Linda Sweanor (founding member and interim president, WFA) obtained her MS in Wildlife Sciences at the University of Idaho in 1990; her thesis was on the social organization of pumas in the San Andres Mountains, New Mexico. She has been involved in puma research, including population ecology, puma-prey relationships, puma social organization & puma-human interactions, since 1985. She studied pumas in New Mexico for the Hornocker Wildlife Institute & in California for the University of California at Davis. She has co-authored several scientific papers, written popular articles, and co-authored the book Desert Puma: evolutionary ecology and conservation of an enduring carnivore with her husband, Ken Logan, in 2001. Linda recently (2008-2010) assisted with a felid (puma, bobcat, domestic cat) disease transmission study as a Research Associate with Colorado State University and has volunteered on a puma population study in western Colorado since 2005.

Jim Williams (elected Vice President 2009) is currently the Wildlife Program Manager for FWP in northwest Montana.  Jim studied Puma Ecology for his Master's Degree on Montana's Rocky Mountain Front and Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.  As a field biologist for FWP in central Montana, Jim managed big game populations, including puma and supervised a Bighorn Sheep and Puma interaction project on Montana's Beartooth Wildlife Management Area. For the last ten years, in his role as a Wildlife Program Manager, Jim has supervised a talented group of research and management biologists as well as programs ranging from grizzly bear research and management to habitat conservation and acquisitions.  Jim is currently Vice President of the Montana-Patagonia Chapter of the Partners of the Americas.  Jim has been traveling to Argentina to work with Patagonia wildlife biologists on puma conflict and management issues in the southern hemisphere.

Sharon Negri (interim secretary) has over 25 years of experience working on wildlife policy & conservation. She has worked in various state & local agencies addressing transportation, water, & marine issues. Sharon founded WildFutures (www.wildfutures.us) in 1994 to help bridge the gap between the scientific & the conservation communities for the protection of wildlife & their habitats, with a special emphasis on carnivores. Since 1994, WildFutures has met high priority needs through a combination of networking, research & education. Sharon works to bring diverse groups and scientists together to develop innovative strategies to solve wildlife issues.

Chris Belden (interim council 2007-2009; elected council member 2009) began the Florida panther project in 1976 & was involved with it until he retired in December 2004 after 30 years with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.  He was involved in one way or another in all phases of panther research, but his main focus was on panther status and distribution & the feasibility of reintroducing additional panther populations.  He was team leader of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s first Florida Panther Recovery Team from 1976-1981.  In January 2005, Chris became the Florida Panther Recovery Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Ivonne Cassaigne (elected council 2010-2012) received a degree in Veterinary Medicine in 2000 and an MS in Animal Health in 2004 from UNAM in Mexico City, Mexico. Her thesis examined epizootics in bighorn sheep and the effects of initial population size. She has published on diseases of bighorn sheep, mountain sheep, tigers, and reptiles. As a veterinarian, Ivonne has worked on captive breeding and conservation of pumas, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn. After several years as a Professor of Veterinary Medicine at UNAM, Ivonne is currently working as the Director of Wildlife Health Services for the Latin American Program. She also supports programs in the USA, Botswana, and Ethiopia with her expertise on bighorn sheep, pronghorn, deer, howler monkeys, hyenas, lions, and elephants.

Melanie Culver (elected council 2009-2011) received her BS in Biology from the University of Utah in 1984 and her PhD in Biologyh from the University of Maryland in 1999. Her dissertation research was on molecular genetic variation, population structure, and natural history of pumas range-wide in North and South America. Melanie was also involved in paternity, kinship, forensics, and viral genetic studies on pumas while still a PhD student. Melanie did her postdoc at Virginia Tech where she continued genetic studies of felids and other wildlife species. Currently, Melanie is the Assistant Unit Leader of the Arizona Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (USGS) and also Assistant Professor in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Arizona. Her current research focus includes 2 areas of conservation genetics: molecular taxonomy and gene flow. Melanie's current felid research includes pumas, jaguars, and bobcats in Arizona and Mexico, as well as caracals in Namibia.

Marcella Kelly (elected council 2010-2012) received her B.S. and PhD from the University of California at Davis. Her PhD research was centered on Serengeti cheetah demography and viability as determined through photo-identification of cheetahs from a 25-year data set. She has worked on felids for 18 years and is currently an Associate Professor at Virginia Tech in the Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences Department. Her current research focuses on using non-invasive techniques such as remote cameras combined with mark-recapture and/or occupancy statistics to estimate demographic parameters for elusive species - particularly wild felids such as jaguars, ocelots, and pumas in Central America, bobcats in the U.S., leopard in Tanzania, and tigers in Indonesia and Nepal.

Christopher Papouchis (elected council 2010-2012) works as an independent wildlife conservation scientist and as an adjunct professor of Natural Resources at American River College in Sacramento, California. His professional background includes experience in wildlife research, conservation, education and policy. In the 1990s, Chris conducted field research on carnivores, ungulates and raptors for governmental agencies and not-for-profit organizations in the American West. From 2001 to 2007, he served as the conservation biologist for the Mountain Lion Foundation where some of his responsibilities included educating the public on puma ecology and conservation and implementing collaborative educational and technical assistance programs in rural communities with the goal of reducing human-puma conflicts and raising support for conservation. He has given numerous presentations on puma management and conservation and other topics at professional conferences and symposia and has organized and moderated sessions on puma research and conservation at professional conferences, including the Carnivores conferences and Mountain Lion Workshops. Chris holds a B.A. in Government from Cornell University and a M.S. in Environmental Studies (Environmental biology) from Antioch University. He is currently working on a PhD in Environmental Studies that is focused on puma conservation in the American West.

David Stoner isa Graduate Research Assistant at Utah State University working towards his PhD. He is the project leader on the Utah State Cougar Project - investigating cougar population dynamics, effects of hunting and urbanization, and refuge design. His dissertation title is "Anthropogenic factors affecting the behavior, social organization, and distribution of a solitary carnivore, Puma concolor." He received his MS in Wildlife Ecology frjom Utah State University in 2004 and his BA in Geography from UC Berkeley in 1992. He has worked for the US Forest Service, UC Santa Cruz's Predatory Bird Research Group as well as the USGS Biological Resources Division, Humboldt State University and the California Department of Fish and Game.

Mike Tewes' activities include 27 years of research, management, and conservation of 10 different cat species, including ocelot, bobcat, and cougar in Texas, jaguarundi, ocelot, and margay in Mexico, clouded leopard, golden cat, leopard cat, and marbled cat in Thailand, and leopard in Africa. His involvement includes: Chair Holder of the Frank D Yturria Endowed Chair in Wild Cat Studies, Regents Professor at Texas A&M University, University Coordinator at the Feline Research Center, Proprietor and owner of Cat Research and Management Consultants, and Executive Director and president of Wild Cat Conservation, Inc. http://ckwri.tamuk.edu/research-programs/feline-research-center/

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Past Council Members:

John Beecham (interim council member 2007-2008) has been involved in bear research & management since 1972. He completed his Ph.D (on Idaho black bears) at the University of Montana in 1980. He is a past president of the International Association for Bear Research & Management (IBA).  John worked for the Idaho Department of Fish & Game (IDFG) for over 29 years, including 12 years researching black bear ecology. He has published scientific papers on bear ecology & rehabilitation methods, & co-authored, with Jeff Rohlman, the book A Shadow in the Forest - Idaho's Black Bear in 1994. He was a co-author for the Cougar Management Guidelines, published in 2005. For 15 years at the IDFG, John supervised Idaho’s wildlife research program.  John consults on efforts to release orphan bears back to the wild in the U.S. & other countries, as well as conducts field work on brown bears in Greece & Turkey.

Deanna Dawn, interim council member 2007-2010. Deanna's interest in felids started with her graduate work at San Jose State University: an evaluation of puma management throughout the western United States. She has conducted field research on pumas in South Dakota, California, & Idaho. She is currently assisting Dr Rod Jackson with the development of a study on snow leopards in Mongolia. She is also Field Program Coordinator for the California Cougar Project, a statewide assessment of cougar conservation needs in California and funded by the Panthera Foundation.

Rich DeSimone, interim council member from 2006 to May 2008. Rich has been a Research Biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks since 1976.  During this time he worked in several areas of the state with waterfowl, elk & most recently with mountain lions.  Since 1997 he has headed a long-term research project in a heavily hunted area of western Montana.  Goals of this research are to improve management by better understanding the influence of sport hunting on population characteristics & evaluating techniques designed to detect trend in lion abundance. Fieldwork was completed in 2007 & he currently is in the process of analysis and report writing.

Gary Koehler (interim council member 2007-2009) is a Wildlife Research Scientist with Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WA F&W) where he has worked since 1994.  He has conducted studies of American black bears with WA F&W, & he is presently conducting studies of Canada lynx & cougars, including an investigation on cougar behavior & demography in response to human development (known as "Project CAT” or “Cougars and Teaching”).  Prior to employment with WA F&W, Gary taught Wildlife Management at Moi Univeristy in Kenya where he supervised graduate student research projects.  He has also spent time in China & India conducting research & carnivore surveys.  He is a native of the Pacific Northwest in the USA where he has conducted surveys & research and published on a variety of carnivores including American marten, wolverine, bobcat, lynx, cougars, coyotes, & American black bears.

Hugh Robinson (interim council member 2007-2008) is originally from Calgary, Alberta & completed his B.Sc. at the University of Calgary in Geography.  Hugh was involved in cougar research in B.C. & Washington State from 1996 to 2007, completing his M.S. (2001) & Ph.D. (2007) at Washington State University.  He continues to conduct research into predator prey interactions (albeit on wolves) as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Montana.

Ron Thompson (interim council member 2007-2010) obtained a BS in Wildlife Biology from the University of Arizona, & after a 4 year retirement, is once again working for the Arizona Game & Fish Department - now as a large carnivore biologist.  Prior to this, he was a contract wildlife biologist capturing & radio collaring pumas for a desert bighorn sheep/puma interaction study on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge near Yuma, AZ.  As a past contractor for the Turner Endangered Species Fund he assisted with a project to restore a subpopulation of desert bighorn sheep on a private ranch near Engle, NM through the application of an adaptive management strategy for pumas. For the past 5 years he has been working with private ranch owners in Sonora, Mexico within an established jaguar conservation area.  Conservation efforts are directed at utilizing working landscapes in the presence of livestock & sustainable wildlife resources to better protect jaguars.