Trust No. IT2174/00

Non Profit Organisation No. NPO 030-243

Public Benefit Organisation No. 930014758

Trustees

 

Carl Grossmann N.Dip Surveying M(EnvDev) FRGS
 

Carl Grossmann is the present Chairman of the African Conservation Trust.
He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society – London. He was also the sole owner of Classic Events & Expeditions, a specialist adventure event company based in Durban, South Africa. 

He is the Project Manager for the Rock Art Mapping Project of the Programme of Geomatics (Land Surveying), University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. This is a multi-million Rand, National Lotteries Board funded project to map the San or Bushmen rock art of the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park using close range, colour, digital, terrestrial photogrammetry techniques. 

He holds a National Diploma in Surveying from Technikon Natal and a Masters degree in Environment and Development from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg. Over the years he has been involved in many research projects that have required precise surveying/measurements. Due to his position at an academic institution he has been ideally placed to make this bridge between conventional tourism and scientific research/monitoring. His expertise in both sectors is a valuable asset to the mission of the African Conservation Trust.

 
Sonya Parkin BA LLB, ILPA Fellow, CFP
 
Sonya Parkin is currently employed as a legal advisor at a large Insurance Company. 
Prior to that she practiced as an attorney dealing with general litigation and family law.  She has a passionate interest in conservation, and is committed to the purpose of the trust of furthering ecological research, and conservation in SA. 
 
Francois du Toit BCom LLB Dip Proj Man
 

Francois du Toit has nearly a decade of experience in financial services and technical capacity building in rural development. He gained years of invaluable experience in Micro-Finance and SMME capacity building and technical assistance at the coal face, having been programme manager of USAID's US$3 Million Ntinga Micro-enterprise Support Project for the last year of his tenure there enabling him to develop a deeper understanding of the dire need for meaningful skills transfer. Francois holds a B.Com in Marketing, Economics and Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, as well as a Diploma in Project Management. Francois is sought after as a speaker and facilitator, and has successfully raised over R10 million for a variety of rural and environmental projects over the past few years.