Team

Jeffrey Whiting, President & Founder

Jeff is a sculptor, author and illustrator, environmental advocate, naturalist, instructor, and social entrepreneur.

With a formal education in biology and earth sciences, he has been an accomplished and award-winning artist since the age of 15, being recognized as one of the world’s top 15 sculptors of wildfowl, and one of the youngest exhibitors ever to be juried for inclusion in the Birds in Art, the world’s foremost bird art exhibition.

At 16 years of age, the Prime Minister of Canada presented one of Jeff's sculptures to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At 18, Jeff completed his first of 5 books and won first prize at the World Championships for Wildfowl Carving.

He has published close to ten books in the nature art genre, including educational workbooks, journals and exhibit books. His expertise in nature inspired art stems from 23 years of experience in the field as author, educator, and practitioner.

An entrepreneur since his teens, Jeff has spent much of his professional time as the key driving force and visionary behind Artists for Conservation, which he founded in 1997. With AFC, he has found a way to combine his creativity as an artist and his skill as an entrepreneur with the passion for environmental advocacy to bring about change on a global scale

He is a Signature Member of Artists for Conservation, the Society of Animal Artists and Fellow International of the Explorer's Club. In 2010, Jeff was a recipient of Business in Vancouver's 2010 Forty under 40 Awards. Jeff is also co-founder and partner in a leading Internet technology consulting firm, ISCAPE Internet Consulting, based in Vancouver, Canada.

Jeff serves as an advisor to a range of projects, including as a member of the Circle of Advisors for the Science Art-Nature Foundation at Stanford University, and the Vancouver Development Committee for Royal Roads University Foundation in support of the Robert Bateman Centre for art and environmental education.

Jeff resides in North Vancouver, British Columbia with his wife Yasaman and their two children.

William Whiting, Managing Director

Bill has 30 years of industrial and trade policy experience with the Canadian Federal Government. A Professional Engineer with a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA), he was a senior executive for a number of years with the Industry Department, where he managed a staff of senior professionals before his retirement. He has traveled internationally in his work, and has been involved with AFC from its inception as a volunteer and strategist.

As Director of the Automotive Branch of Industry Canada, Bill was exposed to many of the latest alternative fuel initiatives and became familiar with fuel cell technologies. Bill has had a life filled with creativity-from woodworking, architecture and wood sculpture, to landscape design. He is an avid outdoorsman, amateur naturalist, and operator of a small organic Christmas tree plantation. He currently works for AFC from his rural 1830s log home on one hundred acres of boreal forest, just one hour's drive from Canada's capital.

When not corresponding with AFC members, digging holes with his tractor, or tending to his gardens, Bill is working on a long-term strategy to retire from his retirement.

Management

• Yasaman Whiting, Program Director
• Diane Rolston, Volunteer & Community Engagement Manager
• Rosslyn Shipp, Education Manager

Board of Directors & Advisory Board

With the assistance of our international Board of Directors and Advisory Board, AFC continues to set a standard of excellence as the world's leading non-profit group dedicated to support the environment through art. We are grateful to the people who help strengthen our mission, business practices, partnerships and financial stability by providing their time, talent and expertise to our cause.