Wildlife Conservation Global welcomes new Deputy Director

John Watkin - Deputy Director of Wildlife Conservation Global

Wildlife Conservation Global (WCG) is happy to announce the appointment of John Watkin as Deputy Director. With over 30 years of experience in field conservation and philanthropic sectors, John brings considerable talents to advance the WCG/Okapi Conservation Project (OCP) mission to conserve the okapi in the wild, while preserving the biological and cultural diversity of the Ituri forest.

Born and raised in Zambia, John has spent his career implementing conservation and sustainable development projects in Central and East Africa. He is already familiar with OCP when he assisted in implementing the UNESCO support to World Heritage sites in eastern DR Congo in 2000-2002.

Between 2004-2017 John worked as a Grant Director for the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund and MacArthur Foundation’s Africa portfolios. As Deputy Director with WCG, John’s knowledge of DRC, and his fluency in French & Swahili will benefit WCG’s activities on-the-ground as well as raising the impact of the work amongst the broader conservation community internationally.

We are excited to have him on board!