science and Logistics Manager and stepped up last August to lead the expeditions. He graduated with a Masters in Geography and Sports Science from the University of Mainz, Germany, in 2005. Stephen has been in the German Special Forces and has worked as a commercial diver in Australia and as a snowboard instructor in the European Alps. He was bitten by the travel bug some years ago and spent many months travelling through SE Asia, Australia, North America and Africa looking for places to dive and searching for waves. Before coming to Patagonia, Stephen led 2 conservation expeditions collecting data in Malaysia (Setiu Wetlands Biodiversity Assessment) and Fiji (Coral Reef Conservation Project) for another British NGO.

Tim Kirkpatrick - Country Director - Seychelles

Tim is originally from the Cotswolds in England and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to GVI and the Seychelles expedition. A PADI Scuba Instructor, he studied mechanical engineering prior to moving to Durban in South Africa. Here, he built the boat that first brought him to the Seychelles, via the islands of the Indian Ocean, a 44 foot catamaran. First time around, Tim remained for 3 years, skippering and falling in love with the islands. Having spent 4 years on the sea he then turned his attention to the land and became an expedition leader on the Africa overland routes. In a two year period he completed 4 trans-Africa expeditions from London to Harare in Zimbabwe covering 60,000 K’s. He has since completed 2 transatlantic passages, lived and worked in the Caribbean as dive master/yacht technician and skipper, in Madagascar after 4 years where he skippered a 60 foot trimaran, worked as a PADI Underwater Instructor rating, set up and managed Zanzibar’s first diving centre, and he started and ran a live aboard diving business in Pemba, Tanzania. Tim washed back up on the shores of the Seychelles after joining the GVI team, ready to renew the love affair that started some twenty three years again.

Daniel Ponce-Taylor - Country Director - Mexico

Daniel holds an MSc in Sustainable Development of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems from the University of Cádiz (Spain) and a BSc (Hons) Oceanography with Marine Biology from the University of Southampton. Before taking up his position with GVI, Daniel worked as Marine Science Coordinator for CCC and carried out research and conservation projects in Australia, Costa Rica and Mexico. He was also the Marine Biome Coordinator for the WWF/Spain Valencia’s Local Group, where he grew up, and is a qualified PADI Dive Master, Emergency First Responder (EFR) Instructor and a certified boat skipper.

For the past 5 years, Daniel has been working in making sure the coastal and marine communities of the Mesoamerican region remain as pristine and diverse as possible, working alongside coastal communities from Costa Rica, Belize, Mexico and Honduras. This added to Daniel’s native grasp of the Spanish language and his knowledge of cultural aspects of Central and Latin America, makes him a very valuable addition to the GVI Team.

Britt Larsen - Director of Programmes

Britt Larsen joined GVI almost 5 years ago as the Expedition Manager of the remote Amazon Expedition in Ecuador. She ran the program for 18 months and was then appointed to set up the Costa Rican wildlife expedition in the coastal lowland rainforest on the Caribbean coast. After set up she managed the Costa Rica expedition for a year and naturally moved on to manage all South American Expeditions for a year and a half before finally being promoted to Director of Programmes. She now overseas all GVI field programmes and has been key in the GVI reaction to Hurricane Dean in Mexico, and in the set up and running of corporate volunteer and community capacity building programs for Whole Foods Market (Fortune 100) and Kraft Foods through the GVI Corporate Alliance. Britt is an Emergency First Response Instructor Trainer, an Off-Site Safety Management trainer, a certified powerboat driver and holds a B.Sc. in Zoology from Newcastle University. Originally from Denmark, Britt has worked and studied abroad during the last 12 years. She has run independent zoological expeditions to Tanzania, where she conducted primate, mammal, bird and amphibian surveys in the Udzungwa Mountains of the Eastern Arc, and to Ecuador’s cloud forest searching for the endangered Pacarana, the 3rd largest rodent in the world. She has also sailed across the Atlantic in a 36-foot ketch, cycled around Central America for a year working in a range of National Parks and has traveled extensively around Africa, Europe and the Americas. With over 10 years of international field experience, Britt has managed research, community and conservation programs globally and is a key member of the GVI team.

Rebeca Chaverri - Country Director - Costa Rica

Rebeca was born and raised in Costa Rica. Her passion for wildlife took her to volunteer with leatherback turtles more than 10 years ago, a turning point that marked the beginning of a wildlife conservation career. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Tropical Biology and a Master’s degree in Wildlife Conservation and Management from the Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica, developing a GIS based predictive model of jaguar and puma in the Osa Wildlife Corridor of Costa Rica for her thesis. Rebeca has research experience in the US, Panama and Nicaragua on a variety of areas such as carnivore and sea turtle conservation and she has been trained on the use of camera trapping, GIS and tracking methods for wildlife purposes. Rebeca has worked for volunteer-based organizations, as a consultant for national and international organizations, and has extensive teaching experience. She has also enjoyed travelling extensively in Europe, Central America, Mexico and Colombia, and she lived in the US for over 2 years. Now she is very excited to be back in her home country as part of the GVI Costa Rica team.

Louise Murgatroyd - Country Director - Ecuador

Louise joined GVI early in 2005 to set up the regional office in Ecuador and established the current Amazon expedition at Yachana Reserve in January, 2006. Armed with an English degree and a passion for travel, Louise left her native Toronto in the early ‘90s and developed a keen interest in conservation and the environment while working aboard an Antarctic cruise ship. After continuing her travels and professional development in Australia, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean, she returned to Canada to complete a master’s degree in marine resource management in which she focused her studies on eco-tourism and protected areas. Louise holds professional instructor certifications in sailing, scuba diving and TEFL. She has provided instruction and leadership in youth training adventures around the world, and developed an on-going youth community service programme in the Galapagos Islands. She has worked as a lighthouse keeper on Canada’s west coast, and as the co-ordinator of a marine stewardship initiative that provided public education and monitoring in British Columbia’s intensive orca whale watching industry. With a keen interest in conservation, protected areas, eco-tourism and sustainable community development, Louise brings her marine and coastal experience to the equally diverse and threatened environment of Ecuador's Amazon region.

Dom Williams - Latin America Projects Director

After gaining a degree from the University of Northumbria, United Kingdom, Dom spent 4 years investigating, researching and travelling South America, finally settling for Guatemala where he has lived since 2000. Dom says “Central America, and Guatemala in particular is one of the last really unexplored, exploreable regions on earth”. Dom and Doreen set up their first Indigenous project in San Andrés Itzapa, Guatemala in 2003 and due to the success and advances made, they have set up further Indigenous projects in Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador and Honduras with the help of local community leaders.