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TPL's Board of Directors

Left to right: George P. Denny, III (Chair, Boston, MA), John Baird (Chicago, IL), Claudia A. Polley (San Francisco, CA), Douglas Durst (New York, NY), James S. Hoyte (Boston, MA), Steve Baird (Chicago, IL), Martha M. Wyckoff (Seattle, WA), Brian M. Beitner (Boulder, CO), Reverend Carla Valentine Pryne (Seattle,WA), William B. Rogers (Kensington, CA), George Bell (Boston, MA), Margaret L. Brown (Anchorage, AK), Douglas P. Ferguson (Mill Valley, CA), Michael E. Patterson (New York, NY), Elliot P. Laws (Washington, D.C.), William J. Cronon (Madison, WI), James D. Sano (San Rafael, CA), F. Jerome Tone (Seattle, WA).
Not shown: Robert E. Carlson (Pasadena, CA), Page Knudsen Cowles (St. Paul, MN), Eugene C. Lee (Sonoma, CA), Roy Richards (Charleston, SC), Martin J. Rosen (Carmel, CA), Kent Thiry (Woodside, CA)
Photographed in Farragut Square, Washington, D.C. by Elias Kontogiannis.

George P. Denny, III, Boston, MA, (Chair) is a partner of Halpern, Denny & Co., a private equity investment group based in Boston, which he co-founded in 1991. Prior to forming Halpern, Denny & Co., Mr. Denny was the Managing Director for Bain Holdings, an investment partnership formed by Bain & Company. For many years, Mr. Denny was a partner of Bain & Co. and headed its west coast and Japanese operations. Mr. Denny has served on the national Board of Directors of the Trust for Public Land since April 1990 and as its Chairman since October 2003. He is also the Chairman of Denny Land & Cattle Company, which produces wild rice, timothy hay, and runs cattle operations in California. He is a Partner of Boston Common Press, the publisher of Cook's Illustrated magazine and America's Test Kitchen cookbooks. Mr. Denny serves on the Board of Directors of The Natural Resource Defense Council Action Fund and previously served on the Board of the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Mr. Denny is a graduate of Harvard College and received his M.B.A. as a Baker Scholar from the Harvard Business School.

Stephen W. Baird, Chicago, IL, is the president and chief executive officer of Baird & Warner. Established in 1855, the firm is the oldest residential real estate brokerage in the United States and currently ranks among the nation's top 12 with an annual sales volume of approximately $5 billion. Under Baird's leadership, the firm has grown dramatically -currently with a sales force of approximately 1,700 sales associates, who operate from 30 strategically located offices throughout Chicago and its suburbs. The Company also operates subsidiaries in residential mortgage banking, title services and home services.

He serves as chairman of The Realty Alliance - a consortium of the nation's top real estate firms - and has testified before the US Congress on matters of vital interest to the real estate community. In addition, he has long worked for the preservation of open space as past-president of CorLands, The Openlands Project and, currently, as a national board member of the Trust for Public Land. He holds memberships in the World Presidents Organization, the Chief Executives Organization and the Commercial Club of Chicago. He serves as a trustee of the Morton Arboretum and has recently been appointed to the boards of Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ) and the local advisory board of US Bank. He also was selected by Fortune Small Business Magazine as a "Best Boss" for 2004.

A 1975 graduate of Harvard University, Baird remains active in the Harvard community. He currently serves as the national chairman for the HAA Schools and Scholarship Committee and is the co-chair of the Harvard Schools Committee in Chicago, which interviews applicants for admission. Baird earned his MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Business Management in 1985, and also serves as a director of that school's Alumni Board.

Steve and his wife, Susan, and daughters, Abigail and Lucy, are longtime residents of Chicago and the North Shore.

Brian M. Beitner, Boulder, CO, Board of Directors, Colorado Advisory Council Brian is the Chief Investment Officer of the start up investment management firm Chautauqua Capital Management. Prior to 2009 Brian was a Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager and Senior Equity Strategist at the investment management firm Trust Company of the West. He is a Director of VestMatch, Inc. He is a CFA charter holder and past President of the Security Analysts of San Francisco. Mr. Beitner has served as a co-Chair of the Trust for Public Land, California Advisory Board. He received his B.A. and MBA from the University of Southern California.

George Bell, Boston, MA, is Managing Director of General Catalyst Partners, focusing on investment opportunities in new media, interactive marketing and digital-driven disruptions of traditional consumer behavior. George is a board member of Gong, Hubspot, PhotoShelter and WonderHowTo. George has been involved in the creation and growth of consumer businesses for 25 years. Before General Catalyst, he was CEO of Upromise, the country's largest college savings service, sold in 2006 to Sallie Mae. George was also Chairman and CEO of Excite@Home, bringing together the Excite portal with the @Home cable broadband platform in a $7 billion merger. George was CEO of Excite prior to the merger, led the company's IPO, oversaw the acquisition of more than 20 companies and expanded Excite into a worldwide media property. Previously George founded The Outdoor Life Network (now Versus Network), a specialty cable channel reaching 40+MM homes; served as SVP, Times Mirror Magazines, where he oversaw eight special interest magazines, such as SKI and Field & Stream; and has won four national Emmy Awards as a producer and writer of adventure, wildlife and vanishing culture documentaries for ABC, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic.

George is also board Chairman of Harris Interactive (NASDAQ: HPOL) a leading marketing services and polling company; Chairman of the New England Advisory Board of Trust for Public Land; and immediate past Chairman of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. He has won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award both in Northern California and New England; been featured in TIME, Fortune, Forbes and Business Week; has appeared regularly on CNBC as both guest and co-host; and spoken extensively on new media, convergence, and leadership. George holds a BA from Harvard College.

Margaret L. Brown, Anchorage, AK, began her involvement with Alaska Native land issues after the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971. Ms. Brown is President and Chief Executive Officer for Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI), one of twelve Alaska Native regional corporations set up under the Act. From 1976 to 1995, Ms. Brown had been employed by CIRI and/or served on the Board; she worked to direct CIRI's selection of its 2.5 million acre land entitlement, managed the company's land and natural resources, and negotiated CIRI's land exchange and settlement agreements with federal and state agencies. Ms. Brown currently serves on the Executive Committee of The Nature Conservancy, Alaska Chapter, and has served on the Denali Task Force and the National Park System Advisory Board. Ms. Brown is an Alaska Native of Yup'ik (Eskimo) descent. She completed her undergraduate work at the University of Oregon and received her MBA from the University of Colorado.

Robert E. Carlson, Pasadena, CA, is Senior Counsel of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, in its Los Angeles office. He is a former president of the Los Angeles County Bar Foundation, is on the Board of the Skid Row Housing Trust, which he chaired for the first ten years of its existence and serves on the boards of Las Familias del Pueblo and the Pasadena Community Foundation. He is a member of the Federal Regulation of Securities and Developments in Investments Services of the American Bar Association and has been a member of the Executive Committee of the ABA's Public Education Division. He was the recipient in 1992 of the Griffin Bell Award by Dispute Resolution Services, Inc., a non-profit mediation service; and a recipient in 1996 of the Katherine Krause award by the Inner City Law Center for his affordable housing work in the skid row area of Los Angeles.

Page Knudsen Cowles, St. Paul, MN, was an investment professional in the financial services industry during the 1980's; she is now a partner in Ruminator Books Press, an independent trade book publishing company. An active volunteer in the Twin Cities for many years, Ms. Cowles has served on the boards of the Children's Theater Company, Planned Parenthood Minnesota/South Dakota, and Graywolf Press, a nationally acclaimed literary publisher. She currently is a trustee of St. Paul Academy and Summit School, serves on the board of Unity Avenue Foundation, and is a director of Lawrence Creek, LLC, a private investment company. A native of Seattle, Washington, Ms. Cowles received her B.A. from Yale and her M.B.A. from Harvard.

William J. Cronon, Madison, WI, is a historian of American environmental history and of the American west. In 1991, his book, Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, was awarded the Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize; in 1992 the Bancroft Prize; and in 1993, the George Perkins Marsh Prize as well as the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Award. He co-edited Under an Open Sky: Rethinking America's Western Past, a collection of essays on the prospects of western and frontier history in American historiography, and edited Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, which examines the implication of different cultural ideas of nature for modern environmental problems. Currently he is working on a history of Portage, Wisconsin, which will explore how people's sense of place is shaped by the stories they tell about their homes, their lives, and the landscapes they inhabit. Professor Cronon is also completing a book entitled Saving Nature in Time: The Past and the Future of Environmentalism, on the evolving relationship between environmental history and environmentalism and what the two might learn from each other. In 1992, he became the Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, & Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was previously a member of the Yale History Department. He is past President of the American Society for Environmental History, serves on the Governing Council of The Wilderness Society and is general editor of the Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books Series. He received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison; an M.A., M.Phil. and a Ph.D. from Yale, and a D.Phil. from Oxford University. He has been a Rhodes Scholar, Danforth Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, and MacArthur Fellow.

Douglas Durst, New York, NY is a member of the third generation to run The Durst Organization, one of New York City's most respected real estate developers, owners and management companies. Founded in 1915 by Douglas' grandfather Joseph Durst, they have been responsible over the last 90 years for transforming the skyline of midtown Manhattan. Beginning in the late 1950's, The Durst Organization began to develop office buildings along the Third Avenue corridor from 42nd Street north to 50th Street. When Douglas joined the firm in 1970, it was at the start of their Westside development, which resulted in another three office buildings along The Avenue of the Americas. In 1996, under the leadership of Douglas, The Durst Organization became the catalyst for large-scale office development of the "New Times Square" with the completion of 4 Times Square at 42nd Street and Broadway. 4 Times Square was the first speculative office building that incorporated environmentally responsible design and building practices. The Durst Organization recently completed The Helena, a 600 unit residential building at 57th Street and 11 Avenue which was designed to be achieve a LEED gold rating, and they are constructing The Bank of America Tower at 1 Bryant Park to LEED Platinum standard.

Douglas was born in New York City in 1944. He graduated from the Fieldston School in 1962 and the University of California at Berkeley in 1966 where he studied economics and learned civil disobedience. Returning to New York in 1967, he married Susanne with whom he has three children: Anita, Alexander, and Helena. After two years of study at the Urban Studies Program at New York University he joined The Durst Organization learning the business from his father Seymour and his two uncles, Roy and David.

Douglas has been involved with the theatrical arts for many years and is a member of the Board of Directors of The Roundabout Theater, Primary Stages and The Town Hall. He is also a Director of the Real Estate Board of New York, The Landmarks Conservancy, The Municipal Art Society, and Co-Chair of Friends of Hudson River Park. In addition, he has been an environmentalist activist for many years and is part owner of the largest organic farm in New York State. For relaxation he rides horses, bicycles, and skis. For aggravation, he plays tennis.

Douglas P. Ferguson, Mill Valley, CA, is an attorney active in business, real estate, and entertainment law matters. He has served on the TPL board since its inception in 1973. Mr. Ferguson also serves as an advisor to Save San Francisco Bay Association, San Francisco Bay Keeper (San Francisco Bay pollution control), Slide Ranch (nature & nutrition education for inner-city children), Bread & Roses (providing entertainment to shut-ins and prisoners), the California Film Institute (Rafael Film Center and Mill Valley Film Festival), Marin Theatre Company (regional repertory theatre), and the Ecumenical Association for Housing (affordable housing). He attended Harvard College and received an LLB from Stanford School of Law.

James S. Hoyte, Lexington, MA, is a recently retired senior administrator and lecturer in environmental policy at Harvard University. He is currently a Fellow of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research. An attorney, he was a partner at Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston before joining the Massachusetts Horticultural Society as its interim executive director in 1991. Prior to that, he was Secretary of Environmental Affairs for Massachusetts from 1983 to 1988 concurrent with being chairman of the Board of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority in Boston from 1985 to 1988, after positions at Arthur D. Little, Inc., Massachusetts Port Authority, and Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Mr. Hoyte is a member of various state and national bar associations, and a member of the board of trustees for Massachusetts Environmental Trust, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Posse Foundation, Wheaton College, Cambridge College, and the Museum of Afro-American History and numerous other nonprofit and environmental organizations. He has been honored with several awards in recognition for his social and political contributions in the Boston area. He received his A.B. from Harvard College in 1965 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1968.

Elliott P. Laws, Washington, DC, is a senior counsel in the Washington, DC office of Crowell & Moring and practices in the firm's Public Policy Group. He provides crisis management, strategic counseling and legal and policy advice on domestic and international environmental and energy policy issues and litigation. Mr. Laws was President of Safety, Health and Environment for Texaco Inc.

As Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response at the Environmental Protection Agency, he was responsible for regulatory and policy development and implementation for solid and hazardous waste management. This included the Superfund, RCRA, Brownfields and underground storage tank programs. Formerly, he was a Justice Department and EPA attorney and a Manhattan Assistant District Attorney. He also served as Executive Director of the Outlook Policy Forum, a non-profit group devoted to energy, environmental and economic issues.

Caroline Niemczyk, Bedford Hills, NY, currently serves as Vice Chair of The Conservation Campaign, Vice Chair of the Open Space Institute, and sits on the board of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Advisory board roles include the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, and the Land Trust Alliance.

Ms. Niemczyk's career includes having served on the staff of Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, as a program officer at the Smith Richardson Foundation, as special assistant to Boston University President John Silber, and as an adjunct professor on the history faculty at Barnard College. Ms. Niemczyk holds degrees from Yale, the London School of Economics, and Columbia. She has three children and resides in Bedford, New York.

Michael E. Patterson, New York, NY, worked for JPMorgan from 1987-2009, serving as general counsel, chief administrative officer, a member of the board and vice chairman. Prior to his employment with JPMorgan, Michael practiced law in New York and Paris as a partner of Debevoise & Plimpton. He is a trustee of The Hastings Center and the USA Cycling Development Foundation. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Child School, the French-American Foundation, and the Columbia University Investment Management Company. A native of New York State, Michael completed his undergraduate work at Harvard and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School. He lives with his wife Elena in New York City and Connecticut and is bicycle racer.

Thomas S. Reeve, Bellevue, Washington, is active in land conservation across Washington State. He is the current Chair of the Washington State Board as well as Chair of the National Leadership Council. He spent 18 years at Microsoft working in a variety of technical and management jobs. Joining while Microsoft was young, some of Tom's jobs included managing teams focused on consumer software, internal tools, international software versions, the Works business, media production and the MSN.com portal site. He is an avid traveler and outdoorsman exploring the outdoors of Washington State and the world with his family. Tom serves as President of the Board of the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition. The Reeve family splits their time between the Seattle area and their Lopez Island farm, which they have protected by conservation easements. Born and raised in Honolulu, Tom earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University.

Roy Richards, Jr., Charleston, SC, (on leave until October 2011) is the Chairman of Southwire Company, one of North America's largest producers of electrical power cable. He has served as past President of the International Cablemakers Federation, past Chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and was elected Georgia's Most Respected CEO in 1999 by readers of Georgia Trend Magazine. He is an active fly fisherman, downhill skier, and reader, and currently resides with his family in Charleston, South Carolina.

Will Rogers, Kensington, CA, is President and CEO of the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, playgrounds, community gardens, farms, historic places, and wilderness. Whether recycling brownfields for new urban parks or playgrounds or conserving remote and inspirational wildlands, TPL brings a market-based approach to its mission of protecting the places that inspire us and where people can connect with the natural world and with each other.

Based in San Francisco, TPL has over 300 staff in 40 offices nationwide and since 1972, TPL has helped protect over 2.8 million acres of land. Under Will's leadership, TPL has successfully tackled conservation challenges as diverse as new playgrounds in New York and Newark, the headwaters of the Connecticut River in northern New Hampshire, a new public park in downtown Santa Fe, the 25,000 acre Wao Kele O Puna of coastal Honolulu, Hawaii, and the scenic Waddle Ranch near Truckee, California. During this time, TPL's Conservation Finance Program has also helped states and communities design and pass 383 ballot measures that have created more than $33 billion in land conservation funding through bonds and sales taxes to protect air and water quality, preserve land, and create parks; and TPL's Conservation Vision program has begun or completed more than 80 GIS mapping projects nationwide to help communities and regions set their conservation priorities.

Will Rogers is a nationally recognized advocate for land conservation and has given major addresses or interviews to the Urban Land Institute, the National Smart Growth Conference, the National Brownfields Conference, and Talk of the Nation, among others.

Before joining TPL, Will Rogers managed infill urban redevelopment projects for a Chicago-based real estate development company, managing both new construction and the rehabilitation of vacant industrial buildings for commercial, office, and residential use. Before becoming a developer and then an "undeveloper" Will was a commercial beekeeper, founding and managing a commercial honey production company in Bogotá, Colombia. He is a graduate of Stanford University and received his MBA from Harvard University. He lives with his family in Kensington, California, and continues to keep honeybees in his back yard.

Martin J. Rosen, Carmel, CA, was president of the Trust for Public Land from 1978-1997. He was a founding member of TPL's Board of Directors in 1972 and has served as chairman of the board. He was counsel to the San Francisco law firm of Silver, Rosen, Fischer & Stecher, which specialized in transportation and regulatory law. Mr. Rosen was part of a goodwill delegation to India under the auspices of the U.S. State Department and the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. He serves on the boards of the Pacific Forest Trust, the Landscape Architecture Foundation, and other nonprofit and educational institutions. Recently, he was in residence as a Conservation Fellow, and taught at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, publishing a monograph entitled "Using Partnerships For Land Conservation." He is a member at-large of Earth Share's Board of Directors.

James D. Sano, San Rafael, CA, is president of Geographic Expeditions, a San Francisco-based Adventure Travel and consulting company. Previously he served with the National Park Service in Yosemite as the Executive Assistant to the Superintendent and as Mather District Naturalist. With extensive experience in expeditions and exploration, Mr. Sano was the leader of the 1983 American Mt. Everest Expedition and recently co-led the first guided crossing of South Georgia Island. He has also served on the boards of the Yosemite Services Corporation, Yosemite Alpine Club, The Mono Lake Foundation, The Natural Step, and the National Council of the World Wildlife Fund.

Kent J. Thiry, Cherry Hills Village, CO, has been Chairman and CEO of DaVita Inc., since October 1999. DaVita is the largest independent provider of dialysis services in the United States for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure. Mr. Thiry was a Consultant at Bain & Company from 1983-1987 and a Partner from 1987-1991. He was Chairman of Vivra from 1991-97 and Chairman of Vivra Specialty Partners from 1997-1999.

Mr. Thiry earned his BA in Political Science, with Distinction and Phi Beta Kappa, from Stanford University in 1978. He earned his MBA, with Honors, from Harvard Business School in 1983, where he was also elected to the Century Club. He is currently a member of the Harvard Business School Board of Advisors.

Prior Board seats include Oxford Health Plans where he also served as Chair of the Board, the Board of Varian Medical Systems and PPOM. He currently serves as Chair of Kidney Care Partners. Kent was raised in Wisconsin.

Sheryl Crockett Tishman, Bedford, NY, is an active philanthropist and environmentalist. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the Mianus River Gorge Preserve and Teton Valley Ranch Camp, and is a former Trustee of The Open Space Institute, the National Audubon Society Expedition Institute, The George Mitchell Scholarship Foundation and The Meade School in Stamford, CT. Sheryl has been helping TPL protect land in Colorado and her home state of Maine since 2007 and joined the Board of Directors in 2010.

As a Trip Leader for the National Audubon Society Expedition Institute, Sheryl guided students who were pursuing a deeper ecological understanding of environmental education, leadership and advocacy. She continued in the field of education as a teacher for the Weymouth House in Maine while concurrently managing the Sleepy Hallow Llama Farm in Jefferson, Maine with her husband, Daniel. She holds a BS in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College and MS in Education from Lesley University. In her spare time she enjoys all outdoor pursuits, wilderness travel and time with her husband and two sons.

F. Jerome Tone, Seattle, WA, is the principal in a Marin County-based real estate investment company. Jerry is currently serving as the 1st Vice Chairman of the national Board of Directors of the Trust for Public Land, and Chairman of the Executive Committee. He is also on the Board of the Seattle Parks Foundation and serves as a director of the Alamitos Land Company in Signal Hill, California. Previously, Mr. Tone was a principal with Montgomery Capital Corporation, a real estate investment partnership in San Francisco, was involved in the production of affordable housing as Chief Financial Officer with BRIDGE Housing Corporation, and was a Vice President in the real estate lending department at Wells Fargo Bank. He received his undergraduate degree from Williams College, and a Masters in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.

Emeritus Directors

John W. Baird, Chicago, IL, is Chairman of the Board of Baird & Warner, Inc., the fourth generation Baird to be actively associated with this 142-year-old Chicago real estate firm. Mr. Baird is closely involved in metropolitan housing, planning and real estate affairs, and active in organizations pertaining to banking, historic preservation and higher education. He served as a member of the Trust for Public Land's National Board of Directors from 1984-2005 and played an instrumental role in establishing its Chicago Office.

William M. Evarts, Jr., New York, NY, is a retired partner in the New York law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, and formerly a retired partner of Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts. He currently serves on the boards of the United Hospital Fund, The Clark Foundation, Scenic Hudson, Inc., Scenic Hudson Land Trust, and the Hudson Highlands Land Trust. He has served as a director and the Secretary of the National Audubon Society and as a director of the New York State Board of The Nature Conservancy. He was also formerly Chairman and is now Consulting Member of The New York Community Trust.

Terese "Terry" Tarlton Hershey has been described as "a force of nature," "a tireless advocate, imaginative visionary thinker," and possessing "the ability to bring different interests together to resolve conflicts and reach consensus." She aided in the founding of the Bayou Preservation Association in the 1960s. She was a founding member of the Houston Audubon Society, Urban Harvest, Memorial Park Conservancy, The Park People, and more. She became a driving force behind the formation of Citizens Who Care, which evolved into the Citizens Environmental Coalition (CEC).

On the statewide and national arenas, she was appointed to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission by Governor Ann Richards, and was a founding member of the National Wildflower Center in Austin, which was launched by Ms. Lady Bird Johnson. Hershey served on the board of National Recreation and Parks Association for a total of 12 years. She has been a board member of the National Recreation Foundation since 1989. And she has served on three other national boards of conservation organizations: The Trust for Public Land, the Audubon Society, and the National Association of Floodplain Managers Foundation.

Hershey established a family foundation committed to environmental causes, the Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation. She has been awarded numerous awards for her contributions to the cause of conservation.

Vivian R. Johnson, Newton Centre, MA

Eugene C. Lee, Sonoma, CA, is professor emeritus of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, and was director of the Institute of Governmental Studies from 1967 to 1988. A former vice president of the University, he was also first chairman of the Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy and has served as staff consultant to the California Congressional Delegation and to the Special Masters on Reapportionment of the California Supreme Court. Mr. Lee has acted as a consultant to several universities and governmental organizations in the United States, Japan, Tanzania, Puerto Rico, Micronesia, Italy, and London.

Stephen C. Morris, Chagrin Falls, OH

Charles M. "Clance" Peterson, New York, NY

Douglass A. Raff Seattle, WA is a principal of Riddell Williams P.S., a Seattle law firm, and a long-time environmental advocate. He is chairman of the board of directors of Harbor Properties Inc. and chair of the Museum Development Authority of Seattle. He was chairman of the Seattle 2000 Commission, former chair of the TPL Washington Advisory Council, and has served as a trustee of the Seattle Parks Foundation, the Bullitt Foundation, the Corporate Council for the Arts, the Seattle Police Foundation, the Pacific Science Center, the Pilchuck Glass School, and the Washington Environmental Council. He received his B.A. and J.D. from Harvard University.

Marie Ridder, McLean, VA, serves on the Executive Committee of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and is a current member of the Word Wildlife Fund Council, the American Farmland Trust Council, and the Brookings Institute Council. Marie formerly served as board member of the National Parks Conservation Association, the Sasha Bruce House (a home for troubled children), and the National Parks System Advisory Board. She also served on the advisory council of ISAR, an organization that works with the environment in the former Soviet Union. Marie was the Vice-Chairman of the Landmarks Commission for the U.S. Department of the Interior and was a former board member and chairperson of the Piedmont Environmental Council, an activist land-use management organization. Marie was an advisory board member of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, and a former chairman of the Virginia State Parks Commission and the Virginia Council on the Environment. A retired journalist, Ms. Ridder was editor for Conde Nast (Washington editor for Vogue, Mademoiselle, and Glamour magazines). She was a Washington correspondent for the Ridder and, later, Knight Ridder newspapers, and wrote for a wide variety of publications including The Washington Post and Boston Globe. She was also the architectural critic for Washingtonian magazine. Ms. Ridder was Deputy to the National Director of Project Head Start and Liaison to Mrs. Lyndon Johnson from 1964 to 1968.

Christopher Glenn Sawyer, Atlanta, GA, is a partner with Alston & Bird, specializing in corporate governance, real estate and conservation law. Chris served on the national Board of Directors of the Trust for Public Land from 1993 to 2006, and as its Chairman from 1995 through 2003. From 1996-2004, Chris served as Chairman of the Chattahoochee River Coordinating Committee,an effort by TPL and its partners to create a park and greenway along 180 miles of the river in Georgia. He continues to serve as President of the West Hill Foundation for Nature in Jackson, Wyoming. He is a current member of the Board of Directors of IDI, one of the largest private development companies in America, and EDAW, one of the largest land consulting firms in the world. He was founding chairman of TPL's Georgia Advisory Board and The Nature Conservancy's National Real Estate Advisory Board. He also currently serves on TPL's National Real Estate Council, the Board of Directors of The Murie Center in Jackson, Wyoming, the Yale University Divinity School's Board of Advisors, and has been nominated for the national board of the Urban Land Institute. He has been affiliated with numerous professional organizations, including Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Duke University Urban Property Development Council, and the Atlanta Bar Association, which he served as its president from 1989 - 1990. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received his M. Div. from Yale University in 1975, and his J.D. from Duke University School of Law in 1978.

Martha M. Wyckoff, Seattle, Washington, is a community investor and strong supporter of land conservation. She is currently active on the Washington State Board for TPL and is immediate past Chair of the National Leadership Council, and was a member of the Board of Directors from 1996-2009. She also serves on the Board of Regents at Seattle University, one of the region's major centers of higher education. With her 3 sons, she owns and operates a hay and wheat farm in central Washington. Holding a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Tufts University, Ms. Wyckoff has worked as a project engineer in New York and Washington State.

Updated 6/2010