Sonoran Joint Venture staff (from left to right) Carol Beardmore, Robert Mesta, and Jennie Duberstein

Robert Mesta, Coordinator
Robert has spent his professional career leading or coordinating national and regional bird conservation/recovery programs. Before coming to Tucson, Arizona to initiate the Sonoran Joint Venture, Robert coordinated the California Condor Recovery Program, the American Peregrine Falcon Recovery Effort, the Arizona Bald Eagle Nest Watch Program, and was a regional representative to the National Bald Eagle Working Team. Additionaly, he has lead or participated on numerous avian recovery, conservation, and management teams in the western United States. Robert has traveled and worked throughout the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico and looks forward to applying his experience to the unique avian conservation issues of the region.

Carol Beardmore, Science Coordinator
Before coming to the SJV Carol worked as the Partners in Flight Western Regional Coordinator for seven years. In this position she facilitated writing Bird Conservation Plans with the western states PIF working groups. The western region takes the international aspect of bird conservation seriously and coordinates frequently with Canada, Mexico and Central America. She has coordinated several international meetings and is an author of the new PIF North American Landbird Conservation Plan. Prior to this she was an endangered species biologist in Texas with responsibilities for two federally listed neotropical migrants, one of which, the Golden-cheeked Warbler, was her thesis subject. She lives in Phoenix with her teenage son, David, who enjoys fishing, being outdoors and of course playing video games.

Jennie Duberstein, Education and Outreach Coordinator
Jennie comes to the SJV with diverse skills and experiences in bird conservation and environmental education. For the past several years she has worked to develop and implement community-based conservation projects in the U.S.-Mexico border region and in northern Sonora. Most recently, she was co-founder of Proyecto Corredor Colibrí, a binational, collaborative project that works with communities in northern Mexico in natural and cultural resource conservation. She has worked as Education Coordinator for Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, as an environmental educator for a variety of conservation organizations, and has taught high school biology. She has also worked as a field biologist, studying species including Yellow-billed Cuckoo in Arizona and Double-crested Cormorants and wading birds in Sonora. Jennie is currently a graduate student at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In addition to her experience with birds and education, she speaks Spanish and has experience with web and graphic design.