Meet Our People
William Powell
Founder, CEO
Kuru, Conservation Dog (Tanzania)Will founded and leads Kuru with almost three decades of experience training working dogs, from landmine-detection units in post-conflict zones to conservation dog programs across six African countries since 2014.
Shelley Powell
Director
Kuru, Conservation Dog (Tanzania)Shelley Powell was born and raised in Zimbabwe and has been part of Kuru since the beginning. As a director of Kuru in Tanzania, she helps keep the program running day-to-day, coordinating travel, training arrangements, supplies, veterinary care, and supporting the dogs, handlers, and wider team.
Paulo Safari
Kennel Master
Kuru, Conservation Dog (Tanzania)Paulo has worked with Will since 2005. Gentle and patient, he has a way with every dog, from the toughest and most aggressive to the softest. He makes sure they are healthy, happy, and ready for work. Paulo is central to Kuru’s success and to passing on the culture of care that shapes how we work with dogs.
João
Dog Trainer
Kuru, Conservation Dog (Tanzania)João and Will have worked together for more than 25 years, growing as dog people side by side. João is a remarkable handler trainer. He has a rhythm and timing with dogs that is wonderful to watch, and a gift for teaching others. He is now based in Mozambique, working with Peace Parks Foundation and the country’s wildlife authority, ANAC. Although he is not permanently based at KURU, he is part of who we are. Through him, we continue to offer advice and support in Mozambique, and he will always be part of the Kuru family.
Richard
Head Trainer
Kuru, Conservation Dog (Tanzania)Richard and Will have worked together for 20 years and have been through a great deal together. Richard has a rare gift for preparing dogs to work in heat and difficult conditions. He knows how to bring out their best without asking more than is fair. He works incredibly hard, loves his dogs, and they love him back. He is a patient teacher who passes that approach on to others, and a key part of Kuru/s future.
Martha Tate Jenkins
Executive Director
Kuru, The Conservation Dog Inc. (USA)Martha is a licensed U.S. attorney who brings a background in law, international human rights, and non-profit conservation work to Kuru’s 501(c)(3) in the U.S. She has previously lived and worked in western Tanzania while serving as a Refugee Resettlement Expert at a UNHCR refugee camp.
Meet Our dogs
Every Kuru dog has a different personality, a different way of working and a different story.
Some are trackers, following human scent across miles of difficult terrain. Others are detection dogs, searching luggage, cargo and vehicles for illegal wildlife products. What they share is a love of the work — and a close relationship with the people beside them.
Meet a few of the dogs who make Kuru what it is.
Nicolas
Finn
Thomas
Rocco
Ben
Shaya
Ranger
Alpha
Oscar
Meet Our U.S. Board
Nidhi Singh
Board President
Nidhi Singh is President of the Board of Kuru, The Conservation Dog. She is Chief Product and Technology Officer at Avaloq and has held senior leadership roles at Charles River Development, Broadridge and Deutsche Bank. She began her career as a trader at Goldman Sachs.
Nidhi brings experience building teams, setting strategy and guiding complex organizations through change. At Kuru, she works with the board and field team to build a strong organization around a practical mission: helping conservation dogs and their handlers protect wildlife.
Jennifer Ritman
Board Treasurer
Jennifer A. Ritman serves as the Treasurer for the board of Kuru the Conservation Dog. She has resided in Indiana her entire life. Jennifer started her insurance agency at age 26, which eventually grew into a large, multi-state firm because of her keen sense of cash flow management and always doing what is in the client’s best interest.
Jennifer has been rescuing dogs her entire life, working with rescues in Indiana and South Carolina. After supporting African animal conservation for 2 decades, she visited the continent for the first time for her 50th birthday in 2012, meeting Will Powell in Nairobi in 2015. This meeting brought her two passions together: dogs and African animal conservation. She has been supporting Will’s efforts ever since.
John Heminway
Board Secretary
John Heminway is a writer and filmmaker who has dedicated his career to far corners of the world, most especially Africa. He has written six books. The most recent—In Full Flight—is currently being adapted for film by three Hollywood writers.
He has produced, directed, written, and presented over 200 films, winning the DuPont Columbia Award for Journalism, several Peabodys, two Emmys, and many others. He has served on many boards, ranging from the African Wildlife Foundation to WildlifeDirect to Trout Unlimited, and currently serves on the board of three small impactful foundations, all based in Africa. Heminway is married, has one daughter and lives in Bozeman Montana.
Geoff Tennican
Board Member
Geoff Tennican lives in Wyoming with his wife and three dogs.
Ellen O’Connell
Board Member
Ellen O'Connell is an international conservation leader and nonprofit executive with more than three decades of experience helping mission-driven organizations grow their impact around the world. She currently serves as Executive Director of the Mountain Lion Foundation, where she is leading the organization's strategic relaunch, expanding science-based conservation and education initiatives, strengthening advocacy efforts, and modernizing fundraising and operations to protect North America's most iconic wild cat.
Over the course of her career, Ellen has worked in more than 90 countries, leading organizations focused on wildlife conservation, humanitarian response, environmental protection, emerging technologies and AI governance, and international development.
Wendy Breck
Board Member
Since her fly-fishing honeymoon in Rhodesia in
1973, Wendy has had a strong relationship with Africa. She founded and ran a travel company, Conservation Travel, from 1989-1999 which arranged safaris, but at the same time focused on understanding issues of conservation in Africa.
Wendy was a Trustee of the Gallmann Memorial Foundation from 1989-2004 and served six years on the Board of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). For eight years she was on the International Committee of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) located in New York City. In 2010 she joined Tusk UK and later was Co-Chair of Tusk USA Inc. until 2018.
Wendy lives in New York with her husband.
Our Structure
Kuru’s owner and founder, William Powell, has been training and managing conservation dog teams in Africa since 2014. In 2024, Kuru became an official nonprofit in Tanzania called, Kuru, Conservation Dog. That same year, Kuru began its 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the U.S., Kuru, The Conservation Dog Inc.
Donations sent to Kuru, The Conservation Dog Inc. support the work of Kuru, Conservation Dog in Tanzania.
