About Us

Our Network spans various fields, from education to zookeeping, marketing and communication. We bring together motivated professionals to strengthen how accredited institutions create, use and evaluate practices to foster empathy for wildlife and people, leading to conservation actions.

Empathy is a stimulated emotional state that relies on the ability to perceive, understand and care about the experiences or perspectives of another person or animal.

Vision

A conservation-minded society, motivated by empathy towards all life.

Mission

The Advancing Conservation through Empathy (ACE) for Wildlife learning network creates and shares effective practices to foster empathy for animals and people.

Values

Our Purpose

We bring together like-minded professionals to strengthen how accredited institutions create, use and evaluate practices to foster empathy for wildlife and people, leading to conservation actions.

Strengthen

Strengthen through capacity building, utilizing new tools and skills and a network-wide spirit of collaboration.

Practice Assessment

Create, use, and evaluate practices by leveraging research, field-testing and on-the-ground experiences, supported by critical thinking and evaluation practices.

Foster Empathy

ACE for Wildlife™ Network will measure success through agreed upon metrics to measure increases in empathy.

Our Partners

Explore the 27 zoos and aquariums that are Partner Organizations with the ACE for Wildlife™ Network. From small to large, rural to urban, non-profit to government-run, our Partners bring a diversity of knowledge and practice to this work.

Meet Our Team

The Advancing Empathy team at Woodland Park Zoo is the backbone support for the ACE for Wildlife Network. Meet the passionate individuals behind the Network, each of bringing unique expertise and a shared commitment to wildlife conservation to the work. In addition to this team, the Network is driven and led by our committee members.

Marta Burnet

Director of Advancing Empathy

Marta (she/her) discovered the power of empathy for wildlife at a bat talk at a campsite in a Montana state park and has been passionate about this work ever since. She has spent the last five years focused on fostering empathy for wildlife first at Seattle Aquarium and now at Woodland Park Zoo, where she leads the Advancing Empathy team. Marta has a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Washington, where she focused on the diffusion of innovations, and an MA in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University. She got her start in grant development and management over 20 years ago in international community engagement and advocacy, then higher education, and has truly found her home in wildlife conservation. In her free time, you can find her attending musicals or walking in the woods…where she is probably (quietly) singing musicals.

Emily Bernhardt

Empathy Network Specialist

Emily (she/her) has a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from Michigan State University and started working in zoos the day the U.S. declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic (no other first day on the job will quite compare). Her first zoo job was at ZooMontana as their Education & Social Media Coordinator. Prior to her time working in zoos, Emily was a muddy and sunburnt outdoor educator in the South Carolina salt marshes and studied spotted hyenas in Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. With a penchant for misunderstood animals, Emily is always looking for ways to get other people excited about n(e)ature! When she’s not working, you can find Emily planning her next backpacking trip, rock climbing, or throwing pottery in her quest to create the perfect bowl for making bread.

Sarah Panciroli

Advancing Empathy Coordinator

Sarah (she/her) moved from North Bend to Seattle in 2017 to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology at the University of Washington. During her schooling, she developed a deep passion for sea creatures while working at the Burke Museum fish collection as a lab assistant. Prior to joining the zoo, Sarah worked as an Environmental Educator and discovered her love for connecting people to nature and promoting environmental stewardship in communities. Outside of work, Sarah volunteers as a Habitat Interpreter at the Seattle Aquarium, and enjoys spending time in her garden.

Michele Kahrs

Empathy Grants Specialist

Michele (she/her) has always fostered a deep connection with animals and nature – and cannot remember a time without animal companionship. She migrated to the PNW from California after earning her B.A. in American Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California. With over a decade of experience in program development and grants, Michele is dedicated to building opportunities to explore and improve our world through collaborative partnerships. Outside work and family, she can be found with her equine companions, exploring fiber arts or chaos gardening.

Theo Bamberger

Evaluation Specialist

Theo (they/them) chased a love of big trees and cloudy weather from Southern California to Seattle where they earned their M.Ed. in Science Education at the University of Washington. They love studying how people think, learn, and come to care about the environment and have explored the topic through various social science research projects, primarily with the Social Ecology Lab at Stanford University where they earned their B.S. in Earth Systems. As an Evaluation Specialist at Woodland Park Zoo, Theo explores how empathy is being implemented both at the zoo and across the Network, and they are always excited to talk about data. When they’re not geeking out over a good graph, Theo is often playing sousaphone in one of their two brass bands, creating nature-themed art, or hanging out with their goofball cat, Gizmo.

Laurel Abbotts

Grants Manager

Laurel (she/her) manages the Learning & Innovation department’s portfolio of grant funded projects. She started out as a process engineer with a degree in Materials Engineering from the University of Washington but quickly transitioned to focus on project management, specifically at organizations working to make the world a better place. She has 10 years of experience overseeing projects in manufacturing engineering, zoos/aquariums, and public health research. She’s excited about learning and complex problem-solving. When she’s not building a spreadsheet for work, she’s probably making one to help her plan out next year’s garden or she’s trying to teach her 12-year-old dog new tricks.

“I'd like to say that as someone at a small zoo, I appreciate that the Network has given me the opportunity to learn and connect with other people from small zoos in my region who have similar structures, similar projects, and face similar challenges. But I also love learning from those from larger zoos who have more specialized roles, as it allows me to dream bigger about what our small zoo can achieve.”

Network Member

Engage with Our Community

Your voice matters. Share your thoughts, insights, and feedback to help shape our collective efforts. Together, we can make a real difference for our planet’s precious wildlife.