Dr. Nick King

The ScienceDaily article Effective New Biodiversity Data Access Portal said

A new internet tool was launched recently by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The launch event took place at an international meeting for scientific and technical advice to the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the UNESCO building in Paris.
 
The new GBIF Data Portal is an Internet gateway to more than 130 million data records provided by 200+ institutions scattered over 30+ countries around the world. All of these data (with more to come) can be accessed all at once on the GBIF Data Portal.
 
“This new Portal is one of the key tools GBIF has been working toward since its inception in 2001,” said Dr. Nick King, currently CEO of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, and soon to become Executive Secretary of GBIF. “It will be extremely useful in improving decisions in support of sustainable development.”

Nick King, Ph.D., LLM Environmental Law is Executive Secretary of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Facilitating digitization and global dissemination of primary biodiversity data so that people from all countries can benefit from the use of the information, is the primary mission of the GBIF.
 
Nick came to GBIF from a distinguished background. He was born in Kenya and grew up in South Africa, and has received tertiary qualifications from institutions in South Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Prior to his GBIF appointment, he has been CEO both at the Endangered Wildlife Trust from 2003 to 2007, and at BioNET International from 1999 to 2003. Before this he held a senior technology management role in the Environmental Division of the CSIR in South Africa.
 
Of his decision to join GBIF, he says, “I am passionate about reaching a time when the world is sustainably managing its biodiversity. One of the things that will help the global community achieve that goal is the data and information about biodiversity that GBIF makes available. I’m excited about working to help GBIF achieve its potential.”
 
Nick earned a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa in 1983, a B.Sc. Honors in Ecology (cum laude), at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa in 1984, a M.Sc. in Ecology at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa in 1987, a Ph.D. in Geography; Management of Technology, Fulbright Scholarship, at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA in 1995, and a LLM Environmental Law at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK in 2007.
 
Read GBIF sets goal of mobilizing 1 billion records by end of 2008.