​​Staff

Danielle Downey
Danielle Downey, the Executive Director for Project Apis m., has been working with honey bees and the parasites that plague them for 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.

Billy Synk
Billy Synk, Director of Pollination Programs for Project Apis m., manages the ‘Seeds for Bees’ Project.  Billy comes to us from UC Davis, where he managed bees and participated in bee research projects with Drs. Brian Johnson, Neal Williams and Elina Niño.  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.  More recently, 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.

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

Jean Easley
Jean Easley has a long background working for agriculture, beginning in 1967 with the American Sheep Producers Council general offices in Denver, CO.  She worked there for many years, both full and part time and while a student in Mid-Western Bible Institute, where she graduated in 1978.  Prior to training for and launching full-time ministry, Jean spent a year with Great Western Sugar, also in Denver, and then joined the Almond Board of California in 1998 where she spent eight additional years and worked with Christi Heintz, who later placed her on staff of Project Apis m.  Jean assists with many special projects from her home office in Alamo, TX.  Jean has worked from sheep to sugar (beets) to almonds to honey bees and has a heart for American agriculture.

Terri Wardell
Terri is a California native. She spent the last 30 years in Oregon and Arizona where she earned her B.S and M.S. in education and then taught students for over 25 years. In Arizona she worked with S.A.F.E. Research and Development as a lab technician. Terri currently works with Pacific Pollination as an Operations Manager and assists PAm with financial logistics.