The International Bird Rescue staff and response team bring a multitude of skills, experience and background to the organization.
These skills include emergency management, veterinary medicine, human nursing, scientific research, human relations, physical therapy, captive breeding and management, wildlife biology, and wildlife rehabilitation.
Together, they are the most qualified team in the field.
Leadership Team
Response Services Manager; Regional Representative, Northern California, Oregon & Washington
JD Bergeron
Executive Director
JD has served as Executive Director of International Bird Rescue since 2015. He has 20 years of experience in not-for-profit leadership, organizational development, and international focus. JD brings passion, a childlike delight in nature, and a deep commitment to solving the world’s challenges in unconventional ways.
He founded Chooda, a not-for-profit organization which created and put on Bike Zambia, a weeklong bicycle ride that raises funds and awareness for HIV/AIDS prevention and economic empowerment for girls and women in Zambia.
He previously served in senior roles at Kiva, Accion, and the U.S. Peace Corps. He is a graduate of Washington University in Saint Louis. In his free time, he likes to hike with his dog Cosmo, draw, and go cycling.
Barbara Callahan
Senior Director, Response Services;
Regional Representative, Alaska
Barbara is an internationally-experienced and recognized emergency response and management professional who received her B.S. in Biological Science from the University of Alaska. She has worked in oiled wildlife response, response management, and rehabilitation of aquatic animals over the course of 20 years and is certified in Federal Emergency Management.
Barbara has been Response Services Director at Bird Rescue since 1997 and has held the position of Bird Unit Deputy Leader in the Deepwater Horizon Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010; the Incident Command Wildlife Coordinator for the Rena Spill in New Zealand in 2011; and has been the on-scene coordinator in numerous other national and international spill events.
Barbara has authored multiple papers on seabird rehabilitation and oil spill response. She has also presented at wildlife and other conferences nationally and internationally.
Michelle Bellizzi
Response Services Manager;
Regional Representative, Northern California, Oregon & Washington
Michelle is a seasoned wildlife rehabilitation expert with over 15 years of experience responding to more than 25 oil spills around the world, while also simultaneously managing the San Francisco Bay Rehabilitation Program.
Her response work transported her to both national and international locations, including remote areas such as Unalaska, Alaska and Chubut, Argentina. Additionally, Michelle has worked at large-scale responses such as the Ventura Oiled Bird Incident, Los Angeles 2005, Cosco Busan, SF Bay 2007, and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2010, where she oversaw the modification and operations of one of four primary care facilities in the Gulf.
Her experience both within the clinic and on location appoints her as a preferred leader within the Response Services Industry.
Russ Curtis
Communications & IT Lead
Russ manages the organization’s technology systems and oversees communications. He started as a volunteer back in 1997 when he stepped up to solve some IT issues at the old bird center in Berkeley, CA. After a new modern facility was opened in Fairfield in the early 2000s, he was instrumental in launching the organization’s first website and blog.
He comes from a communications background and for many years worked as a newspaper and magazine photojournalist and photo editor. Using his interest in storytelling, Russ helps communicate Bird Rescue’s long held commitment to caring for water birds in crisis. His favorite social media platforms include Twitter and YouTube.
He has first hand experience with spill response having participated in events in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Arcata, and in Cape Town, South Africa – during the Treasure oil spill in 2000.
Rebecca Duerr,
DVM MPVM PhD
Director of Research
& Veterinary Science
Dr. Rebecca Duerr is the clinical veterinarian and research director at International BirdRescue’s two wildlife clinics in California. She completed her DVM, MPVM, and PhD degrees at UC Davis, with graduate work on the care of oiled Common Murres and on the nutritional energetics and physiology of Common Murres and Western Grebes. She co-edited the second edition of Hand-Rearing Birds, co-wrote the wild orphans section of Merck Veterinary Manual, just finished Seabird Medicine and Orphan Care chapters for a new textbook on wildlife medicine, and is slowly getting all her graduate papers from the intersection of seabird biology and clinical wildlife medicine published.
She serves on the Board of Directors of the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association and is a frequent lecturer at UC Davis on avian physiology and pediatrics.
Karen Marano
Finance and Administration Lead,
Karen has been with International Bird Rescue since 2018. Karen spent fifteen years in the banking field where she managed an operations department, investments, and money management. After moving from Southern California to Northern California in the early 1990’s, Karen became Chief Financial Officer of Diablo Funding Group for ten years, working in the mortgage industry. She then became CFO for Empire Realty Associates prior to coming to International Bird Rescue.
Cindy Margulis
Director of Philanthropy
Cindy comes to International Bird Rescue with a well-known enthusiasm for connecting people to wildlife. Most recently, Cindy served as the Executive Director for Golden Gate Audubon for more than five years, where she launched their popular Osprey public outreach initiative and other community-facing projects.
She’s delighted to join the team officially as she’s been a friend, ally, and supporter of International Bird Rescue since 2007. For more than 20 years, Cindy has been advocating for, protecting, and monitoring local birdlife. She’s served as a docent and Trustee of the Oakland Zoo and as a docent for East Bay Regional Park District. For many seasons she monitored a colony of endangered Least Terns for USF&WS and a colony of Great & Snowy Egrets for SF Bay Bird Observatory.
Prior to transitioning her career from the corporate world to the non-profit sector, Cindy served as a professional business development leader, helping tech companies and other firms build win-win relationships.
Julie Skoglund
Director of Operations;
Regional Representative, Southern California
Julie came to Bird Rescue in 2003 as a volunteer to gain experience handling and working with birds while finishing her Bachelor of Science degree in biology. She began working for the organization in 2004 when a rehabilitation technician position became available.
Julie has worked on multiple spills including the Ventura Oiled Bird Incidents, Point Mugu Oiled Bird Incident, Santa Cruz Mystery Spill, Cosco Busan, and the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf in 2010.
Julie was the Los Angeles Wildlife Center Clinic Manager until her promotion to Operations Manager in 2013. Two years later, she was promoted to Program Operations Manager overseeing both the Los Angeles and the San Francisco wildlife centers.
Staff
Devin Hanson
Special Projects Assistant
Diane Jankauskas
Development and Programs Associate
Angie Trumbo
Communications and Development Coordinator
Northern CA Program
Isabel Luevano
Wildlife Center Manager, Northern California
Casey Martinez, DVM
Wildlife Veterinary Intern, San Francisco Bay-Delta
(open for summer 2021)
Wildlife Veterinary Intern, San Francisco Bay-Delta
(open)
Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician I, San Francisco Bay-Delta
Cheryl Reynolds
Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator, San Francisco Bay-Delta
Ken Baker
Facilities Coordinator, San Francisco Bay-Delta
Kelly Beffa
Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician III, San Francisco Bay-Delta
Ioana Seritan
Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician II, San Francisco Bay-Delta
Safiya Mirza
Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician I, San Francisco Bay-Delta
James Manzolillo
Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician I, San Francisco Bay-Delta
Kaylyn LeRoy
Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician I, San Francisco Bay-Delta
Brandi Highsmith
Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician I, Los Angeles
Suzie Kosina
Special Projects & Relief Senior Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician II, San Francisco Bay-Delta
Meagan Hofmeister
Relief Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician II, San Francisco Bay-Delta
Carlos Esperanza
Relief Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician I, San Francisco Bay-Delta
Southern CA Program
Kylie Clatterbuck
Wildlife Center Manager, Southern California
(OPEN)
Volunteer Coordinator, Los Angeles
(OPEN)
Facilities & Safety Coordinator, Los Angeles
Jeanette Bates
Senior Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician II, Los Angeles
Jennifer Martines
Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician I, Los Angeles
Lisbeth Montenegro, RVT
Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician I & Special Projects Coordinator, Los Angeles
Erin Kellogg
Relief Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician, Los Angeles
Michelle Reyes
Relief Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician I, Los Angeles
Yulee Haimovitch
Relief Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician I, Los Angeles
