Our Governing Council

The Governing Council is the policy-making and governing body for The Wilderness Society, guiding us as the premiere organization protecting America’s wildest lands.

The Governing Council oversees the priorities, programs, and finances of The Wilderness Society and serves as the final authority on organizational policies. It helps ensure that our resources are used wisely and effectively so we can best protect America’s wild places.

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Governing Council Chair

MICHAEL A. MANTELL Chair (2008)

Michael Mantell founded the Resources Law Group to help design and administer initiatives for philanthropic foundations and individuals, landowners, and government agencies that result in significant conservation achievements. He also helped to create the strategically aligned but independent Resources Legacy Fund. Since the late 1990s, he has designed and participated in programs and projects that broadened the leadership and constituency for natural resources protection and achieved extensive conservation outcomes for land, water, and ocean resources and on renewable energy. Previously, he served as Undersecretary for Natural Resources for the State of California, was General Counsel for the World Wildlife Fund and a Deputy City Attorney in Los Angeles.

Michael helped lead the 2010 political campaign that prevented a rollback of California’s landmark climate change legislation. In the past decade, he has chaired two campaigns resulting in voters approving $7 billion of investments in water, land, and ocean conservation. Michael is author and co-author of several books and articles, the recipient of several national conservation awards, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Monterey Bay Aquarium as well as on the Governing Council of The Wilderness Society.

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Governing Council Officers

DAVID BONDERMAN, At Large (1993)

David is a founding partner of TPG. TPG generally makes significant investments in operating companies through acquisitions and restructurings across a broad range of industries throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. 

TPG and its affiliates have approximately $48 billion of capital under management. Portfolio companies controlled by TPG have combined revenues of over $85 billion, operate in more than 130 countries, and employ approximately 600,000 people. Among the portfolio companies of TPG are: PETCO; IMS Health; Avaya; Caesars Entertainment Corporation; Neiman Marcus; SunGard and Univision.

Prior to forming TPG in 1992, David was Chief Operating Officer of the Robert M. Bass Group, Inc. (now doing business as Keystone Group, L.P.) in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to joining RMBG in 1983, David was a partner in the law firm of Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in corporate, securities, bankruptcy, and antitrust litigation. From 1969 to 1970, David was a Fellow in Foreign and Comparative Law in conjunction with Harvard University, and from 1968 to 1969, he was Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division. From 1967 to 1968, David was Assistant Professor at Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans.

David graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1966. He was a member of the Harvard Law Review and a Sheldon Fellow. He is a 1963 graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle.  

David serves on the Boards of the following public companies: CoStar Group, Inc., General Motors Company, and Ryanair Holdings, plc, of which he is Chairman. He also serves on the Supervisory Board for VTB Bank. In addition, he serves on the boards of The Wilderness Society, the Grand Canyon Trust, The University of Washington Foundation, and the American Himalayan Foundation.

WILLIAM J. CRONON, Ph.D., Vice Chair (1995)

Bill is the Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on American environmental history and the history of the American West and frontier. Prior to this, Bill was a Professor of History at Yale University.

Bill holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University, and a D.Phil. from Oxford University in England.

RUE MAPP  Vice-Chair (2018) 

Rue Mapp is the founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro, a social community reconnecting African Americans with natural spaces through outdoor recreational activities. 

Originally beginning Outdoor Afro in 2009 as a blog, Rue has since captured the attention and imagination of millions through a multi-media approach, grounded in personal connections and community organizing.  From its grassroots beginning, now Outdoor Afro enjoys national sponsorship and is recognized by major organizations for the importance of diversity in the outdoors.  In 2010, Mapp was invited to the White House to participate in the America’s Great Outdoors Conference, and subsequently to take part in a think-tank to inform the launch of the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” initiative.  She was appointed program officer for the Stewardship Council’s Foundation for Youth Investment to oversee its grant-making program from 2010 to 2012.  Since that time, Mapp’s work has been featured in publications including The Wall Street Journal, Backpacker Magazine, Ebony Magazine and Sunset Magazine and many others.

Rue’s ongoing work has been recognized with numerous awards and distinctions:  The Root 100 as one of the most influential African Americans in the country; Outdoor Industry Inspiration Award, 2014; National Wildlife Federation Communication award (received alongside President Bill Clinton) and in May 2015, Family Circle Magazine selected Rue as one of America’s 20 Most Influential Moms.  Mapp remains in high demand to speak around the country and in Canada about her innovative approach that has successfully connected thousands, especially from the African American community, to nature and the benefits of spending more time outdoors.  She has delivered the keynote address at Bay Nature's 2018 Local Hero Awards, the Land Trust Alliance’s Rally 2015, the US Play Coalition’s Play Conference 2016, the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education’s 2017 conference, and the EcoCareers Conference 2018, among others. Most recently, Rue was appointed to the California State Parks Commission by Governor Jerry Brown.

A graduate of UC Berkeley (with a degree in art history), Rue’s skills and background make her a unique voice via the programs she has instituted through OA and enlightened a diverse community to the wonders and benefits of the outdoors.  Rue lives in Oakland CA and is the proud mother of three active teenage children.

MOLLY McUSIC, Vice-Chair (2001)

Molly McUsic is President of the Wyss Foundation, a private charitable foundation dedicated to protecting land and biodiversity throughout the world. 

Previously as Counselor to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Molly oversaw the designation of National Monuments under the Antiquities Act, the principal vehicle used by President Clinton to protect more land in the lower forty-eight states than any President since Teddy Roosevelt.  She also was the lead negotiator on the largest state-federal land exchange in U.S. history. 

Molly was a tenured professor at the University of North Carolina Law School, and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.  She is a high honors graduate of the University of Notre Dame and magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.  She also clerked at the U.S. Supreme Court for Justice Harry A. Blackmun.

CATHY DOUGLAS STONE, Secretary (1999)

Cathy currently serves as Special Assistant for Environmental Services to Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

She sits on the board of directors of The Island Alliance of Boston and is vice-chair of the partnership legislated to plan and implement preservation of the Boston Harbor Islands as a national park. Cathy also serves as a board member of The American Conservation Association. She is the former Chief of Environmental Services for the City of Boston and a former partner of Foley, Hoag and Eliot of Boston.

Cathy holds a L.L.M. from Georgetown University, and a J.D. and B.A. from American University.

HANSJÖRG WYSS, At Large (1993)

Hansjörg is Chairman Emeritus of Synthes, Inc. as well as co-founder and trustee of AO/ASIF Foundation, Chur, Switzerland.

He is a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Business and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.

Besides his business interests, Hansjörg is involved in a number of environmental activities. He presently serves as Chairman of the Wyss Foundation and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and the Grand Canyon Trust.

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Governing Council Members

AUGUST M. BALL (2022)

August M. Ball is the founder and CEO of Wisconsin’s first Black-owned certified B corps Cream City Conservation, a two-prong environmental consultancy that provides solutions for ecologically focused organizations interested in building the foundation necessary for cultivating and retaining a strong, equitable, and dynamic workforce to best meet their land stewardship needs. August has been empowering and engaging the Milwaukee community in green jobs and hands-on service to public lands for the past 14 years and has focused her work on creating equitable pipelines and policies that promote diversity, inclusion and retention of people of color in the environmental field. Through profits from the consulting firm and community partnerships, August models this work via the Cream City Conservation Corps, which provides paid training to young adults 15-24 for careers in green infrastructure and conservation. August and her company have received countless accolades and appointments, namely Wisconsin Governor Ever’s Task Force on Climate Change, United Way's Philanthropic 5 and the Chicago Field Museum’s Parker Gentry Award.

THOMAS A. BARRON (1984)

Tom is an author, and formerly a venture capital investor, who lives in Boulder, Colorado. A Rhodes Scholar, he is the author of numerous essays on wilderness and other environmental issues, as well as nature books, novels, and children’s books. His books (published under the name T. A. Barron) include To Walk in Wilderness, The Ancient One, Tree Girl and The Lost Years of Merlin series, and The Great Tree of Avalon trilogy.

Tom is a trustee of Princeton University and is a co-founder of the Princeton Environmental Institute. In 1997, The Wilderness Society honored him with the Robert Marshall Award.

FAITH E. BRIGGS (2022)

Faith E. Briggs is a documentary director, creative producer and podcast host passionate about sharing contemporary stories that widen the spectrum of representation and help us all see our own possibilities. Her favorite feelings are a tie between sun on skin and warm mud oozing between bare toes. She is grateful for the life changing knowledge of literary grandmothers such as Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Cade Bambara and many more. Her previous work includes Brotherhood of Skiing (REI, 2018), This Land (Merrell, 2019), Camp Yoshi (REI, 2021), Ascend: Reframing Disability in the Outdoors (The North Face, 2021) and the 4-part series Who Is A Runner (Brooks, 2021.) She is the co-host of The Trail Ahead podcast, a 2021 Grist 50! Fixer, a Jackson Wild Media Lab Fellow, and a Western Conservation Hub William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Grant Recipient.

INGRID C. "INDY" BURKE, Ph.D. (2023)

Dr. Burke is an ecosystem ecologist whose research has focused on carbon and nitrogen cycling in dryland ecosystems. Her work with graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and colleagues has addressed how drylands of the world are influenced by land use management, climatic variability, and regional variability, and has been published in over 170 peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and books chapters. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America, and received the Presidential Faculty Fellows award at the White House as a young faculty member, in addition to other awards.   Burke teaches in the fields of environmental science, ecosystem ecology, and biogeochemistry.

Dean Burke received her B.S. in Biology from Middlebury College and her Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Wyoming. She was a professor at Colorado State University and Professor and Dean at the University of Wyoming, before she joined the faculty of Yale in 2016 as the Dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, recently renamed the Yale School of the Environment. 

Burke has served on numerous committees and boards for the national and international environmental science organizations, including the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Science Advisory Board,  UNESCO SCOPE, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, the Dahlem Conference, and many others. She has served the national conservation community through service on numerous boards.

A respected educator and intellectual leader in the U.S. and internationally, Dean Burke is particularly interested in fostering interdisciplinary scholarship, and promoting science-based and equitable, community-engaged conservation of working landscapes. 

MATTHEW CAMPBELL (2023)

Matthew joined the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) as a staff attorney in March of 2013 and became the Deputy Director in 2022. Prior to joining NARF, Matthew was an attorney with Cuddy & McCarthy, LLP, in New Mexico, and clerked for the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, with now retired Judge Patrick Irvine in 2008.

Matthew received his J.D. from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University in 2008, and his B.A. from Fort Lewis College. Matthew is an enrolled member of the Native Village of Gambell on the Saint Lawrence Island in Alaska.

NORM CHRISTENSEN, Ph.D. (2014)

Dr. Christensen is a Research Professor of Ecology and the Founding Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in biology at California State University, Fresno and his Doctorate at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Christensen’s research focuses on Community Ecology, specifically Sustainable Forest and Forest Fire Management. He has a strong interest in the application of basic science and scalable solutions to forest fire management.

Dr. Christensen has earned a myriad of awards and honors including the Distinguished Scholar and Distinguished Alumnus award from California State University, was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and served as the president of the Ecological Society of America. He is a former member of the Environmental Defense Fund Board of Trustees and was the Chair of the Sustainable Forestry Board for the U.S. National Forest Service Fire Research Review.

Dr. Christensen is a gifted teacher who taught environmental science for 15 years at Duke, winning a Distinguished Teaching Award. He is the author of The Environment and You, a college-level textbook providing students a reliable science foundation as well as inspiring them to connect to the course through the choices they make as citizens. Dr. Christensen places an emphasis on problem-solving and realistic solutions, advocating for his students to be agents of change towards a more sustainable environment.  

DAVID CHURCHILL (2013)

David is a partner in Morrison & Foerster’s Washington, DC office. He is co-chair of the firm’s government contracts practice. He is a past president of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims Bar Association and a former chair of the public contract law section of the American Bar Association.

As a lawyer in private practice, David has handled pro bono matters for The Wilderness Society and for The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. He is a Board member and former Chair of The Murie Center in Moose, WY.

DANIEL CORDALIS (2022)

Daniel has more than a decade of experience working on natural resource and complex water and land management issues on behalf of Tribal governments and conservation groups. Daniel most recently served as Deputy Solicitor, Water for the Department of the Interior. He previously worked in private practice and was an attorney with Earthjustice, the Yurok Tribe, and clerked for the Colorado Supreme Court and the Native American Rights Fund. After graduating from Rice University, Daniel received a M.A. focused on hydrology and a J.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Raised in southwest Colorado, Daniel is a Navajo Tribal member.

CHRISTOPHER J. ELLIMAN (1989)

Kim serves as President and CEO of the Open Space Institute, a land conservation organization that has protected and/or financed close to 2 million acres and created over 50 new parks or protected areas in the eastern United States. Kim has also worked in the finance sector as CEO of Overhills Group and partner of Elmrock Partners, private equity concerns, and as President of Gray, Seifert, an investment company.

He has served on numerous corporate boards, including Chairman of Piggly Wiggly Southern. Kim chairs the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and Overhills Foundation has chaired The Wilderness Society and the Adirondack Council and has served as vice-chairman of the Environmental Defense Fund. He has served on numerous non-profit and philanthropic boards, principally in conservation and cultural institutions.

Kim received his B.A. from Yale and now serves on Yale University’s Forestry and Environmental Leadership Council.

JIM ENOTE (2021)

Jim Enote is a Zuni tribal member and CEO of the Colorado Plateau Foundation, which invests in Native-led organizations on the Colorado Plateau. As a counselor to the philanthropic community, he connects, engages, and leverages funding to support regional issues. Enote's service over the past 45 years includes natural resources, cultural resources, philanthropic, and art assignments for many domestic and international organizations. He serves on the Trust for Mutual Understanding Board and as Chair of the Board at the Grand Canyon Trust. He is a Carnegie Foundation Senior Fellow and National Geographic Society Explorer. He lives in his work-in-progress home at Zuni, New Mexico, where he is also a lifelong traditional farmer.

CARL FERENBACH (2013)

Carl Ferenbach is Chairman & co-founder of High Meadows Foundation, High Meadows Fund, and High Meadows Institute.  He also serves on the following boards:

• Chairman, Environmental Defense Fund and Environmental Defense Fund Europe., an international environmental advocacy NGO
• Member, Advisory Board of Princeton Environmental Institute; Co-chair, Nassau Hall Society; and a retired two-term trustee
• Member of the Council of The Wilderness Society
• Director, Climate Central
• Member of the Board of the Centre for Enterprise, Markets & Ethics in Oxford, England
• Trustee, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
• Chairman, Woodrow Wilson Graduate School of Teaching & Learning
• Chairman, Cantillon & Mann LLC publishers of the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance
• Director, Independent Energy Standards
• Member, Advisory Board of Private Capital Research Institute
• Director, Telluride Foundation

Mr. Ferenbach was a co-founder of Berkshire Partners LLC, a private equity investment firm based in Boston, MA. He was previously a Managing Director, now serving as a Senior Advisor.  He retired from Berkshire in 2012 to focus on the work of High Meadows.  Berkshire manages nine private equity funds with more than $16.0 billion in capital.  They also manage a marketable securities fund, Stockbridge Investors with over $2.5 billion of capital.  Mr. Ferenbach served as Chairman of the Board of English Welsh and Scottish Railway Ltd., US Can Corporation, and Crown Castle International Corporation.  He served as a director of other Berkshire portfolio companies. 

Mr. Ferenbach received an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.  He served in the US Marine Corps Reserve.

He and his wife, Judy, own High Meadows Associates, Inc. which owns and operates farmland in Southern Vermont producing maple sugar products.

DAVID J. FIELD (1996)

David Field is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Entercom Communications Corp. (NYSE: ETM), a leading American media and entertainment company that reaches and engages over 100 million people each week across the nation’s top 50 markets through its premier collection of highly-rated radio stations, digital platforms, and live events. Philadelphia-based Entercom is one of the country’s two largest radio broadcasters and the nation’s unrivaled leader in news and sports radio.

Field has served as Entercom’s CEO since 2002 and its President since 1998. Under his leadership, Entercom has grown from 15 stations with $35 million in revenues to over 235 stations with $1.6 billion in revenues and the nation’s #1 creator of live, original, local audio content.

Prior to becoming Entercom’s President, Field served in a number of positions with the company, including Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Before joining Entercom, he was an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York.

In addition to chairing the Entercom board, Field serves on the boards of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the National Constitution Center, and The Wilderness Society, and on the Madison Council at the Library of Congress. Between 2005 and 2007, Field was chairman of the radio board of the NAB. He is a former trustee of the Philadelphia Zoo and the Ad Council.

Field has received numerous civic and professional awards, including the National Association of Broadcasters’ National Radio Award in 2017. He is a three-time recipient of Institutional Investor Magazine’s “Best CEOs in America” and a two-time recipient of Radio Ink Magazine’s Radio Executive of the Year Award. In 2017, he was honored as a “Giant in Broadcasting” by the International Radio & Television Society.

Field holds a B.A. in economics from Amherst College and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

CAROLINE M. GETTY (1993)

Caroline is a conservationist who lives in California.  She currently serves on the boards of the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

MARTINIQUE GRIGG (2015)

 

BEN JEALOUS (2021)

Ben Jealous serves as president of the Sierra Club.

Jealous has decades of experience as a leader, coalition builder, campaigner for social justice and seasoned nonprofit executive. In 2008, he was chosen as the youngest-ever president and CEO of the NAACP. During his tenure, he doubled the organization’s budget, grew its online activist base by hundreds of thousands and increased its number of donors eightfold, from 16,000 to 132,000. He also positioned the organization at the forefront of critical social justice issues such as the Trayvon Martin case, the fight against voter ID laws and major protests over the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policies. He pushed for the organization to fight more aggressively for marriage equality, led efforts to register 374, 000 voters and mobilize 1.2 million new voters to the polls, and worked to pass key legislative accomplishments during President Obama’s first term, most notably the Affordable Care Act.

In 2013, the Baltimore Sun named Jealous Marylander of the Year for his work on marriage equality, abolishing the death penalty and passing the DREAM Act. Jealous was the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor of Maryland, and most recently served as a partner at Kapor Capital. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and he has taught at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

LISA KEITH (2020) 

Lisa is a conservationist, based in Connecticut. She is a retired development executive who spent her career raising resources for conservation and climate organizations. She worked at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) for almost thirty years, leading multiple capital campaigns and working with leadership donors. She is active with numerous nonprofit organizations in the conservation and poverty alleviation sectors. She also serves as a Trustee of Environmental Defense Fund, and on the Advisory Board of the Appalachian Mountain Club. She is a former board member of the Chocorua Lake Conservancy.  Lisa received a B.A. from Middlebury College. 

KEVIN LUZAK, (2007)

Kevin is the President of Archer Holdings LLC, which manages a portfolio of privately-held investments. Between 2007 and 2013, Kevin was the CEO of one of the largest private forest products companies in the United States and had formerly filled senior management roles in hedge, private equity, and timberland funds.

Kevin has been a member of corporate boards in the forest products, aerospace, electronics, marketing, outdoor advertising, storage technology, and contract manufacturing industries, among others. He is also a director of the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of Virginia Art Museum and is the chair of the Squash Doubles Association Pro Tour.

JACQUELINE BADGER MARS  (2017)

Mrs. Mars retired as Vice President of Mars, Inc. in 2000. She was responsible for development of new food products and the marketing strategy. She serves on the board of The Mars Foundation, the Mars Remuneration Committee, and is retired from The Mars Board of Directors.

Mrs. Mars is the owner of a working farm that specializes in organic farming and equine training and breeding. The O'Connors (David and Karen), Olympic Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalists in the Three-day Eventing oversee the training of her competition horses at two locations in The Plains, Virginia, and Ocala, Florida. A separate facility has been developed to focus on the breeding of event horses.

Mrs. Mars is a strong supporter of the Piedmont Environmental Council and other conservation groups concerning land use and the environment. She is a stalwart supporter of historic preservation efforts through Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Civil War Trust, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the Montpelier Foundation and others. She is a strong advocate and supporter of women's education and their employment in the business community.

Mrs. Mars also serves on the boards of: American Prairie Reserve; Bryn Mawr College (Trustee Emeritus); Miss Hall’s School (Trustee Emeritus); Washington National Opera (Chairman, Board of Trustees); National Sporting Library and Museums (Vice Chairman); Orange County Hounds (President, Board of Stewards); Smithsonian National Board; National Archives Foundation; United States Equestrian Team Foundation; The Wilderness Society; Finance Committee of The United States Equestrian Federation, and Young Event Horse Task Force.

JUAN D. MARTINEZ (2015)

Juan D. Martinez-Pineda is a co-founder of Fresh Tracks, now a part of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions. Fresh Tracks is a cross-cultural revolution, rooted in the healing power of the outdoors. In addition, he is supporting the Tribal and Indigenous community of practice for the Opportunity Youth Forum.

Juan was named to The Explorers Club 50: Fifty People Changing the World the World Needs to Know About in 2021 for his work to engage the rising generation of youth to the healing power of the outdoors, and was named a National Geographic Explorer in 2011.

He serves on The Wilderness Society’s Governing Council, The Andrus Family Fund's Advisory Council, is a TED Speaker, Senior Advisor to the Children & Nature Network, and children’s book author.

He is dedicated to bringing the power of equity and justice to life through youth and community-driven solutions. Juan is a proud product of South-Central Los Angeles and a descendant of the Zapotec ( Be'ena'Za "The Cloud People”) Indigenous peoples of Oaxaca, MX. He now resides in Texas with his wife, Vanessa.

DAVE MATTHEWS (2009)

Dave Matthews is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). Winner of two Grammys, Dave Matthews Band’s first public performance occurred at the 1991 Earth Day Festival in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Since then, DMB has done benefit concerts for numerous other causes, such as environmental protection, disaster aid relief, cancer, and education. Dave Matthews is a Farm Aid board member and a principal of ATO Records. A founding member of the Green Music Group, Dave Matthews Band is offsetting 100 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions from their touring activities since 1991.

JEFFREY RHODES (2019)

Jeffrey Rhodes is a Partner of TPG in the San Francisco office, where he co-leads the healthcare group and the firm's investment activities in the healthcare services, pharmaceutical, and medical device sectors.

Jeff serves on the boards of Beaver-Visitec International, Immucor, Kindred at Home, Kindred Healthcare, and WellSky. He previously served on the Boards of Biomet, EnvisionRx, IMS Health, Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Surgical Care Affiliates, Zimmer Biomet and as a founding Board member of the Healthcare Private Equity Association.

He is active in community and conservation organizations.

Jeff received his MBA from the Harvard Business School. He earned his BA in economics from Williams College.

REBECCA L. ROM (1996)

Becky Rom is the National Chair of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, a national coalition of 400+ conservation and hunting & fishing organizations and businesses united to permanently protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the greater Quetico-Superior ecosystem from proposals for sulfide-ore copper mines.  The Wilderness Society and Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness are leaders of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters coalition.  Becky is a long-serving member of the board of directors for Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness (NMW) and The Wilderness Society.  NMW is headquartered in Ely, Minnesota, a gateway community for the Boundary Waters, and is the largest conservation organization in Minnesota advocating for the protection and preservation of the Quetico-Superior canoe country. The Wilderness Society is the nation’s leading public lands conservation organization.

Becky also served on the boards of the Alaska Wilderness League, Climate Generation, Milkweed Editions, YMCA Camp Widjiwagan, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, the North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, Boundary Waters Action Fund, Boundary Waters PAC, the Friends of the Boundary Waters, and the Boundary Waters Wilderness Foundation.  She is the founder of the Sigurd Olson Lecture Series, the Alaska Coalition of Minnesota, and Kids for Alaska.

Becky was a partner with a real estate and environmental law practice at Minneapolis-based Faegre & Benson (now Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP).  At Faegre, Becky was a long-time chair of the Community Service Committee, which oversaw the firm’s pro bono legal services.  After retirement from Faegre, Becky was the founding president of the Twin Cities Community Land Bank, a public-private partnership to revitalize communities in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul region.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT IV (1998)

Ted is a Managing Director in Investment Banking at Barclays Capital, based in New York.  Currently, he serves as Chairman of the firm’s Clean Tech Initiative. He joined Barclays Capital when it acquired the North American assets of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. He started work with Lehman in 1972 as a general banker in domestic corporate finance. In 1977, following Lehman Brothers’ merger with Kuhn Loeb, Ted was assigned to the International Department and also worked in the Firm’s Government Advisory Group. He joined the Short and Medium Term Corporate Finance Department in 1982 and was appointed manager of the department in 1985. He was named a Managing Director in 1984, and, in January 1991 he was asked to focus on the development of the Firm’s international business. He was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lehman Brothers Financial Products Inc. in 1994, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lehman Brothers Derivative Products Inc. in 1998. In February 2007, he was appointed Chairman of Lehman Brothers’ Council on Climate Change.  

Ted received his A.B. from Harvard in 1965. Immediately following, he joined the Navy as an officer in Underwater Demolition Team Eleven. Following his active duty, he joined the Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer. In 1972, Ted received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Ted is Board Chair of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), a Co-Vice Chair of The Climate Reality Project, a member of the Governing Council of the Wilderness Society, and a Trustee for the American Museum of Natural History and The World Resources Institute. He is also Counselor, China-U.S. Center for Sustainable Development and served as a board member of the League of Conservation Voters for nine years; three of which, he served as the Chairman. Ted is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Economic Club of New York, and a Governor of the Foreign Policy Association. 

At the Republican Convention in 2000, Ted gave the speech on the environment. He gave the keynote speech at the National Governor's Association Annual Meeting in 2001 as well as the keynote address at the Governor’s Conference on Climate Change in April 2008 sponsored by Yale University. He spoke at the Conference of Parties Climate Summit in December of 2009 in Copenhagen, sponsored by the European Union Parliament. Most recently in May of 2010, Ted gave a keynote speech at the International Cooperative Conference on Green Economy and Climate in Beijing organized by the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology and National Energy Administration. He is also a frequent lecturer on history and economics at New York University. He and his wife live in Brooklyn Heights.

JENNIFER PERKINS SPEERS (2014)

Jennifer is the President of the Palladium Foundation, which purchases conservation land in Utah. Founded in 2004, Palladium’s officers are Jennifer Speers and Randolph C. Speers of Salt Lake City and Moab, UT and Scott Johnston of Moab.   

Jennifer is the sole surviving child of George Walbridge Perkins, IV. (1925 - 2008), the granddaughter of George Walbridge Perkins III and a great-granddaughter of George Walbridge Perkins II, who with the help of the Rockefellers and Herrimans, among others, saved the Palisades in New York and New Jersey. George was the first President of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

Jennifer came to Utah to attend the University of Utah and to ski and has remained ever since. She became involved with The Nature Conservancy of Utah (TNC-UT) to protect the wetlands on the Great Salt Lake. Jennifer joined its board (which she now chairs) and served on the committees for the Campaign for a Sustainable Planet and that helped design the visitors’ center.  

In addition to The Nature Conservancy, Jennifer serves on the boards of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Conservation Lands Foundation, and the Grand Canyon Trust. She is a trustee of the Dutchess Day School, Miss Hall's School and a vice chair of the Glynwood Center of Cold Spring, NY, which supports farm communities and regional food systems. She is a director of Wave Hill, a public garden and cultural center on estate once owned by her great-grandfather and deeded to the City of New York in 1960. Jennifer also chairs the board of ArtSpace, which provides affordable living and working spaces for artists, cultural organizations, non-profits and others in Salt Lake City.  She is married to fellow Palladium director, Randy Speers. 

MARK WAN (2023)

Mr. Wan has over 30 years of private equity and venture investment experience. Mr. Wan co-founded Causeway, an investment fund focused on sports, fitness and related industries. Prior to forming Causeway, he was a co-founding partner of Three Arch Partners, a healthcare-focused investment firm. Prior to Three Arch Partners, Mr. Wan was a general partner at Brentwood Associates, a private equity firm headquartered in Los Angeles. Mr. Wan has served on numerous public and private company boards. Mr. Wan received his BS in electrical engineering from Yale University and his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

AARON WERNHAM, M.D., M.S. (2020)

Dr. Aaron Wernham is a family physician and chief executive officer of the Montana Healthcare Foundation, where brings experience in both public health and medical practice to the job of providing strategic direction for the Foundation. In this position, he works with the MHCF Board of Trustees to develop and implement the Foundation’s strategic priorities, programming, and partnerships. Over more than a decade in clinical practice, Aaron worked in underserved communities in urban California and rural Alaska, where he also served as a policy advisor for Alaska Native tribes. In his work on health policy at the national level, Aaron developed and led the Health Impact Project, a major national initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; he has served on several National Academy of Sciences committees and authored a number of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and public health reports. Aaron received his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco.