Alastair Nelson, Managing Director
Alastair is a strategic and values-driven conservation leader with 30 years’ experience living and working across ten countries in the Horn of Africa, East and southern Africa.
After 20yrs’ working for NGOs in remote sites and sometimes challenging situations, including investigating wildlife crime convergence and the financing of terrorist and organised crime groups, he returned to South Africa in 2019 to establish Conservation Synergies as an organisation that tackles challenging conservation problems using innovative approaches. He is particularly motivated and driven to develop practical approaches that reduce and build resilience to corruption, and to find ways to improve safety and security for wildlife and local people.
He likes to run to preserve a delicate link to sanity.
Adam Armstrong, Head of Criminology, Social Science and Behaviourial Science
After several years working in human development, Adam now leverages his deep social science expertise to support conservation projects.
He draws broadly from social science disciplines, such as behavioural economics, anthropology, sociology and psychology to create practical, effective programs for addressing complex social problems. Adam completed a Master’s in Criminology in 2011 and has gained experience in research, program development and implementation.
Adam is deeply curious about people, and passionate about questions. He loves how asking people good questions can reveal parts of themselves and gives people space to think through topics more deeply. When not studying people, he is probably doing jiu jitsu or exploring the outdoors somewhere; either trail running or kayaking (a recent hobby he is enjoying).
Alison Blair, Director of Operations and Grants Management
Alison Blair has 25 years’ experience in various business sectors.
Her background is in marketing and management with medium-sized companies, and in establishing and running her own small businesses. Her expertise is in taking strategic objectives and turning them into practical management, marketing, and communication plans and systems. Alison’s various entrepreneurial endeavours have given her practical experience in establishing functional and accountable management operation systems.
Growing up in the Lowveld bordering Kruger National Park, Alison was fortunate to spend significant time in wild places, resulting in a love and appreciation for wildlife and nature conservation. She is a single Mom to a teenage boy and loves being active and taking part in various running and triathlon events.
