The Bee Informed Partnership is a dynamic, interdisciplinary team who is passionate about saving honey bees. Our Board includes stakeholders who are vested in our goals and who make sure that we are leading the industry with our programs and services. We are spread out all over the US but remain inextricably linked as a family to make our services as valuable to the beekeepers and researchers as possible.
Operations & IT
Annette “Net” Meredith
Executive Director
Net Meredith joins the Bee Informed Partnership after serving many years in the non-profit and public sectors working in sustainability and ecology. As Executive Director she works with BIP staff, the Board of Directors, beekeepers and other external stakeholders to support BIP’s vital work in honey bee health. Net was first introduced to the exciting world of bees in graduate school. Years ago, fieldwork with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program and The Nature Conservancy’s Carpenter Ranch led her to doctoral research working with farmers to promote pollinators on working agricultural lands in the Mid-Atlantic. She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and a M.S. in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology from University of Maryland and a B.A. from University of Michigan in addition to post-bachelors coursework from Colorado State University.
Anne Marie Fauvel
Technical Transfer Team Coordinator
Anne Marie is fascinated by honey bees and the people who care for them. Even though she taught Biology, Environmental and Food Systems Studies for years, she focused her research interests on honey bees and more specifically on developing better tools to study them. Anne Marie worked on a few projects in collaboration with BIP and enjoyed it so much that she jumped at the opportunity to join the team full time. She now thoroughly enjoys living, what she likes to call a full BIP life, facilitating collaboration between commercial beekeepers, BIP’s highly specialized Tech Team Experts in the field, the various research institutions, and industry. She has not known a dull moment since!
Rachel Kuipers
Communications
Rachel first started working with honey bees in 2016 as a student in the University of Maryland Bee Lab. After graduating with a degree in journalism in 2017, she continued working with the UMD Bee Lab and eventually joined BIP in 2018. As a part of the communications team, Rachel helps with the blog, social media accounts, and other communications. As part of the Sentinel team, she helps with Sentinel Program design, communications, and outreach.
Leah Turner
Operations & HR Specialist
Leah has a degree in Environmental Policy and Planning from Virginia Tech and experience with multiple nonprofit organizations with a variety of missions. Her career has been shaped by being the "catch all" person for nonprofit operations and HR procedures. Her very first position out of college was teaching kids a honeybee curriculum at a farm camp based in Alexandria, VA. Leah's workplace values are centered around open and honest communication, a low ego/high empathy approach, and collaborative practices. Outside of work, Leah can be found tending to the garden, cooking farm-to-table meals, and getting out in nature with her partner and her puppy.
Mikayla E. Wilson
Sr Information Technology & Database Engineer
Mikayla designs and maintains the database applications for the Bee Informed Partnership since 2011. Mikayla has a Master’s degree in Entomology from the University of Tennessee and has worked in University database computing roles since 1994. She has been a beekeeper since the late 1990s as well, with a keen interest in applying information technology to agricultural sciences and education. She has worked on numerous USDA projects since 2008 in response to the decline in bee health, first at Tennessee then joining the University of Maryland bee lab from 2021 to 2023.
John Anderson
Software Engineer & Social Media Assistant
John Anderson grew up on a corn, soybean, cattle, and hog farm in Eastern Nebraska. He currently lives in Sioux City Iowa where he has worked as a computer programmer since 1998. He has been a hobby beekeeper since 2009 and began raising queens in 2018. In 2020 he returned to college at Morningside University and will complete his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with a Marketing minor in May of 2022. He enjoys organizing and participating in local bee club meetings. John is excited to have the opportunity to combine his love of honeybees and his experience as a computer programmer to benefit the beekeeping community through the Bee Informed Partnership.
Esteban Eliza
Information Technology & Database
Born in Brooklyn, NY, Esteban migrated upstate to study Game Design and Development at Rochester Institute of Technology in 2012. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he worked for nearly a decade as a software engineer on AAA video games, focusing primarily on User Interface/User Experience and audio. Esteban recently moved to a hamlet in the Catskills where a prominent honeybee culture inspired him to learn more about beekeeping and eventually to pursue a role at Bee Informed. He brings with him a passion for making technology more accessible and intuitive and is looking forward to starting his very first backyard hive soon.
University Collaborators
Nathalie Steinhauer
Science Coordinator - UMD Collaborator
As the Bee Informed Partnership's Science Coordinator, Nathalie is based out of the University of Maryland’s Entomology Department where she completed her PhD working under Dennis vanEngelsdorp in 2017. She previously obtained a Master in Biology from Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and a Master Research in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation from Imperial College London (UK). Skilled in experimental design, data analysis, and modelling, her research interests range from fundamental population dynamics and animal behavior to applied work in epidemiology. Self-described R-enthusiast, and beekeeper since 2009.
Eric Malcolm
Customer Relations Coordinator - UMD Collaborator
Eric was born and raised in Silver Spring, MD. After a short period studying Adventure Sports with a focus on white water kayaking, he turned to a life of sales and marketing in the fitness industry and began fitness coaching. He later moved into wine sales for a local winery. After some time, he decided to leave the work-force to stay at home with his newborn daughter and shortly after he finally evolved into a beekeeper. His passion for honey bees and edible landscaping got him headed down the road to starting his own small apiary management business, and that's when his friend Dan introduced him to BIP! Besides beekeeping, Eric enjoys being in the woods, traveling with his family, making friends, and trying new things. He will eat just about anything considered slightly edible; bugs, plants, and even the most adventurous home cooking... except for Royal Jelly (he found out he is allergic to this after eating it). He also loves a good hug!
Matt Hoepfinger
Honey Bee Health Field Specialist - UC Davis Collaborator
After receiving a Master’s degree in computer science from Michigan State, Matt moved to Golden, Colorado where he worked in the telecom industry as a software engineer for 25 years. He started keeping bees at the hobby level in 2011, which quickly became his passion (some have called it his obsession). He serves as director of Mountain High Beekeepers Cooperative and after playing an essential role in founding the Colorado Professional Beekeepers Association, he continues to provide support for the group. Matt joined the Tech Transfer Team in California in 2019 where he works closely with commercial beekeepers in the region to assist with colony assessments, disease monitoring, hygienic testing and sampling for Varroa, Nosema, pesticides, and viruses. He then uses the information collected to work alongside beekeepers by acting as an interpreter of colony data to improve survivorship. He is excited to expand his knowledge in evidence-based beekeeping practices and grow his understanding of honey bee health.
Robert Snyder
Honey Bee Health Field Specialist - UC Davis Collaborator
Rob currently works out of UC-Davis and previously worked out of the Butte County Cooperative Extension in Oroville, CA as a Crop Protection Agent. He received his B.S. in biology from Delaware Valley College, PA. There he attained a majority of his entomological knowledge from Dr. Chris Tipping and Dr. Robert Berthold. After graduation, Rob was an apiary inspector for 2 years at the Department of Agriculture in Pennsylvania. In his third year there, he still inspected some colonies but mainly focused on The Pennsylvania Native Bee Survey (PANBS) where he pinned, labeled, entered data and identified native bees to genus and species. Leo Donavall assisted him in learning the basics on positive identifications of the native bees. Around the same time Rob began working on coordinating kit construction and distribution for the APHIS National Honey Bee Survey. He was also fortunate to conduct many of these surveys with fellow co-worker Mike Andree and Nathan Rice of USDA/ARS throughout California. All of these experiences have led Rob to where he is today, working to assist beekeepers in maintaining genetic diverse colonies resistant to parasites while reducing the use of chemical treatments in colonies. The BIP Diagnostic Lab at the University of MD is in an integral part of this process by generating reports in which BIP can track change and report to beekeepers vital information in a timely manner which may influence their treatment decisions.
Dan Wyns
Honey Bee Health Field Specialist - MSU Collaborator
Dan was introduced to honey bees in 2005 while in New Zealand on a working holiday, and he has been consumed with caring for and learning about them ever since. Prior to joining BIP, Dan was a commercial beekeeper in New Zealand and western Canada where he was fortunate to gain a diversity of beekeeping experience across a variety of climates and agricultural landscapes. He joined BIP in 2014 as a Field Specialist in the Pacific Northwest and spent 3 years working with beekeepers across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The BIP Tech Transfer Team expansion to the Great Lakes region began in 2017 to provide service to beekeepers based in Wisconsin, Michigan, and New York as well as wintering locations in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Moving to this new region has allowed Dan to carry on working with bees and beekeepers while returning to his home state of Michigan. Dan was born in Grand Rapids, raised in Grand Haven, and studied in Ann Arbor, so the opportunity to serve the beekeeping community in Michigan is especially satisfying. His family roots run deep in Michigan horticulture, and he looks forward to continuing that tradition by working to promote colony health and support local agriculture.
Technical Transfer Team
Catherine Crosier
Honey Bee Health Field Specialist
Catherine comes to the BIP Field Specialist position from the East Coast where she spent the past year working as a technician on the New York State (NYS) beekeeper tech team out of Cornell University. As part of the tech team, she worked with beekeepers across New York to inspect colonies, collect samples, and provide data-driven recommendations for improving colony health. She also provided general extension services for NYS beekeepers through the publication of extension materials including an annual report. A 2022 graduate of Cornell, Catherine dedicated her undergraduate years to the study of honey bees and practice of beekeeping which culminated in a dual degree in Environment & Sustainability and Spanish with a minor in Entomology. While an undergrad, she designed her own major concentration called “Honey Bees and Humans” (named after her favorite class from freshman year!). Catherine was a proud member of Scott McArt’s laboratory for 5 years during which she helped with studies ranging from disease spillover to miticide application efficacy. She is passionate about leveraging beekeeper insights to promote the sustainability of the beekeeping industry and excited to continue this work as part of BIP!
Kim Guillemette
Honey Bee Health Field Specialist
Kim is a Master Beekeeper with the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association and is active with the local chapter, Beekeepers of the Neuse. She is a Welsh Honey Judge Candidate with the American Honey Show Training Council. Kim became interested in beekeeping after taking a class from the local beekeeping club with her son who is studying to become an entomologist at North Carolina State University. She and her family own a small beekeeping operation in eastern North Carolina. She and her husband enjoy volunteering at the NC Zoo in Asheboro, NC. Kim earned a Masters degree in Quality Systems and a post-Masters certificate as a Lean/Six Sigma Black Belt from East Carolina University (Go, Pirates!). She also has a BSN from ECU and is a registered nurse specializing in critical care. Kim is passionate about educating kids and adults about bees, implementing beekeeping best practices and supporting new beekeepers.
Ben Sallmann
Honey Bee Health Field Specialist
As the Honey Bee Health Field Specialist for the Pacific Northwest, Ben works with migratory beekeepers from around the region and helps monitor diseases, pest loads, and colony health. Most of his experience with commercial beekeeping comes from his time working with BIP in Northern California (2013-2017), where he helped queen breeders select stock and test for hygienic behavior. It has been fascinating to observe and compare the different management strategies used by commercial beekeepers in the western US, and he has learned there are many different ways to run a successful commercial operation. Ben is especially interested in Varroa control, and brood disease identification and treatment. His interest in bees began much earlier working on his family’s apiary/organic vegetable farm in Wisconsin, and became further immersed while caretaking the farm for a couple years and managing the hives. Ben received a B.A. in Anthropology and Global Studies from Ripon College in 2004, and in previous lives worked as a Logistics Manager for the Naval Underwater Construction Team and an international English teacher. When not in the bees, Ben spends his time playing the tuba and trombone in a variety of musical genres, and propagating rare plants.
