BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2024
Coming together from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, our skilled team of professionals are the backbone of International Rhino Keeper Association. Their ideas help shape the direction and mission of our organization as it continues to develop. Read on to learn more about some of our incredible team members.
JOE HAUSER
Joe Hauser worked with the greater one-horned and eastern black rhino, along with many other ungulate species in an AZA accredited facility for over 16 years. Working with Dr. Monica Stoops, he was able to produce 2 GOH rhino calves through assisted reproduction, as well as producing calves by naturally breeding the species. He served as an advisor on the Rhino Assisted Reproduction Enterprise (RARE) for 4 years. While in AZA, he was also a studbook keeper for the GOH population. Since 2021, Joe has served as the director at the African Rhino Protection Initiative, a 600-acre privately owned facility located in North Texas where he cares for a herd of southern white rhinos and other various African ungulates in a large, naturalistic setting. In 2024, he imported 1.6 white rhino to ARPI from a reserve in Namibia. He has served on the IRKA Board of Directors since 2014.
CHRISTINE BOBKO
President
Christine Bobko is Christine has over 26 years of experience working with rhinos, and will soon celebrate her 25th anniversary at the Denver Zoo where her passion for rhinos has been allowed to flourish! Christine is a founding Board of Director of the IRKA.
She is the current director of operations at The Rhinory.
CHRIS TUBBS
Dr. Christopher Tubbs serves San Diego Zoo Global as a Senior Scientist in the Reproductive Sciences group. He is interested in how environmental chemicals affect reproduction of endangered species and his research focuses on developing in vitro methods to measure interactions between environmental chemicals and the hormone receptors that regulate endocrine function. For the past decade, he has used this approach to study the role of dietary phytoestrogens in the poor reproductive success of captive-born southern white rhinos. In addition, he is a co-investigator for San Diego Zoo Global’s Northern White Rhino Initiative.
ROBYN LORSCHER
Secretary
Robyn is a Zoological Manager at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. She has cared for Southern white rhinos for over 14 years, as well as a wide variety of other species across her career. Robyn first got involved with IRKA by attending the 2011 rhino keepers workshop hosted by Fossil Rim. Prior to joining the IRKA board, she served on the communications, conservation & the workshop committees. Robyn has a Masters in Zoology from Miami University and is currently working with IRF on a project through the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders (EWCL) Class 8.
ANGIE SNOWIE
Angie Snowie is the primary greater one horned rhino keeper at the Toronto Zoo in Toronto, Canada.
Angie started working with greater one horned rhinos in 2012 and they have captivated her heart.
Rhinos have ignited a passion within her (as no other animal has before) to work hard to fundraise for all five species of rhinos in the wild.
As a winner of the AAZK Bowling for Rhinos campaign in 2015 and 2016, she has been fortunate enough to travel to Kenya, Sumatra, and Java to see rhinos in their native habitat. Angie has successfully raised over $100,000 for rhino conservation.
In 2023, Angie spent 3 months at the Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary in South Africa, which involved in caring for and learning about southern white and black rhino orphans.
Angie has been a member of IRKA since 2013 and has been on the board of directors since 2018. She feels that belonging to, and actively participating in the IRKA has changed the life of the rhinos in her care by being able to apply so much of what she has learned from our amazing rhino community, to the Toronto Zoo rhino program.
Being on the board has helped to give direction, motivation and inspiration for a long future in her fight to save rhino species and to mentor the IRKA membership to continue to be the strong voice for rhinos in our zoo settings and beyond.
JADE TUTTLE
JASON FAESSLER
Board Member
Jason is the primary rhino keeper in the hoofstock department at the Nashville Zoo. He has been working with white rhino at Nashville since they arrived in 2016. Over the last 19 years, he has worked with black, greater one horned, and Sumatran rhino. He has also worked with all forms of African and Asian hooved animals, as well as big cats, small mammals and birds. He has been an IRKA member since 2005, attending workshops in Columbus, Melbourne (presented), Denver, and Disney.
Board Member
PAT FOUNTAIN
Board Member
Pat Fountain is the Animal Care Supervisor at the Potter Park Zoo. Pat has worked with Eastern black rhinos for over 15 years. During his time there, he has helped create the rhino training program, established the zoo’s yearly world rhino day event, and overseen the zoo’s first successful breeding and birth of a rhino calf. Pat has attended rhino keeper workshops in Chester, Denver, and Disney. He has presented at two conferences, one on treating a black rhino with a seizure disorder, and one on foot work training in Eastern black rhino.
Jade is one of the lead keepers at North Carolina Zoo’s Watani Plains working with Southern White Rhinos. As a keeper for 17 years she has worked with both black and white rhinos along with hoofstock of all sizes. She is a member of the training committee, scholarship committee, and has served on the election committee in past years. She has recently taken over the membership chair
CODY CSEPLO
Treasurer
Cody Cseplo has been an Animal Management Specialist at The Wilds since 2016 and is one of two employees that specializes in rhinos. He has cared for a large breeding group of Southern white rhinos, a growing breeding group of greater one-horned rhinos, and Eastern black rhinos in temporary situations. The Wilds management strategy revolves around the seasonal utilization of large, mixed-species, pastures. Cody assists in the care of the hoofstock collection at The Wilds and also manages a large production bison herd. He has been a member of IRKA since 2016, participated in the Keeper Professional Development Program at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and attended the 2019 Rhino Keeper Workshop. He is also the North American regional studbook for greater one horned rhinos.
CASSY KUTILEK
Vice President
Cassy is the Curator of large mammals and carnivores at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.
Elected to the BOD in 2017, Cassy has a passion for black rhinos specifically and has been fortunate enough to work with multiple calves. A self proclaimed tech nerd, she often works on the website and webinars.
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ADAM EYRES
IRKA Board Advisor
Adam has been with Fossil Rim Wildlife Center since 1989 and has worked with the white rhino herd since that time and with the black rhino herd since they first arrived in 1992. His daily routine still includes some rhino husbandry and management. Adam attended the 1991 International Rhino Conference in San Diego which began his career with rhinos (and introduced him to many of the rhino professionals he still calls friends and colleagues). He also attended the 1999, 2001 (presenter), 2009, 2011 (Fossil Rim hosted, presenter), 2013 (presenter) and 2017 (presenter and round table moderator) Rhino Keeper Workshops. Adam is a co-author of a number of publications about rhinos. He was involved with the writing of the original Rhino Husbandry Manual (RHM) and is a co-editor on the digital version. Adam is a scientific advisor to the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and the population manager for Southern Black Rhinos for the Conservation Centers for Species Survival (C2S2). Additionally, he is the White Rhino SSP Coordinator and Rhino Taxon Advisory Group Chair for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)
Nina Fascione
IRKA Board Advisor
Nina joined IRF in May of 2020 as its Executive Director. She has been a wildlife conservation professional for more than 30 years. She previously held positions as vice president of philanthropy and vice president of field conservation at Defenders of Wildlife, and was executive director at Bat Conservation International.
Amber Berndt
Board Member
Amber Berndt is a Senior Keeper in the Plains Department at the Indianapolis Zoo. She has worked with Southern white rhinos and other African species for over 18 years. Amber became a member of IRKA in 2005 and was on the Board of Directors in 2017. She is currently on the scholarship and fundraising committees. She is the Chair for Indy AAZK’s Bowling for Rhinos and has had the opportunity to visit Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Ol’ Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. She will have another once in a lifetime opportunity of visiting Java and Sumatra next summer.
Chad Harmon
Board Member
As a member of IRKA for over ten years, Chad is now the Africa Area Supervisor at the Oregon Zoo and has worked with both African and Asian rhinos, 19 of his 25 years in the animal care field. His career has brought him to both coasts of the US managing Southern black rhinos at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and then as a primary rhino keeper at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle when he received their first rhinos in the zoo’s 124-year history before making his way to Portland. Chad has a vested interest in how we can provide better care for the rhinos in our collections, such as large volume phlebotomy and minimizing Iron Overload Disorder (IOD) in captive browsing rhinos, and Chronic Foot Disease (CFD) in captive Greater One-horned rhinos including changing to the appropriate substrate for better welfare. He’s been fortunate to speak at schools, live streamed social media, art and conservation events about The Horns and Heroes Project a non-profit organization he started and raised funds for The International Rhino Foundation and rhino conservation and consulted with other institutions about future rhino exhibit design, care, and welfare.
