Staff
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Danielle Downey
Danielle Downey, the Executive Director for Project Apis m., has been working with honey bees and the parasites that plague them for over 25 years. Her background includes training and research from bee labs in Minnesota, Canada and France; beekeeper education, work with commercial beekeepers and queen breeders, regulatory work as a State Apiarist in Utah and Hawaii, and wrangling bees for TV and film. She has worked closely with the Apiary Inspectors of America, Bee Informed Project and a bee breeding project with collaborators in Hawaii, Louisiana and Europe selecting and refining Varroa resistant bees. She holds a BSc from University of Minnesota and an MSc from Simon Fraser University. Please direct any questions or feedback regarding Project Apis m. to: danielle@projectapism.org. |
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Billy Synk
Billy Synk, Director of Pollination Programs for Project Apis m., manages the ‘Seeds for Bees’ program which has installed about 40,000 acres of bee forage cover crops in orchards throughout California. He was trained in beekeeping by noted bee breeder-geneticist Sue Cobey at Ohio State University, where he received a BS in environmental policy and management. Billy moved California in 2009 to work in the hybrid seed industry. After gaining experience with production agriculture he joined UC Davis, where he managed bees and participated in bee research projects with Drs. Brian Johnson, Neal Williams and Elina Niño. Billy worked with photographer Anand Varma on the “Quest for a Superbee” article published in the May 2015 edition of National Geographic and the incredible honey bee metamorphosis video. Please direct any questions or feedback regarding the Seeds for Bees program to: billy@projectapism.org. |
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Peter Berthelsen
Peter Berthelsen, Partnership Coordinator of the Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund, has worked for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in North Dakota, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the U.S. Forest Service in Michigan, followed by 26 years at Pheasants Forever. His passion and focus is on developing and demonstrating high quality, high diversity pollinator habitat through the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund, a partnership founded by Project Apis m., Browning's Honey, and Pheasants Forever. He holds a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin and an MS from Texas Tech University. Direct any questions about BBHF to pberthelsen@beeandbutterflyfund.org |
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Patty Shreve
As the Director of Operations for Project Apis m., Patty brings a unique and rich combination of experience in animal husbandry and nonprofit management. She has B.S. in Biology from the University of Utah, and additional certificates in Management and Fundraising. She has field experience primarily with avian species, but is a keen naturalist and gardener. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. patty@projectapism.org |
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Sharah Yaddaw
As the Communications Director at Project Apis m., Sharah brings over 12 years of experience working for non-profits in a variety of roles including program development, management, and communications. Sharah worked for PAm as a contractor building the new PAm website and co-producing videos for Seeds for Bees, research projects, and the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund before joining the team as an employee. She has always loved biology and bugs, and is happy to be applying her skills to help advance the mission of PAm. When she's not working for PAm, Sharah is most often found digging in the dirt of her small urban farm or exploring in the great outdoors. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. sharah@projectapism.org |
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Grace Kunkel
Grace is our newest addition to the team as the PAm Communications Manager. She has worked with insects in some form or another over the last ten years. At the University of Maryland she was introduced to bees through coursework and used those skills to help with ongoing research. Grace received her master’s degree studying honey bee toxicology and hive dynamics. Since then she has supported several bee related projects including the APHIS National Honey Bee Survey and the Bee Informed Partnership. More recently, she was studying honey bee nutrition at Land O Lakes/Purina, and then back to toxicology. In her free time Grace is usually walking with her dogs, attempting to photograph the local fauna, or planning her next garden project. She lives in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Grace@ProjectApism.org |