Kathy Moran (above) is National Geographic senior editor for natural history and a 30-year veteran of the magazine. In the course of her 22 years as an illustrations editor, she has clicked past more than five million frames made by some of the best photographers in the world. At last count, she had edited more than 180 stories for the magazine, including Nick Nichols’s story on “Orphan Elephants” for the September 2011 issue. She was also project manager for the NGS/Wildlife Conservation Society’s award-winning Megatransect series, a collaborative effort by Nichols and Dr. Michael Fay that resulted in the creation of Gabon’s national park system.