Dr. Emily Coffey is the Vice President of Conservation & Research at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. She received her PhD in Long-Term Ecology from the University of Oxford, UK and is currently adjunct faculty at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Her research has included vegetation transitions and paleoecology of the Galápagos Islands, ecological assessments and restoration of rare plant communities, ex situ gap analysis of high priority plant taxa, and the role of botanic gardens in conservation. Dr. Coffey’s work focuses on developing local, regional, and global partnerships to conserve rare plants and communities.

Dr. Colin Khoury is the Senior Director of Science and Conservation at the San Diego Botanic Garden. Dr. Khoury has a Master of Science in plant genetic resource conservation from the University of Birmingham, UK and a PhD in production ecology and resource conservation Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Dr. Khoury’s research on genetic diversity in crop wild relatives advanced the development of gap analysis methodology for ex situ conservation and an open-source gap analysis software package for conservation repositories. 

Amy Byrne is the Coordinator for the Global Conservation Consortium for Oak (GCCO), a trained facilitator with the IUCN Conservation Planning Specialist Group, and a member of the Global Tree Conservation Program at The Morton Arboretum, where she manages the Center for Species Survival: Trees. In the GCCO, Byrne stewards a global network of arboreta and botanic gardens to develop collaborative conservation action plans for rare and imperiled Quercus species. She received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. 

Patrick Thompson is the Special Collections Curator for the Donald E. Davis Arboretum at Auburn University and Species Steward of the Global Conservation Consortium for Oak.  Thompson spearheads conservation efforts for several priority threatened Southeastern oak species, including the development of the ex situ metacollection of Quercus boyntonii. He received his Master of Science from Auburn University in Horticultural Science.

Jean Linsky is the Coordinator for the Global Conservation Consortium for Magnolia (GCCM) at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Linsky received her master’s degree in Conservation Science from Imperial College of London, UK. Her research includes assessments of conservation status of Asian tree species and ex situ gap analyses of Magnolia and exceptional species. In the GCCM, Linsky coordinates a collaborative network of botanic gardens and conservationists stewarding the conservation of global Magnolia species. 

John Berryhill is the Director of the Botanic Garden of Smith College, a partner with Atlanta Botanical Garden on the IMLS Grant that funds this workshop. John is currently working towards the establishment of an ex situ metacollection of Magnolia fraseri and is its Species Stewards within the Global Conservation Consortium for Magnolia. John received his Master of Science in Botany from Smith College.

Dr. Vanessa Handley is the Lead / Coordinator for the Global Conservation Consortium for Cycads at Montgomery Botanical Center and the Director of Conservation Science at The Red List Project. Dr. Handley also serves on the IUCN SSC Cycad Specialist and Seed Specialist Groups and is a Fellow at the California Academy of Sciences. 

Paul Mills is the Director of Conservation and Curator of Living Collections at Ganna Walska Lotusland. Paul stewards Lotusland's cycad collection, including Encephalartos heenanii, for which it is a Species Steward within the Global Conservation Consortium for Cycads. Lotusland is a partner with Atlanta Botanical Garden on the IMLS grant that funds this workshop.

Dan Carver is a spatial scientist and member of the Geospatial Centroid at Colorado State University. Carver obtained his Master of Science in Applied Geography and Geospatial science from the University of Colorado, Denver. His research has included the application of spatial modeling and open-source software to support the conservation of crop wild relatives. Carver has co-authored numerous publications with Dr. Colin Khoury on methodologies for conducting gap analysis of crop wild relatives.