Elefence International - Our Trustees

Dick Houston, President and Co-Founder, has spent most of his adult life in Africa as a safari leader, conservationist, editor, writer and teacher. Born in Ashtabula, Ohio, Houston earned a bachelor's degree from Kent State University; his master's degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He has been an English-Social Studies instructor at schools in the U.S.A., Florida Institute of Technology, Exxon Corporation schools in Venezuela, and for American Embassy Schools in Kenya and Zambia. Houston has received teaching awards for helping create innovative curricula for multi-disciplinary projects. As a safari leader, he ran adventure safaris across the Sahara Desert, through the rain forests of central Africa, and the bush country of east and southern Africa. In Kenya, he worked with the late "Born Free" legend Joy Adamson on conservation-education projects for the Elsa Wild Animal Appeal. Houston has written on African topics for feature stories in Smithsonian, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times Syndicate International, Reader's Digest, Travel-Holiday, Toronto Star, and The Cleveland Plain Dealer. Houston and his projects have been profiled in the Miami Herald, Scripps-Howard, The New Yorker, and World Herald. Houston recently directed Safari Museum - The Library of Congress project to preserve the pioneering African motion pictures of the legendary filmmakers, Martin and Osa Johnson. The museum-LOC project was the largest of its kind for a single filmmaker in the Library's history. Houston has been a consultant for American and French documentary films on African themes. Houston's commitment to help save Africa's fragile ecosystems and vanishing wildlife led him to take action to help found and lead Elefence International. His focus now is helping educators create academic outreach conservation programs, and develop "cutting edge" multi-disciplinary curricula to align with the National Academic Standards.

Bruce J. L. Lowe, Legal Counsel and Founder, is a partner with Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP where his practice focuses on international law and litigation, general business and commercial litigation and business bankruptcy matters. He was recently named one of the Leading Lawyers in the Bankruptcy field by Inside Business Magazine. He is Secretary of the British-American Chamber of Commerce, Great Lakes Region, and is the Honorary Legal Advisor to Her Majesty's Counsel, Cleveland. He is past chair of the Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Section of the Cleveland Bar Association. He holds BA and MA degrees from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University and the Degree of Barrister at Law from the Inns of Court School of Law, and is a member of the Honorable Society of the Middle Temple.

Max Seymour, Chair, Executive Committee, has been employed in the chemical industry for over 20 years. Most of this time has been with the pulp and papermaking process. Seymour served in the Navy from 1969 to 1973 as a Hospital Corpsman. He graduated with a BA in history from The Ohio State University in 1977 and is active in alumni affairs.

Gary K. Clarke, Honorary Trustee, is the past president of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums. He embarked on a career in the zoo profession in 1957, which enabled him to work at the keeper, curatorial, and director level. Clarke was director of the Topeka Zoo, and is well known and respected in the zoo world. He is currently owner of Cowabunga Safaris, Inc., which operates safaris in many African countries.

Trudy, Amstadt - Trustee - Dentist

Trudy Amstadt, D.D.S. is a general dentist in Beachwood, Ohio. She graduated from Case Western Reserve University of Dental Medicine in1982 where she was elected to OKU, an honorary dental society for academic excellence. She was a clinical instructor at eh university but now devotes full time to her private practice. Dr. Amstadt was recently named on of the top dentists of Cleveland by Northern Ohio Live Magazine. She visited Africa in 1999 and fell in love with the land and wildlife.

Conrad G. Froehlich, Honorary Trustee, is director of the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute, Kansas. Froehlich is one of only a dozen museum professionals nationally to have received the Nancy Hanks Memorial Award for Professional Excellence from the American Association of Museums. He is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio.

Jon Stevenson, Honorary Trustee, is vice president of Wheeler Manufacturing, a Division of Rex Industries, Inc., Osaka Japan. Born in Ashtabula, Ohio, Stevenson received his BS in Mathematics from Grove City College. He is a member and past president of The Rotary Club of Jefferson, Ohio.