Biographical sketches of MCLUS, Inc. Board of Directors

• Maggie Eisenberger
• Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy
• Dra. Julia Matamoras
• Tom Newmark
• Jane Oliver
• Dr. Peter H. Raven
• Terry Sheets
• Becky Schlueter

Maggie Eisenberger – Email: cubagirl.eisenberger@gmail.com

Maggie has a Master’s Degree in Tropical Ecology from the Whitney R Harris World Ecology Center at University of Missouri-St. Louis (Her research was on the biotic and abiotic effects of opening a hiking trail in the rainforest. She spent 4 months in the Darien Region of Panama and managed the field research station at Cana.) She is a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm and looks forward to hiking, bird-spotting, and adventuring with fellow travelers. She led a trip to the BEN in June 2009 and has led trips since 1991 to Belize, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, the Peruvian Amazon, Ecuador, and the Galapagos. She developed Curricula on rainforest education for which she received Eisenhower funding for her first trip to the Amazon. She has published rainforest educational activities online and distributed them via Fisher Scientific. She has given dozens of talks on rainforest to a wide range of groups, including public and private school s (pre-K-12), senior citizen groups, church youth groups, the St. Louis Audubon Society, conferences for ISACS (Independent Schools Association-Central States), ISSL (Independent Schools-St. Louis),AMS (American Montessori Society), NSTA (National Science Teachers Association), NABT (National Association of Biology Teachers), STOM (Science Teachers of Missouri), the Conservation Forum, and at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Sustainability Conference. She served 6 years on the board of directors of Save The Rainforest and served 18 years on the steering committee of St. Louis Rainforest Advocates. She has written many articles for the E-Newsletters of Save the Rainforest and St. Louis Rainforest Advocates. She has 30 years teaching experience (pre-K – 12^th; except 5^th) and is currently a teacher of high school science and math. She has received several teaching awards, including the St. Louis Zoo’s Teacher of the Year Award.

Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy – Email: lovejoy@HeinzCtr.org

Thomas E. Lovejoy is President of the Heinz Center and currently the Chief Biodiversity Advisor and Lead Specialist for the Environment for the Latin American region for the World Bank. He is also the Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation and is a Research Associate of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. In the past, Tom worked as the Assistant Secretary for Environmental and External Affairs for the Smithsonian Institution, and as Executive Vice President of World Wildlife Fund-US. Tom conceived the idea for the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems project, originated the concept of debt-for-nature swaps, and is the founder of the public television series Nature. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. (biology) from Yale University. Tom is past president of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, past chairman of the United States Man and Biosphere Program, and past president of the Society for Conservation Biology. In 1998, Brazil awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of Scientific Merit. In April 2001 he received the John & Alice Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. He serves on numerous scientific and conservation boards and advisory groups including: the New York Botanical Garden, Committee for the National Institute for the Environment, Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, Wildlife Preservation Trust, Resources for the Future, Woods Hole Research Center, and the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies.

Dra. Julia Matamoras – Email: julmat@racsa.co.cr

Dra. Julia Matamoras was born in Costa Rica in 1952, but moved to NYC (Staten Island) in 1958 where she went to Catholic grammar and high school. In 1970 Julia began studying Medicine at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. In 1975 she transferred to the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, Mexico where she received her degree in 1979.That year Julia went back to live in Costa Rica and started her internship. She has worked as a General Practitioner since then and has worked in the San Carlos area in northern Costa Rica since 1986. Dra. Matamoras spent 10 years working in the ER. Currently, part of her work is with terminally ill patients in a Pain Clinic and Palliative Care center (since 1997). She is also involved in a committee that deals with the prevention and treatment of Domestic Violence in her region since 1993. Dra. Matamoras first came into contact with the Monteverde Conservation League (MCL) in 1993 and in 1994 became a member and was asked to participate on the board of directors .She has participated in different posts since then, and, is the immediate past president of MCL’s board of directors. Julia is married and has a daughter and a son.

Tom Newmark – Email: tnewmark@newchapter.com.

Tom Newmark is president and co-CEO of New Chapter, Inc., a certified organic provider of leading multivitamins and herbal formulations. He is co-owner of Luna Nueva Extractos de Costa Rica that operates a model biodynamic and certified organic ginger and turmeric farm in the volcanic rainforest at the edge of the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. Tom is co-founder of Semillas Sagradas, a sanctuary for endangered medicinal herbs of the neo-tropics. He is on the board of Scientific Advisors for the organic Center for Education, on the board of Biodynamic Trade Association, a member of Organic Trade Association, the American Herbal Products Association, the American Botanical Council, the NNFA, the Society of Integrative oncology and the Bar Association of Missouri. Tom received his BA and his JD from Washington University and had twenty years experience as a trial lawyer. Tom has several patents and has authored numerous articles. His books include Beyond Aspirin and The Life Bridge.

Tom is currently collaborating with scientists at Columbia University on the first herbal clinical trial for the prevention of prostate cancer using proprietary formulation Zyflamend.

Jane Oliver – Email: janeoliver@condoninc.com)

President of Condominium Property Management a company which has provided management and consulting services to condominium and homeowner communities for over 20 years. Served as trustee on the Robinwood West Community Improvement District for 4 years. An avid gardner. Committed to work done by MCLUS. Worked in accounting at Chromalloy, Love Real Estate, Equitable Real Estate and the accounting firm of Rubin Brown Gornstein.

Dr. Peter H. Raven – Email: PRaven@nas.edu

Peter H. Raven has served as Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, and George Engelmann Professor of Botany, Washington University in St. Louis, since 1971. He has visited Costa Rica since 1966, and has served as a member of the Board and also President of the Organization for Tropical Studies. The Garden supports the work of Bill Haber at Monteverde and is currently producing the Manual Flora de Costa Rica, an account of all the plants of the country, in cooperation with INBio and the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica. The Garden’s staff of some 45 Ph.D. level scientists is conducting research throughout the tropics of Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Dr. Raven is currently chairman of the Board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, chair of the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society, and a member of the board of the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science. A native of California and a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (A.B. 1957) and U.C.L.A. (Ph.D. 1960), Dr. Raven was a member of the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University for nine years before coming to St. Louis. He is a member or foreign member of some two dozen academies of science around the world and served as Home Secretary of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for 12 years.

Terry Sheets – Email: dtsheets@sbcglobal.net

Terry Sheets is from Newport Beach, California, and has participated in the Rotary International student program where she lived in England for two weeks and has hosted students from France, Korea and England. She traveled to Europe on an Art History abroad while in college. She received a B.A. double major in Art and Art History from Principia College in 1985. A girl scout herself, she has acted as den leader for her son Dylan’s cub scout den for two years. Since moving to Missouri in 1987, she has been practicing Interior Design. After working as a principle designer, she has been operating her own business for 5 and a half years. Her two children attend Principia where her husband Dan is employed as a coach and P.E. teacher. Her support for Principia includes serving as Pre-School Chairman for the Mother’s and Dad’s Club, and she has enjoyed teaching Sunday School for many years.

Recently, she traveled with her son Dylan -the 2006 Student Ambassador to the Children’s Eternal Rain Forest in Costa Rica with Rachel Crandell. She has begun to research the companies she purchases furniture from to learn that some manage their own forests and practice replanting to preserve their supply. Upon returning from the rain forest, she and Dylan have assembled a 20 minute slide show presentation about their trip. They have spoken to three schools: Hinchcliffe Elementary in Illinois, The Principia and South Middle School in St. Charles. Materials they share with their students are their journals, two photo albums, rain forest books, stuffed animals, and educational wildlife cards they collected. Since returning they have raised additional money by hosting a garage sale, selling lemonade and cookies, rain forest bracelets, and hand made cards. They look forward to speaking to more schools this year.

Rebecca Rymer Schlueter – Email: ccsragan@aol.com

Rebecca Schlueter excites grade-school students about science at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in St. Louis by giving lessons about the tropical habitat. As a primary school teacher for 27 years, she has encouraged many children as naturalists by creating award winning wildlife habitats where they observe plants and animals through hands-on experiences.

With her love of children and nature, she has given workshops on teaching science through gardening in the Houston area where she was raised. As a Roots and Shoots team leader, Rebecca worked with Jane Goodall Institute and Whole Foods to organize a city- wide event at the Houston Zoo celebrating the dedicated work of this world -renowned scientist.

Rebecca is married to Jack Schlueter, art teacher at The Principia, where their four grown children have attended school. As an enthusiastic champion of the arts and the environment, she hopes to build on the passion of Rachel and Dwight Crandell by supporting environmental organizations like Monteverde Conservation League of US. With a Masters in Education, she is pursuing other studies to learn the art of grant writing.

Her vision for the future includes increased awareness of ways we can help each other be stewards for our environment through respect and trust.

In Memoriam

Co-Founder, Rachel Crandell in memoriam

Rachel Crandell retired June, 2001 after teaching for 20 years at Principia Lower School in St Louis and 9 years running a nursery school on her family’s farm in Indiana. Rachel has taught numerous seminars for teachers and given hundreds of slide shows around the nation about tropical rain forests. She and her husband Dwight have 3 grown children and 3 grandchildren. On the Indiana farm they grew all their own food organically including goats, chickens, pigs, and horses (though they didn’t eat the horses). Rachel has volunteered with Girl Scouts, 4-H, elected to school board and is active in the Christian Science church. She worked for the Smithsonian Institution and the Nation’s Capitol Girl Scout Council as a Field Director the first year after receiving a BA from Principia College in English and Art History. Later, she received a Master of Arts in Teaching from Webster U in St Louis. She has been an environmentalist forever and has been President of the St Louis Rain Forest Advocates, leads trips to the tropics (have been 25 times since 1989) hoping to give folks a peek at conservation and the impact our lives at home have on distant endangered places — hoping to change habits and thinking. Rachel passed away on Sept 7, 2009.

Co-Founder, Dwight Crandell in memoriam

Dwight Crandell retired on June 30, 2001 after serving 15 years as Executive Vice President of the St. Louis Science Center and 5 years as Assistant Director and Executive Director of the Museum of Science and Natural History in St. Louis. He also spent 9 years on the staff of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Indiana, 1 1/2