Leadership

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Carter Coleman, President lived in Tanzania from 1987 through 1991, re-launching ARC’s field partner the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group as a grassroots community conservation organization. Carter is the author of two novels and a journalist who has written for Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, The Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times, among others. Carter is currently Managing Director of Agrica Ltd, a sustainable African agribusiness.

David Yamner, Treasurer is the President & CEO of Concept Artists, a production firm that designs and executes events and creative projects for corporations, associations, nonprofits, and private interests around the world. David has backpacked in over twenty-five countries on five continents, with his travels to Tanzania taking him to Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti National Park. His background includes five years as an associate finance attorney with Reid & Priest (now Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner). David holds B.A., M.B.A, and J.D. degrees from Vanderbilt University.

Beth O'Donnell, Secretary is an acclaimed photographer and painter, exhibiting in galleries throughout the U.S. Her photojournalistic work in Africa, for which she spent two months in 2000 working in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, was published in The London Daily Telegraph and Marie Claire magazines. She has also been published in The Financial Times and has appeared twice as a guest on Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen Network, for "Angels in the Slums" and "AIDS and Orphans.” In 2006, Beth’s book Angels in Africa was published. This book introduces seven visionary women hailing from seven different countries (including Tanzania), who each have taken powerful action to rectify the devastating societal conditions in Africa.

Michele Clarke has worked for over twenty years as a marketing and business development consultant. She has written and implemented business and marketing plans, created cash flow projections, and developed budgets for businesses and nonprofit organizations. Michele has overseen the development and implementation of branding strategies. She has worked and lived in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London.

P. Jay Cone II is a former partner with the Ness Motley law firm where he tried asbestos and tobacco cases on behalf of injured individuals. Presently Jay is a partner in the Cone Gruenloh law firm in Charleston South Carolina, handling litigation in numerous areas including criminal and complicated torts. Jay remains heavily involved in various nonprofit ventures, having traveled to Africa several times on behalf of ARC. Jay is presently launching a nonprofit that provides four-year scholarships to orphaned or single parent Tanzanian children.

George Grayson is a Managing Director with Brown Advisory, an investment firm with offices in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and London. Brown Advisory manages approximately 15 billion in assets for individuals, families, and institutions around the world. His other interests include open space preservation in his home state of Virginia, as well as work with a number of charitable organizations in equine research and historic preservation. George’s first introduction to Africa was in 1977 when he spent a semester in Kenya with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).



Lindy Reilly turned her focus to Africa after visiting Kenya and Tanzania with her family in 1995. She has subsequently been involved in a multitude of projects across the region, raising funds for an orphanage in Kitale, Kenya, assisting at a community workshop in South Africa, and garnering support to enable college students to volunteer overseas. She helped to found and served on the board of Authentic Human Development for Africa (AHDFH) which worked with township leaders in South Africa to establish women cooperatives. Most recently she has traveled to Uganda with the University of Notre Dame where they are establishing a project in and around the village of Nindye. Lindy is a member of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies Advisory Board at the University of Notre Dame.

Sheila Rooney Bio forthcoming 


Peter Wirth is an Executive Vice President and Co-head of the Investment Banking department at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. (KBW), a boutique investment bank specializing in financial services. Peter has been with KBW for over twenty years, and founded their Structured Finance Group, which has raised billions in capital in the last several years.


Joe Zammit-Lucia is one of the world’s leading animal portrait artists, developing unique ways to use animal portraiture to explore the essence of animality and our relationship to others. His work has been presented in major public forums such as the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, and in private galleries in Europe and the U.S. Previously a practicing physician and an entrepreneur who founded a market leading international company, Zammit-Lucia now acts as a Special Advisor to the Director General, IUCN – International Union for Conservation of Nature in addition to his role on ARC's Board of Directors.