The Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI) today announces the appointment of Dr Mike Maunder as its new Executive Director. Dr Maunder succeeds Dr Mike Rands, who is stepping down to take up the position of Master of Darwin College, Cambridge.

Dr Maunder, who will take up his position in May, has over three decades of experience in the conservation sector, having held positions in organisations including the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, UK, the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and Florida International University in Miami, USA, and most recently the Eden Project, UK, where he was Executive Director and Director of Life Sciences. Mike is a founder board member and advisor to the Mohamad Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund.

“The opportunity to lead the Cambridge Conservation Initiative is both exciting and a huge honour,” said Dr Maunder. “I can think of no place better suited to forging a future for biodiversity and society than CCI, with its history of capitalising on the extraordinary collaborative power of its partner institutions and its position at the centre of Cambridge’s unparalleled intellectual and cultural assets.”

The full press release is here: CCI Executive Director press release (final)

Mike Maunder with giant senecios on Mt Kenya, January 2020. Image copyright Stuart Bearhop.