Karen Ford Swire joins ACEER with over 13 years experience in the non-profit sector, building resilient teams and inspiring donors to create significant impact. Driven by a lifelong appreciation for nature and a desire to leave a positive legacy, Karen's career has touched a variety of industries including international development, children's health, environmental conservation, performing arts, and education. She has experience in all types of fundraising, working with a wide variety of stakeholders, and strategic planning. Currently working with one of Canada's largest and longest-standing environmental charities, Ducks Unlimited Canada, she is thrilled to be joining the ACEER team! Outside of work you can find her making a mess in the kitchen, hiking with her family and two rescue dogs, and tending the garden.
Julia Revill first connected with ACEER through her professor at Georgetown, who shared an opportunity to join the 2025 OnePlanet/ACEER Maijuna Field Research Expedition. Drawn to conservation since childhood, Julia saw the Amazon as a place she had always dreamed of experiencing firsthand. As she learned more about ACEER’s work with Indigenous communities, she knew she wanted to be part of it.
For Julia, the expedition was a chance to step out of the classroom and into real, community-led conservation. She shared her most memorable moments were “sitting with Maijuna women during interviews, hearing them describe how climate change and development reshape their roles, traditions, and hopes for the future. Their strength and generosity stayed with me.” With the mentorship of ACEER team members, she gained skills in community-based research that she now considers foundational to her future work.
Other memories were just as powerful—like traveling upriver at dawn, watching the forest come alive around her. “It reminded me why the Amazon matters so much,” she recalls.
The experience changed how Julia understands conservation. “I began to see how inseparable it is from culture, identity, and community decision-making,” she says. It also clarified her future path: she now studies the intersections of conservation, gender, and environmental justice and is pursuing new field-based courses inspired by her time in Peru.
Julia believes ACEER’s programs make a meaningful impact by honoring local knowledge and giving students the kind of transformative learning that can’t happen in a classroom. Her message to anyone considering getting involved is simple: “Go ready to listen, to learn, and to be transformed. You’ll leave with experiences and relationships that stay with you long after the rainforest.”
