PAMELA ANNE ISDELL was born in Scotland and was educated in Zambia from the age of eight. In the 26 years she lived in Africa, she developed a passionate commitment to habitat preservation and species survival, and an abiding connection to its people. She has also lived in Australia, the Philippines, USA and Germany, and traveled extensively (126 countries) with her husband Neville during his career. But she has always returned to southern Africa for annual safaris, becoming more and more involved in issues surrounding habitat sustainability. As a trustee of the Isdell Family Foundation, and in her work with her husband, Neville, former chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company and former chairman of WWF-US, she has helped support a broad portfolio of nonprofit organizations, especially The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Peace Parks South Africa. In 2018 she co-chaired with her daughter Cara, the Fernbank Museum of Natural History 20 million dollar capital campaign to preserve the largest old-growth forest in a major metropolitan area in the US, Atlanta’s Fernbank Forest. An avid birder, Isdell has been appointed to the BirdLife International Advisory Group and was appointed an honorary patron of BirdLife South Africa. As a resident of Georgia since 1989, her interest has developed into a deep involvement in The Nature Conservancy. She has served as both a board and executive committee member of the Georgia chapter of TNC, co-chairing a successful $25 million capital campaign in 2012, and was on the advisory campaign board for Nature Unites Us, successfully completed in July 2020. Up until recently, she was a member of TNC’s Africa Council having served for 10 years, and is currently a member of TNC South Africa Advisory Council for the Greater Cape Town Water Fund. She is patron of the Animal Welfare Society in Cape Town and funded both their sterilization and vaccination clinics, as well as a member of Friends of Arderne Garden, Cape Town as well as their wetland project. In 2022, she was honored with the Anne Cox Chambers Humane Heroine Award by the Atlanta Humane Society. Pamela has been deeply committed to Birdlife South Africa and its conservation work since 2013 and is one of BLSA’s four honorary patrons, Golden Bird Patron, and through her informal title as patron of the African Penguin she funds the Pamela Isdell Fellow of African Penguin Conservation. She also helped establish the Isdell House, BLSA headquarters, as well as the Vulture Project manager. Pamela is a member of TNC Zambia Affinity Group as well as a SANCCOB board member.
