Officers & Directors

Linda Reifschneider, President & Treasurer

Linda founded AES in 2006 with a vision of protecting Asian elephants and supporting the people living side-by-side with this magnificent species.
Retired from a four decade long career at Edward Jones Investments, Linda has put her business background to use and married it with her passion for elephants when establishing our non-profit.
Linda resides in St. Louis, Missouri with her beloved dog Maya, but can often be found traveling the world!

Mini Nagendran, Vice president

Mini is a wildlife conservation biologist, an academic and a veterinarian. She is currently an adjunct faculty at Cuesta College in California.
She retired from the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2023. At the USFWS she worked as a Wildlife Biologist from March 2005 in the Division of International Conservation, as a Program Officer for the Asian Elephant Conservation Fund, followed by Rhinoceros and Tiger Fund (Asia) and the Great Ape Conservation Fund (Asia).
Prior to joining the USFWS, Mini was in academia (CSU-Sacramento and Santa Monica College) served as Director of Bird Conservation in California Audubon, and for many years collaborated with international partners on field research and conservation activities in Russia, Kazakhstan, Japan, India, the USA and Bulgaria. Wildlife conservation and ecosystem health continue to be central to Mini’s interests.

Mary Miller, secretary & Social Media Manager

Mary joined the Board in March 2023, after being an active supporter of AES since she first met Linda while working at Grant’s Farm. Mary has worked as an elephant keeper since 2014.
Mary is passionate about sharing her love of elephants and conservation with anyone who will listen. She wants to encourage the next generation to get involved in elephant conservation through AES.
Mary lives in the Northeast with her dog Sampson, her adventure companion.

Lindsey Eagan, director & Communications specialist

Lindsey joined the AES Board in June 2022, after several successful years of fundraising for AES during our annual Pizza for Pachyderms events and nearly 16 years working with Asian elephants at the ABQ BioPark.
Lindsey now works in the Animal Welfare and Behavioral Training department, supporting animal care staff in their pursuit of excellent animal well-being across all species and career development. She is excited that her passion for elephant care has become an opportunity to effect change for Asian elephants and the communities who live near them.
Lindsey resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico with two rambunctious pups and one very sassy cat.

alinda CampagnA, director

Alinda joined the AES board in October 2026 after being a supporter for years and utilizing her AZZK chapter to fundraise and donate to AES during our annual Asian Elephant Month fundraiser and our local Pizza for Pachyderm’s fundraiser. She has worked with elephants for over 10 years at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo.
Alinda is passionate about elephants and traveling. She has traveled to many range countries to see elephants in their natural environment. These experiences have motivated her to take a more hands on approach in elephant conservation. She has been part of the conservation committee for EMA for several years and is excited to blend her work with EMA and AES. Alinda would like to make a positive impact to ensure the survival of Asian elephants for future generations to see and enjoy.
Alinda currently lives in Syracuse, New York with her Husband Nick and the retired zoo dog Cora.

Advisors

Our Advisor group is made up of individuals specializing in elephant care and conservation. They support the AES Board with their expertise by advising on areas of need, review of project requests and communications. We thank them for their support and dedication to our mission.

Charlie Gray

Heidi Riddle

Ellen Wiedner

Gaius Wilson

April Yoder

Conservation Organization Partnerships

Asian Elephant Support appreciates the contributions these organizations have made to help us achieve our mission to care for and conserve Asian elephants either through donations or support for campaigns and fundraising efforts.

AES Board with Kim Klein (Left) of Houston Zoo elephant team and Dr. Paul Ling (Right) of Baylor College of Medicine

Asian Elephant Support is proud to partner with the International Union for Conservation of Nature Asian Elephant Specialist Group and participate on their Conservation Committee.

In 2023 Asian Elephant Support joined forces with the American Association of Zoo Keepers and was named a Conservation Partner for the organization. AES is privileged to have the support of so many local AAZK chapters throughout the United States.

Asian Elephant Support and SAFE - Asian Elephant have partnered together in efforts to support the care and conservation of Asian elephants in range countries.

Asian Elephant Support is glad to work in conjunction with these organizations to build a better future for both African and Asian elephants in the wild and in human care, all across the world.

Corporate Partnerships

Our work has been generously supported by our Corporate Partners.

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