SELECTED BIOS
Kari Bagnall is founder and director of Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary. Kari was working as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children when a ‘pet’ monkey named Samantha was given to her in 1993. Soon after Samantha came into Kari’s life, more monkeys followed and Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary was born. Jungle Friends is home to over 100 new-world monkeys with an ever-growing waiting list. Most were cast offs from the exotic pet trade, others were retired from laboratory research.
Hope Bohanec has been active in Animal Rights for over 20 years, organizing successful campaigns with Sonoma People for Animal Rights (SPAR) throughout the 90’s. In 2002, she founded Vegan Voices, focusing on education and outreach for farm animals. Hope was the Sonoma County Coordinator for Proposition 2 and soon after that victory, fused Vegan Voices into the new Farm Animal Protection Project (FAPP). She has most recently offered her organizational talents to In Defense of Animals (IDA) as their new Grassroots Field Director.
Share Bond, is the founder and director of S.K.U.N.K.S. www.StinkyBusiness.org, runs California Animal Rescue and started the programs Neighborhood Watch 4 Animals, AV Animal Rights and Vegan Club.  She is author of many animal-related books www.ScratchnSniffPublishing.com and her animal rights book is "An Earth Divided:  Crucified For Caring" www.EarthDivided.ScratchnSniffPublishing.com.  Share studied orangutans in Borneo with Birute Galdikas, which led to wildlife rescue/rehabilitation with the animals in her own country, and works with animal spirits.
Michael Budkie, A.H.T., is the co-founder & Executive Director of Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! (SAEN). After witnessing the atrocities of animal experimentation during his education, he successfully ended a head injury experiment on cats at the Univ. of Cincinnati. This campaign launched his career leading to positions with several national organizations. In the mid-1990s, Michael founded SAEN, which has been successful in terminating research projects & forcing the USDA to take legal action against laboratories. During his 20+ years of activism, he has been published & traveled extensively, appearing on TV & radio programs to expose the truth about animal experimentation.

 
Jon Camp is Director of Outreach for Vegan Outreach, which publishes and distributes millions of booklets promoting veganism throughout the world. As of July 2008, over eight million hard copies of Vegan Outreach brochures have been handed out by members of Vegan Outreach. Jon travels across the US leafleting on behalf of Vegan Outreach's Adopt a College campaign; in the past 5 years, he has handed out over 350,000 booklets at 275 schools.
Rick Corbett strapped into the animal movement at the age of 13, specializing in farmed animal issues and youth outreach. At the age of 21, he now holds 2 bachelor’s degrees, speaks 4 languages, has spoken all over the country, and an award for his activism at AR 2005. He is speaking on the youth outreach, grassroots activism, and individual activism panels. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Saurabh Dalal advocates for veganism and Ahinsa (non-violence) as compelling solutions to many global problems. He is Deputy Chair of the International Vegetarian Union, President of the Vegetarian Union of North America, President of the Vegetarian Society of DC, and volunteers in various capacities with numerous like-minded non-profits. A lifelong vegetarian and vegan since 1991. Saurabh holds graduate degrees in Physics and Engineering and explores ways to integrate sound science into the movement.
Karen Davis is the founder and President of United Poultry Concerns, Inc., a nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl and includes a sanctuary. She has a PhD in English from the University of Maryland-College Park where she taught for 12 years in the English Department and pioneered a course on the role of animals in the Western philosophic and literary tradition. In 2002, Karen was inducted into the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame. She has also authored many essays, articles, & books. To learn more about Karen and her latest book Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs, click on www.upc-online.org/karenbio.htm.

 
Karen Dawn founded DawnWatch in 1999 after working as a news researcher and writer. She served on the Genesis Awards voting committee from 2001-2004. Karen has appeared on MTV, and she has lectured at national animal rights conferences since 2001. She has hosted animal issues talk shows and her opinion pieces have appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, New York's Newsday and the UK Guardian. Harper Collins recently published her first solo book, Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals.
Debra Erenberg is Organizing Director for Rainforest Action Network where she oversees the development of local activist groups, activist training, online community-building, education and outreach. Prior to joining RAN, Debra served as Director of Affiliate Resources for NARAL Pro-Choice America, providing strategic support and training to the organization’s 27 state affiliates and campus organizing efforts at more than 100 schools. In 20 years of grassroots organizing, election campaigns and nonprofit management, Debra has also worked with CSPI, PETA, the Great Ape Project, & many others.
Timothy Gorski is Producer/Director of Rattle the Cage Productions. He has a Masters degree in film and visual communications. He's worked in television for 12 years and has recently created PSA's for VIVA, Harpseals, Wildlife Care Center, SHAC, and Dolphin Freedom Foundation. Tim’s 1993 anti-captivity documentary received 12 awards in 45 festivals. He's also an animal/disaster rescue specialist volunteering for the Wildlife Care Center and certified through the American Humane Association. Tim also owns and maintains a controversial site, www.MiamiSeaPrison.com.

Randy Grim is known as the “unlikely hero.” For over a decade, he has called national attention to the scourge of abandoned, feral, and wild street dogs. He has achieved national media attention, changed legislation, appeared in national television programs, and consulted with local, state, and federal policy makers and animal welfare organizations throughout the US. Randy is featured on Animal Planet, National Geographic, History Channel, People Magazine, The Today Show, PAX Television, CNN, and The Weather Channel. His new book Don’t Dump the Dog hits the bookshelves August 1st 2009.
Samuel Guerrero is the founder of TSA (Todos Somos Animales - We are All Animals), a nonprofit org that works towards a society that respects all animals, and whose goals are to eradicate speciesism and promote veganism. A schoolteacher by profession and an activist for eight years, he focuses on education and its influence upon the prevailing values in society, as he considers this to be the root of the problem and the solution to it. He gives lectures to future teachers and is involved in laying out an Education Program that conveys values of respect, justice & equality towards all animals.
George Guimaraes is a vegan dietitian and animal rights activist in Brazil. As a dietitian, his practice is dedicated to the research of vegetarian diets and counseling of vegetarian patients. He is also a regular lecturer and a writer. Guimaraes is the director of two vegan restaurants, VEGETHUS, and the founder of VEDDAS (Ethical Vegetarianism, Animal Rights Defense & Society). VEDDAS holds educational activities, protests and lawsuits on issues ranging from vivisection to animal farming & entertainment.
Camille Hankins is co-founder of Win Animal Rights (WAR), a group of hardcore, grassroots, direct action campaigners dedicated to bringing an end to the brutality and killing at Huntingdon Life Sciences and ultimately to total animal liberation. With almost 20 years of sales, marketing and management expertise, Camille specializes in using her knowledge base to capitalize on critical weaknesses of animal exploitation businesses. She also acts as a Press Officer for the N. American Animal Liberation Press Office and annually serves as Exhibit Coordinator for the AR national conferences.
Alex Hershaft is the Conference Chair and founder of the Vegetarian Information Service in 1976 and FARM in 1982. He launched World Farm Animals Day in 1983, the Great American Meatout in 1985, Gentle Thanksgiving in 1990, and he's organized 17 national AR conferences. He is a member of the Vegetarian and the Animal Rights Hall of Fame. He describes himself as a "late bloomer", having accomplished all this after earning a Ph.D. in chemistry and devoting nearly 30 years to science research and consulting.
Lorri Houston, founder of Animal Acres, is considered the "pioneer" of the farmed animal sanctuary movement. In 1986, Lorri co-founded Farm Sanctuary, which opened the country's first sanctuary for farmed animals. For 18 years, she directed the group's rescue and fundraising efforts. Through her farm animal sanctuary efforts, Lorri has directly saved thousands of animals from the cruelties of factory farms, stockyards and slaughterhouses, and brought national attention to the plight of animals used for "food production."
Mike Jaynes is an independent animal advocate and full time lecturer in English and Western Humanities at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. His academic and creative writing has appeared in peer reviewed journals, nationally circulated magazines, newspapers, ejournals, and books. In his Animal Advocacy pieces, he focuses mainly on the plight of the elephant and the whale shark but also argues against "Sustainable Use," Animals used for Entertainment, Mass Confinement Factory Farming, Whaling, Sealing, Shark Finning, Speciesism and Anthropocentrism.
Pattrice Jones, coordinator of the Eastern Shore Sanctuary & Education Center, nurtures and advocates for chickens in the heart of a rural region dominated by the poultry industry. An activist in various social change movements since the 1970s and now the coordinator of the Global Hunger Alliance, Pattrice speaks and writes frequently of the connections between earth, animal, and human liberation. She currently teaches public speaking at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. She is the author of Aftershock: Confronting Trauma in a Violent World: A Guide for Activists and Their Allies.
Dr. Elliot Katz began his career as a trained veterinarian. Recognizing the immense animal suffering that takes place around the world, he founded In Defense of Animals (IDA) in 1983. IDA works to end animal exploitation, cruelty, and abuse by protecting for the rights, welfare, and habitats of animals, as well as to raise their status beyond mere property, commodities, or things. IDA's campaigns cover animals around the world, through investigation, rescue and rehabilitation, public education, political and consumer advocacy, and litigation.
Shannon Keith is an animal liberation attorney in Los Angeles, California as well as the President of ARME and Uncaged Films. Shannon and her organizations made the award-winning documentary, "Behind the Mask," which explores the history of the animal liberation movement, from its inception to present day. Shannon is currently working on her second documentary about the fur trade, called "Skin Trade."
Greg Lawson has been a National Park Service ranger for 22 years and the environmental reasons are a strong motivation for his veganism.  For eight years, he was lead journalist for Animal Rights Online.  President of the Vegetarian Society of El Paso, Greg also has co-hosted an AR/vegan radio show, ACT Radio (Animal Concerns of Texas), for the last six years.
Joshua Levine heads up The Levine Social Investment Group at UBS Financial Services, where he specializes in developing socially conscious investment solutions for individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. Joshua has a Bachelors of Science in Civil & Environmental Engineering and a Masters in Environmental Science and Management. He is both knowledgeable and passionate about developing socially responsible screens, participating in shareholder activism, and identifying community investment opportunities.
Bob Linden created and hosts the first commercial vegan/ animal rights radio program in mainstream media ever, GO VEGAN WITH BOB LINDEN, which also became the first major network vegan/animal rights program ever - on Air America. Bob's show has been broadcasting on-air and on-line in Los Angeles for over 8 years (now heard on Clear Channel's progressive talk KTLK-AM-1150 Sundays at 10AM) and in San Francisco for over 6 years (on Clear Channel's progressive-talk GREEN-960 Saturdays at 5PM). Prior to establishing his radio program, Bob was the initial organizer of WorldFest, an LA - area vegan festival.

 
Anthony Marr has a science degree and is the author of "Omni-Science and the Human Destiny" and “Homo Sapiens! SAVE YOUR EARTH”. A wildlife preservationist since 1995, he has been to India 3x for the Bengal tiger, to Japan 2x for the whales and dolphins, and conducted 5 Compassion for Animals Road Expeditions (CARE) each covering 30-40 states over 3-7 months. He founded Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE) in 1999 and is the leader of HOPE’s Global Emergency Operation (GEO) on climate change and mass extinction, which will take him through 25 countries in 5 continents over the next 3 years.
George Matejka, Ph.D., is Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Ursuline College. Since he developed a course entitled Animals and Ethics in 2004, roughly 175 Ursuline students have elected to take this class.  He has published reviews of two books in the field of Animals and Ethics, including a review of Peter Singer’s In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave.  George volunteers at Happy Tails cat sanctuary in Chesterland , Ohio , and resides in Lyndhurst , Ohio , with his two cats Peanut and Snuggles.
Armaiti May, DVM has volunteered as an animal rights advocate for the past decade. A 2005 graduate of UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Armaiti helped coordinate a surgery training wetlab using ethical-source cadavers from a willed body donation program as an alternative to the school’s terminal surgeries, which were subsequently replaced with humane surgical training. She currently organizes a LA based animal rights meetup group which does regular vegan outreach. Dr. May is house call vet in the Los Angeles area. She plans to have her own vegan-friendly integrative practice that incorporates animal advocacy into the practice.


Kim McCoy is Executive Director of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization whose mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species. Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. Kim holds a degree from Lewis & Clark College with a specialty in animal law.
Erica Meier is the Executive Director of Compassion Over Killing, a non-profit animal advocacy organization based in Washington , D.C. that focuses on exposing cruelty to farmed animals and promoting vegetarian eating as a way to reduce animal suffering. COK’s undercover investigations inside factory farms have been featured in various newspapers, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. Before working at COK, Erica spent four years as an animal control officer in D.C., rescuing sick, injured, and homeless animals as well as enforcing animal protection laws.
Dawn Moncrief is the Conference Director and Executive Director of FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement), a non-profit, public interest organization advocating vegan diets to save animals, protect the environment, and improve health. She has two Masters degrees from The George Washington University, one in International Relations specializing in economic development, the other specializing in women-in-development. Her specialty is the detrimental effects of animal agriculture on world hunger, particularly women in less-developed countries.
Peter Muller has been involved in wildlife protection since 1976. He has participated in patrolling posted land against hunters during hunting season, given presentations on the deleterious effects of hunting at various universities and other groups, published numerous articles on this topic, debated and educated on radio and TV. Peter is currently President of LOHV (League of Humane voters), a PAC (Political Action Committee) whose mission is to support candidates for political office who promise their support of animal protective legislation.
Robert Nixon has been involved with animal issues for over 30 years. He has participated in and orchestrated dozens of demonstrations, has written several news columns on animal issues, is a registered humane investigator in Illinois, and co-founded the Illinois Humane Political Action Committee. He is vice president of the Kankakee County Animal Foundation in Illinois whose primary objective is to spay/neuter a minimum of 100 cats & dogs a month. Nixon is a professor with a doctorate in communications and lives on a farm with 17 dogs & 21 cats.
lauren Ornelas runs Food Empowerment Project. She has been active in the animal rights movement for over 19 years. After spending four years as National Campaign Coordinator for In Defense of Animals, lauren was asked by Viva!UK to start and run Viva!USA in 1999. As the leader of Viva!USA, she investigated factory farms and ran consumer campaigns. Some of her accomplishments include persuading Trader Joe’s to stop selling all duck meat, Pier 1 to stop using feathers and was the spark that got the CEO of Whole Foods to become a vegan.
Will Potter is an award-winning independent journalist who focuses on how the “War on Terrorism” affects civil liberties. He has closely followed the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), the Earth Liberation Front arrests in “Operation Backfire,” and the landmark First Amendment case of the SHAC 7. His reporting on AETA has been recognized by Project Censored “for outstanding investigative journalism,” as one of the top 25 “stories that didn’t make the news” in 2007. He is the creator of GreenIsTheNewRed.com, where he blogs about the Green Scare and history repeating itself. He is currently pursuing a master’s in writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Eric Prescott Eric Prescott is currently editing "I'm Vegan," a documentary project he produced and directed to shake up preconceived notions about vegans and veganism. He co-founded and co-directs the Boston Vegan Association, which fosters, supports, and educates Boston's vegan community, and which advocates veganism as the only consistent way to
commit to the belief that it is wrong to cause unnecessary harm to animals. In support of this mission, the BVA produced a new abolitionist vegan outreach pamphlet that is offers free to qualifying advocates through veganpamphlet.com.

Nathan Runkle serves full-time as the Executive Director of Mercy For Animals (MFA), an organization he founded in 1999. He has helped organize and execute MFA's investigations and open rescues at Ohio's four largest egg factory farms. Through his work with MFA, Nathan has appeared in stories by dozens of newspapers and radio programs, as well as on PBS, NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX affiliates. He has organized hundreds of demonstrations & educational outreach events and frequently speaks on AR issues at high schools and colleges.
Brenda Shoss formed Kinship Circle to empower people to write/speak/act influentially on behalf of animals. In response to Hurricane Katrina, Kinship Circle mobilized volunteers/supplies to nearly 80 Gulf Coast sites. Brenda later became Food/Water Assignments Director for Animal Rescue New Orleans and went on to form Kinship Circle Animal Disaster Aid Network. At the 8/29/08 third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Kinship Circle will receive a Pioneer Spirit Award in New Orleans. Her column runs in Healthy Planet and she has written for The Animals Voice, Satya Magazine, VegNews Magazine & other publications.

Veda Stram saw a picture of a lab animal around noon in April 1988 and attended an animal rights meeting that night. She was vegetarian within weeks, vegan within months. She has volunteered with Last Chance for Animals, Orange County People for Animals and Northwest Animal Rights Network. She was Associate Editor and Administrator for AnimalsVoice.com and The Animals Voice Magazine. Veda has been a speaker at FARM’s Animal Rights Conferences for several years. She is currently working with All-Creatures.org.

Tamira Thayne is founder and executive director of Dogs Deserve Better, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the chaining and penning of dogs, and bringing 'man's best friend' into the home and family. She is an animal advocate and artist living in rural Pennsylvania. Tammy holds a B.A. in Art from the University of Maryland, and a B.A. in Naturology from the American Institute for Holistic Theology. In September 2006, she was arrested in PA for helping a dying chained dog who could not stand. She will recount the story at AR2009.
Brian Vincent is Communications Director for Big Wildlife, a non-profit wildlife protection organization based in the Pacific Northwest. He has done extensive media coordination, outreach, and mobilizing for a range of animal rights and conservation groups including the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, American Lands Alliance, and Animal Protection Institute. In addition, he has organized some of the most successful and creative non-violent direct actions in the US. Brian leads Big Wildlife's media, grassroots organizing, and coalition building efforts. Contact Brian at big_wildlife@shaw.ca
Dave Warwak is a meditator, philosopher, poet, humanitarian, artist, musician, and author of "Peep Show for Children Only". Formerly a tenured middle school art teacher, he became an animal rights activist after he was notoriously fired for teaching kindness, i.e.: veganism, to his students. Warwak's mission has since been to tell children the truth about our world.
Paul Watson has exhibited much diversity in his activism. Aside from being a co-founder of Greenpeace in 1972 and Greenpeace International in 1979 and founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1977, Paul was a Field Correspondent for Defenders of Wildlife between 1976 and 1980. He was a field rep for the Fund for Animals between 1978 and 1981. He co-founded Friends of the Wolf in 1984 and the Earthforce Environmental Society in 1977. Paul has received many awards and commendations over the years and has commanded over 200 voyages and 7 different Sea Shepherd ships in his campaigns to protect whales and other marine animals around the world.
Odette Wilkens is Executive Director of the Equal Justice Alliance, which is seeking legislative and judicial remedies to repeal or amend AETA. She is also a member of the Animal Law Committee of the American Bar Association and a member of the Committee of Legal Issues Pertaining to Animals of the New York City Bar Association. As a corporate attorney, Odette was Assistant General Counsel for a major international recruiting firm. She also holds a masters degree in business administration in finance from New York University.
Peter Young is a former political prisoner sentenced to a two year prison term in 2005 for releasing and conspiracy to release thousands of mink from fur farms across the Midwest in 1997. Recently released after 7 years on the FBI's wanted list and a 24 month federal prison sentence, this veteran activist is an emerging voice of strength through sacrifice in the struggle for animal liberation. Now returned to the world on this side of the fence, Peter Young brings with him an arresting story, speaking on the subjects of political repression, animal liberation, politicized prosecutions, and more.
Bruce Zeman, along with his dachshund Nathan, spearheaded the enacting of the "Guardian Campaign" in his hometown of Wanaque, NJ, with the passage of "Nathan's Law." A member of the Wanaque Board of Education, Bruce initiated a humane education program in the schools - where (assisted by Nathan) he regularly speaks to students about animal issues. In 2006, he conducted advanced animal rescue in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Bruce and Nathan were recently awarded the "Kinship Award" by the Doris Day Animal Foundation for their work on behalf of animals. They will be releasing their book, "A Dog and His Boy - Nathan's Story," this Fall.

Complete speakers list

HOME