Station team
Station Manager
Our Station Manager, Charlotte Foale, joined CPBS in 2007. Charlotte was born in England and has lived in New Zealand and the United States prior to moving to Costa Rica. She first visited CPBS in 2007 as a volunteer, with a plan to stay for three months, which she soon realized was not a likely timeline. She now lives in San Francisco de Tortuguero with her husband, Manuel, and her son, Emanuel. She is fluent in both English and Spanish. She oversees station logistics and day-to-day functionality. Charlotte is passionate about her position and has been a vital part of CPBS since the day she arrived. She supports the scientists who visit CPBS, has built and maintains meaningful relationships with the local community, and is a brilliant steward for the local environment.
Field Coordinator
Manuel Arias, our Field Coordinator began work with CPBS in 2012. Manuel is a born naturalist. Having grown up in Guapiles and worked outside for most of his life, he is an expert in the local wildlife. He uses his ecological knowledge and expertise to work with interns and volunteers to maintain most of our long-term monitoring projects, helps to develop the logistics of new projects, and uses his handyman knowledge and expertise to keep the station running.
Research supervisor fellow
Ariek Barakat Norford, our Research Supervisor Fellow since November 2024, grew up in the United States and completed his PhD in Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University in New York. He has done extensive field work in farming communities in Costa Rica and Colombia, mostly on monkeys and other mammals. He works closely with the Station Manager and Field Coordinator to ensure the quality, transparency, and continuity of the work at CPBS. He is most passionate about involving local communities and knowledge in the conservation process. With this, he manages the development and integrity of all short- and long-term projects carried out at CPBS, from field data collection to statistical analysis. He also supervises interns on a wide range of research topics, from project design to report writing, including data collection methods and analysis.
Research Coordinator
Georgie Clarke, our Research Coordinator, is joining us from from Cornwall, UK. She graduated from Cardiff University in 2024 with a degree in Zoology. Georgie developed a passion for CPBS when she spent nearly a year at the station from September 2022 to August 2023 for her university placement, where she focused on the turtle monitoring project. She is excited to be supporting the short- and long-term projects carried out at CPBS, as well as supporting intern professional development and research projects.
Turtle Research fellow
Shannon Doner, our Turtle Research Fellow graduated from Drake University in 2024 with a B.S. in Environmental Science with a focus in biological conservation. After graduating, she completed an internship working with Kemp’s ridley sea turtles in Texas, where she discovered a passion for conservation and protecting threatened and endangered species. She later joined the team at Cano Palma as a Marine Turtle Research Assistant and finished out the nesting season. She is thrilled to be back for the full season and excited for this leadership role and supporting the turtle project!
Board of Directors
The COTERC board provides strategic oversight and oversees the management of the station.
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Director at Large
Kymberley has known the station since its inception and joined the Board in 2007, originally in the role of Director of Conservation and Research, and now sitting as Chair. Having earned her collaborative PhD from the University of Toronto as an Environmental Anthropologist, she has carried out research on primates in southern China and Honduras. Taking the anthropological perspective, she has examined the interface between mammals, forests, and people, looking for conservation management solutions. It is her lifelong passion and work in research, conservation, and education which she brings to COTERC and their supporting role for Caño Palma Biological Station.goes here
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Director of Executive Operations
Tansy first travelled to the station in 2011 for a stay of a month where she learnt valuable life skills, cemented her love of nature and met life long friends. Whilst her professional career has been in the Arts/Culture sector in London, the station has never been far from her mind and it was so special to visit again three times in recent years. Tansy believes that Caño Palma is a truly remarkable place and is delighted to be part of the board and be able to give back to the organization that has brought so much joy to her life.
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Dougal’s love of the tropical ecosystems of Costa Rica, from low-elevation rainforests to high-elevation cloud forests, has spanned a quarter of a century. As President and Chair of the non-profit Nectandra Institute, he has been associated for many years with the conservation and restoration of the montane cloud forest ecosystems of northern Costa Rica. He is excited to have joined the COTERC board in 2026, and to be working with them in planning and executing a major expansion of their activities into these cloud forest ecosystems, building on their successful 35-year history of conservation, teaching and restoration work at CPBS.
Dougal is a geotechnical engineer with over 50 years of worldwide consulting, research and teaching experience, and a lifelong passion for the world of nature.
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Director at Large
Doug has been editing Raphia as a member of COTERC’s Board since 2016. Upon earning a BSc in biology from LSU, Doug promptly headed off into the marketing world. After working for Coca Cola for many years, he retired and took up cycling - long-distance cycling. Following a grueling trek covering 20,000 kilometers and 7 months, friends urged him to write a book about it. And so a book about pain came to pass. That led to a more general interest in writing and a natural progression into editing Raphia. Doug is also a volunteer at the Toronto Zoo.
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Director of Finance
Gregory joined the COTERC board in 2025. With his professional background as a CFO for businesses and charities, he brings with him extensive knowledge to manage COTERC's finances and ensure its future resilience. Greg is passionate about nature and instilling the love of the outdoors in the next generation - he can often be found climbing, hiking, and camping with his young family in Ontario.
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Director of Data Integrity
Sarah joined the board in 2023. She visited Caño Palma for the first time in 2019 as an intern on the turtle project, returning in 2021 and 2019 as a turtle research assistant. Sarah's experiences at Caño Palma fostered her love for tropical biodiversity and ecosystems. She is currently a PhD candidate studying the effects of drought intentensification on neotropical insects. At Caño Palma, Sarah is interested in contributing to the management, organization, and preservation of COTERC's valuable long-term datasets.
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Vice Chair
Jess joined the board in 2022 as the Director of Web Services. She first visited Caño Palma as a Turtle Monitoring Intern in 2014 and returned as a Research Assistant in 2015, reveling in the rich company and tropical diversity that the station has to offer. Jess now works as a Project Manager for an environmental consulting company in Monterey, California, where she is also completed her master’s degree in Environmental Science. She is especially passionate about tropical and coastal conservation and hopes to continue pursuing these passions in a professional setting.
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Director of Corporate & Philanthropic Engagement
Geoff’s love of nature began as a child when he watched the first screening of David Attenborough’s Life on Earth, and then saved up his pocket money for two months to buy the book. He has a PhD in artificial intelligence, has run two high-tech startups, and has advised dozens of global companies on sustainability. Geoff co-founded and for 10 years ran Future-Fit Foundation, a UK charity set up to encourage and empower companies to create a flourishing future for all life on Earth. He joined the COTERC board in 2025 to forge new partnerships with companies and investors that will help us scale up our impact.
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Chair
Tom first visited Cano Palma in 2008 and joined the board in 2023 as the Director of Strategy. He has a DPhil in Zoology, focused on the impact of human land-use change on biodiversity and ecosystem function. Tom has worked at a variety of charities, encouraging multi-national businesses and financial institutions to align their activities with the needs of people and planet. He recently founded Transition Agency, which seeks to empower medium-sized businesses to embed purpose into the core of what they do. Tom is passionate about tropical rainforests and believes their protection is essential for a flourishing society.