Board & Staff

Bill Robinson

President

Bill graduated from Washington State University and began his career working for the state legislature. For 30 years he worked for state government focusing on finance and budgeting. After leaving government, Bill became the Director of State Government Relations for The Nature Conservancy of Washington. He represented The Nature Conservancy and other environmental organizations on a variety of state legislative and agency policy issues.

Sandra Kaiser

Vice President

Sandra Kaiser is a third-generation Washingtonian, former communications director for the state Department of Natural Resources, and currently vice president for college relations at The Evergreen State College. She served presidents Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama for 28 years as an American diplomat and now lives on Totten Inlet in rural Thurston County.

Skip McGinty

Treasurer

Skip was welcomed as a member of CLT’s Board of Directors in 2017. Skip is a retired healthcare management consultant. His career also included 20 years as an executive with the Kaiser Permanente healthcare program, 2 years an official with the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, and 10 years as a Peace Corps volunteer and staff member. Skip has an AB from Occidental College and an MBA from Stanford University. He is an enthusiastic hiker, skier, kayaker and cyclist.

Andrea Martin

Secretary

Andrea supports graduate students from application to graduation as the Assistant Director of the Master of Environmental Studies program at The Evergreen State College. She’s also an alumna of this program from 2013 where she focused on environmental education and communication. She has a decade of experience in outdoor leadership, trail maintenance and construction, and youth engagement. In her free time she explores trails of all kinds as a runner, hiker, and backpacker.

Audrey Lamb

Audrey was welcomed as a member of CLT’s Board of Directors in 2017. Audrey holds a BA from Brandeis University and a Master’s from the Evergreen State College with a focus on shellfish aquaculture. Having previously worked for a local land trust, Audrey has experienced firsthand the important role that land trusts have in our communities. Audrey grew up spending time outdoors and envisions a vibrant future where younger generations can hike, swim, and eat oysters along the shores of Puget Sound.

Elizabeth McManus

Elizabeth attended The Evergreen State College and received a degree in Field Biology. She works as a managing partner with Ross Strategic, an environment, natural resources, and public health works consultancy. She has also worked on environmental policy and state/federal relationships for the Washington State Department of Ecology and the US Environmental Protection Agency in Seattle and Washington D.C.

Scot McQueen

Scot was raised in rural Colorado where he developed a deep appreciation for open spaces, working forests, and outdoor recreation. He moved to Washington almost 30 years ago and has raised 2 daughters in the beautiful outdoors we have here. He has an Environmental Science degree from The Evergreen State College and has developed a career applying technology to difficult resource management problems. Scot is an avid trail runner and regularly participates in marathons and ultramarathons. He believes that connecting people with the outdoors ultimately helps both the individuals and the conservation of wild areas. He also leads group hiking and running trips in the Patagonia Region of Argentina, South America.

Jason Callahan

Jason is the Director of Government Relations with the Washington Forest Protection Association where he advocates for sustainable forestry. He has an undergraduate degree in wildlife resource management from West Virginia University and a law degree from Florida State University. Prior to his current position, he served as non-partisan staff to the state House of Representatives where he specialized in natural resource, agriculture, and environmental policy.

Craig Hansen

Craig graduated from the University of Washington with a Master’s Degree in Wildlife Management. He worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and as an environmental consultant for most of his career. Craig has over 35 years of experience in fish and wildlife management, applied aquatic and terrestrial ecology, and resolving species conservation technical and policy issues at local, regional and national scales. During this time, Craig developed a keen appreciation for natural resources in the Pacific Northwest, as well as an understanding of the need to conserve and restore ever-dwindling fish and wildlife habitat that so many of us enjoy. Craig currently serves as a Senior Advisor to companies developing habitat conservation plans for forestry and aquaculture management activities in Oregon and Washington.

Grant Jones

Grant grew up on the Olympic Peninsula and studied English Literature & Philosophy at the University of Washington. After immersing himself in the start-up world in Seattle for a decade, he left the city in search of a better tree to people ratio, and found it at Hungry Hollow Farm – his family’s fourth generation farm in Shelton, WA. Today, Grant envisions a Pacific Northwest region where we forge positive and sustainable relationships with our environment while preserving and enhancing it for future generations. He’s also passionate about rural economic development, and is the Director of Business Development for Greater Grays Harbor.

Lola Flores

Lola earned her Biology and Natural Resource Management degree in Guadalajara, Mexico where she was born. In Olympia, she received her Master of Environmental Studies from The Evergreen State College. Lola worked at the nonprofit Earth Economics for five years where she gained expertise in ecosystem service valuations, among other ecological economics methodologies. She currently works at the Department of Ecology where she focuses on Puget Sound recovery.

Court Stanley

Court is passionate about forestry and knew it would be his life’s work. He worked his way through Green River College earning a Forest Tech degree and obtained a BS in Forest Engineering from the University of Washington. Court began working for Port Blakely Tree Farms in 1986 and retired in 2020; he was an advocate for stewardship forestry, championing best management practices across the industry. He currently serves as President of the United Way of Lewis County, board member of the World Forestry Center, Washington Farm Forestry Association and is the Board Chairman of Wilcox Family Farms, a 100-year-old sustainable farm. Court enjoys working with wood, boating and hiking, even more so when his kids and granddaughter accompanies him.

Jim Sherrill

Jim has been married for 54 years with three children and nine grandchildren. He received a BS in Political Science from Washington State University and a Master of Education degree from Whitworth College. Jim spent 51 years in public service: three years as a pilot in the US Army (Vietnam veteran), 28 years in public welfare and child welfare programs with the State of Washington, and 20 years as Health and Social Service Administrator for two Indian Tribes. Jim is a committee member of Thurston County United Way and was a District Commissioner for the Chehalis Valley Pony Club. Jim has also served on numerous community nonprofit boards and committees, including United Way and Centralia College, as well as the national Association of Community College Trustees. Jim enjoys hunting, fishing, gathering mushrooms and huckleberries, hiking, skiing, and gardening.

Sarah Moorehead

Sarah lives with her family on a small farm in South Thurston County where she raises poultry, pigs, goats, row crops and a heritage apple orchard, along with barn cats and adorable children. She graduated from The Evergreen State College with a degree in Environmental Studies, focusing in Natural Resources Management and Education. For the last decade, Sarah has served the community and the land working in communications and community engagement with the Thurston Conservation District, where she has lead the organization as their Executive Director since 2019. She is passionate about conserving agriculture and natural spaces, and ensuring a vibrant future for generations to come.

Dave Winter

Executive Director

Dave was born and raised in Olympia, WA where his childhood was filled with outdoor experiences. He majored in outdoor recreation at Western Washington University, and built his career focused on conserving outdoor places—to pave the way for future generations to share those same experiences. Most recently, David was Puget Sound Outdoor Programs & Outreach Manager for Seattle-based REI (Recreation Equipment, Inc).

Laurence Reeves

Conservation Director

Laurence oversees the acquisition, stewardship and restoration efforts at CLT. He is passionate about conservation and enjoys working with landowners to find creative approaches to conserving property. Prior to joining CLT in 2008, he worked in state government, academia and the army. He studied environmental science and forestry at Utah State University and has a PhD in forest economics from the University of Minnesota.

Quita Terrell

Associate Director

Quita grew up in Olympia and received her BA in English from Western Washington University. She has been with Capitol Land Trust since 2012, keeping everything in the office running smoothly. Her first lesson in stewarding the land was picking up trash on Olympic Peninsula with her father when she was five and she now enjoys sharing similar experiences with her own children.

Alison Beglin

Membership Engagement Manager

Alison has lived in Olympia since 2008. She has a B.S. in Planning, Public Policy and Management with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from the University of Oregon. When not at work, Alison spends time with her husband Hugh. They enjoy a vast array of activities: hiking, kayaking, biking, skiing, snowshoeing, recreational sports and hanging out with friends and family.

Mike Leigh

Stewardship Coordinator

Mike earned his J.D. at the University of Washington. Afterwards, he returned to college to study ecology at Evergreen State College—and later attended the University of Maryland graduating with an MS in Biology. Mike taught environmental science at South Puget Sound Community College. In 2004, he and his husband, Ernie Paul, donated a conservation easement to CLT on 23 acres of wetland and forest near Evergreen State College.

Mary Birchem

Outreach & Education Coordinator

Mary spent most of her life in the Midwest just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. She completed her undergraduate degree in Environmental Science from the University of Washington. Since then, she has done environmental restoration work around the Puget Sound with various organizations as well as environmental education on Vashon Island. Mary enjoys hiking, skiing, photography, and is an avid birder.

Melissa Roberts

Stewardship Coordinator

Melissa comes to CLT with a love of wilderness, years of fieldwork and volunteer coordination, and a passion for environmental restoration. She truly enjoys leading volunteers to engage in satisfying ‘hands-on’ outdoor work. Melissa returned to Olympia in 2020 after leading volunteer crews in northern California (Sonoma and Marin counties) and lived in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. On staff with Sonoma Ecology Center, she monitored streamflow and collected and mapped data. Her background includes a Coho monitoring internship, trail erosion-control projects, and mapping invasives. Melissa enjoys teamwork, loves the natural world, and has a long history of coordinating volunteers both inside and out. She has hiked half the Pacific Crest Trail and taken several long-distance bicycle adventures. She is an avid backpacker.

Kristen Kellar

Operations Coordinator

Although new to Olympia, Kristen has a lifelong commitment to conserving the natural world and a deep love for the Salish Sea. She holds a M.A. in Environmental Leadership from Naropa University and a B.S. in Conservation Ecology and Animal Behavior from the University of Colorado. Kristen joined the CLT team with over 15 years of business and non-profit administration work, as well as experience in ecological research, and environmental education. When not working, you can often find her playing harp in nature, nature journaling in a local forest, or kayaking with her husband Mark and their border collie named Fish.