Onnie Byers

B.S., Animal Science, University of Wisconsin, 1983
M.S., Animal Physiology, University of Minnesota, 1987
Ph.D., Animal Physiology, University of Minnesota, 1990
Post Doc., National Zoological Park/Smithsonian Institution 1990-1993

Onnie earned her Ph.D. in reproductive physiology from the University of Minnesota and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo in Washington D.C. She was a member of the National Zoological Park's Mobile Laboratory Research team, and participated in reproductive studies involving cheetah, pumas, tigers and giant panda. Onnie joined the SSC’s Conservation Planning Specialist Group in 1991 as a Program Officer and was promoted to the position of Executive Director in 2005, and appointed Chair in 2011.

In addition to leading the organization, Onnie shares with CPSG’s Program Officers responsibility for organization, design and facilitation of a wide range of Species Conservation Planning and other CPSG workshops. Onnie is dedicated to the transfer of these tools and processes to conservationists around the world through the establishment and nurturing of CPSG's Regional Resource Centers and by assisting governments in the use of species conservation planning to reverse the decline in threatened species. Onnie serves on the SSC’s Steering Committee and the Conservation and Sustainability Committee of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and is on the Boards of Species 360 and Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders (EWCL).