Who We Are

Our Mission

Our mission is to protect and steward Northwest Wyoming landscapes for current and future generations.

Our Vision

We envision a legacy of resilient open spaces, wildlife habitat, working lands, and community places, forever protected across Northwest Wyoming.

Our Team

Get to know the Jackson Hole Land Trust staff.

Max Ludington
President

Max Ludington

Max has had a career leading conservation in the Western US. Max first moved to the Tetons in 2001 to work seasonally for Grand Teton National Park. Inspired by the open views and wild character of Northwest Wyoming, he has dedicated his professional career to preserving the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Prior to the Jackson Hole Land Trust, Max launched and led Teton LegacyWorks where he directed large-scale, collaborative conservation projects targeting critical regional concerns such as water availability and migration corridors. Max holds a Masters’s in Environmental Science and Management from UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School and a BA from the University of Virginia, with distinction. He is a Switzer Fellow, recipient of the Bren School’s Academic Achievement Award, and a recipient of the Gary Hunt Prize in Environmental Policy. Max enjoys hiking, biking, backcountry skiing, fishing, hunting, and any other excuse he can find to get outside and enjoy the Tetons.

Email: max [at] jhlandtrust.org
Liz Long
Vice President

Liz Long

Liz Long joined the Land Trust in July 2012 as Protection Manager. Liz was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and holds a BA from the University of Georgia in Philosophy. She moved to Wyoming upon graduation and fell in love with the Tetons and the community of Jackson. She then returned to the University of Georgia to earn her law degree where she focused in environmental and land use law and gained experience with governmental agencies and numerous non-profits, hoping to return to Jackson. Outside of work, Liz enjoys skiing, biking, hiking, yoga, music, and time with her family.

Email: lizlong [at] jhlandtrust.org
Derek Schaefer
Chief Operating and Financial Officer

Derek Schaefer

Derek joined the Land Trust in September 2013 after many years in the ski industry. Born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, he was raised in Phoenix, AZ. Derek attended Santa Clara University, earning a BS in Finance, and holds an MBA in International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management. When not out walking with his golden retriever, Derek enjoys travel, skiing, and more travel.

Email: derek [at] jhlandtrust.org
Zach Andres
Community Conservation Operations Manager

Zach Andres

Born in Texas and raised in Sheridan, Wyoming, Zach moved to Jackson in 2017. He split his childhood between watching grouse leks on the open landscapes of northern Wyoming and navigating the dense urban areas of Dallas, Texas. Zach graduated from the University of Denver in 2015 with a degree in geography. After working in the fly-fishing industry for several years, he pursued a career in wildlife biology and has been fortunate to work on numerous projects including fieldwork for mule deer migration in western Wyoming, wolf-prey dynamics, moose habitat, and also researching microplastics. Zach also has a fondness for photography, fly-fishing, grouse, hummingbirds, and thick-cut bacon.

Email: zach [at] jhlandtrust.org
Mika Burdette
Community Conservation Programs Manager

Mika Burdette

Mika joined the JHLT in April of 2021. Originally from West Virginia, Mika developed a love for conserving wild and open spaces while exploring the Appalachian Mountains. She holds a B.S. in wildlife and fisheries resources from West Virginia University and has held a variety of positions in both government agencies and nonprofit environmental organizations ranging from teaching outdoor education to volunteer coordination and office management. Mika relocated to Jackson during the fall of 2017 and enjoys snowboarding, nordic skiing, mountain biking, and petting cats.

Email: mika [at] jhlandtrust.org
Jill Callahan
Director of Advancement

Jill Callahan

Jill joined the JHLT in December 2020. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, she discovered her love of the outdoors as a student at St. Lawrence University, exploring the Adirondack Park. Jill graduated from St. Lawrence University in 2006 with a B.S. in psychology.

Jill has worked in advancement for nearly 15 years. She brings experience in major gift solicitation, donor stewardship, grant writing, event management, and board relations to the role. In her 10 years in Jackson, she has worked for organizations including the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the Jackson Hole Community School, and the Art Association of Jackson Hole.

Jill serves as a board member for Women in the Tetons. She also serves on the Old Bill’s Fun Run committee and is a member of the Thursday Roundtable Group. In free time, she enjoys skiing, biking, hiking, and getting outdoors as much as possible with her husband, dogs, and two young children.

Email: jill [at] jhlandtrust.org
Ella Driscoll
Advancement Manager

Ella Driscoll

Ella grew up as an international nomad, moving with her family between Peru, Australia, Hong Kong, England, and the U.S. She has a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and government and legal studies from Bowdoin College. Prior to joining the Land Trust, Ella worked as a nonprofit program manager at Iconic Adventures, designing and facilitating donor trips for The Nature Conservancy and the National Parks Conservation Association. She has also worked at The Darwin Ranch, nestled in the heart of the Gros Ventres, and at Backroads Travel—guiding, researching, and building trips in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, St. Kitt’s and Nevis, Hawaii, Montana, Wyoming, and California. Ella enjoys days full of gravel and mountain biking, trail running, and floating the nearest creek followed by long evenings of cooking and sharing food with friends.

ella [at] jhlandtrust.org
Derek Ellis
Director of Stewardship

Derek Ellis

Derek joined the Land Trust team as Land Steward & Staff Biologist in February of 2016. Derek grew up in Ohio, but after gaining a B.S. in Botany from Miami University, he traded the flatlands of the Midwest for the alluring landscapes of the West. After 22 years working in ecology and habitat enhancement for a number of federal, nonprofit, and consulting entities, Derek is excited to help uphold the conservation vision of easement donors and landowners. Above all, Derek enjoys sharing the wonders of the Greater Yellowstone Area with his wife, Jen, and two little girls, Lila and Quinn.

Email: derekellis [at] jhlandtrust.org
Alex Few
Park County Open Lands Director

Alex Few

Alex joins the JHLT as the Director of Park County Open Lands with a dedication to tackling the complex challenges at the intersection of wildlife management and working lands conservation. She looks forward to applying her diverse professional experiences working with ranchers to conserve local heritage, open spaces, and the economic viability of working lands in this community.

Growing up in Texas, Alex spent weekends in her early childhood fishing and combing beaches along Matagorda Bay with her father. She earned her bachelor’s in biology at the University of Texas, followed by a Ph.D. in neurophysiology from the University of Washington. During long days in the laboratory, views of Mt. Rainer called her to rekindle her childhood connection to the outdoors through a career closer to the mountain wilds. After graduating, she traded her microscope for the mountains, exploring the alpine of the American West and overseas before settling in Bishop, CA. She worked for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, monitoring a population of federally endangered bighorn sheep before relocating in 2016 to her husband’s family farm in Powell, Wyoming.

Alex spent a decade working for state and federal wildlife management agencies before entering the nonprofit world in 2019 when she joined the Western Landowners Alliance. There she established the Working Wild Challenge, a program that successfully collaborates among diverse stakeholders to find shared solutions to reduce livestock-wildlife conflicts while maintaining the economic viability of working lands.

In her spare time, Alex and her husband enjoy taking their two children into the mountains, hoping they will come to share a passion for open spaces and exploration.

Email: alex [at] jhlandtrust.org
Steffan Freeman
Senior Land Steward

Steffan Freeman

Steffan was born and raised on Colorado’s Front Range. He holds a B.A. in Biology and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, and a Master’s of Natural Resources Stewardship from Colorado State University. Steffan has previously worked at the Aldo Leopold Foundation and in Minnesota for The Nature Conservancy on grassland conservation and management as well as for the Institute of Ecosystem Studies and the USGS. He draws inspiration from Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic.

Email: steffan [at] jhlandtrust.org
Kerry Gold
Green River Valley Program Director

Kerry Gold

Kerry was born and raised in Upstate New York and obtained a B.S. in wildlife biology from Colorado State University. Her expertise is in wildlife habitat management and conservation in the Rocky Mountain region. She spent several years in Pinedale, Wyoming with Wyoming Game and Fish as a habitat biologist focusing on protecting and enhancing natural landscapes for people and wildlife alike. Outside of her conservation work, Kerry spends her time enjoying the public lands in her backyard while sport climbing, backpacking, skiing, snowboarding, and bird hunting with her German wirehaired pointer.

Email: kerry [at] jhlandtrust.org
Madison Harper
Conservation Project Manager

Madison Harper

Madison was born and raised backpacking in the Ozarks, kayaking the Buffalo River, and calling the Hogs in Arkansas. She knew she belonged out West after a family trip to the Tetons and a 2-week backpacking trip in the Absaroka-Beartooths with Outward Bound. Madison received her B.S. in resource conservation with a minor in dance from the University of Montana. She has lived in Missoula, Salmon, and now calls the Wind River Mountains in Dubois home. Working with community-based nonprofits and conserving lands has become a passion for Madison. She joined the Land Trust in September 2022. You will find her shed hunting, teaching dance to youth, and exploring the backcountry with her husband, Mike, and two dogs, Boxley and Murphy.

Email: madison [at] jhlandtrust.org
Lindsay Jones
Director of Communications and Outreach

Lindsay Jones

Lindsay joined the Land Trust in December 2019. She believes in the power of story-sharing to positively impact the environment, our communities, and the relationships between them. Before moving to Jackson in 2018, Lindsay spent 5 years working to connect people to the wild lands of eastern Oregon and offer them meaningful opportunities to engage on public lands issues. Originally from California, Lindsay grew up in the Bay Area and earned her B.A. in environmental studies at University of California Santa Barbara. Outside of the office, Lindsay enjoys exploring Northwest Wyoming by foot, ski, and bike.

Email: lindsay [at] jhlandtrust.org
Alexandra Munger
Events and Outreach Associate

Alexandra Munger

Alexandra grew up in the foothills of Virginia and moved to the vast mountains of Wyoming with a love and appreciation for wide-open spaces and wildlife. She received a bachelor’s from the University of Mississippi in Hospitality Management. Growing up in a small town and spending most of her time recreating outside she hones a sentiment for connecting the community to the outdoors for a worthy cause and has a passion for advancing her education in western land conservation and wildlife management. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the outdoors on horseback with her German shorthaired pointer, documenting adventures through the lens, floating the scenic river, or recreating with her husband shooting sporting clays, upland hunting, camping, and cooking.

Email: alexandra [at] jhlandtrust.org
Emily Reed
Conservation Project Manager

Emily Reed

Emily Reed was born and raised in Wyoming, splitting her childhood between her family’s ranch and farming operations, the Nichol Ranch outside Lingle and Reed Farms outside Cody. Some of her first memories are working alongside her grandmother on the Nichol Ranch, checking cows, glassing for pronghorn fawns, and listening to old friends tell wild cowboy stories around the homestead house table. Her love for agriculture, wildlife, and storytelling led her to receive a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Science in Environment and Natural Resources from the University of Wyoming. Before joining the Jackson Hole Land Trust’s Park County Open Lands program she worked as a research scientist and multi-media science communicator for the Wyoming Migration Initiative. When she’s not in the office, you can find Emily roaming the hills with her Idaho Shag, Lily, leading the way.

Emily [at] jhlandtrust.org
Roxanne Rosales
Advancement and Operations Manager

Roxanne Rosales

Roxanne joined the Land Trust team in early January 2020 after completing Climb Wyoming’s Office Careers program. Originally from Colorado, Roxanne has grown up with a constant appreciation and adoration for the breathtaking mountainous landscapes of the West. She has lived in and out of Wyoming since 2007 and immediately fell in love with the unique Jackson Hole community. She is excited to expand within Jackson Hole’s nonprofit community while working for an organization with a mission she values. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, paddle boarding, the occasional Spartan race, and exploring the outdoors with her family.

Email: roxanne [at] jhlandtrust.org
Alex St.Clair
Conservation Project Manager

Alex St.Clair

Alex grew up in Ohio and attended Miami University where he obtained a BA in geologic sciences focused on plate tectonics and geomorphology. Before graduating, Alex spent a summer living in Dubois, Wyoming, mapping the Tetons, Absarokas, and other geologically exciting places in the northern Rocky Mountains. Alex moved to Jackson after a year of working, exploring, and gaining an appreciation for many wild places ranging from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to the mangroves of the Everglades. He served as a trail crew leader, youth conservation program leader, and preservation carpenter for Grand Teton National Park over the course of 12 years. Alex then worked in development and communications for Grand Teton National Park Foundation, honing his skills in the nonprofit sector. He has served as an operational EMT on Teton County Search and Rescue and has a strong passion for community connectivity. Alex is most at home in the backcountry—packrafting, fishing, backpacking, exploring off the beaten path, and being bitten by bugs with his wife and their two pups.

Email: alexstclair [at] jhlandtrust.org
Kathryn Tolley
Grants Manager

Kathryn Tolley

Kathryn Tolley joined the Land Trust in June 2018 as an Advancement Associate for the Green River Valley Program. While growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, Kathryn fell in love with the landscapes and wildlife of Northwest Wyoming during annual summer trips to the area. With a Bachelor’s from Gettysburg College and a Master’s degree in Philanthropic Studies from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Kathryn has worked at an education center in Alaska, and also with the Snake River Fund in Jackson. Kathryn enjoys spending time outdoors with her family, hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hunting, and target shooting. She also enjoys baking, playing board games, watching movies, and reading.

Email: kathryn [at] jhlandtrust.org

Our Board

Shawn Smith
Chair

Shawn Smith

Shawn Smith is the founder of Silver Sage Capital, LLC, an impact capital company focused on conservation values coupled with financing and investment in socially responsible real estate development. Previous to Silver Sage, Shawn was President of Convergence Management Co. and a member of Convergence Investments, LLC, a real estate development and investment firm located in Jackson, WY.

An avid angler and outdoorsman, Shawn can be found spending his free time exploring streams and duck marshes with his wife, Beverly, and daughters, Virginia and Harriet. He achieved his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, IL and received a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Lori Fields
First Vice Chair

Lori Fields

Lori and her husband, Marlin Risinger, joined the Jackson Hole community in 2005. Lori and Marlin raised their three sons in London, where they lived for 17 years. In January 2016 they returned to the US and now reside in Jackson. In her early career, Lori worked as a trial attorney at the US Department of Justice and later became Assistant Special Counsel to the US House of Representatives’ Committee on the Judiciary. Lori has been actively involved in education-related charities. Currently, she serves on a number of nonprofit boards. In addition, for many years she served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the American School in London, a K-12 independent school in central London. Lori studied as an undergraduate at Stanford University and received her law degree from the University of Virginia.
Mike Fenn
Second Vice Chair

Mike Fenn

Mike was born and raised in Big Piney. He attended college at the University of Wyoming. He owns two ranches outside of Pinedale; one of which was recently conserved through The Nature Conservancy with help from the Green River Valley Land Trust. Mike previously served on the GRVLT board and was the Lands Committee Chair. Mike has over 30 years of experience in construction management in the energy industry.
Michael Schrotz
Secretary

Michael Schrotz

Recently retired after 38 years of federal service with the Forest Service, Michael has a long career of land and resource management, and many years of volunteer work.

Michael graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture (1974), from the University of Wisconsin. He entered private practice, working with many Wisconsin communities, helping residents and elected officials develop parkland systems; early years of collaboration. Michael moved to public service, beginning at the county-level as a liaison between parks and freeway departments. He worked with neighborhood groups to locate and develop freeway systems. Michael moved to city-level public service, again working with neighborhood groups, developing parks and resolving recreation and land use issues.

Michael entered the federal government as Landscape Architect for the Forest Service in northern Minnesota. He moved to Vermont as District Ranger; and then to the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming as Ecology Resource Group Leader. At the time of his retirement, he served as Planning and Lands Staff Officer, preparing for Forest Plan revision.

In his free time, Michael and his wife Claudia spend many hours giving back to our community by volunteering. He has served on the Board of the Community Resource Center (One22), and Presbyterian Church of Jackson Hole. In his early years in Jackson, he volunteered with Ducks Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and Trout Unlimited. Later he joined The Jackson Hole Lions Club, where he has served several times as President. Today he and Claudia are active with the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Center for Arts, and Lions activities.

Even after retiring, Michael remains active working behind the scenes on land adjustment cases and meeting with private landowners to help them move their private land to public land.

Michael has positive energy, always working in collaboration with others to resolve issues and concerns. He believes the glass is always half-full.
Kelly Davis
Treasurer

Kelly Davis

Kelly Davis is an avid equestrian and owner of Old Oak Farm, LLC and international show jumping stable. She is married to George Davis. They have two children–Lucy Davis and Clay Davis. Kelly and George are past Chairs of the Stanford Parents Advisory Board. Kelly was on the board of the Sullivan Canyon Preservation Association for 8 years. Kelly currently serves on the California Committee South for Human Rights Watch and the Director’s Circle at the Los Angeles County Art Museum. When not riding horses, Kelly enjoys skiing, mountain biking, fly fishing, and running. Her latest challenge is golf (big challenge!).
Jan Phillips Davis

Jan Phillips Davis

Jan has been coming to Jackson Hole since her college days in the 1980s. Born and raised in New York City, Jan has called Pacific Palisades, CA home for the last 24 years. Jan received her BA in History from Brown University and MBA from Columbia University and is an Outward Bound graduate. Jan serves on the Resource Council of the Grand Teton National Park Foundation. She also spends time counseling first-generation inner-city students through CollegeMatch in Los Angeles and is a member of Women Helping Youth, an LA philanthropic group providing after-school activities for local youth. She is also a member of the Director’s Circle at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Jan, her husband Chuck, and children Jared and Jenna (all Brown graduates) support scholarship students at Brown from Africa and inner-city Los Angeles. Jan enjoys skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, horseshoes, yoga, and vegetarian cooking.
Mark Fisher

Mark Fisher

Mark is a geologist living in Cody. He grew up in Cincinnati collecting fossils and received his BS and MS in Geology from the University of Cincinnati. Mark worked for 34 years for Marathon Oil in the oil and gas exploration and development business as a geologist and manager. Most of that time was in the Rockies and Gulf Coast with an emphasis on Wyoming and the Big Horn Basin. Mark transferred eight times, but always returned to Cody where he has lived four times. Since retiring from the oil industry, he has built a website (Geowyo.com) with two other geologists that details over 80 special geology sites in Wyoming. In the last few years, he has led field trips and given talks for the Forest Service, Nature Conservancy, Montana Tech, Buffalo Bill Center of the West, and local rock clubs. Mark has been teaching dance in Cody and Powell for the past fifteen years. If you play a song, he probably knows a dance you can do to it. When not dancing or looking at rocks, Mark loves hiking and exploring in the Big Horn Basin and surrounding mountains with his wife, Connie.
Mekki Jaidi

Mekki Jaidi

Mekki graduated from Columbia University with a B.S. in Financial Engineering: Operations Research. After a four-year stint trading currency options for the Royal Bank of Scotland, Mekki moved to Jackson Hole in 2014 to start Outpost. While the vast landscapes and recreational activities in Jackson Hole inspired Mekki’s move out West, it’s the people that make up the community that Mekki has come to love most. Mekki, his wife Jane, and two daughters frequent JHLT’s community spaces and enjoy the interactive aspect of community conservation. Mekki loves the energy inspired by community conservation and strongly believes in its ability to inspire future generations.
Des Jennings

Des Jennings

Des’ personal history with Jackson Hole dates back to the mid-1990s on a family vacation which led him to return nearly every year since that time, including five years working at the Teton Valley Ranch Camp in Dubois, WY. Originally from Rhode Island, Des made the Valley his permanent home following his graduation from Middlebury College in 2008 and has worked in the sale of residential, ranch, and commercial investment properties in Wyoming and Idaho since 2011. Des is currently an associate broker with Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty.

Des is the 2021 President of the Teton Board of Realtors, a trustee and committee chair at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, and serves on the board as treasurer for Jackson Hole Public Art. Des is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys spending his free time hiking, skiing, and fly fishing in the Greater Yellowstone area with his wife, Chloe, and two daughters.
Cody Lockhart
Anita Miles

Anita Miles

Anita was raised in Dallas, Texas, as the daughter of a Mexican diplomat. After moving to California to attend college, she became a US citizen. She earned her BA at Stanford University and JD at University of San Diego. After working as a trial attorney, Anita devoted her time to raising her two children and volunteer work. Most recently, she led Stephen Ministry at St. Monica’s Church in Santa Monica, CA, and is currently on the board of the Jackson Hole Historical Society & Museum. Anita and her husband Jim live full-time in Jackson Hole. They were drawn to the valley for its open spaces and wildlife and enjoy the outdoor activities it has to offer, including hiking, biking, and skiing.
Alex Muromcew

Alex Muromcew

Alexander Muromcew moved to Jackson full-time from San Francisco in 2010 with his wife and four children. A native of Washington, D.C., he has lived on the East and West Coasts as well as in Tokyo. While living in San Francisco, he served on the board of the San Francisco Parks Alliance and was Finance Chair. He is also very involved with the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation in Massachusetts. Alex graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in East Asian Studies and an MBA from Stanford University. Professionally, Alex’s career has been in international finance. Most recently, he was a Managing Director at financial services firm TIAA and was lead portfolio manager of the TIAA Emerging Markets Equity Fund. Alex is an avid skier (alpine and nordic), cyclist (road and mountain), and hunter.
Marion Mussafer

Marion Mussafer

Owner of M Home Design Group – Luxury real estate properties. Marion grew up in Texas and received her BS in Radio Television Film & Advertising from the Moody School of Communications at The University of Texas. Upon graduation, she worked for several years in commercial and public television in Austin, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. Marion and her husband, David, live in Boston and have four grown children, and one granddaughter. When not visiting family in Texas and Alabama, Marion and David spend as much time as possible in Wyoming and Rhode Island.
Emilé Z. Newman

Emilé Z. Newman

Emilé first laid eyes on Jackson in 2003 and made such an impact on her that she went on to pursue her undergraduate studies at the University of Montana, receiving a double major in Natural Resource Conservation and Environmental Studies with a minor in International Development. At U of M, Emile spent summers researching restoration ecology and policy in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. After her graduation in 2010, she moved back to Jackson to work as an outdoor educator and naturalist, teaching at the Teton Science Schools and the National Outdoor Leadership School.

In 2020, she went back to school to pursue a Master of Environmental Management at the Yale School of Environment where she is finishing her second year. Prior to Yale, she worked at the Bureau of Land Management, where she conducted habitat assessments, collected ecological data, and worked on federal policy for the Greater Sage-grouse Conservation Plan. As a field ecologist, she researched and studied pollination ecology in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

During her time at Yale, she produced a solar feasibility study for the Nature Conservancy’s Ten Sleep preserve that is now being installed. She served as the Co-Executive Director of the Environmental Film Festival at Yale.

In Jackson, WY, Emilé serves as an ambassador for various outdoor brands, and works as a writer, covering topics from outdoor inclusion, Western identity, and the natural environment. On the side, she works as a sustainability consultant conducting carbon accounting and sourcing offsets for clients.
Bob Peters

Bob Peters

Bob Peters first visited Jackson Hole as a kid in 1961 during the classic family station wagon marathon trip through the West. He’s never forgotten the view of this valley as they drove down from Teton Pass. His next visit was on a ski trip during sophomore year at Iowa State University in 1969. In the winter of 1974/75, Bob and his wife Ruthie spent the first of what has now been 40 winters skiing at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. In the winter of 1979, Bob was hired as a backcountry alpine ski guide at the resort and spent the next 8 seasons taking clients out of bounds.

In 2002, Bob and Ruthie moved to the Valley full time and Bob became a partner in the North 40 Realty real estate brokerage. Since that time, he’s also been a part-time adult private ski instructor at JHMR. Bob loves skiing so much that he did a streak of skiing at least once a month for 200 consecutive months, a string that ended in the summer of 2014 when he had both knees replaced. Coincidence? We’ll probably never know. In addition to serving as a board member and Open Space Council chair at the Land Trust, Bob is active in the community and serves on the boards of the Community Resource Center of Jackson Hole, Friends of Fish Creek, and the Snake River Fund.
George Putman

George Putman

George first visited Jackson Hole at age 8 on a trip to Trail Creek Ranch. He moved to Jackson in 1994 after graduating from Middlebury College to escape rainy winters and fickle trout. Soon after arriving, he joined the survey field crew at Pierson Land Works. With a background in Geography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Economics, George found he had a range of skills valuable to helping clients navigate the ever-changing development and conservation landscape of Jackson Hole. He worked with Pierson Land Works and Y2 Consultants for 24 years. George now owns Cirque Consulting, LLC and provides land planning and computer mapping services to a range of clients in the Valley and beyond.

George lives in East Jackson with his wife Annie and two sons Will and Zack. George was on the Board of the Jackson Hole Ski Club from 2009-2018 and served as Secretary, Vice President, and was President during the successful Building the Base capital campaign.
Sonja Rife

Sonja Rife

Sonja Rife and her husband, Jason, own and operate Killpecker Creek Cattle Company in the foothills of the Wyoming Range, where the sagebrush plains meet the soaring mountains and pine trees reach toward the open skies. Lush grasses blanket the meadows while Cottonwood Creek and Killpecker Creek provide ample feed and water for a growing herd of Galloway cattle. Sonja grew up in the D.C. area and earned her Bachelor of Science in biology. She and her husband’s decision to leave the east coast and raise their family in the fresh air and wide-open spaces, combined with a passion for interesting, scientific-based work led to purchasing 1,100 acres in Daniel, Wyoming in 2013 and ranching from a scientific background. With their love of good food and home cooking, Sonja and Jason raise grass-finished, no-antibiotic, no-hormone beef that they are proud to serve at their table and offer to their community.
Amy Staehr

Amy Staehr

Amy is a Jackson native and has been hiking, skiing, and fishing in Northwest Wyoming for as long as she can remember. She is a partner with Long Reimer Winegar LLP where she focuses her legal practice on trust, estate, and tax planning. Amy received an A.B. in English, from Dartmouth College; received an M.A. in Fiction Writing from the University of Texas at Austin, and a J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law. She is a past board member of the Teton County Library Foundation and the Teton Literacy Center. Amy enjoys traveling and spending time outdoors.
Patti Stancarone

Patti Stancarone

Patti moved to Teton Village with her late husband Joe Albracht in 2000. Most of Patti’s career was spent working in the information technology field for the City of NY. She worked at several agencies in New York City, most recently as a Deputy Director with the Mayor’s Office of Operations under Rudy Giuliani. Prior to moving to Jackson, Patti held the position of Project Manager at the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund, better known as the TIAA-CREF. Several years after purchasing and renovating our home in Teton Village, Patti decided to return to work to start a new career in the financial services field, first with Bank of the West and then at First Western Trust, prior to retiring in 2017.
Hal B. Wheeler

Hal B. Wheeler

After completing a B.S. in Physical Geography at the University of Colorado, Hal moved to Jackson to pursue his love of the mountains. He has held many jobs in the 15 years he’s lived here. He has been a foreman for a construction company, a bartender, a furniture maker, a tandem paragliding instructor, and a musician. Hal now owns The Hub Bicycles, a bike shop with deep roots in the local community. The Hub sponsors many community fundraisers including the annual bike swap and The Run and Ride for the Cure with The St. John’s Hospital Foundation. Hal meets regularly with a task force of local politicians working on community issues. In his free time, Hal enjoys skiing and biking with his wife and two sons and playing music in his basement with local rock stars.
Lindsay Wilcox

Lindsay Wilcox

Lindsay lives in East Jackson with her husband James and their children – Jack, Virginia, Whitney, and Henry. She and her family are avid skiers and hikers and love the wilderness of Wyoming. Professionally, Lindsay has been a Private Wealth Advisor with Goldman Sachs since 2004 providing financial advice to families and foundations. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs Lindsay received an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a B.A. from Dartmouth College. Lindsay is currently a member of Tuck’s MBA Council and is also on the board of Jackson’s Center for the Arts.

Advisory Council - Green River Valley

Mike Fenn
Second Vice Chair

Mike Fenn

Mike was born and raised in Big Piney. He attended college at the University of Wyoming. He owns two ranches outside of Pinedale; one of which was recently conserved through The Nature Conservancy with help from the Green River Valley Land Trust. Mike previously served on the GRVLT board and was the Lands Committee Chair. Mike has over 30 years of experience in construction management in the energy industry.
Deborah Dawson

Deborah Dawson

Deborah has been retired since 1997 after a successful career in the money management business. She has served on the boards of the Montana Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and the American Museum of Fly Fishing. She attended Vassar College and received an MBA from Boston University.
Jon Dawson

Jon Dawson

Jon Dawson is the Managing Member of Southport Management LLC, located in Wilson, Wyoming. In 1981, He founded a registered investment advisory in Southport, CT and was its CEO until December of 2011. Jon serves on the executive investment and nominating committees of the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. He also currently serves on the board of the Special Operations Fund which provides educational scholarships to widows and children of special operations soldiers killed in action. Jon is a co-founder of New Beginnings Family Academy, a K-8 charter school in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He is an honorary trustee of Greens Farms Academy in Westport, Connecticut and the Quebec Labrador Foundation. He has also served on the boards of the New Hampshire Audubon, The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and The Montana Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. Mr. Dawson holds a B.A. from Princeton University, an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. from Fordham University. He was a member of the Connecticut Bar Association from 1975-2011.
Brian Gray
Faith Hamlin

Faith Hamlin

Since moving to Wyoming at the age of 10, Faith Hamlin has always known this is where her heart lives. She graduated from Colgate University in 2018 with a degree in political science and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies. At Colgate, she participated in and led programming for the Outdoor Education program. After university, she moved home to Bondurant, WY to help on her family’s cattle ranch, the Little Jennie. Helping out at the ranch eventually grew into running the operation. More recently, she has started running Bondurant Basin Outfitters alongside the Little Jennie Ranch. Faith has previously served on the Jackson Hole Community Foundation’s Health and Human Service board and currently sits on the Sublette County Fair Sale board and the board of the Wyldlife Fund.
Hadley Manning
Sonja Rife

Sonja Rife

Sonja Rife and her husband, Jason, own and operate Killpecker Creek Cattle Company in the foothills of the Wyoming Range, where the sagebrush plains meet the soaring mountains and pine trees reach toward the open skies. Lush grasses blanket the meadows while Cottonwood Creek and Killpecker Creek provide ample feed and water for a growing herd of Galloway cattle. Sonja grew up in the D.C. area and earned her Bachelor of Science in biology. She and her husband’s decision to leave the east coast and raise their family in the fresh air and wide-open spaces, combined with a passion for interesting, scientific-based work led to purchasing 1,100 acres in Daniel, Wyoming in 2013 and ranching from a scientific background. With their love of good food and home cooking, Sonja and Jason raise grass-finished, no-antibiotic, no-hormone beef that they are proud to serve at their table and offer to their community.
Jim Roscoe

Jim Roscoe

Jim is now retired after running Roscoe Co. construction company for 35 years. He also served eight years in the Wyoming Legislature and served on Wyoming’s Select Natural Resource Funding Committee helping to direct funding for large conservation projects in Wyoming. He is the owner of the Muddy Creek Ranch in the Big Sandy area and also owns property in Wilson.

He is now looking forward to spending more time at the ranch in Sublette Co. Hope to work with Wildlife Trust on easements in the mule deer migration corridor and Red Desert areas, along with working with the JHLT.

Advisory Council - Park County Open Lands

Mark Bruscino

Mark Bruscino

Mark is a retired 32-year employee of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Mark supervised the Department’s Large Carnivore Program which included oversite of research and management of black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions, and gray wolves. Mark has extensive experience working with large carnivore-human conflicts, population monitoring, policy development, and human dimensions in wildlife conservation. He’s a past member of an Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team and the Northern Rockies Wolf Working Group. In 2013, Mark was awarded the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Lifetime Achievement Award for his long-term contributions on behalf of wildlife conservation. Through his decades of work with wildlife in the Yellowstone region, Mark believes that the most urgent action needed in wildlife conservation and to maintain our rural lifestyle is to protect open space on private agricultural lands. Mark and his wife Leah currently live in Powell, WY.
Rebekah Burns

Rebekah Burns

Rebekah Burns is the Executive Director of Powell Economic Partnership/ Powell Chamber/ Powell Visitor Center. She supports and grows our existing businesses. In addition, PEP develops industries and recruits businesses that match the people and culture of the Powell Valley. Rebekah advocates for Powell’s businesses, citizens, and institutions. She serves as Treasurer for the Park County Museum Board. Rebekah is a graduate of PCLI Class XII and served on the steering committee for XIII. She has a Film Production degree from Towson University. For over 15 years, she has worked in video production and content creation creating stories and crafting messages. As Multimedia Marketing Manager at the first international video production crewing agency, Rebekah oversaw external communications including an industry blog, social media, website development, and video podcast channels. As a Production Manager, she oversaw approximately 1,500 accounts. Her duties included managing and scheduling hundreds of on-location shoots a year for corporations, broadcast, cable, production companies, advertising agencies, PR firms, government, and non-profits agencies. Rebekah also has a strong customer service background. She worked as a Customer Service Representative for a major credit card company acquired by Bank of America and as a Sales Rep. and Assistant Buyer for an outdoor recreation retailer. Currently, Rebekah loves exploring the wilds of Wyoming with her sons and husband.
Mark Fisher

Mark Fisher

Mark is a geologist living in Cody. He grew up in Cincinnati collecting fossils and received his BS and MS in Geology from the University of Cincinnati. Mark worked for 34 years for Marathon Oil in the oil and gas exploration and development business as a geologist and manager. Most of that time was in the Rockies and Gulf Coast with an emphasis on Wyoming and the Big Horn Basin. Mark transferred eight times, but always returned to Cody where he has lived four times. Since retiring from the oil industry, he has built a website (Geowyo.com) with two other geologists that details over 80 special geology sites in Wyoming. In the last few years, he has led field trips and given talks for the Forest Service, Nature Conservancy, Montana Tech, Buffalo Bill Center of the West, and local rock clubs. Mark has been teaching dance in Cody and Powell for the past fifteen years. If you play a song, he probably knows a dance you can do to it. When not dancing or looking at rocks, Mark loves hiking and exploring in the Big Horn Basin and surrounding mountains with his wife, Connie.
Garrett Growney

Garrett Growney

Garrett is Vice President of Commercial Lending with Pinnacle Bank in Cody. He has been in Cody for 20 years working to finance businesses and landowners in the local area. Garrett grew up in Northern Montana and has a BA in Political Science from Brown University and an MBA from Arizona State University. He and his family enjoy as much of the Wyoming outdoors as possible. Garrett is an avid fly fisherman, backpacker, downhill skier, and boater. He cares deeply about maintaining the quality of life we enjoy in Park County.
Buzzy Hassrick

Buzzy Hassrick

Since 1976, Buzzy has been exploring the wonders of northwest Wyoming on horseback and foot, from the McCullough Peaks to the Absaroka and Beartooth ranges, developing a deep appreciation for that landscape. From those experiences has emerged a commitment to protect lands with aesthetic and wildlife values as well as the culture of farming and ranching. When she’s not hiking or cross-country skiing, she works as the part-time copy editor of the Cody Enterprise and writes occasional stories for the paper. Buzzy is also a sailor, community activist, and volunteer.
Allen Hogg

Allen Hogg

Allen Hogg was born and raised on the Hogg Ranch in Meeteetse, Wyoming. He is a third-generation rancher on a 100+ year family ranch 12 miles SW of Meeteetse on the Greybull River. He has been married to Kristine for 42 years, and together they have 3 grown boys, Patrick, Tighe, and Wesley. He graduated from Meeteetse High School and NWC in Powell. He has served on many boards around the county including Park County Fair Board and Park County Predator Board, and is currently a member of Friends of the Black Footed Ferret and Sage Grouse Advisory Board. Allen and Kristine placed an easement on their property in 2019, and Allen believes that conservation is very important for the land use of Park County and Wyoming.
Jarren Kuipers

Jarren Kuipers

Jarren is the founder of Land Steward Services, which provides support services for land trusts and their landowner partners across the West. He has 20 years of experience in private lands conservation working for and with land trusts. Thirteen of those years have been in Park County.

Prior to that, he grew up on a medium-sized family farm in eastern South Dakota that focused on dry land crops and livestock. Jarren however, was too easily distracted by hunting, fishing, and trapping; an affliction that eventually led him to a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from South Dakota State University and an MS from the University of Wyoming in Zoology.

He and his wife Tara enjoy exploring the wilds of Park County by foot, pedal, and paddle.
James Seckman

James Seckman

James moved to Wyoming from Michigan in 1979. He served in the military as a military policeman. He later graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1992. James has been in the practice of public accounting for the past 30 years, providing tax and auditing services. He spends all of his spare time at his cabin in the Bighorn Mountains and loves the wide open spaces and recreation opportunities the Bighorn Basin provides.
Abby Scott

Abby Scott

Abby is the Migration Program Director for The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming. She began her work at TNC as the Northwest Wyoming Program Director, where she directed all aspects of land and water conservation for the Conservancy in the Cody region. Abby holds a B.S. in Economics and Environment and Natural Resources and an M.S. in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Wyoming. Her M.S. research focused on the optimal placement of conservation easement purchases for conserving wildlife migration corridors. Prior to joining The Nature Conservancy, Abby worked for the UW School of Energy Resources, Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, and as a Mickelson Fellow for Western Governors Association, where she worked on Governor Matt Mead’s species conservation initiative. Abby was raised in Cody and is passionate about conserving this special landscape and community. She now enjoys raising her two sons amid all the Cody community has to offer.
Kelly Spiering

Kelly Spiering

Kelly and her two sons operate Spiering Farms. This is a 600-acre farm that specializes in growing and conditioning native plants including grasses, forbs, and flowers. They also produce seed for commodity crops. Spiering Farms was started in 1950 and Kelly joined the operation in 1976. Kelly has served on numerous boards with an acute interest in maintaining agriculture and businesses in Park County and keeping them profitable.
Anne Young

Anne Young

Anne has enjoyed living and raising children in Park County for fifty-two all too short years; ranching, hiking, and taking adventurous pack trips with her husband, Jim Nielson. As a long-time board member of the Wyoming Nature Conservancy and now a member of their Sage Council, Anne has remained active in conservation work, especially with the Heart Mountain Ranch Preserve and the Canal Park within the City of Cody. She believes it is vital to keep natural areas and open space within cities and throughout rural landscapes. Anne is committed to conserving fertile agricultural lands, viewscapes, and critical habitat for wildlife.

Advisory Council - Wind River Program

Carlie Ideker

Carlie Ideker

Carlie Ideker is a fourth-generation Wyomingite raised in Dubois. She grew up exploring the public lands of northwest Wyoming on foot and from the back of a horse. Her early encounters with the archaeological record eventually led to a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Wyoming and an M.S. in anthropology with an emphasis in archaeology and cultural resource management from Utah State University. She has worked in the rocky mountain west professionally since 2012, centering her career on the connection between people and place. Outside of work, you’re likely to find Carlie with her sidekicks—husband Mike and two dogs, Aspen and Otter—enjoying the region’s public lands either trail running, hiking, fly-fishing, hunting, backpacking, or skiing.

Advisory Council - WYLD

Lucas Ayoub
Molly Broom

Molly Broom

After growing up in the suburbs of Baltimore, Molly moved to Jackson upon completing her Bachelor’s degree in Geology at Colorado College. Inspired by the vastness of the landscape and the deep snow, Molly worked in conservation at the Land Trust and teaches skiing. She is inspired to include all people in land protection to create ecosystem and community resilience. Molly’s favorite Jackson activities include looking for owls, riding bikes, finding deep snow & planting food in her community garden.
Robin Cameron

Robin Cameron

After graduating from Amherst College with a B.A. in fine rts with a photography focus, Robin spent nearly twenty years teaching, including art at the American School of Milan, field science for the Teton Science Schools, and most recently, she was the Dean of Students and a science and photography faculty member at the Jackson Hole Community School. With an M.S. in Science Education, Robin understands the importance of making scientific information accessible to all. Robin is now the Project Manager for Jackson Hole Public Art where she enjoys exploring the intersection of art and science. She is also excited about the vast opportunities to build community through the arts and to collaborate with local nonprofits like the Jackson Hole Land Trust to inspire community-based conservation. Robin feels lucky to live in such an awe-inspiring landscape and loves to explore the natural world with her husband, two young sons, and dog.
Aaron Carillo Hernandez
Julie Dery
Andy Flores-Cano
Laura Gaylord

Laura Gaylord

Laura grew up in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Boulder, CO where she spent her time learning to love and care for the natural world through skiing, mountain biking, and backpacking. She went on to get a dual degree from the University of Colorado in Sociology and Spanish Literature and Language, both of which took her on travels around the world. After spending time working and living on the Roaring Fork River near Aspen, CO she found herself in Jackson trying her best to ski every day there is snow on the ground. Like many in Teton Valley, she was attracted to the area for its unmatched access to outdoor recreation and natural beauty, but really what has kept her here is the community built around these wild places. She is currently the Senior Program Manager of Coombs Outdoors where she is able to share her love for the outdoors with youth in the community hoping to inspire them to love and care for the land we recreate on.
Victor Hernandez
Kahlynn Huck

Kahlynn Huck

Originally from Wisconsin, Kahlynn went to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse where she majored in political science and philosophy and competed as a gymnast. She moved to San Francisco after school to work for Fund For the Public Interest, which fundraised for Environment California’s Ban The Bag Campaign and Human Rights Campaign. She would go on to spend the next seven years as a recruiter for startup companies. After a scary snowboarding experience in 2018, she decided it was time for a complete lifestyle overhaul. She convinced her partner to move to Jackson, quit her job, and never looked back. Kahlynn recently completed Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance’s Conservation Leadership Institute (CLI) and is serving on Teton County’s Integrated Solid Waste and Recycling Board. In her free time, she loves working on her fixer-upper, running with her golden retriever, skiing, practicing hot yoga, and exploring with her daughter, Bridger.
Mekki Jaidi

Mekki Jaidi

Mekki graduated from Columbia University with a B.S. in Financial Engineering: Operations Research. After a four-year stint trading currency options for the Royal Bank of Scotland, Mekki moved to Jackson Hole in 2014 to start Outpost. While the vast landscapes and recreational activities in Jackson Hole inspired Mekki’s move out West, it’s the people that make up the community that Mekki has come to love most. Mekki, his wife Jane, and two daughters frequent JHLT’s community spaces and enjoy the interactive aspect of community conservation. Mekki loves the energy inspired by community conservation and strongly believes in its ability to inspire future generations.
Tiffany Kelly
Elizabeth Martinez
Hal B. Wheeler

Hal B. Wheeler

After completing a B.S. in Physical Geography at the University of Colorado, Hal moved to Jackson to pursue his love of the mountains. He has held many jobs in the 15 years he’s lived here. He has been a foreman for a construction company, a bartender, a furniture maker, a tandem paragliding instructor, and a musician. Hal now owns The Hub Bicycles, a bike shop with deep roots in the local community. The Hub sponsors many community fundraisers including the annual bike swap and The Run and Ride for the Cure with The St. John’s Hospital Foundation. Hal meets regularly with a task force of local politicians working on community issues. In his free time, Hal enjoys skiing and biking with his wife and two sons and playing music in his basement with local rock stars.