MANAGEMENT BOARD
Who We Are
Our organisation is overseen by a Management Board of seven professionals who volunteer their time to support us and are responsible for the governance of our operations.
BORIS BAROV
Boris Barov is an internationally experienced ecologist, nature conservation expert and project manager. He has worked as a conservation manager at the European level, as a partnership builder with several industry sectors, and as a non-profit organisation director. Currently, he is a freelance consultant with a diverse portfolio of projects in biodiversity research, ecological restoration and landscape conservation in Europe and beyond.
LENNAERT STEEN
Lennaert Steen is a business controller at an insurance company in the Netherlands. He studied accountancy and financial controlling. He has been interested in birds for as long as he can remember and from 2000 the interest began to grow. Growing up in the east-part of the Netherlands he is familiar with most of the breeding birds in the Netherlands. Later on he expand his birding trips to all over Europe and the rest of the world. Vultures has always been one of his favorite bird families.
DANIEL HEGGLIN
Daniel Hegglin(Dr. sc. nat.) studied zoology and wildlife biology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland and did his PhD in Ecology and Epidemiology. He is executive director of the Swiss Foundation for the bearded vulture and executive board member of SWILD, an independent wildlife research and consulting institute. Additionally, he coordinates the monitoring of bearded vultures in Switzerland and is in charge of satellite tracking released juveniles.
RAPHAËL NÉOUZE
Raphaël Néouze is the head of the vulture’s conservation and reintroduction programs in the region of Grands Causses in France. He leads the team of the local office of LPO (Birdlife France), which is running actions in favour of the four European vultures species. He is the coordinator of the French National Action Plan in favour of the Black vulture and has prepared, implemented and developed the Bearded vulture reintroduction program in the Massif-central. Originating in that region, he got passionate for birds and vultures in his childhood while the Griffon vulture was reintroduced there for the world’s first time! Raphaël studied biology and agriculture in Paris, in England, at the Royal Agricultural College, and in Ireland, at University College Dublin. Today, he works regularly with all the local, national and international stakeholders involved in the conservation of these species and their habitats: farmers, outdoor sports, scientists, hunters, parks, NGO’s, public administration, communities, locals… bringing their energies together.
HANS POHLMANN
Hans Pohlmann (1977) studied Spatial Planning and worked at three different consultancy firms in the following 18 years. Currently, he works at Stichting Landschap Overijssel, a Dutch NGO, as Director of Conservation. In this role, he is responsible for the management of 64 different nature-reserves, of which 8 are classified as Natura 2000 sites. Within this position, relationship management, financial management and strategic development are the main tasks. He is an avid birder in his free time. Hans' first acquaintance with the VCF was when he returned a weakened Bearded Vulture back to the Alps. Since then, he has worked on several projects, while representing the VCF. He currently holds the position of President.
NORBERT SCHÄFFER
Norbert Schäffer (Dr. rer. nat.) studied biology at the University of Regensburg and specialised in animal ecology at the University of Bayreuth. He wrote his phd thesis on an ornithological topic at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Vogelwarte Radolfzell. Norbert Schäffer worked for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) from 1996 – 2014. Today, he is chairman of Landesbund für Vogelschutz in Bavaria, Germany. Norbert Schäffer is also the chief editor of the German birdwatching magazine Der Falke.
