Mrs. Zalayhar Hassanali
Former First Lady and wife of Trinidad and Tobago former President Justice Noor Hassanali (deceased), Mrs. Zalayhar Hassanali is patron of the Guardian Life Wildlife Trust having agreed to come on in December 2005. A devoted Muslim and mother, Mrs. Hassanali has been the patron of many charitable organisations over the years during her status of First Lady, some of which she continued to perform actively even after her husband left office.

Dr Carol James, Chairman
Dr Carol James is a biologist and policy specialist with thirty years of experience in several Caribbean, African and Pacific countries.

Prior to serving an a United Nations Senior Advisor on Environment and Development, she spent 10 years as Head of the Trinidad & Tobago government's Wildlife Section. She has been instrumental in fostering successful community involvement in turtle management and nature tour guiding in several rural communities in the Caribbean region and is an active member of national and regional environmental NGOs.

Dr. James is currently Chair of the boards of the Asa Wright Nature Centre and of the Guardian Life Wildlife Trust. Her concern for youth development has also led to her participation in the new experiment in secondary school education as a Board member of the Bishop Anstey East/Trinity College East Schools. 

Dr. Howard P. Nelson
Dr. Nelson received his undergraduate and M.Phil. degrees in Zoology at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, and completed his doctorate in Wildlife Ecology and Forestry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests include endangered species conservation, forest ecosystems modelling and mammalian ecology. Dr. Nelson has also taught courses in Conservation Biology, Zoo and Wildlife Management, and Human Ecology and Conservation at the University of the West Indies.

He worked at Trinidad and Tobago’s Forestry Division for 5 years, and subsequently became the Ministry of the Environment’s first Environmental Biologist, with responsibility for forestry, national parks and wildlife policy. Dr. Nelson was also the Fauna Specialist of the team that prepared Trinidad and Tobago’s current National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. Dr. Nelson was the Conservation Manager and Chief Executive Officer at the Asa Wright Nature Centre, from 2003 to 2008, and is currently the Project Manager/Scientific Coordinator for an EU-ACP funded project to develop a regional MSc in Biodiversity Conservation at the University of the West Indies. He is also the current Chairman of the Green Fund Advisory Committee.

Irwin Joseph
Irwin Joseph holds a B.Sc. in Forestry and the Environment and an Honour Diploma in Tropical Forestry (ECIAF). He served as a Forest Officer in Trinidad and Tobago before being appointed Forestry Training Officer at ECIAF. He was later promoted to the post of Assistant Director in that organisation and Head of the School of Forestry. He also served as the Forestry Advisor to the Minister of Public Utilities and the Environment from 2005 to 2007.

Mr. Joseph’s work in the area of Forestry and the Environment took him to Belize, Jamaica, Suriname, St Lucia and Guyana where he performed consultancy work and has served as an External lecturer and examiner (Diploma and Associate Degree in Forestry at the COSTATT.

Mark Webster
Mark Webster is a former national athlete who earned an athletic scholarship from Florida Atlantic University to pursue a degree in general management. In 1992, Mark graduated from university at the top of the business school with an honours degree in general management and in his graduating year was awarded as the University’s most outstanding student athlete for his tennis achievements and the highest academic grade point average of all the athletes in every sport.

Back in Trinidad & Tobago, Mark entered the financial services sector, specifically the marketing and administration of employee benefits (health, life, and pensions) and has worked with major regional financial institutions in addition to carrying out various assignments in his own consulting practice.

Mark is currently an executive and partner of Farah Insurance Brokers Limited, a new and expanding insurance broking firm in Trinidad & Tobago.

Gerard E. Pinard
Gerard Emile Pinard is a past student of Presentation College in San Fernando and a graduate of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada where he received a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Chemical Engineering in 1977.

On his return to Trinidad & Tobago, he went on to work in various industries including Guardian Holdings until starting his own management consulting firm Zatopek Solutions Inc. in February 2009.

Mr. Pinard has served as a Director on the Boards of Guardian Life of the Caribbean Limited, Guardian Life Limited (Jamaica), West Indies Alliance (Jamaica), The Employers’ Consultative Association, T & T Cricket Board, Kids In Need of Direction, the National Insurance Board and Trinidad & Tobago Mortgage Finance Company, among others. In March 2009 he was appointed a Member of the Salaries Review Commission.

Alex Deverteuil
Alex deVerteuil is a documentary filmmaker. Many of the programmes he has produced deal with local wildlife and conservation issues. His work has had international distribution.

Janice Hernandez
Janice Hernandez was co-founder of CRESTT - the Centre for Rescue of Endangered Species of Trinidad and Tobago, and was Chairperson of that organization for 7 years. She remains a director of that organisation to-date. She is also the author of children’s stories with environmental themes and is a close Associate of The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

Maria Rivas-Mc Millan
Maria Rivas-Mc Millan is Group Vice President Corporate Communications at Guardian Holdings Limited. She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine where she was awarded a BA in English and Social Sciences (Upper Second Class Hon.) and a post-graduate Diploma in International Relations (Hon.). After joining the insurance industry, she added the FLMI designation with Distinction from LOMA International and became deeply involved in industry activities serving on various committees for the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (TTAIFA) and as an Executive member of the LOMA Society of Trinidad and Tobago. Currently she is a Council Member of the Trinidad and Tobago Insurance Institute, a Director of the Canning's Employees' Credit Union where she leads its Marketing & Education Committee and an Executive member of the International Association of Business Communicators, Trinidad & Tobago Chapter.