Headquarters Staff

Andrew Taber, Executive Director, has worked to advance conservation, environmental management and sustainable development in a diverse array of places such as Alaska, Patagonia,the Andes, and Indonesia. For 25 years he has worked to protect nature around the world while improving the lives of rural people and sustaining native cultures. He studied at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and holds a doctorate from Oxford University where he attended Balliol College.  Dr. Taber played a key role in creating protected space in Bolivia's Gran Chaco National Park, one of the Western Hemisphere’s largest reserves. His professional career started at the Wildlife Conservation Society where he worked for eighteen years in South America, eventually directing their Latin American and Caribbean Program. As Executive Vice President at Wildlife Trust he coordinated a network of top conservation scientists and practitioners from many different countries. He comes to The Mountain Institute from the Center for International Forestry Research based in Bogor, Indonesia, where he was Deputy Director General, where he oversaw programs on climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, sustainable forest management, and livelihoods of forest peoples.

 

 
Bob Davis, Director for Special Projects, holds an M.S. in Organization Development from American University, and an M.A. in Religious Studies from Yale University. His skills include administration, financial management, personnel management, program logistics, project design and appraisal, organizational development and management. Having joined TMI in 1979, Mr. Davis has worked in many of the organization's programs and regional projects. He has extensive international conservation and development experience from his fifteen years of involvement in the Himalayan Program. He is a long time resident of Pendleton County, West Virginia and held the position of Appalachian Program Director from September, 2001 to June 2003. Mr. Davis also serves on the board of directors of a number of non-profit organizations, consults on organizational issues, and has taught university courses in organizational development and management.

 

Alton Byers, Ph.D., Director of Science and Exploration, is a mountain geographer and climber specializing in applied research, high altitude (alpine) conservation and restoration programs, climate change impacts in the mountains, highland-lowland interactive system approaches to conservation, and mountain photography. He received his doctorate from the University of Colorado in 1987, focusing on contemporary landscape change in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park. In 1990, following two years of integrated conservation and development work in the Virunga Volcanoes region of Rwanda, he joined The Mountain Institute (TMI) as Environmental Advisor. Since then he has lived and worked in Nepal with TMI's Himal Programs; worked as founder and Director of Andean Programs in the Huascaran National Park, Peru; directed TMI's Appalachian Program and Spruce Knob Mountain Center (SKMC) in West Virginia; and currently works as Director of Research and Conservation in support of all programs. He is the recipient of the Association of American Geographer's Distinguished Career Award from the Mountain Geographer Specialty Group; David Brower Conservation Award from the American Alpine Club; and Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal from the Nepali NGO Mountain Legacy. Dr. Byers lives in West Virginia.

Rosie Stone, Development Research Assistant

Wiley Reading, Development Intern
 

Business Office Staff

Caroline Shay, Accountant, currently holds the position of Finance Officer/Accountant in the corporate business office in Morgantown, WV.  She has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a focus in Management Information Systems.  She brings over 25 years of experience in accounting, management and human resources, in addition to 5 years of experience in financial accounting in the non-profit sector.  Her past career experience includes mortgage loan underwriting, mortgage loan officer, as well as financial management in various business sectors.  Caroline has been with The Mountain Institute since 2007 and resides in the beautiful mountains of West Virginia.

 

Karen Whipkey, Controller, holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from West Virginia University.  Karen brings over 20 years experience in non-profit accounting to her position as Controller.  She has previously worked with non-profit programs such as Head Start, the National Technology Transfer Center and the AmberView program.  Karen is a West Virginia native and resides in Bridgeport, WV.

Logan Hickman, Staff Accountant
 

Himalayan Program Staff
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Asia Regional Office

Brian Peniston, Nepal and India Country Director, has been working for TMI in Nepal for the past 16 years, first as Co-Manager of the Makalu Barun National Park and Buffer Zone, and currently as Director of Himalayan Programs for TMI. He is responsible for TMI projects in Asia, including TMI's work on conservation, climate change adaptation, food security programs, livelihood improvement programs and transboundary conservation between Nepal and Tibet. Mr. Peniston designed integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) in Bhutan, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Tibet Autonomous Region of China, Mongolia and Central Asia. He has worked in conservation, livelihoods, climate change, integrated rural development, applied research and international health projects since 1975. Mr. Peniston helped establish TMI India National Office, an independent sister organization of TMI based in India and serves as advisor. Mr. Peniston has worked in Nepal (19 years), India (8 years), Indonesia (6 years), Malaysia (2 1/2 years), Thailand and Cambodia (1 year) and Peru (1 year). He has made numerous international presentations including Climate Change and Ecosystems in the Himalaya, Conserving Critical Eastern Himalayan Ecosystems: A Transboundary Approach, Conservation, Communities and Conflict, and The Greater Himalayan Trail.  Mr. Peniston has Masters Degrees in Forestry (Yale University, 1992) and Public Health (University of Hawaii, 1983) and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (Connecticut College, 1974.)   

Ang Rita Sherpa, Senior Program Manager of the Asia (Nepal) Program, has 18 years of experience iwith management of protected areas, eco-tourism, and sustainable development projects. He has also facilitated many workshops on ecotourism and sustainable development. He has a Master's degree in Protected Landscape Management from the University of Wales, UK, and an undergraduate degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism from Lincoln University, New Zealand. He served as a volunteer for the National Parks Service in the United States, where he spent nine months working in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National.

Purushotam Bhattarai, Regional Finance and Admin Staff
Chet Kumar Khatri, Engineer
Karma Bhutia, NTFP Officer
Bheem Raj Rai, District Program Coordinator
Khum Chidi, Acting District Coordinator
Shova Rai, Office Secretary
Shiva Basnet, Office Assistant
Macha Kazi Maharjan, Driver

India Regional Office

MVS Manian, Office Manager and Accountant
Dallas Rogers, Project Assistant
Nima Tashi, Project Assistant
 

Appalachian Program Staff
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Brent Bailey, Ph.D., Director of the North America Programs, works in West Virginia, drawing on more than 20 years of experience in forestry, natural resource management, environmental education, and local community development on three continents to manage TMI's North America Programs. Prior to joining TMI in 2004, he was a Senior Technical Director for Conservation International, managing biodiversity projects in Latin America and West Africa. He has a Bachelor's degree in biology and French (Kalamazoo College, 1977), a Master's in Environmental Studies (Yale, 1985), and a Ph.D. in Forest Resources Science (West Virginia University, 1999). He also has a faculty appointment in Biology with West Virginia University. A West Virginia native, he has presented and written extensively on the harvest and economic uses of wild products such as ginseng, goldenseal, and black cohosh. Brent is active locally as a volunteer in urban forestry, land conservation, and citizen science.

Dave Martin, Program Coordinator for Mountain Learning and the Spruce Knob Mountain Center, is based out of Spruce Knob, West Virginia. Dave has a BA in American Studies from Hampshire College. Prior to his current position at TMI, Dave worked as a climbing guide at Seneca Rocks Mountain Guides. He has been with TMI in several different roles since 1993.

Charlie Waters, Education Coordinator, has worked in recreation and outdoor education programs in West Virginia for over twenty years, including work as a TMI field instructor in the 1990s. She lives in Tucker County, WV, where she has helped to develop community-based adventure and outdoor education programs within the public schools. Before joining TMI as an education coordinator, Charlie worked as an art and computer teacher in Tucker and Grant County Schools for five years. She looks forward to working with TMI once again to continue developing the common ground that outdoor education advocates share with our schools in educating children. A quote from John Elder captures something of her sense of this connection: "Everything looks different, including education, when we bear in mind that the world is beautiful". -John Elder, Stories in the Land.

 

Kevin Stitzinger, Watershed Education Coordinator, is based in West Virginia. Kevin has been inspiring people to love mountains for the past fifteen years, with over ten years of experience teaching environmental education and outdoor leadership programs. Kevin holds a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science with a specialization in geology (Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, 1999) and a master's degree in Physical Geography (University of British Columbia, 2001). Kevin has taught classes at the University of British Columbia and Davis and Elkins College. He has worked with The Mountain Institute since 2002.

 

 

Jonah Steinberg, Program Consultant, specializes in anthropology, ethnography, and sociology, and the cultures of South Asia, Central Asia, and the Islamic world, with a specific emphasis on the peoples of the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Pamir Mountains. He speaks Urdu, Hindi, French, Tajiki, Russian, Romani, and Balkan Dialects. He iteaches Anthropology at the University of Vermont. Jonah received his M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his B.A. from Swarthmore College. His background in cultural understanding and interpretation serve him well in the North America Program's National Parks Partnership.

 

Andean Program Staff
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Jorge Recharte, Ph.D., Director of South America Programs, is based in Huaraz and Lima, Peru, and holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Cornell University, 1989. Jorge joined TMI in 1997 after spending three years in Ecuador (1994-1996) working for the Latin American Social Science Faculty (FLACSO), designing and heading the graduate education and research program in Mountain Societies and Sustainable Development. Between 1980-1981 and 1990-1993, Dr. Recharte was an associate researcher at the International Potato Center, where he worked developing participatory research methodologies in agriculture. He currently serves on the Board of The Common Good Institute and is a member of the Andes Chapter of the International Mountain Society (IMS).

 

Miriam Torres Angeles, Protected Areas and Ecotourism specialist with the Andes Program, joined TMI in 1995. She graduated from the National Parks and Wildlife Management program of Peru's National Agrarian University in 1987. Her professional history includes working with mountain protected areas in Peru, particularly conducting participatory management plans. Miriam was a member of the team that produced the first management plan of Huascaran National Park in 1990, the lead in developing its Ecotourism Plan in 1997, as well as the lead on the second Management Plan initiative and the National Master Plan for the Peruvian protected areas system in 1995. Before joining TMI, from 1988 - 1995, she was a staff member of Pro Naturaleza, supporting several of Peru's protected areas. She is a member of the Andes Chapter of the International Mountain Society (IMS) and the IUCN Commission on Protected Areas, Mountain Areas and Non Material Values.

Manuel Asencios, Finance Officer
Sandra Conde Laso, Communications and Gender Program Officer
Nadia Mora Rodriguez, Administrative Assistant
Gabriela Lopez Sotomayor, Participatory Rural Development and Conservation Program Officer
Marianna Mindreau, Mountain Ecosystems Program Officer
Fernando Perez, Community Based Tourism Program Officer
Vidal Rondan Ramirez, Environmental Education Program Officer
Juan Sanchez, Field Staff
Donato Sanchez Lirio, Driver
Maria del Carmen Tena, Institutional Development Assistant
Florencia Zapata, Cultural Heritage Program Officer