Lisel Alamilla has been the Executive Director of Ya'axché since the organization was formed in October 2008. She was previously program director of Fauna & Flora International country program in Belize.

With more than fifteen years of experience with some of Belize's most important conservation, development and tourism organizations, Lisel has worked as an educator, consultant, project manager and director. She has extensive experience working in southern Belize, alongside other local NGO partners and community organizations, and in collaboration with government and other national level institutions.

Committed to the principle of community participation and consultation, she values the importance of traditional knowledge and cultural values. Lisel participates in numerous advocacy campaigns that promote the inclusion of community leaders in decision-making, especially in regards to issues that will have negative impacts on the ecological integrity of natural areas and undue economic hardship.

Bartholomew Teul was a founding member of Ya’axché in 1998 and has been with the organization ever since. Having been the point person of Ya’axché as programme coordinator for the last nine years, he is now programme manager for the advocacy and community outreach and livelihoods programs. His keen interest is in community well being, linking conservation to development and empowering local community leaders. He is also a strong advocate for indigenous peoples’ rights over lands and resources.

As Protected Areas Manager, Lee Mcloughlin oversees the two protected areas Ya’axché manages: the Golden Stream Corridor Preserve and the Bladen Nature Reserve.

With a MSc in Protected Area Management and a BSc in Marine Biology, Lee benefits from experience with both terrestrial and marine protected areas. Extensive experience gained from conservation initiatives in Australia, Central America and the UK have helped Lee to stregthen management of Ya’axché's protected areas to assist the organisation in building a sustainable future for southern Belize. Lee is also responsible for the management internationally funded projects.

Ivanny maintains Ya'axché's project finance system. She liaises, communicates, and collaborates with funders. She has an associates degree in Accounting and Economics from Corozal Junior College and two bachelor’s degrees, the first in Accounting and the second in Business Management/Administration, both from the University of the Ozarks, USA.

Ekaterina joined Ya'axché after a background in research and environmental consulting. With a degree in environmental science and policy from Barnard College - Columbia University her past research experience focused on ecological contamination, particularly of groundwater, and its relationship to livelidhoods and health.

As Ya'axché's Operations Manager, Ekaterina oversees smooth execution of internal operations, coordinates communication between programmes, develops new project concepts, and manages current projects. She is also the contact for volunteer opportunities.

Rachael Carrie is a chartered environmentalist with more than ten years experience working as an aquatic ecologist for the private and public sectors in temperate and tropical environments. Specialist knowledge developed in monitoring programme design and management is being applied to measure the condition of rivers within the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor and reduce sedimentary and poor water quality run-off from the wider landscape.

Kenny was previously the community outreach officer with Plenty-Belize and Sustainable Harvest International. He has coordinated gardening programs and provided training in cacao farm management, and in the construction of various environmentally-conscious technologies for use in the field. He has an associates degree in natural resource management.

Julio has an Associates Degree in Natural Resources Management from the University of Belize. He got a Diploma from the Vocational Studies at Toledo Community College. Julio has been working at Ya'axché for the past seven years as Community Outreach Officer. He is responsible for developing and implementing environmental education programmes, communicating Ya'axché's work to communities, providing technical assistance to farmers and conducting socio-economic assessments.

Zebedee received an Associates Degree in Business Science from the University of Belize. He is currently pursuing his Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from the University of Belize, Punta Gorda Campus. He assists the Finance Manager in managing Ya'axché's finance system.

For about 10 years, Maarten has been involved in conservation work, volunteering throughout Europe in projects focusing on a diversity of animals, ranging from large mammals and bats, over birds, to reptiles and amphibians. Equipped with a BSc in Wildlife Management from the Netherlands and a MSc in Ecology from Uppsala University in Sweden, he has been working on landscape ecology and connectivity modeling for the last 1.5 years in his homeland Belgium, before joining Ya'axché to take on the Neotropical Migratory Bird project.

In his current role as research officer, he works together with the Protected Areas Manager to further develop Ya'axché's monitoring activities, conduct ecological research and liaise with national and international academic institutions to initiate biological, socio-economical and archaeological research in Ya'axché's protected areas and their buffer communities.

Veronica came to Ya'axché two years ago with a high school diploma from Julian Cho Techincal high school and she is completing her tertiary education in Business Science at the University of Belize. She takes care of vegetables in the newly constructed Greenhouse and oversees the expanded nursery that Ya'axché provides the farmers for agroforestry.

Patricia is a graduate of Tumul K'in Center of Learning. She recieved her high school diploma in Agriculture Department. She works in the recently expanded nursery, planting and taking care of riparian, timber and fruit trees seedlings. She also works in the newly constructed Greenhouse for organic vegetables. She has a pasion for Agriculture and conservation of Belize's natural resources.

Gail first came to Belize as a volunteer in 2004, spending two months living and working in Mayflower Bocawina National Park.  Focusing on tropical forest ecology and conservation, she has since worked on projects in Cambodia and Australia.  She is a recent graduate of the MSc in Biodiversity & Taxonomy of Plants (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh/University of Edinburgh) which included a 10-day field course in the Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area, Belize.  Since joining Ya’axché in January 2011, Gail has taken part in an 18-day expedition to conduct botanical Rapid Ecological Assessments in the Bladen Nature Reserve, and is currently managing a forest inventory to assess live carbon stocks in the Golden Stream Corridor Preserve.

James recently joined Ya'axché as a Development Officer. He is responsible for applying to donors for funding to support Ya'axché's program areas and also working with colleagues to develop innovative project concepts.

James has been involved in environmental sciences and plant sciences research. For his PhD, he developed an organic technique for controlling agricultural pests using green manures. He is very interested in supervising a student to research the use of crops for pest and disease control in Belize.

Sergio graduated in Environmental and Agricultural Biology in the University of Navarra (Spain). He spent the last year of his studies in Norway, writing a Bachelor Thesis in the ecology of the deep-sea shrimp. After, he has worked in Madagascar, Belgium and Kenya, in different roles and positions related with conservation and natural resource management.

Currently, he is the project manager for our Neotropical Migratory Bird Habitat Conservation project, an integrated project financed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, heping the local communities to know more about the role birds can play as indicators of ecosystem health in their territories in the Maya Golden Landscape.