Officers & Directors

Linda Reifschneider, President & Treasurer

Linda founded AES in 2006 with a vision of protecting Asian elephants and supporting the people living side-by-side with this magnificent species.
Retired from a four decade long career at Edward Jones Investments, Linda has put her business background to use and married it with her passion for elephants when establishing our non-profit.
Linda resides in St. Louis, Missouri with her beloved dog Maya, but can often be found traveling the world!

Lindsey Eagan, Acting Vice President

Lindsey joined the AES Board in June 2022, after several successful years of fundraising for AES during our annual Pizza for Pachyderms events and nearly 16 years working with Asian elephants at the ABQ BioPark.
Lindsey now works in the Animal Welfare and Behavioral Training department, supporting animal care staff in their pursuit of excellent animal well-being across all species and career development. She is excited that her passion for elephant care has become an opportunity to effect change for Asian elephants and the communities who live near them.
Lindsey resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico with two rambunctious pups and one very sassy cat.

Mary Miller, Secretary

Mary joined the Board in March 2023, after being an active supporter of AES since she first met Linda while working at Grant’s Farm. Mary has worked as an elephant keeper since 2014.
Mary is passionate about sharing her love of elephants and conservation with anyone who will listen. She wants to encourage the next generation to get involved in elephant conservation through AES.
Mary lives in the Northeast with her dog Sampson, her adventure companion.

Justin Marren, Board Member

Justin joined the AES board in June 2024, after actively supporting and helping fundraise for AES since he started at the Little Rock Zoo in 2016.
Justin works as a Large Hoofstock keeper at the Little Rock Zoo taking care of elephants and rhinos. His passion for elephants started at a very young age and working with elephants at the Little Rock Zoo is a dream come true. Justin is also passionate about conservation efforts for elephants and hopes that elephants will continue to be around and inspire future generations.
Justin currently lives in Searcy, Arkansas with his wife, Tori with their little menagerie of a black lab dog named Maggie and their three cats, Mr. Freeze, Parker and Rogue!

Meenakshi (mini) Nagendran,
Board memeber

Meenakshi (Mini) Nagendran is a wildlife conservation biologist, an academic and a veterinarian and is currently an adjunct faculty member at Cuesta College in California.
She received her BSc from India, MS from South Dakota State University in Wildlife Science and a PhD from North Dakota State University in Zoology (Behavior and Conservation Biology) and carried out post-doctoral research at the University of Tokyo and received her DVM from UC-Davis.
In 2018 Mini served as the Director of Bird Conservation in California Audubon where she engaged with all the CA Audubon chapters and carried out field research and conservation activities in Siberia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Russia, India and the USA on satellite tracking on endangered bird species.
From March 2004 to January 2023 she worked as a Wildlife Biologist at the US Fish and Wildlife Service. At the USFWS in the Division of International Conservation, she was the Program Officer for Elephant Conservation Fund from 2005 to 2014. In 2014 Mini was a Grant Administrator in the Division of Migratory Birds and from 2014 to January 2023, she was the Program Officer for the Rhinoceros and Tiger fund and the Great Ape Conservation Fund.
As the Program Officer Mini managed the grants process including guiding applicants, working with proposal review committees to review proposals, reviewing project reports for outcomes and accuracy, and visiting field sites to monitor and evaluate projects. Working closely with grantees and range country government officials to develop successful outcomes for the conservation of several species including rhinos, tigers and orangutans in their natural habitats and other people living among wildlife.
Mini has also collaborated with DOI-International Technical Assistance Program (ITAP), assisting with the development of country level strategies for US embassies in Malaysia, Nepal, and India on Combating Wildlife Trafficking (CWT)
While wildlife conservation and ecosystem health are central to her life, Mini enjoys reading, running, hiking, birding, listening to music, cooking, gardening, fishing, photography and spending time with friends and family .

Advisors

Our Advisor group is made up of individuals specializing in elephant care and conservation. They support the AES Board with their expertise by advising on areas of need, review of project requests and communications. We thank them for their support and dedication to our mission.

Charlie Gray

Heidi Riddle

Ellen Wiedner

Gaius Wilson

April Yoder

Conservation Organization Partnerships

Asian Elephant Support appreciates the contributions these organizations have made to help us achieve our mission to care for and conserve Asian elephants either through donations or support for campaigns and fundraising efforts.

San Antonio Zoo Keepers with AES President, Linda Reifschneider and AES Volunteer, Cynthia Christison

Asian Elephant Support is proud to partner with the International Union for Conservation of Nature Asian Elephant Specialist Group and participate on their Conservation Committee.

In 2023 Asian Elephant Support joined forces with the American Association of Zoo Keepers and was named a Conservation Partner for the organization. AES is privileged to have the support of so many local AAZK chapters throughout the United States.

Asian Elephant Support and SAFE - Asian Elephant have partnered together in efforts to support the care and conservation of Asian elephants in range countries.

Asian Elephant Support is glad to work in conjunction with these organizations to build a better future for both African and Asian elephants in the wild and in human care, all across the world.

Corporate Partnerships

Our work has been generously supported by our Corporate Partners.

Marconi creates and supports premier independent licensing platforms and programs for the most advanced technologies. Working with industry-leading innovators, Marconi is transforming patent licensing across different technologies and products, and recruiting world-class teams to connect innovators and product manufacturers in an efficient way – reducing risks and transactional costs for our customers and providing new products that consumers desire.