José Manuel Pérez, originally from Monclova Coahuila, Mexico, graduated from the University Antonio Narro, with experience in managing diversified ranches in the states of Coahuila and Nuevo León for more than 27 years. While working with conservation organization Pronatura Noroeste, José Manuel was responsible for reforestation and restoration of degraded ecosystems in northeastern Mexico from 2003 to 2013 in the states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí, where work in more than 80 private estates and 25 ejidal (communal farms) restored more than 40,000 hectares. Currently he serves as director of Cuenca de Los Ojos A.C., a Mexican non-profit organization that preserves biological corridors between Mexico and the United States, managing ranches that have been voluntarily contracted for conservation in the municipality of Agua Prieta, Sonora.