Galápagos Giant Tortoises

James P. Gibbs is Distinguished Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Vice President of Galápagos Conservancy. He earned a PhD in Forestry and Environmental Studies from Yale University (1995). He has conducted conservation research worldwide and authored more than 240 peer-reviewed papers and several books. He serves on several conservation boards focused on island and Galápagos biodiversity.

Washington Tapia Aguilera, Ph.D., is a conservation biologist and leading expert in Galápagos restoration, with more than three decades of experience in protected-area management, research, and species recovery. He earned his Ph.D. in Biodiversity and Environment from the University of Málaga in 2024 and has held senior leadership positions with the Galápagos National Park. From 2014 to 2025, he directed Galápagos Conservancy’s Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative, helping advance major rewilding and restoration efforts across the archipelago. Currently Tapia serves as CEO of Biodiversa Consultants, based in the Galápagos Islands, and continues to advise globally on biodiversity management and ecological restoration.

Jorge Carrión-Tacuri is Director of Conservation at Galápagos Conservancy where since May 2021 he has overseen the organization’s species rewilding and restoration programs. Jorge worked for the Galápagos National Park Directorate (GNPD) from 2012 to 2020, including a two-year term as Director from 2018 to 2020 during which he oversaw all aspects of the management of the Galápagos National Park and Galápagos Marine Reserve. He holds a PhD in conservation biology from the Universidad de Sevilla in Seville, Spain, and was a professor at the Central University of Ecuador in Galápagos.