Melinda Laverty

Senior Program Officer, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC), American Museum of Natural History

Melina Laverty is the Senior Program Officer at the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC), where she manages planning and logistics for conservation programs in Bolivia and Vietnam. In 2003, she helped with planning the CBC's annual symposium "Sustainable Nature-based Tourism in Southeast Asia," which provided a forum for biologists, tourism industry professionals, conservation practitioners, governmental decision makers, and community stakeholders to explore ways to address the needs of unique and fragile ecosystems through the economic and conservation potential of ecotourism. Ms. Laverty has also developed and piloted biodiversity conservation curriculum materials for university educators around the world as part of the CBC's Network for Conservation Educators and Practitioners. Before coming to the Museum, Ms. Laverty worked for the World Conservation Union (IUCN) office for Meso America in San Jose, Costa Rica. Ms. Laverty has a Master's degree in marine environmental science from the Marine Sciences Research Center in Stony Brook, New York. She has worked on conservation projects in Barbados, Canada, Tanzania, Sweden, Madagascar, and Mesoamerica.