Dr. Laurie Marker, an American biologist, is the founder and exeuctive director of Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). Founded in Namibia in 1990, CCF is the global leader in research and conservation of cheetahs.
Dr. Marker is considered one of the world's foremost experts on cheetah biology, ecology, and conservation and has developed CCF's conservation strategy, which has contributed to increasing the wild cheetah population in Namibia by 50%. CCF's long-term studies analyze and monitor the factors affecting the cheetah's survival in the wild and the results are used to develop conservation policies and education programmes that have reached over 300,000 people. Dr. Marker has received numerous awards for her conservation work, including the 2008 Intel Environmental Prize of the 2008 Tech Awards and 2010 Tyler Prize for the Environment – the premier award for environmental science, environmental health and energy conferring great benefit upon mankind.
CCF is a registered non-profit in Namibia, the UK, Canada and the U.S. It is dedicated to saving the cheetah in the wild.