Trailblazing Entrepreneur and Community Relations Leader Eira Thomas Joins Panthera’s Board of Directors

Media contact: Susie Weller Sheppard, sweller@panthera.org, 347-446-9904.

View Photos

Thomas’s 25 years of business experience and acumen centered on community-based conservation, women’s empowerment and environmental awareness to help inform global wild cat protection initiatives

New York, NY - Expanding upon its suite of conservation leaders, Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, today announced that renowned geologist and entrepreneur Eira Thomas — the “Queen of Diamonds” — has joined its Board of Directors. A native of Canada, Ms. Thomas currently serves as President and CEO of Lucara Diamond Corporation.

With over 25 years of business experience, Ms. Thomas brings unparalleled acumen focused on community-based conservation, women’s empowerment and environmental awareness that will add exceptional value to Panthera’s global wild cat conservation initiatives.

As a member of the Natural Diamond Council (NDC), her company, Lucara, has worked hand-in-hand with communities as well as local and national governments to perform in-depth environmental and biodiversity research and to implement high-impact policies. Lucara was the first company in Botswana to achieve external verification under the Mining Association of Canada’s Towards Sustainable Mining, a globally recognized sustainability program, which includes protocols for Biodiversity Conservation Management, Climate Change, Water Stewardship and Indigenous and Community Relationships.

Ms. Thomas maintains an exemplary track record of empowering community members in Botswana, where her company employs a 99% Botswanan workforce and leads numerous initiatives aimed at improving residents’ quality of life, including community farming projects that provide produce and income generation opportunities. The Botswanan government’s collaboration with Lucara and subsequent royalties — funds that are directed into education, healthcare and infrastructure programs — have contributed  to the incredible efforts of the Botswana Government in lifting citizens out of poverty, with 17 percent of the population living below the poverty line in 2020 compared to over 50 percent in 1966 at the country’s independence.

A progressive innovator, Ms. Thomas has had a powerful influence on the improvement of supply chain transparency, the modernization of diamond mining, and the introduction of new technologies to the sector. Under her leadership, Lucara has fostered an inclusive, dynamic, and respectful workplace environment. The majority of the company’s leadership team, including over half of its executives, are women. Lucara currently employs the first female Botswanan Managing Director of a diamond mine, whose tenure has included a particular focus on the company’s maternity leave policy and creating more flexible working hours for staff.

Panthera Co-Founder and Global Alliance for Wild Cats Chair, Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan, stated, “Panthera prides itself on its long-standing track record of successful community engagement, very often the key ingredient in mitigating the human/animal conflict at the root of wildlife depletion. Many of the organization’s signature programs — from the Jaguar Corridor in Latin America, to Tigers Forever in Asia, and its iconic leopard conservation initiative in Southern Africa, Furs for Life — could not have been accomplished without building the strongest bonds with those who live with cats. The world of conservation has long needed ambassadors from the business world, like Eira, to contribute their unique perspectives and solutions to the greatest human-induced threats facing wildlife. Eira’s decades of experience as a trailblazing entrepreneur, coupled with her abiding dedication to environmental protection and community building, make her an invaluable asset to Panthera’s leadership team. Having worked directly with local communities in Botswana, I have no doubt that she can reinforce mightily — and help improve further — our very best practices in fostering impactful community-based initiatives as well as women’s empowerment in Africa and beyond.”

Kaplan continued, “Most importantly, Eira is a determined business leader who understands how to maintain the delicate balance between modernization and human development on the one hand, and the conservation of our planet’s most precious resources — the wildlife and wild cats of the world — on the other hand.”

Ms. Thomas was introduced to mining through her father, Grenville Thomas, a copper and rare-minerals prospector. As a child in the 1970s, she joined him in the field in Canada’s Northwest Territories and, in the 1990s, led a team that discovered diamonds in northern Canada. The area later became one of the world’s most lucrative diamond mines, cementing Ms. Thomas’ reputation as the “Queen of Diamonds.”

A pioneer in her industry, Ms. Thomas was one of only four Canadians to be named to the World Economic Forum’s 2008 “Young Global Leaders” program. In 2007, she was selected as one of Canada’s “Top 100 Most Powerful Women.” Before co-founding Lucara, Ms. Thomas served as Vice President for Aber Resources, Co-Founder and CEO of Stornoway Diamond Corp., and CEO of Kaminak Gold Corporation.

“From the Arctic to Africa, distant lands yet still interconnected, I have become increasingly aware of the intricate web of life that spans our planet and the need to steward it responsibly, preserving the natural balance and protecting biodiversity.”

Eira Thomas
Panthera Board Member

Of the appointment, Ms. Thomas stated, “A love of nature and the opportunity to spend time in remote, wild places is what attracted me to exploration geology. My journey began in the Arctic, where the landscape is blanketed in snow and ice much of the year. I learned that a fragile ecosystem thrives, despite the harsh conditions. When I had the opportunity to first visit Africa, I discovered a continent brimming with life and felt a profound connection, perhaps the result of the innate link we all share with that continent that is preserved in our ancestral DNA."

Thomas continued, "From the Arctic to Africa, distant lands yet still interconnected, I have become increasingly aware of the intricate web of life that spans our planet and the need to steward it responsibly, preserving the natural balance and protecting biodiversity. Through Panthera’s efforts to educate and preserve habitat, I have learned just how critical Wild Cats are to all of the world’s ecosystems and I am excited and energized to be joining Panthera’s esteemed Board of Directors in support of its growing team of leading biologists, law enforcement experts and wild cat advocates. In particular, risks to critical wild cat habitat in Africa remain high and I aim to leverage my experiences and relationships on that continent towards this urgent cause.”

Ms. Thomas joins an impressive cohort of directors leading Panthera’s strategy from industries including conservation, education, photojournalism, animal healthcare, mining, defense, government, and public policy. She follows the appointment of conservationist and animal health business leader, Jon Ayers, as Board Chair in 2021. Ayers assumed board leadership following a 15-year tenure by Panthera Co-Founder and current Global Alliance for Wild Cats Chair, Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan.

Driven by the goal of establishing an unprecedented $200 million wild cat conservation fund, The Global Alliance for Wild Cats is an international coalition of environmental philanthropists committed to preserving the planet’s biodiversity through species conservation.

Panthera Board Chair Jon Ayers stated, “I am delighted to welcome Eira to Panthera’s Board of Directors to amplify our unyielding mission to conserve the world’s wild cats. Eira will help to round out our diverse leadership team with her innovative and out-of-the-box approach to any venture, business or otherwise. The Board particularly looks forward to Eira’s insights into building partnerships across Africa, including Botswana, a conservation hotspot home to lions, leopards, cheetahs, black footed cats and three other small cat species.”

An additional and significant manifestation of Panthera’s international growth, Ms. Thomas joins the organization a month after the designation of Dr. Andrew Loveridge as Lion Program Director for Panthera — a joint role with Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU). This appointment aligns two of the world’s preeminent lion programs, expanding the organizations’ presence to 67% of lion range across 12 countries supporting 70% of Africa’s remaining lions.

Beyond lions, Panthera operates a roster of successful long-term and cutting-edge conservation initiatives, including the Tigers Forever program in Asia, aimed at increasing tiger numbers by at least 50% over a ten-year period; the Jaguar Corridor Initiative, which seeks to connect and protect the species across its six million km2 range from Mexico to Argentina; and the Furs for Life Leopard program, which has distributed over 18,500 synthetic leopard fur capes to replace the use of authentic leopard furs by followers of the Shembe Church in southern Africa, saving hundreds of leopard lives each year.

Along with Panthera’s Board, the organization’s Conservation Council constitutes an extraordinarily diverse global advisory board drawn from the worlds of business, law enforcement, government, fashion, media, entertainment, tourism, the military, and the arts.