Wilderness Volunteers Board of Directors
Robin Jormark Bland -- Director,
Basalt, CO
Robin was born and raised in New York City, but developed a love of the outdoors and outdoor recreation as a young adult. Her professional experience includes seventeen years at Soros Fund Management. In addition to her volunteer work with WV, she works locally with Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers and leads trips for the Appalachian Mountain Club. Robin is married to Carter Bland and, when not traveling somewhere to hike, ski or paddle, they divide their time between the Western Slope of Colorado and the Hudson Valley in New York.
Debra Ellers -- Director, Vice President, McCall,
ID
Debra Ellers’ professional experience includes over 25 years practicing as a commercial attorney. From 1997-2005, Debra worked as an in-house attorney with Micron Technology, Inc., a global technology company headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Prior to joining Micron, Debra was an attorney for nearly 10 years with the Boise firm of Holland & Hart, a large regional law firm with offices around the Rocky Mountain West. Debra has been a licensed Idaho attorney and resided in Idaho since 1986. Debra received her J.D. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1986, and her B.A. degree in Economics with High Honors from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1981, where she was also Phi Beta Kappa and a National Merit Scholar.
Debra’s non-profit experience includes serving as a volunteer trip leader since 2001 and a board member since 2005 for Wilderness Volunteers. Debra is currently serving as the Executive Director for the Sagebrush Habitat Conservation Fund, a non-profit organization with the mission to “protect and restore sagebrush habitat in the American West to benefit native wildlife through voluntary conservation.
Kathryn Hathaway -- Director, Portland,
OR
Kathryn Hathaway, of Hathaway Designs, has contributed significant
graphic design work to Wilderness Volunteers, including designing our logo
and consulting on our newsletter, brochures and website. Kathryn is an enthusiastic
birder, and in addition to participating in an annual Wilderness Volunteers
Service Trip, she is a member of the Portland Audubon Society. She occasionally
helps the local “Audubon Plant Parenthood” by fostering young native plants
that are then planted locally. She lives in a rural area close to Portland,
where she can watch migrating sandhill cranes, swans and snow geese from her
yard.
Michael Leonard -- Director, New York,
NY
Mike Leonard grew up in northern New Jersey, just 25 miles west of New York
City, and, thanks to his parents, spent many days exploring the woods and mountains
of the East. Dogs, horses, and family have been mainstays in his life, along
with hiking, photography, the Mets, and a good laugh. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate
of Wesleyan University and a former collegiate wrestler, Mike spent several
years after college running a residential wilderness school for at-risk youth
in western Maryland, and led several 100+ mile backpacking trips through the
Appalachian Mountains. After three demanding, rewarding, and memorable years
(few things surprise him any more), he left the rolling hills of Maryland and
headed for the concrete streets of New York City, where he is studying for
a master’s degree in economics and public policy at Columbia University. Despite
his new urban environment, he can still be found listening to country music
and scanning the trees for red-tailed hawks, and can’t wait to get back out
on the trail.
Frank MacMurray -- Director,
President, Portland, OR
Frank MacMurray is an attorney with 25 years of
private practice, including several years as the City
Attorney for Redmond, OR. Frank has served on the Boards
of Portland’s The Friends of Forest Park and The
Pacific Crest Outward Bound School, as well as serving
as attorney for Pacific Crest Outward Bound School.
Additionally, Frank is a member of the Bureau of Land
Management’s John Day-Snake Rivers Advisory Council
which focuses on riparian habitat and the preservation
of wild salmon runs. As a young man, Frank was a Forest
Service smoke jumper and, after graduating law school,
he spent seven years on the Mt. Bachelor Ski Patrol.
Frank remains active in many outdoor activities including
fly fishing, birding, hiking, rafting and camping.
John McLean -- Director, Tucson, AZ
A third generation Arizonan, John McLean earned his undergraduate
degree from the University of Arizona while wandering around the
desert southwest. Between summer trips to the High Sierras,
John received a PhD in Applied Math from Caltech. John returned
to Tucson in 1990, and is currently President and CEO of Arete Associates,
an employee-owned research and development company. While continuing
to hike, climb, and run; John has recently added the concept of “Giving
Something Back” through service trips with Wilderness Volunteers.
Tim Peterson -- Director, Durango, CO
A seventh-generation westerner, Tim has had a lifelong obsession with wild public lands. Tim's experience with wilderness was shaped at an early age on hikes in the Uinta Mountains and camping trips on the Colorado Plateau. As a young adult, the prospect of spending time outdoors professionally proved irresistible, and Tim sought to build a career advocating for public lands preservation. He cut his teeth assisting with a wilderness re-inventory of America’s Redrock Wilderness Act on Utah’s Bureau of Land Management lands in the nineties, then moved on to conduct field inventory and off-road vehicle monitoring on Utah’s National Forests and in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, Arizona, Oregon and Idaho. Between field stints, he’s conducted GIS mapping, environmental project work, and policy and legal analysis for local, regional, and national conservation groups. Currently employed by Grand Canyon Trust as Utah Wildlands Program Director, Tim focuses on permanent protection for Utah's matchless public lands. Tim enjoys spending time hiking in, fly fishing, floating through and photographing the wild backcountry he seeks to protect.
Robin Rose -- Director, Secretary, Vancouver,
WA
Robin Rose currently lives in Vancouver, Washington, and is employed by the U.S.
Forest Service. As the Recreation Program Manager for the Gifford Pinchot National
Forest, Robin is responsible for managing the forest’s recreation, trails, wilderness,
and wild and scenic rivers programs. Robin has worked in the recreation and wilderness
management field for over 25 years, and her career has included extensive experience
partnering with volunteer organizations on restoration and trail maintenance
projects. Robin’s first introduction to Wilderness Volunteers was in 1999 when
she worked with a service trip group maintaining wilderness trails on her forest.
Robin was so impressed by the organization she signed on to assist on a trip
the following year, and has been leading trips annually since then. Robin enjoys
spending her free time exploring nearby forests and the out-of-doors, and her
favorite outdoor recreation pursuits include hiking and birding. Robin also appreciates
slowing down to experience the spiritual restoration wilderness settings can
provide.
Duane Thompson -- Director, Eugene, OR
Born and raised in Seattle, WA Duane's parents exposed him to the outdoor world through camping, hiking and fly fishing, instilling a lifelong passion for outdoor activities that now range from skiing, cycling and sea kayaking to backpacking and rafting and most everything in between. After graduating from the University of Washington, Duane spent 20+ years working in the San Francisco area for the Bechtel Corp, primarily in Finance and Human Resources, travelling the world with stints living in Alaska, London, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and New Zealand. In 1987, entering a “second phase” of life, he left Bechtel and moved to Eugene, OR to do some of those things he hadn’t previously had time to pursue, while continuing to indulge a love of the outdoors and feed a wanderlust. Consequently, over his “diversified retired” years, he's taught at the local Community College, done Accounting and Business Consulting for nonprofit organizations in addition to leading trips for a bike touring company and being a Wilderness Course Instructor for Outward Bound.
During these years, Duane also concentrated on volunteer work and has served on numerous nonprofit Boards, did Disaster Relief in NYC, post 9/11, been a docent at an Environment Center in the Bahamas, assisted in the US Olympic Track&Field Trials and US Track and Field Championships and Women’s Amateur Golf Championship and been a Hospice volunteer in addition to having participated in numerous service trips with Elderhostel, Yosemite Association, Sierra Club, American Hiking Society and Wilderness Volunteers, to name a few. Needless to say, he's still captivated with wilderness and strongly supports the work that WV performs in the protection of this life giving resource.
Rick Volpe -- Director, Treasurer, Cedars, PA
Rick Volpe became introduced to WV while surfing
the web for volunteer outdoor activities. Rick’s inaugural
trip into Dark Canyon confirmed his desire to support the organization,
and to take advantage of as many trips as can be fit in his family
and business schedule. Rick and his wife Marge have enjoyed
backpacking, canoeing and camping with their four children from Maryland’s
Eastern Shore to the rocky coast of Maine. They have also completed
numerous church trips to Mexico’s Yucatan to construct churches
and medical clinics.
As recent empty nesters, they are venturing more to the wide-open west, into the heart of WV territory. In addition to numerous church Boards and committees, Rick and Marge serve on the Board of Governors of Opportunity International, helping the world’s poorest people transform their lives through microfinance. Rick is the founder and owner of Asset Planning Services, a financial advisory firm located in suburban Philadelphia.
