Anne and Tom Darrow
Anne Ward Darrow is a Staff Nurse in Special Procedures, at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She has been a nurse for 27 years practicing in both pediatric and adult care.
Anne received her Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing with Highest Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Anne is a lifelong lover of all animals and currently cares for her Sun Conure named “Mango”. She lives in Murphy, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia with her husband Tom and with Mango.
Since marrying in 2007, Anne and Tom have traveled to Bonaire ten times including nine years running. Her favorite activity in Bonaire is snorkeling on the Woodwind and favorite restaurant is At Sea.
Harris Friedberg
Harris Friedberg’s longtime association with Bonaire began in 1993 and deepened when he and his wife built a cottage on the island in 1997. An enthusiastic scuba diver, Friedberg has traveled the world and seen changes in the environment firsthand. He began supporting Echo’s work with the Bonairean parrots when the foundation began and, with his wife, proudly supports anti-poaching efforts every summer. Friedberg was Vice President of the Fundashun pa Bon Koral on Bonaire and is an active member of the Board of Directors of the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (www.REEF.org). He spends around 3 months a year on Bonaire.
Friedberg is a professor of English at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and lives in New Haven when not enjoying Bonaire.
Stuart Goldstein
Stuart Goldstein is Associate General Counsel, BuzzFeed, and head of Business and Legal Affairs for BuzzFeed Entertainment, where he has worked since 2016. He previously worked at NBCUniversal from 2005-2016, where negotiated a wide variety of entertainment-related agreements, including talent deals, production agreements, collective bargaining agreements, and executive contracts. During his years at NBCUniversal, among other responsibilities, Stuart oversaw Legal Affairs for a number of NBCUniversal’s Cable Entertainment networks, such as E! and Bravo. From 2000-2005, Stuart was an Associate at the NYC-based office of Proskauer, in their Labor & Employment department. He graduated from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2000, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the law review, and as intern to the Honorable Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., then on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a life-long lover of animals and conservation, and shares his home with Winston, a small dog who helps clean up after Chiku, the African Grey.
Mary “Mel” McCombie
Mel McCombie’s commitment to Bonaire’s environment has grown stronger since her fist visit in 1993. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (www.REEF.org); a former board member of CORAL; and has been on the advisory board of the Bonaire Nature Alliance for 15 years. Over the years, she has become more involved with Echo Bonaire and parrot conservation, and each summer, she and her husband help sponsor Echo’s work to protect Lora chicks in their nests.
An avid diver and PADI Divemaster, McCombie has dived around the world, and seen firsthand the effects of best (and worst) practices in conservation. She lives on Bonaire around 3 months of each year.
McCombie is a professor of American Studies and art history when she is not underwater or working with parrots, and lives in New Haven, Connecticut. She is the devoted human companion of Dickens, a cockatiel.
Cheryl Rutherford
Cheryl is a professional graphic and web designer. With a passion for conservation and animal welfare (generally focused on parrots), Cheryl has been volunteering for a variety of organizations since 2008, primarily by donating technical expertise, web and graphic design, Facebook and website administration, as well as photography. In addition to helping parrots, Cheryl also spent a summer feeding and caring for wild baby birds and animals at the Burnaby Wildlife Rescue Center. In 2000, she helped care for wild birds who were victims of a Canola oil spill (Vancouver, BC).