Ansel Payne, PhD
Executive Director, ansel@alaudubon.org
Ansel joined the Alabama Audubon staff as a naturalist in 2016, before becoming the organization’s first Outreach Director later that year; he assumed the role of Executive Director in May 2018. A graduate of Harvard (BA) and Tufts (MS), he earned his PhD in comparative biology at the American Museum of Natural History’s Richard Gilder Graduate School, where his work on the evolutionary history of digger wasps led to field expeditions in the American West, Central America, and the Middle East. The author of several scientific papers and popular articles, he lives in Birmingham’s Avondale neighborhood with his wife, Dr. Mairin Odle.
Alliemarie Humphries
Office Manager, alliemarie@alaudubon.org
Born in Alabama and raised in Central Florida, Alliemarie returned to her home state to grow her roots in 2010. As a student at the University of Alabama, she gained experience working with a local urban farm and volunteering with other community-oriented nonprofits, and has since worked primarily in the substance-abuse field, concentrating on improving peer services and providing access to treatment. She earned a master’s degree in public administration with a certification in nonprofit management from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2019. Passionate about many things—including rescuing senior disabled animals, farming organically, and growing her community—Alliemarie currently calls Birmingham’s Avondale neighborhood home.
Lianne Koczur, PhD
Science & Conservation Director, lianne@alaudubon.org
A Massachusetts native, Lianne’s lifelong interest in birds began by watching them at feeders in her yard. After earning a BA in biology from the University of Maine at Farmington, she spent several years working as a field biologist, monitoring piping plovers and least terns in South Dakota and black-capped vireos and nesting sea turtles in Texas, restoring seabird habitat on California’s Santa Barbara Island, and conducting shorebird surveys along the Gulf Coast. In 2013, Lianne earned her master’s degree in range and wildlife management from Texas A&M–Kingsville for her studies of American oystercatcher reproductive success; she then continued at Kingsville, earning a PhD in wildlife science in 2017 for her work on reddish egret movement. She joined our team in March 2019, after working most recently as a postdoctoral research associate studying brown pelicans for the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
Nicole Love
Coastal Programs Coordinator, nicole@alaudubon.org
Originally from Pittsburgh, Nicole has spent much of her life in Florida, the state where she earned both her BS and MS degrees (from University of Central Florida) and where she began her professional biology career. She has since been involved with several marine and estuarine programs operating at a variety of scales and covering a range of topics, from the ecological relationships of benthic invertebrates to regional watershed issues. She came to Alabama Audubon in 2018 from The Nature Conservancy, where she worked throughout the Gulf of Mexico with local communities and other stakeholders on coastal-resilience and restoration issues. Through her work, Nicole has developed a deep appreciation for the Gulf, an appreciation that continues to grow now that she and her family live in Fairhope, on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay.
Chris Oberholster
Development Director, chris@alaudubon.org
Chris started working with Alabama Audubon as the organization’s Partnership & Policy Director in December 2016, before transitioning to his current fundraising role in 2019. Born and raised in South Africa, he earned a master’s degree in agronomy and soils at Auburn University, and has lived in and explored Alabama for the last thirty years. Before coming to Audubon, Chris worked for almost twenty-five years at The Nature Conservancy—most recently as that organization’s Alabama State Director—and played a pivotal role in the 2012 renewal of Alabama’s popular Forever Wild public-land program. An avid hunter, birder, and stamp collector, he lives in Hoover with his wife Suzanne and their three children.
Sarah Randolph
Outreach & Communications Director, sarah@alaudubon.org
A Birmingham native, Sarah brought her diverse background in the nonprofit and private sectors—including over eight years of experience in communications, marketing, development, public relations, and event planning—to Alabama Audubon in 2018. An artist and dedicated environmentalist who has spent much of the last decade volunteering with local nonprofits, she is passionate about making Birmingham a better place for both people and birds. She earned her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in communication management with a minor in marketing, and currently calls the Highland Park neighborhood home.
Emma Rhodes
Coastal Biologist, emma@alaudubon.org
Raised in Foley, Emma earned her BS in biology with a minor in GIS at the University of South Alabama, where her undergraduate research was on avian window-strike mortality. In 2014 and 2015, she worked as a research assistant for the National Audubon Society’s Maine-based Project Puffin, where she monitored nesting seabirds at one of the top seabird-restoration programs in the nation. Emma has been monitoring coastal birds since 2014 working alongside various nonprofit organizations in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and the Bahamas. She started at Alabama Audubon in 2017. In addition to her coastal bird work, Emma has been a bander for a neotropical-migrant banding station in Fort Morgan, Alabama, since 2009, and is a bander for a northeastern hummingbird research project with Hummingbird Research, Inc.
