Board of Directors
Honorary Council
The Born Free USA Honorary Council, launched in January 2020, is composed of distinguished artists, activists, business executives, animal experts, and philanthropic leaders from across the United States and West Africa. Council members form a vibrant and diverse network to strengthen Born Free USA’s wildlife conservation programs and raise awareness and funding. Each member brings to the Council a rich background of experience and dedication to animals.
Born Free USA is proud to introduce our founding members:
Corry Bazley
Corry Bazley is a sales professional with more than 15 years of successful experience marketing to financial services firms. She is an articulate professional with excellent relationship-building skills and an ability to mentor and motivate. She intends to use these skills helping Born Free USA communicate its vision and cultivate new wildlife advocates. Born in Canada, Corry now resides in New York City.
Eric Bear
Eric Bear was born in a year of the monkey. He is a film actor, serial entrepreneur, and founder of the award-winning R&D lab, MONKEYmedia. He holds over 100 patents in human-friendly technology and has licensed his inventions to all of the major motion picture studios and top consumer electronics companies in the world.
As a kinesthetic artist, Eric finds inspiration and movement teachings in the presence of animals. He was a volunteer naturalist in his youth, nurturing orphaned wildlife by bottle, and is currently working with Born Free to implement energy monitoring and literacy technologies in support of freeing itself from dependency on the grid.
Visit imdb.me/ericbear to learn more.
Rocky Dawuni
Rocky Dawuni is a GRAMMY-nominated Ghanaian-born Afro Roots Reggae musician, activist, UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment for Africa, and Global Ambassador for the UN Foundation’s Clean Cooking Alliance alongside actress Julia Roberts and Chef Jose Andres. Through these designations, he uses his music to shine a light on crucial issues facing humanity across the globe through live concerts, speaking roles, panels, youth empowerment, and leadership circles.
A galvanizing performer, Rocky has shared the stage with Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Jason Mraz, Janelle Monáe and John Legend. Named one of Africa's Top 10 global stars by CNN, he has showcased his talent at prestigious venues such as The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and The Hollywood Bowl.
In 2020, Rocky is spearheading two environmental and humanitarian initiatives. The first is a landscape restoration project to plant 100,000 trees in Accra, Ghana to help offset the impact of climate change. Rocky is also overseeing the development of a series of “cultural incubators” for youth that will allow for community outreach and educational opportunities.
Born Free USA is currently working in collaboration with Rocky to develop outreach and youth engagement strategies supporting the Ghanaian authorities in the efforts they lead to tackle wildlife crime.
Visit rockydawuni.com to learn more.
Photo by Robert Kozek.Louise Linton
Louise Linton has been an animal welfare advocate since childhood.
Since moving to the United States from Scotland, Louise has supported numerous animal welfare organizations through her activism, fundraising, and financial contributions. Louise’s passion for animal welfare and conservation has been a moral imperative since childhood, and in recent years, has become a large and consuming aspect of her life.
Among the animal welfare organizations Linton has supported are PETA, Farm Sanctuary, The Humane Society of the United States, Start Animal Rescue, Austin Pets Alive, Second Chance Rescue, Dallas Dogs RRR, Mutt Match LA, Ol Jogi, The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Space for Giants, Wild Aid, Born Free, The White Coat Waste Project, Viva Horse Rescue, Tall Tails Rescue, Goats of Anarchy, and Ferdinand’s Friends Rescue, among others.
She joined the board of advocacy group, Social Compassion in Legislation in December 2019. Based in Washington DC, her focus is to help lead SCIL’s efforts in the nation’s Capital. One of her main areas of focus will be on enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, as it pertains to puppy mills and large or exotic animals in roadside zoos.
In 2019, she created The Louise Linton Charitable Fund which aims to protect the well-being of people and animals both locally and in under-resourced communities around the world. The fund is designed to provide financial support to the existing work of various 501(c)3 organizations who work across the spectrum and across the globe targeting a wide variety of animal welfare issues, be they on land or in the ocean.
She has served on the board of Los Angeles rescue Mutt Match LA for a decade. She has provided them with consistent financial support since joining the organization. Her contributions cover medical bills, purchasing various rescue vehicles, helping contribute toward staff wages and more. She has participated in physical, hands-on rescue at the Los Angeles shelters, fostering dogs for adoption, and helping them through her rehabilitation.
In 2019, she hosted a fundraiser for Born Free’s Primate Sanctuary in Texas to raise funds for medical and veterinary supplies, food, enclosure improvements and toys for the 500 primates at their Texas facility, many of whom were rescued from laboratories and road side zoos.
Since 2018 she has liaised with PETA in an effort to secure the freedom of various large or exotic animals experiencing prolonged suffering in road side zoos.
In 2017, she joined The Giants Club donors circle which supports the crucial, life saving work of Space for Giants, an anti-poaching organization in Africa. She has hosted various educational events to support and raise awareness for Space for Giant’s mission and message.
In 2019, she joined the Vanguard, PETA's major donors circle.
Ellen O'Connell
Ellen O'Connell is the President and founder of Sankhara Consulting and the President of Ngaren: The Museum of Humankind, a new museum on the origins of humankind, being built by Richard Leakey and Daniel Libeskind in the Rift Valley of Kenya. She has over 30 years’ experience working with global and local mission-driven organizations.
Ellen believes that effective philanthropy is transparent and collaborative and believes that philanthropy plays a transformative role in the world. She currently consults for private family foundations, and small and large NGO’s helping organizations deliver impact, measure effectiveness, and improve brand awareness. Based out of New York City, her work focuses on sustainability/the environment, African wildlife conservation, climate change, international development, and social entrepreneurship. Her work has taken her around the globe to over 60 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Previously, Ellen held executive positions at prominent international organizations including as Associate Executive Director for Covenant House New York, Vice President at the International Rescue Committee, Executive Director of Prince William's African wildlife conservation charity, Tusk USA, and the Executive Vice President for Space for Giants. She is a board member of Wildlife Justice Commission USA and The Givvor Foundation. She was previously the chair of audit committee, member of program committee, and executive committee member of the board of Lincoln Hall, an alternative to incarceration program in Lincolndale NY, the Vice President for the PTA of Yorkville Community School, and lecturer in medical anthropology at New York Medical College. She has taught classes and lectured at universities and colleges on anthropology, conservation, and non-profit compliance.
Ellen has a B.A. in English from Georgetown University, a Masters in Public Administration from the Wagner School of Public Service at NYU, a Masters in Cultural Anthropology from The New School, and a certificate in non-profit management from Columbia University Executive Management Program. She completed coursework for her PhD work at the City University of New York in Cultural Anthropology.
Tony Saxton
Tony Saxton is a Founding Partner of Terra Group Holdings (terra.bz), an opportunistic investment group committed to building successful businesses, while impacting the world in a positive way; the Co-Founder and CEO of Terra Sustainable Technologies (terrasustainable.bz), an innovative design engineering, sustainable systems integration technologies firm; the Co-Founder of Terra Organics, (terraorganics.bz), a provider of sustainably produced foods and products, the Co-Founder of the Terra Conservation Initiative (terraconservation.org), which was organized to protect our environment, our wildlife, and our most vulnerable ecosystems; and the Co-Founder of Terra Explore Expeditions (terraconservation.org/explore-3), which combines training in expeditionary science, photography, ecological science, and wildlife biodiversity to its participants so that they have the skills and opportunities to effectively contribute to critical ecosystem and wildlife conservation initiatives around the world.
Tony serves on the Board of Directors for Givvor (givvor.com), a disruptive, for-profit, global technology platform, featuring a 'one-stop-shop' where donors are provided immediate, direct access to over 1.8 million charitable organizations, as well as the Board of Directors for Ngaren (ngaren.org), an innovative, new museum on human evolution and climate change in Kenya, spearheaded by renowned conservationist, politician, and paleo-anthropologist, Richard Leakey, and world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, and the Board of Advisors for Deep Knowledge Investing, which provides independent and actionable stock ideas and financial market research to sophisticated investors, and has a consistent focus on identifying and analyzing those aspects of selected investments the market is missing.
Tony is an active member of the Explorers Club (explorers.org), an international, multidisciplinary, professional organization dedicated to the advancement of field research and scientific exploration; a member of the National Arts Club, an organization founded in 1898 for the purpose of furthering art and artists in America by fostering educational programs; and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Berkshire School (berkshireschool.org), a private secondary school in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Tony has spent a significant amount of time working internationally on a multitude of conservation and expeditionary related projects, and he is an avid outdoorsman with a passion for mountaineering, sailing, skiing and horseback riding.
Tony holds an A.B. in International Relations and Spanish from Boston University.
Charles Siebert
Charles Siebert is a poet, journalist, essayist, and a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, for which he has written 14 cover stories, the majority of them about our relations with the wild and the animals who reside there. He has also written for The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Outside, Men’s Journal, and National Geographic.
Charles is also the author of three critically acclaimed memoirs, The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward A New Understanding of Animals, A Man After His Own Heart, and Wickerby: An Urban Pastoral, a New York Times Notable Book of 1998. He has also written a novel, Angus; an e-book Rough Beasts: The Zanesville Zoo Massacre One Year Later; and a children’s book, The Secret World of Whales.
A 2019-2020 distinguished fellow at Wesleyan University’s College of the Environment, and a creative writing professor at NYU Abu Dhabi, he is the recipient of numerous awards, including a 2006 National Press Club award for his cover story in The New York Times about the breakdown of elephant culture due to ongoing human encroachment and devastation. In July 2019, his cover story in The New York Times Magazine about the importation of 18 African elephants by three U.S. zoos helped drive the recent passage of a new resolution by CITES prohibiting the future import of wild elephants for zoo exhibits. Born Free USA awarded Charles the 2019 Born Free USA Wildlife Ambassador award because of his piece exposing the plight of captive elephants.
Ginny Tranchik
In her pursuit of a third career, Ginny has recently embarked on a path as a social worker specializing in the aging population. One of her key objectives in this role is to help ensure that elderly individuals remain connected with their pets. Her prior careers in banking and community development have equipped her with valuable skills that she now applies at Born Free USA, particularly in advocacy, nonprofit management, and capacity building. Ginny holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Barnard, an MS in Nonprofit Management from the New School, and an MSW from Hunter College.