Board & Advisors

Dr. George Archibald co-founded the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1973, along with Dr. Ronald Sauey, a colleague and friend from Cornell University, as a global center to study and conserve cranes and protect the habitats and flyways they need to survive.  

For 27 years, Dr. Archibald served as the President of the Foundation. In 2000, he passed on this leadership, and ever since, he has continued his full-time work to help raise the funds needed to fulfill the Foundation’s mission, while also supporting the many global programs he started. His current focus involves work in Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cuba, China, Pakistan, South Korea, and Russia. Dr. Archibald has always used the charisma of cranes to help unite people from diverse cultures and countries to work together to preserve habitats necessary for the survival of both cranes and people. 

For more than 50 years, his visionary leadership and determined optimism have supported integrated programs to conserve all 15 species of cranes worldwide. He envisioned programs developed and implemented using a creative combination of field research, public education, habitat protection, captive propagation, reintroduction, and partnership with local communities living near the cranes.  One of Dr. Archibald’s first projects in North America was to save the Endangered Whooping Crane, which was on the brink of extinction.

Dr. Archibald received his undergraduate degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1968, and completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1977. In recognition for his accomplishments, he has received four honorary doctorates and many awards including the Gold Medal from the World Wildlife Fund, a Fellows Award from the MacArthur Foundation, the Wildlife Conservation Medal from the Zoological Society of San Diego, the Lilly Medal presented by the Indianapolis Zoo, and the Douglas H. Pimlott Award from Nature Canada. In 2013, Archibald was awarded the Order of Canada on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II and received the inaugural Dan W. Lufkin Prize for Environmental Leadership from the National Audubon Society.

Dr. Archibald lives in the countryside near the International Crane Foundation’s headquarters, where he enjoys gardening and aviculture. 

An avid wildlife and outdoors lover and storyteller, Jill Allread is CEO of Public Communications Inc., a national public relations (PR) and communications agency headquartered in Chicago. She counsels various clients to enhance their brand and reputation and strengthen their internal and external communications by more effectively telling their stories through strategic analysis, leadership coaching, and spokesperson training. Her previous jobs included working 12 years in newsrooms of daily newspapers, including as metropolitan editor for The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette. Many of Jill’s clients are in conservation, health care, not-for-profit and education, building on her wildlife experience gained as Director of Public Affairs and PR at the Chicago Zoological Society.

A frequent national speaker and author of articles on crisis and issues management and communications campaigns, her client work has earned more than 150 national and regional public relations awards, including distinguished leader for PRSA and the lifetime achievement award from the Publicity Club of Chicago.

Respecting the land and caring about wildlife began in childhood for Jill, who grew up on a sheep and grain farm in northeast Indiana. From the farm, her interests and passion for nature expanded in wildlife conservation, and she continues to educate and advocate for the protection of cranes through service on the International Crane Foundation board and strategic communications.

Jill is an active civic leader and advisor and was past Illinois Nature Preserves Commission chair. She also serves as past chair and board member of Openlands, one of the nation’s oldest and most successful Chicago-region conservation organizations. She is a founding board member and former chair of Girls in the Game, a non-profit helping girls ages 7-17 build self-confidence and a healthier lifestyle. She earned accreditation from the Public Relations Society of America in 2000. She was elected to the PRSA College of Fellows in 2021, joining an elite group of national PR leaders representing less than 4% of North America’s PR practitioners.

Dr. Rich Beilfuss has served as the International Crane Foundation’s President & CEO and ex officio member of the Board of Directors since 2010. He helped launch many of the Foundation’s signature projects and provides oversight, vision and prioritization to the International Crane Foundation’s conservation programs across Asia, Africa and North America. He is responsible for the Foundation’s $9 million annual budget and led their $40 million comprehensive capital campaign.

From 2006 to 2009, Rich lived in Mozambique with his family and served as Director of Conservation Services for Gorongosa National Park. From 1992 to 2006, he was responsible for developing and managing the International Crane Foundation’s African regional program. He built a team of staff and partners in more than 20 countries across Africa, seeking deep connections with the communities who share their lands with cranes, and spearheaded public and private efforts to implement innovative water management practices in the water-stressed Zambezi River Basin for the benefit of cranes, many other species and human livelihoods.

Over his 30-year career, Rich has engaged in water management and wetland restoration efforts in more than 20 countries across Africa and Asia, focusing on Nepal, Vietnam, Mozambique and Zambia. He has contributed to restoring and managing thousands of acres of prairie and savanna landscape in the Midwestern United States. Rich has authored over 100 scientific papers, technical reports, proceedings and lay-audience publications and presented his research findings and conservation vision to governments, communities and peer scientists worldwide.

Rich is a Licensed Professional Hydrologist with a Ph.D. in Land Resources (Wetland Ecology), an M.Sc. in Civil and Environmental Engineering-Hydrology, an M.Sc. in Water Resources Management and a B.Sc. in International Economics. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, where he is an Honorary Fellow, and enjoys teaching courses and mentoring students. The Governor of Wisconsin appointed him to serve on the Examining Board of Professional Geologists, Hydrologists and Soil Scientists.

Rich lives in Madison with his wife, Katie, and their two sons. He is an avid unicycle rider, dart-thrower and birder – but not all at the same time.

Click here to view a listing of Rich’s publications on ResearchGate.

Bobbi is a Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) and has had a 30-year career in the investment industry managing institutional investment portfolios. She holds a Master’s of Management degree from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s in Finance and Economics from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She spent most of her career at Allstate Insurance, managing equity portfolios. Since retiring, she has become active in nature and bird conservation in the Chicago and northern Illinois area and now, with the International Crane Foundation worldwide.

She is a director of the Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation (a land trust in NW Illinois), the Chicago Bird Alliance (Audubon Society), the Bird Conservation Network (a coalition of 21 organizations), and a member of the Chicago Mayor’s Nature and Wildlife Committee. In addition, she has served as a director of the Cradle in Evanston, Illinois, and the Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation.

Bobbi has enjoyed her travels to see wildlife, birds, and cranes in particular, around the world. When not watching birds in the Chicago area, she and her husband spend time in Galena, Illinois.

Tom’s passion for nature and adventure started over 30-years ago, when he became interested in birding in his hometown Cleveland, Ohio. His study of birds led him to appreciate the interconnections of nature and started him on a journey that became a lifelong pursuit to help conserve our world’s wildlife.

His first encounter with cranes occurred early in his birding career on a field trip with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to the Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area. He was in awe of the spectacle of thousands of calling Sandhill Cranes that filled the horizon and then landed to roost for the night.

Tom attended a lecture by Dr. George Archibald at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in March 2016. This led to his visit to the International Crane Foundation (ICF) to meet with George and hear a presentation by Kerryn Morrison on the African Crane Conservation Program. It was a delightful afternoon, especially his tour of the grounds afterward with George and seeing all 15 species of crane in one place. In 2017, he had the opportunity to see 11 of the 15 crane species in the wild as his adventures with his wife, Kathy, took him across the United States, Africa and Asia. The sight of cranes never gets old. He is looking forward to seeing the other four species in the wild in the near future.

Tom retired in 2015 after the successful sale of his 3rd generation company to his management team. Recruited by his uncle, Tom spent 34-years with Leiden Cabinet Company where he progressively served as President, CEO and sole owner. Leiden manufactures wood fixtures for the retail market for such accounts as Panera Bread, America Eagle and Dick’s Sporting Goods stores.

Tom is a trustee on the Cleveland Zoological Society Board where he also serves as Secretary and is an Executive Committee member. He joined the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) board in 2001. He is now an honorary trustee and a member of the Natural Areas Committee. In 2014, Tom and Kathy received the CMNH’s Conservation Award. In 2011, Tom and his wife, Kathy, formed the Leiden Conservation Foundation to streamline their growing philanthropic support for conservation-related activities. Tom serves as President. In 2016, Giraffe Conservation Foundation USA, a 501-(c)(3), was created. Tom serves as President of the GCF-USA Board.

Tom graduated from John Carroll University. He had the distinction of receiving his Bachelors and Masters in Chemistry in the same graduation ceremony in 1978. He went on to do graduate work in Chemistry at Stanford University.

Tom believes working in the field with researchers and conservationists to save a species from going extinct in the wild puts a different perspective on the work required. From monitoring Red-cockaded woodpecker nests to installing trackers on African penguins to assisting in the translocation of the Rothschild’s giraffe across the Nile River, all were tremendous learning experiences for him. It’s about collaborating with people or their communities to develop a win-win situation for the people, the ecosystem and the wildlife present.

Andy is a retired CPA with over 50 years of experience working for and with non-profits. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he earned degrees in Community Education and accounting. He gained practical nonprofit experience working for 12 years for an older adult organization in Milwaukee. In that capacity, he did both grant writing and business management. In 1987, he went into public accounting at RitzHolman CPAs in Milwaukee, where he helped to grow the nonprofit practice of the firm from 15 to 300 organizations.

In addition to being a CPA practitioner, Andy has also served as an adjunct professor at the Helen Bader Institute for Nonprofit Management at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and developed two online courses in nonprofit accounting and bookkeeping.

Andy and his wife Paula have been members of the International Crane Foundation for more than 30 years and have reveled in seeing its growth and effectiveness.  Andy is an avid photographer who combines interests in wildlife and culture with travel to many biodiverse areas around the world.

Barry is a designated Research Professor in the Department of Auditing, College of Accounting Sciences at the University of South Africa (Unisa), where he graduated with a Doctorate in Auditing. In addition to receiving numerous awards recognizing his contribution to research, including Unisa’s prestigious Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research from the Unisa Chancellor and former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, he is recognized as an Established Researcher by South Africa’s National Research Foundation.

Privileged to live in biodiversity-rich South Africa, Barry is passionate about wildlife, regularly visiting game parks and game reserves. In addition to his representation on the Board of the International Crane Foundation, Barry is a long-serving member of the South African-based Endangered Wildlife Trust, whose species-focused conservation efforts address a range of endangered and threatened fauna and flora, including four species of cranes across southern Africa.

Despite a primary background in accounting, auditing and finance, Barry’s academic research focuses on the broader issues of organizational governance and accountability. His specific research interests, which focus on sustainability issues and the global SDGs, comprise three primary thematic areas. The first investigates and compares emerging organizational sustainability governance, reporting and assurance practices. Inspired by his passion for wildlife and conservation, the second involves collaborating with natural scientists to explore the extent to which organizations account to their stakeholders about their biodiversity impacts, especially on how their operations contribute to degrading, preserving, or restoring biodiversity. Against the backdrop of increasing economic challenges in developing countries, corporate donations to conservation-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are declining. The third study investigates the emerging innovative financing mechanisms that provide sustainable funding for the biodiversity preservation efforts of conservation NGOs.

A career diplomat since 1992, Ambassador Batsukh served as Ambassador-at-Large for Mongolia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade until March 2010. He was formerly Mongolia’s ambassador to Canada between 2001 and 2005, with additional accreditations to Peru, Brazil, and Paraguay, and ambassador to China between 2005 and 2009, with additional accreditations to Australia, New Zealand, and Pakistan.

Ambassador Batsukh holds a master’s degree in international trade and a doctoral degree in international relations. He was an executive with Mongolia’s National Tourism Administration for eight years, including two years as Chairman. In June 2010, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oyu Tolgoi LLC.

Although Carolyn began birding on a whim in 2005 when she gave her husband a gift of a Winter Raptor Workshop in Montana, she quickly developed a passion for birds and bird conservation. She has served on the board of the American Bird Conservancy. Currently, she serves on the boards of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the Land Trust Alliance, NatureServe and the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology. She lives in an environmentally sustainable self-powered home and is very active in the local birding community, including serving as a county coordinator for the Pennsylvania breeding bird atlas.

I was born in the Midwest and grew up in Chicago. I was fortunate to visit my grandparents at their country homes outside the city and on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  Later, I attended boarding school on the East Coast, broadening my scope and range.  When I was 13, I was invited to Kenya on a safari by an old family friend.  This journey, I believe, changed my life forever. The wild beauty of Africa left an everlasting impression on me.

After graduating high school, I chose to study abroad in the center of Europe.  I attended an American College in Lugano, Switzerland called Franklin.  Here, I obtained a global perspective and a respect for people’s interdependence.  After a few years of traveling across Europe, I returned home to continue my studies on the West Coast.  I attended Pepperdine University, graduating with an interdisciplinary Communications major specializing in International Studies.

I continued to educate myself through reading and travel.  Art and history became my favorite subjects.  I found music and cuisine to be the hallmarks of the local living of the people I visited.  Gradually, the draw of the cities was replaced by a lure towards nature and the countryside.  Ultimately, I have been fortunate to visit over 50 countries and 30 states in the U.S.  Our impact on nature was seen wherever I went, even under the sea while scuba diving.

The superimposing of the man-made world over the natural world has gradually exposed the shortsightedness of this historical practice.  In man’s subjugation of nature, he has rapidly caused an imbalance that only now, at the 11th hour, has he become aware.  We are part of the natural world and cannot live without it, though we are not essential to it.  The plight of the world’s flora and fauna and our future coexistence with nature has come to a critical crossroads.  Something must be done on a global scale.

The International Crane Foundation has been a guiding light for decades, bringing attention to the interrelation of the human world and the natural world’s interrelation.  It has highlighted the stark contrast between national sovereignty, with its self-centered focus, and the natural world, which knows no national boundaries.  It has striven for global cooperation to respect and sustain the habitats and migrations of cranes through education and goodwill.  I value its lessons and history as exemplary in this field of endeavor.

I have learned much from Dr George Archibald, whose tireless efforts and unceasing optimism are inspirational to all who know him. He has shown me the Black-necked Cranes of Bhutan, the Red-crowned Cranes of Japan, the Whooping Cranes of Louisiana, and the Sandhill Cranes in Michigan.  I am smitten with these amazing, sacred birds.  I would love to see every species in their natural habitat.  More importantly, I would like to continue to support the Foundation’s excellent work as my grandfather and father have before me.  I am drawn by its focus on a single family of birds with just 15 species and its efforts on a global scale.

Eleanor is an Independent Trustee of the Alpine family of mutual funds and serves on the Audit, Valuation and Nominating & Governance Committees. She is also the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) for Magni Global Asset Management in Minneapolis.

Eleanor served as Chief Compliance Officer for the asset management businesses of Ameriprise. Eleanor was a Partner of J. W. Seligman where she served as Risk Manager and as CCO of the Mutual Funds business. She was responsible for oversight of compliance, brokerage, derivatives, credit and the hedge funds business.

She served as Managing Director, Partner and Chief Investment Officer of AMT Capital, where she provided financial advisory services to a variety of US and non-US financial services firms.

Eleanor was a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan where she worked for 17 years, including two overseas assignments. She served as an institutional fixed income portfolio manager, municipal bond trader, asset liability manager and product manager for Morgan’s then-nascent mutual funds business.

Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Eleanor was an analyst and assistant economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

She is a Member of the Board and former President of the Wendell Gilley Museum of Bird Carving in Southwest Harbor Maine. She currently serves as Treasurer of the Museum. She is also a Member of the Alumnae Board of the Chapin School in New York.

Eleanor received a BA in Economics from Wellesley College.

She resides with her family in New York City.

Heidi earned her B.A. in Economics at UVM in 1983, after which she moved to Chicago to work in the food and beverage industry and hospitality business. Her career includes experience in higher education and retail.

Throughout her life, Heidi has been a dedicated volunteer who has served and chaired many non-profit organizations in her community. She is a founding Board member of the BackYard Nature Center, an organization seeking to connect the community of New Trier Township in Illinois to nature.

Heidi’s love for the environment was fostered early in her life. She volunteered for years, teaching an environmental awareness program at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

She and her family did many years of restoration work on their properties in Wisconsin. This was also when she and her family encountered Sandhill Cranes.

Heidi is currently a member of the Rachel’s Network, as well as the Advisory Board to the School of Arts and Science at the University of Vermont

She splits her time between Glencoe, Illinois, and Stowe, Vermont.

Jason C. Sauey is CEO of the Nordic Group of Companies, a family-held holding company of primarily three operating companies: Flambeau, Inc.; Seats, Inc.; and Columbia ParCar. Flambeau is a diversified manufacturer of plastic products and contract solutions. Seats is a manufacturer of seating products for vehicles and equipment. Columbia is a provider of electric vehicles for industrial, institutional, closed campus and fixed-route environments.

Mr. Sauey also serves as President of Flambeau, Inc., a proprietary products marketer and contract plastics manufacturer of a wide variety of applications serving retail, commercial and industrial markets. Flambeau is one of the largest privately-held plastics processors in North America and is comprised of ten manufacturing plants in the United States, one in the United Kingdom, and one in Mexico. Flambeau is about evenly split in its product mix between blow molding and injection molding processes. Along with its Technology Center, Flambeau is a turnkey design, engineering and manufacturing resource of molds, automation & finishing devices and plastic products for a wide variety of applications. Flambeau serves over 40 different 4-digit SIC codes in its business mix.

A native of Wisconsin, Mr. Sauey earned his undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. At both institutions, he graduated with honors and as a member of the Dean’s List. He began his career at Flambeau in 1985 as Marketing Manager, was promoted to Vice President of Marketing in 1986, and became President in 1992. Mr. Sauey serves on the Board of Directors of Flambeau, Inc. as well as its parent holding company, The Nordic Group of Companies. He serves as Chairman of both Boards. He also served on the Board of Directors of Artecon, a forerunner to the company named Dot Hill, a publicly-traded company on the NASDAQ exchange as well as the Board of Directors of Lowrance Electronics, a company that was also publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange.

Mr. Sauey was highly active in the Cleveland Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization and is active in its YPO Gold chapter. He served on the YPO chapter Executive Committee for many years as well as its Chairman in 2001-02. Flambeau is a member of many trade associations; Mr. Sauey has been active in a number of them and served as Chairman of the American Sportfishing Association after he served on its Board of Directors for several years.

Mr. Sauey and his wife, Donna, currently reside in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. They have two sons: Garrett and Austin, who are both employed in Madison, Wisconsin. Favorite family activities include music and the arts, sporting activities, the outdoors, and lively debates.