Double Tree by Hilton

2233 Ventura Street, Fresno, CA 93721
(559) 268-1000

Room rate is $172.00 per night for Standard, King, or Double.
Price of room includes breakfast for 2 in the restaurant.

Reservations must be made by August 4, 2024 to receive this group rate.

Ian Singleton

Dr Ian Singleton, OBE, is a former Zookeeper, having worked with a variety of different species at Whipsnade and Edinburgh zoos in the UK before becoming the orangutan keeper at Jersey Zoo, in the British Channel islands, in 1989. There he oversaw the construction of Jersey’s new orangutan islands enclosure, moving the orangutans in to the new exhibit in 1994. Ian later left the zoo world to study wild orangutans in the swamp forests of Aceh, Sumatra, for a PhD with the University of Kent, in Canterbury, UK, and in 2001 founded the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP) based in Medan, North Sumatra, which he still oversees on behalf of the Indonesian NGO, Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari, and its Swiss-based supporter, PanEco Foundation. Today the SOCP is active in all aspects of orangutan conservation in Sumatra, including rescue, reintroduction, research and habitat protection, and also in a unique new project, the Orangutan Haven, to accommodate orangutans that cannot be released to the wild. The Orangutan Haven will be a major asset for education and recreation in the region. In recognition of his contribution to the environment and conservation Ian was honoured with the award of an OBE in 2020 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Jamartin Sihite

Dr. Jamartin Sihite is the CEO of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation and President Director of a company focused on the restoration of orangutan habitat in Indonesia   – PT. RHOI. The BOS Foundation is an Indonesian non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of the Critically Endangered Bornean orangutan and its habitat and the Foundation is currently caring of almost 450 displaced or orphaned orangutans with the support of 400 highly dedicated staff. As CEO of the BOS Foundation, Dr. Sihite manages three orangutan reintroduction forests in Borneo, where his team has reintroduced almost 500 rehabilitated orangutans, and a 309,000-hectare peat swamp forest in Central Kalimantan, which provides habitat to over 2,500 wild orangutans. The Foundations’ work also extends to the management of a network of orangutan pre-release islands, a long-term orangutan sanctuary at Salat Island and two orangutan rescue and rehabilitation centers at Samboja Lestari (East Kalimantan) and Nyaru Menteng (Central Kalimantan). Dr. Sihite was awarded the Pongo Environmental Award in 2020;  Virginia McKenna Award for Compassionate Conservation in 2019 and the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) – Ian Redmond Conservation Award in 2015 for his tireless efforts to protect Bornean orangutans and their habitat.

Christy Alligood-Rice

Dr. Christy Alligood-Rice is a sought-after teacher, speaker, and thought leader whose experience spans the science and practice of behavior analysis. Dr. Alligood-Rice received an MA (2003) from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a Ph.D. (2007) from West Virginia University. She is also a doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D).

For over 10 years, Dr. Alligood-Rice has been a behavior scientist at Disney’s Animals, Science, and Environment. In that capacity, she uses her expertise in the application of behavior analysis to enhance the welfare of nonhuman animals through cooperative training, environmental enrichment, behavioral problem solving, and behavior change strategies supporting the conservation of wildlife and wild places.

Dr. Alligood-Rice is a faculty member in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science at the University of Kansas. She previously held faculty positions at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and the University of Florida, where she was a nominee for the 2021 UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Teacher of the Year Award. She has served in many leadership roles in the Association for Behavior Analysis International, including president of the Applied Animal Behavior Special Interest Group, Coordinator of the Special Interest Groups Board, and At-large Representative to the Executive Council. She is also a past president and secretary of the Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis. She is an instructor for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Environmental Enrichment in Zoo & Aquariums course and general member of the AZA Behavior Advisory Group serving on the Culture Change working group.