Senior staff
Zoé Lebrun-Southcott, MES — Executive Director and Wildlife Biologist
Zoé has been working on research and the conservation of bird species at risk in North America since 2006. Prior to co-founding BECO in 2013, she contributed to numerous songbird and shorebird conservation projects in the U.S. and Canada, working for government, academia, and non-governmental organizations, most notably the Canadian Wildlife Service and Wildlife Preservation Canada. Zoé has a passion for on-the-ground conservation, especially for songbirds at risk in Ontario, and a diverse range of experience, from field data collection to project management and development. In her dual role as Executive Director and Wildlife Biologist, Zoé is responsible for overseeing operations, managing grants and contracts, and reporting to the board of directors, as well as working on project design, field research, reporting, publishing, and communications.
Andrew Campomizzi, PhD — Research Scientist
Dr. Campomizzi began working in avian ecology in 2001. He co-founded BECO in 2013 after completing post-doctoral research at the Institute of Renewable Natural Resources at Texas A&M University, where he also completed a MS and PhD in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. He has contributed to the study and conservation of birds through peer-reviewed publications, presentations at conferences, and many meetings with government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private landowners. Dr. Campomizzi’s research focus is on spatial and temporal patterns of distribution, abundance, and reproductive success in birds, particularly for species at risk. His work for BECO includes study design; field data collection; geographic information systems; statistical analyses; and writing proposals, reports, and manuscripts for publication.
More information about Dr. Campomizzi’s research, including publications, is available on ResearchGate.
Program staff
Hanna Kirchmeir, MSc — Grassland Bird Program Biologist
Hanna completed her master’s degree in Conservation Biology and Biodiversity Management at the University of Vienna in Austria. After moving to Canada, she worked as an agronomy assistant and farm hand, developing new skills and interacting closely with the agricultural community in Grey County. In 2022, Hanna embraced the opportunity to combine her appreciation for farming and passion for conservation research by working for BECO to conduct vegetation assessments and in 2023, she joined BECO as a full-time field biologist. In her current role as Grassland Bird Program Biologist, she focuses on field research, including grassland bird surveys and monitoring, as well as assisting with other aspects of BECO’s birds at risk in agricultural landscapes program.
Field team
Each year, we assemble a small team of field biologists to assist with our research projects. We hire students and recent graduates with varying levels of experience, providing opportunities for recent graduates to develop field research skills and more experienced field biologists to advance their skills and contribute to conservation research addressing some of the current issues facing Ontario’s at-risk songbirds. We also collaborate with graduate students who have similar research interests.
Photos from the field of some of the talented biologists we’ve had the pleasure of working with:
Photo credits: Top left, top centre: Zoé Lebrun-Southcott. Top right: Laurens Put. Bottom left: Garth Casbourn. Centre: Kaila Ritchie. Bottom centre, bottom right: Jennifer Horvat.