Connie K. Bransilver, National Vice-President

Photographer, author and inspirational speaker Connie Bransilver is a full-time professional photographer living in Naples, Florida. She has photographed nature on all seven continents and is former President of the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA), a 2,300-member organization. Connie's photography has appeared in numerous books, periodicals and multimedia presentations. She is best known for her in-depth studies of lemurs, of the Great Apes and other African and Asian motifs. Connie was instrumental in setting up the Duke University Primate Center Board of Visitors, served as its first Chairperson, and is currently one of seven Base Camp Leaders for the Jane Goodall Institute. She credits Jane Goodall as being one of her greatest inspirations.

Connie is a member of the exclusive Fujifilm ProNet Talent Team. She was the Explorers Club Grand Prize winner with her photograph of chinstrap penguins on an iceberg in 1997, and the African Wildlife Foundation's Photographer of the Year for 1999. She lectures widely on conservation, including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History Lecture Series. She has appeared on television and radio to discuss her passion for conservation.

"Eclectic" can best describe Connie Bransilver's background. Growing up in New Mexico, she barrel raced, showed Quarter Horses and danced. After graduating from Duke University, she worked in the US Congress. She attended law school in New Mexico and was elected to the American Bar Association House of Delegates, one of two women of 525 delegates. She secured passage of a resolution to reform the US rape laws and testified before Congress on behalf of the ABA. In 1975, she moved to London and joined Merrill Lynch International as a private banker covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Each year she was eligible she won the coveted "Falcon" status award connoting top achievement. Connie resigned from Merrill Lynch in 1992 to devote herself full-time to photography. She has studied at the Corcoran School of Art and the Smithsonian photography program.

Naples, Florida