Our Background
Our Story
The Arabian Leopard Fund was established by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) as part of Saudi Arabia’s wider Vision 2030 strategy, which aims to ensure environmental sustainability and support growth of non-profit sectors in Saudi Arabia. The need for the Fund is driven by the growing threat of the Arabian Leopard’s extinction, with less than 200 leopards left in the wild.
Our Purpose
To save the Arabian Leopard – and by doing so, inspire communities, decision-makers, and the world to change the fate of one of our planet’s most delicate ecosystems.
Our Mission
Enable effective insights, partnerships and actions to support long-term conservation of Arabian leopards.
Our Vision
A world with thriving, sustainable populations of Arabian leopards across its range, as part of cultural and natural heritage.
Our Strategy
Strategies Coordination
Coordination of strategies, action plans and effective partnerships across the Arabian leopard’s range.
Enable Effective Support
Enable effective actions to support the long-term conservation of the Arabian leopard
Share Knowledge
Share knowledge and best practice to support the long-term conservation of the Arabian leopard.
Board of Trustees
His Highness Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud
His Highness Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud is the first appointed Minister of Culture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His Highness holds several government and executive positions directly involving the Saudi Vision 2030. He is the governor of the Royal Commission for AlUla, which is currently leading an ambitious development project centered around a world heritage site. He leads many cultural bodies and institutions that promote culture and arts in the country, such as: Chairman of the Board of 11 cultural commissions, the Misk Art Institute, the Taif Development Authority, the Royal Institute of Traditional Arts as well as a Board seat in the Council of Royal Reserves. His Highness also Chairs the Board of Trustees of the Arabian Leopard Fund, and is a board member of Panthera, the only organization in the world that is devoted exclusively to the conservation of all wild cat species.
Mr. Waleed Aldayel
Mr. Waleed Aldayel is an MBA & PMP professional with broad experience in Project Management, change management, and organization strategy with 17 years of experience across the public and private sector.
Mr. Waleed has managed, delivered, supported change initiatives and programs and overseen multi-million contracts in the areas of heritage sites improvement and visitors’ experience including Hegra (UNESCO World Heritage), Conservation for nature and wildlife including protected areas, Flagships’ events within Heritage, Art & Culture.
Mr. Waleed served as the PMO director at the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Economy and Planning, overseeing a wide range of government portfolios. He then moved on to become the Chief of Strategy and EPMO at the Royal Commission for AlUla overseeing the setup of the organizational strategy in the startup phase and managing widespread organizational restructuring. Waleed holds a master’s in business administration (MBA), University of Newcastle, graduating with distinction.
Dr. Thomas Kaplan
Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan is an American business and community leader, philanthropist, conservationist, and art collector. He is the Chairman of investment and asset management firm The Electrum Group, Founder and Chairman of Panthera, the global leader in big cat conservation, Founder of The Leiden Collection, the world’s largest private collection of Rembrandt and Dutch Golden Age art, Chairman of the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), a multilateral organization whose lead donors are France, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and past President and Chairman of the 92nd Street Y, Manhattan’s premier cultural and community center. He holds a Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate degree from Oxford University.
Dr. Laurie Marker
Dr. Laurie Marker is a conservation scientist and Founder and Executive Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). An expert with 45 years’ experience creating conservation strategies for cheetah specialising in human-wildlife conflict, illegal wildlife trade, human livelihoods and captive breeding, Dr Marker has published more than 150 research papers and five books, including the comprehensive textbook, CHEETAHS: Biology & Conservation. Dr Marker is a member of IUCN's Cat Specialist Group and Panthera's Cat Advisory Council, and she serves as Scientific Advisor for the Mountain Lion Foundation. Dr Marker earned her DPhil in Zoology from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom; she is a Professor-at-Large with Cornell University in the United States.
Dr. Frederic Launay
Dr. Launay started his career as a Wildlife Biologist in Saudi Arabia, where he established protected areas and conducted reintroduction programmes on several species. In Addition, he became, the Director of the Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wide Fund in 2000 and then in 2005, he became CEO of the Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort, a $1.5 Billion re- development project, and in 2009, Director General of The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund (MBZ), a philanthropy dedicated to support species conservation worldwide. In November 2017, he moved to New York and became the CEO of Panthera, an international philanthropy dedicated to the conservation of wild cats worldwide.
Board of Directors
Prof. Amy Dickman
Dr. Amy Dickman is a Professor of Wildlife Conservation at Oxford University, and Director of Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU). She has over 25 years of experience in community-based conservation, has published over 100 scientific articles, is an award-winning conservationist and is a National Geographic Explorer.
Dr. Alexandra Zimmermann
Dr. Alexandra Zimmermann specializes in conservation conflict and human-wildlife conflict, with over 20 years’ experience in leading biodiversity conflict resolution initiatives around the globe. Having worked with hundreds of practitioners, researchers, students, policy-makers and community members in a vast diversity of conflict situations, she brings uniquely global perspectives and insights to this growing conservation challenge. Alexandra is the founding Chair of the IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict Task Force, as well as Senior Advisor to The World Bank’s Global Wildlife Program, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, and was previously Head of Conservation Science at Chester Zoo. She is an interdisciplinary scientist, whose original training was in zoology and conservation science before she specialised in social sciences and conflict studies for her doctorate at Oxford, after which she trained in non-profit strategic management at Harvard Business School, dispute and conflict negotiation at Harvard Law School and multilateral negotiation at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
Prof. Andrew MacLeod
Professor Andrew MacLeod is a highly experienced international board director focussing on risk and governance. He currently chairs Griffin Law in the UK and sits on several Australian, UK and Dubai based boards. He is a Visiting Professor at Kings College London and is a former high level official of the UN, former military officer and past senior executive of multi-national companies. He is an Australian/UK dual national.
Ms. Charlotte Brunning
Ms. Charlotte has over 14 years’ experience investing in the infrastructure and energy private equity space. She currently works at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and has worked at 3i, Barclays Private Equity and Macquarie. Charlotte sits as a non-executive director on the boards of Scotia Gas Networks and ADNOC gas pipelines. Charlotte holds a B.Sc. from the London School of Economics and an MBA from London Business School.
Mr. Paul Latto
Mr. Paul Latto is an English qualified lawyer with over twenty five years of experience, and has been based principally in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for over a decade. He is a partner at the international law firm, DLA Piper. He has advised corporations, financial institutions and governmental entities on a wide variety of issues over his career, and assisted with establishment, governance, and compliance matters for a number of not-for-profit organisations.
Meet the team
Dr. Hany Tatwany
Dr Hany Tatwany is a highly knowledgeable conservationist with over 34 years of experience in biodiversity conservation. He was trained as a veterinarian with an extraordinary passion for wildlife to become the first wildlife veterinarian in Saudi Arabia. Cofounded the ungulates breeding programme in Saudi Arabia and led wildlife reintroduction initiatives as well as other biodiversity conservation programmes. He held several national and international positions in biodiversity conservation. Before joining the Arabian Leopard Fund, he was the Vice President of the Saudi Wildlife Authority.
Mr. Turki Alasmari
Mr. Turki holds an MSc in Constraints of Total Quality Management and BCs in accounting. He is a professional accounting with 20 + years of impressive track record in developing and implementing financial and operational controls and insightful analysis of key business drivers to support the delivery of outstanding performance. He occupied several operational and managerial financial positions in the government, private and banking sectors.
Mr. Mohammad Alshehry
Mr. Mohammed holds a diploma in office management, working in various fields in the private and public sectors. Experience of more than 20 years in public administration, government relations and secretarial. Seven years of experience in managing engineering projects in the private sector. He received many training courses such as in the fields of Data entry and word processing, Microsoft Office, Wildlife photography, Outlook personal information management, Skills for dealing with superiors and Creative secretarial skills.
Financials & Annual Reports
Coming soon ...