History

	Bob Braddy Bob Braddy, the founder of Siempre Verde, holds a master's degree from North Carolina State University in botany and cell biology. He has 37 years teaching experience at independent schools in the southeastern United States and retired in 2005 after 25 years of teaching science at The Lovett School. In 1990, Bob Braddy and his wife Connie traveled to Ecuador to study cloudforest ecology. While passing through Santa Rosa, a village within the Andean cloudforests of Northwest Ecuador, they found the town's local school in desperate need of repair. The teachers pledged to assist the community with rebuilding the school. Within a year Lovett's Ecology Club raised funds, and the village fathers built the school. Lovett purchased primary cloudforest in 1991 to create a protected preserve and to establish a research center to support conservation education. The Ecuadorian government declared Lovett's property, Siempre Verde, a 'protected forest,' ensuring that its 520 acres of upper montane cloudforest will be held in perpetuity. Bob was the executive director of Siempre Verde until 2007, and now serves in an advisory capacity.

	Alex Reynolds Alex Reynolds was named the new executive director of Siempre Verde effective July 2007. Prior to joining Lovett, Alex worked for the National Park Service as a staff biologist on the Chattahoochee River and worked for the Atlanta Botanical Garden assisting with their plant collections in the Tropical Conservatory and the Fuqua Orchid Center, as well as serving as their international intern in Ecuador. He is a graduate of the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia with a B.S. in ecology and an M.S. in conservation ecology. During his graduate thesis work, he studied orchids and their pollinators at the Maquipucuna Reserve and surrounding areas in Ecuador and published an accompanying field guide to the area. Alex is an avid hiker and bicyclist, having both thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and biked across the U.S.

	Dan Dalke Dan is a graduate of the University of Miami with a B.S. in Marine Science/Biology and M.S.Ed. He has taught Upper School science at Lovett since 1993, and has been a leader of the Upper School Siempre Verde trip five times since 1995. His favorite parts of the trip: solo hikes, early morning bird excursions, frog hunts, and the wonderful food and atmosphere at the station.

	Jim Crowley Jim is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, with a B.S. in wildlife management. He has been an educator in the Lower School and then the Upper School at Lovett since 1990. A leader of multiple trips of all ages since the inception of Siempre Verde, Jim's favorite part of the trip is "watching people relax and unwind as they reach the center on foot. As each individual smells the clean air, takes in the lush greenery, and hears the parrots overhead you can visibly see them relax and become part of Siempre Verde's magic."

	Bryan Overly Bryan is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University with a B.A. in environmental science/biology and earned a M.S. in environmental chemistry from Ohio University. He has been teaching Upper School science at Lovett since 2000 and has led several trips to Siempre Verde during the summers. His favorite part of the trips: bird watching, visiting the school in Santa Rosa, and the amazing food/personalities encountered during each meal.

	Angela Morris-Long Angela is the associate director of admissions at Lovett and has been leading trips to Siempre Verde since 1996.