Born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She moved to Bend in the early 1970's. Lesley attended the University of Oregon where she majored in Art. Lesley and her husband Matt were married in 1985 and have four children. Lesley grew up taking care of various different farm animals and native wildlife. Through the years she has been a major part in fundraising for local charities. Lesley started Chimps Inc. in 1995 with the arrival of Topo and is proud to be able to offer permanent homes to chimpanzees and big cats.

Zelia (Nauer) Flannery moved to the United States after being educated in Canada. She spent most of her career life as a statistician for Hewlett Packard, Dymec Division. She has been a prominent figure for many local charities including the President of the Rotary Club of Bend 1994-1995; Founding member of the Rotary Club of Bend Foundation; served on the KIDS Center Board of Directors from 1992-2006 and is one of the Founding members of Chimps Inc.

Attended University of Washington where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. After becoming a Certified Public Accountant, she worked in public accounting for Ernst & Young in Seattle and New Orleans. Having a strong business and financial background, Arianna was hired on at SafeRent, Inc. in Denver, Colorado where she was responsible for all financial and accounting duties. In 2005, Arianna moved to Bend, Oregon. Her decision to move was made final when she realized she could combine her financial experience and skills with her lifelong dream to work with chimpanzees. Arianna and her husband, Jay, have two young children, Isabella and Collin.

Attended college in Colorado at the University of Denver where she received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. She then attended Franklin University and University of Oregon for her post graduate work. Central Oregon became her home in 1977 and it's where she built a successful accounting practice that today helps a variety of local nonprofit organizations. Her work as a Certified Public Accountant is what drew her into public service. As a State Senator, Chris has earned the reputation as an intelligent leader, and expert in the financial arena, a colleague to her fellow Legislators, and a strong active voice for her constituents.

Dr. Byron Maas graduated cum laude in 1990 from Washington State University with a prior bachelors in Zoology from the University of Washington. Byron has been practicing companion animal medicine and has long been interested in zoological and exotic animal medicine since his work at the Woodland Park Zoological Gardens in Seattle, Washington prior to obtaining his doctorate. He co-founded the Bend Spay and Neuter project to provide a low cost alternative to population control in Central Oregon and promote trap neuter return (TNR) programs with feral cats. Byron is passionate about domestic animal population control especially in island ecosystems where domestic animals disrupt fragile native wildlife. He routinely volunteers in developing nations to provide veterinary care and much needed spay and neuter services.

Byron has extensive non-profit leadership skills, board experience and business development ability. He currently owns Bend Veterinary Clinic, Inc and serves as President on the Animal Emergency Clinic of Central Oregon Board of Directors, Director with Esther Honey Foundation, SPECIEES, and advisor with Animal Balance. He is passionate about fostering the human animal bond as medical director of Synergy, Bend's Animal Hospice Group. We are pleased to have Dr. Maas as the resident veterinarian for the sanctuary caring our Chimpanzees and large cats.

Born Pendleton, Oregon; raised on the Oregon coast in Seaside, lived in Portland for 4 years and now resides in Bend for the last 31 years. Upon moving to Bend from Portland, Oregon she continued her career in banking with First National Bank. Her next major career move was working with her husband Gary Davis at Coldwell Banker/Morris Real Estate in Bend. Cheryl and Gary are semi-retired and managing their investment properties in Bend. Upon moving to the Bend area, Cheryl has either served on boards or volunteered for nearly a dozen local organizations to give back to the community.

Julie was born and raised in Oregon. She grew up around animals and developed a passion for animal welfare at a young age. She worked as a Project Coordinator and opened the first NIKETOWN, in Portland, Oregon. She continued to work with NIKE as the Event Coordinator and implemented trade shows and shoe launches. She then directed her event planning talents toward various nonprofit organizations. She spent 4 years with Jesuit High School as the Auction chair; started the annual fundraiser for the Children's Cancer Association and coordinated it for 4 years; started the annual fund raising luncheon for St. Andrew Nativity School as well as for St. Mary's Home for Boys. Julie joined the Chimps Inc. board in 2009.

Born and raised in Vancouver, Washington Bill has lived in the Northwest for his whole life. He graduated from Washington State University with a degree in criminal justice and spent two years in law enforcement before starting a 35 year career in the Title Insurance industry. Over the last 20 years Bill served as President of Pacific NW Title of Oregon, Inc. In addition to his vast work experience, Bill has served on many nonprofit boards over the years and has been President of the Oregon Land Title Association. He recently retired from the title industry to "spend more time with the chimps". Bill is married to Gayle for over 30 years and they have two children, Courtney, a national marketing manager for Major League Soccer, and Kyle, married to Nikki and father of Ellie Kae, and in sales for KGW-TV.

DBE She was born in 1934 in London, England and is known as the most famous chimpanzee expert in the world. A colleague of anthropologist Louis Leakey in Kenya in the late 1950's she began studying chimpanzees. She received a Ph.D. from Cambridge University for her work and remained at the research center she founded in Gombe, Tanzania, until 1975. In 1977 she cofounded the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation in the U.S. Her observations established, among other things, that chimpanzees are omnivorous rather than vegetarian, can make and use tools, and have complex and highly developed social behaviors.

For her efforts, Goodall received a great many awards and honors, among them the Gold Medal of Conservation from the San Diego Zoological Society, the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize, the Schweitzer Medal of the Animal Welfare Institute, and the National Geographic Society Centennial Award. Much of Goodall's current work is carried on by the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation, in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Her advocacy of the ethical treatment of animals continues to the current day, and she has even written a children's book, The Chimpanzee Family Book, on the subject.

Goodall wrote a number of books about her experiences with the chimpanzees, including Through a Window (1990); My Life with the Wild Chimpanzees (1988); The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior (1986); In the Shadow of Man (1971); and Visions of Caliban: On Chimpanzees and People (1993). For books that show her work in relation to that of other primatologists, see: Donna Haraway, Primate Visions (1989); Bettyann Kevles' Watching the Great Apes (1976); and Sy Montgomery, Walking with the Great Apes (1991).

Bruce received a Bachelor in Science at Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, in 1979 and then went on to receive another Bachelor of Science degree at Columbia University, School of Nursing in 1981. He is now a partner in the San Francisco office of Schiff Hardin, with an almost exclusive focus on a wide range of animal law cases, as well as education and consultation in the field. He has been practicing law since 1992 and has represented clients in state and federal courts, as well as administrative proceedings. He is the coeditor of Animal Law, the first casebook for animal law courses, which was first published in January 2000. He has taught animal law at University of California, Hastings College of the Law; University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall); Stanford Law School; and University of San Francisco, School of Law.