About Us

Our history

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Above: The confluence of the Kitlope and Gamsby Rivers. Sam Beebe | A critical moment in negotiations to protect the Kitlope—Gerald Amos, chief; John Cashore, British Columbia’s minister of the environment; author; Spencer B. Beebe; and Cecil Paul, Haisla elder, on the shore of Kitlope Lake, 1993. Spencer B. Beebe | Interior of the NCC. Sam Beebe | Ecotrust staff and board members in June 2022. Kim Nguyen

Ecotrust’s history, told through five chapters

Our organization was imagined as a natural system, and over the past 30 years, we have embodied this through overlapping cycles of growth, adaptation, decomposition, and regeneration. Experiences of our history are diverse, and we have the opportunity today to listen, learn, and co-create our story of the past. We invite you to explore one presentation of our three decades, and we warmly welcome your feedback.

Explore our history through the five chapters below: 

Chapter 1: 1991 – 1996

The rain forests of home

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It is our interdependence and the character of our relationships with each other and our environment that matter.

—Spencer B. Beebe, Ecotrust founder, shown above with Cecil Paul, Haisla Elder 

The idea of Ecotrust began on the banks of the Kitlope River, British Columbia in 1990. There, Spencer B. Beebe met Haisla First Nation leaders Cecil Paul, Charlie Shaw, and Gerald Amos and heard about provincial plans to clearcut the forests in their traditional homeland. Over the next six years, these leaders and the many who joined them would work to protect the 800,000-acre Kitlope and the Haisla’s ancestral connections. On February 13, 1991, Ecotrust was incorporated as a nonprofit organization by Spencer, with the support of Conservation International.

Our new organization contributed visioning, mapping, fundraising, local capacity building, leadership development, and brokering to successful protection of the Kitlope—protection that aimed to support the social, economic, and environmental needs of the Haisla First Nation. In 1996, the Huchsduwachsdu Nuyem Jees, the Kitlope Heritage Conservancy Protected Area, was created to be jointly managed by the Haisla First Nation and the provincial government of British Columbia.

Haisla First Nation members Charlie Shaw, councilor; Gerald Amos, elected chief of the Kitamaat Village Council; and Cecil Paul, a hereditary elder. Spencer B. Beebe

Youth in the magic canoe, Kitlope. Photo credit: Sam Beebe

Ecotrust, the organization that grew from partnership in the Kitlope, was a reimagining of the conversation and development approaches from which Spencer and early Ecotrust staff came. As described in our 1993 strategic vision New Bearings, Ecotrust’s approach would be rooted in “acknowledging humankind as an inseparable part of the natural world.” Our work would be community-led, recognizing “local people cannot afford to see their environment as an object to be exploited or saved” and place, specifically the coastal temperate rain forests spanning from the redwoods of California Kodiak Island, Alaska, would be the frame for our work.

By December of 1991, Ecotrust was testing our approach in a new community, joining with The Nature Conservancy and the people of Willapa Bay, Wash. in creating the Willapa Alliance, a local initiative to promote ecosystem restoration and economic development in the Willapa watershed. And in 1994, we gathered people from a wide array of disciplines and experiences for the first conference on the temperate rain forests of North America. More than forty individuals shared knowledge of the region’s history, culture, economy, and ecology, knowledge that would be collected in an early Ecotrust publication, The Rain Forests of Home.

Place, specifically the coastal temperate rain forests  spanning “from the redwoods of California to the vast stands of spruce and hemlock of Kodiak Island, Alaska,” would be the frame for our work.

Ecotrust’s founding story shared by Ecotrust founder Spencer B.  Beebe at TEDx Portland in 2011.

Milestones: 1991-1996 

1991
1991

Ecotrust is founded on February 13, 1991.

1993
1993

The Natural Capital Fund is created to make income-earning investments in key industries, businesses, and projects that significantly enhance conservation-based development in the coastal temperate rain forest region.

1996
1996

Inforain is launched, which later expanded to become a significant online open source hub for regional maps, data layers, atlases, reports, slides and decision support tools.

See maps
1996
1996

Huchsduwachsdu Nuyem Jees, the Kitlope Heritage Conservancy Protected Area, is formally created and jointly managed by the Haisla First Nation and the provincial government of British Columbia.

 Links: The Rain Forests of Home

Publication

Containing over a hundred maps, graphs, tables and photographs, The Rain Forests of Home: Profile of a North American Bioregion presents a diverse portrait of the natural and human forces which have shaped and are still shaping the coastal temperate rain forest.

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Publication

The coastal temperate rain forests of North America occupy a place of central importance in the global future of this forest type.

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Chapter 2: 1997-2009

Place Matters

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Working along with natural principles, people can create economies that are more reliably prosperous than those we have now and also more harmonious with the rest of nature.

—Jane Jacobs, Author, activist, and member of the Ecotrust Board of Directors 

Between 1997 and 2009, Ecotrust’s work stretched from the Copper River in Alaska to coastal California. Encouraged by Ecotrust board member, mentor, and brilliant urbanist Jane Jacobs, we embarked on an urban project, purchasing a century-old warehouse in the rapidly redeveloping Pearl District of Portland, and in 2001, we opened the doors to the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center. A significant investment of Ecotrust’s growing Natural Capital Fund, the building became home base for Ecotrust and a dynamic group of businesses and organizations generating ideas, goods, and services of a conservation economy, with plenty of room to invite the public. 

Indigenous leadership and sovereignty remained a guiding principle. In 2001, we raised the resources to support the first Indigenous Leadership Awards, which has since recognized 60 tribal leaders for their unwavering dedication to strengthen tribal sovereignty and their efforts to uplift the environmental, cultural, economic, and social conditions of their communities and homelands.

An aerial shot of the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center and the Portland Streetcar. Dan Tyrpak

A patch cut on the Dickey property. Photo courtesy of EFMI

Fisheries, food systems, and forestry were connected spheres in our region, and we brought our combination of network-building, technical support, commitment to sovereignty, and resource mobilization to powerful community-based work across the region. In Alaska, we invested in the Copper River program to network the efforts of local and tribal organizations in one of Alaska’s most fertile salmon watersheds. We also joined the Whole Watershed Restoration Initiative, a 10-year model of interagency collaboration in Oregon to deliver clear water and restore salmon habitat through $10 million in community grants. Combining relationship-building and software development capacities, we launched FoodHub, an online platform created to connect food buyers and food producers across the Pacific Northwest. In partnership, we created Oregon Farm to School and School Garden Network, a powerful advocacy network for food-to-school initiatives in Oregon. Our network-building and research would eventually result in a historic $4.5 million in Oregon state funding for the benefit of youth and farmers and influence other state and national policies to the present day.

Since our founding, Ecotrust had recognized the role we could play bringing capital to community-scale projects, and during this period, we increased our tools to do so. 

Since our founding, we recognized the role Ecotrust could play bringing capital to community-scale projects, and during this period, we increased tools to do so. In 1997, following years of partnerships, we established ShoreBank Pacific with the visionary Chicago-based ShoreBank, creating the world’s first environmental bank with the mission to invest in people and businesses in the Pacific Northwest. In 2004, we established Ecotrust Forests LLC, a perpetual private equity fund to acquire and manage forestland for the benefit of investors, forest landscapes, and local communities. Also in 2005, we established Ecotrust Community Development Entity (CDE) and received our first allocation of New Markets Tax Credit, which we committed to distributing to projects that deliver social, economic, and environmental impact.  

Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award honorees, awardees, and selection panel members gather at the 2012 Indigenous Leadership Award Ceremony. Photo credit: Liz Devine

Milestones: 1997-2009 

1997
1997

ShoreBank Pacific, the world’s first environmental bank, is founded with ShoreBank Corp.

2001
2001

Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center, a marketplace for the ideas, goods, and services of a conservation economy, opens in Portland’s Pearl District.

2001
2001

Ecotrust awards the first Buffet Award for Indigenous Leadership.

2004
2004

Ecotrust Forests LLC, the world’s first ecosystem investment fund that restores forest while rewarding its owners, is launched.

Links: Place Matters 

Book

Spencer B. Beebe’s Cache is the story of one man’s 40-year career in conservation, exploring traditional models balanced against nature’s models, in the search for reliable prosperity.

Publication

Perceptions of the natural world vary greatly, both among peoples and across historical eras. Some have viewed nature as a gift of the Creator, others as organic machine or living ecosystem.

Publication

Living Proof is about a land use-and-occupancy research method called the map biography. It is structured as a how-to manual to help readers design and run the data-collection component of a successful map project.

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Publication

In the conservation economy—a society whose economic activity results in environmental and social improvement—distinct channels of economic and community activity combine in creative and unprecedented ways. Slowly and almost imperceptibly, people and places are transformed by a new kind of entrepreneurship.

Chapter 3: 2010-2015

Innovate, invest, inspire

Our hope is to build on a self-organizing system and support bold, not-afraid-to-fail experiments—a more natural and powerful approach to resilience than traditional top-down command and control. We will constantly adapt and evolve as we explore what works and what doesn’t.

A photo of a man speaking into a microphone at a podium

—Spencer B. Beebe, Ecotrust founder

Entering our third decade, our targeted community-based investments were coming together as projects and strategies for systems change at the intersection of equity, the economy, and the environment. We launched OceanMap, an open-source ocean mapping technology to support better management planning for the benefit of marine environments and communities, and we created Point 97, a for-profit marine consulting group supporting fisheries management through data management and data visualization.

Events continued to be powerful means for elevating leaders, developing connections, and sharing knowledge.There were many gatherings in this period, including Indigenous Leadership Awards ceremonies from 2010 through 2014 and the September 2011 Resilience Regions convening, which brought 44 leaders from around the world together to share perspectives on how to reliably and equitably provide for human and natural well-being. And we grew our capacity to bring people together as well: in 2014, we invested in a new property in Southeast Portland that would become the Redd on Salmon Street, a campus to serve both as critical food system infrastructure and a world-class events center. 

This was also a period of transitions. OneCalifornia Bank completed its acquisition of ShoreBank Pacific in 2011, ensuring the ongoing triple-bottom-line impact of the bank, and we prepared our final issues of Edible Portland, which we transferred to a new publisher in 2016. Founder and President Spencer B. Beebe transitioned from active leadership of Ecotrust during this period. In 2012, Dr. Astrid Scholz, ecological economist and senior Ecotrust leader, was named president. Following her departure, Jeremy Barnicle, a leader in international development and engagement, joined Ecotrust as consultant, becoming executive director in 2016.

Aerial view of Sek-wet-se Forest. Photo credit: Sam Beebe

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The Hesse-Ersted Ironworks Machine Shop, which was acquired by Ecotrust and reimagined as the Redd on Salmon Street. Photo credit: Sam Beebe

During this period, we evolved our understanding of social, economic, and environmental well-being in the context of the climate crisis. Some of our most impactful work grew from partnership with tribes as they asserted their sovereignty to assume a greater role in lands and waters management regimes. For several years ,we worked with the E3 Network, a team of economists committed to developing new and better arguments for protecting people and the planet, to release a series of reports on carbon emissions, including one study that linked carbon reduction and the reduction of harmful air pollution in communities of color. Spotlighting outcomes for racial equity in climate resilience was new to Ecotrust and came during a period in which our partnerships with justice movements and frontline communities were uneven. During these years, there were times when community partners gave us valuable critiques of our approach, and we did not act in response—a damaging pattern that we continue to learn from and apply to our work in partnership-building today.

During this period, Ecotrust was evolving our understanding of economic, social, and environmental well-being in the context of the climate crisis. 

Group picture from the 2011 Resilience Regions Convening held at Ecotrust, images includes Patrick Dodson, Cecil Paul, Spencer B. Beebe, Gerald Amos, Leitanthem Umakanta Meitei, Ian Gill, Astrid Scholz, Brenda Reid-Kuecks, Brenda Kuecks, Mike Mertens, Kat Taylor, Ofelia Svart, Gun Denhart, Nell Newman, Robert Friedman, and many others. Sam Beebe

Milestones: 2010-2015 

2010
2010

With E3 network, Ecotrust shares two reports on climate emissions.

2011
2011

We publish “Impact of 7 Cents” report examining economic, social, and environmental benefits of farm to school purchasing.

2015
2015

Years of collaboration with the Coquille Tribe results in the Tribe's purchase of 3,200 acres of forest land from Ecotrust Forest Management, restoring part of the Tribe’s ancestral homeland

2015
2015

Spencer B. Beebe receives the Audubon Society's Lufkin Prize for lifelong environmental leadership.

Links: Innovate, invest, inspire

publication

What if schools had an additional $.07 per meal to spend on buying local foods for the lunch line? During this research, we placed particular emphasis on evaluating the economic effects of increased procurement of local foods.

STORY MAP

A plan many years in the making came to fruition when Ecotrust Forest Management sold 3,200 acres of forestland to the Coquille Tribe.

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Chapter 4: 2016-2022

Shift Power

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Ecotrust’s role in this journey is to be culturally responsive to the issues that are pertinent in our communities by elevating those voices through storytelling, building relationships, and having conversions. It’s time for Ecotrust to step up.

—Brody Abbott, Urban planner & Ecotrust staff 2016-2019 who co-created an alliance of culturally-specific organizations in Portland to develop opportunities for Black and Indigenous adults in the green economy

What does it mean to shift power in our work?  In what communities are we making impactful contributions? Where are we causing harm? How will we center the voices and vision of the people who are directly impacted by systemic racism? The years 2016-2022 were a period in which staff, partners, and communities called on Ecotrust to recognize that dismantling systemic racism and building toward justice must become central to our work across the region. 

Initiated with leadership from our Equity Working Group (2016-2021); Vice President of Organizational and Food Systems Equity Jamese Kwele; and visionary community partners, this period includes multiple efforts to center racial justice in our work and build inclusive process and anti-racist practices inside our organization and in our partnerships. This work is ongoing, and you can explore more at Equity at Ecotrust.

Between 2020 and 2021, more than 100 partners, staff, and community members contributed vision to Ecotrust’s 2021-2026 Strategic Plan, which articulates six interconnected goals for our next chapter. Transforming into an anti-racist organization with a culture of belonging and a resilient business model are the goals that enable our role in supporting community-centric work in climate resilience, broadly-shared intergenerational wealth-building, and lands and waters stewardship across our region.

Green Workforce Academy instructor, Jason Stroman, at center, with 2018 Green Workforce Academy participants to his left and right, during a field trip to Unity Farms. Photo credit: Noah Thomas

Yolimar Rivera Vázquez, Food Equity Manager, with Maura Vásquez of Silva Family Farm, a participant of the Ag of the Middle Accelerator, during the making of a video exploring how the program changed to center equity. Photo credit: Roland Dahwen

The goals in our Strategic Plan reflect how our now multiracial organization contributes to powerful collective work, including Green Workforce Collaborative and Green Workforce Academy, the Viviane Barnett Fellowship for Food System Leaders, the Sustainable Southeast Partnership, and partnerships in tribal forestry. The articulation of intergenerational wealth-building as a goal sparked the creation of the pilot Community Asset Development program. And the return of the Indigenous Leadership Awards affirmed commitments to Indigenous sovereignty and leadership that reach from our founding into our plans for the future. Within Ecotrust, this period included efforts towards equitable staff development, power-sharing, and shared decision-making, which were supported by the leadership of Interim Executive Director and Chief Impact Officer Olivia M. Rebanal.

This work is not a straight line to progress. It is rich and circular. We are growing our Ecotrust circle to unlock the powerful potential of our place and this time

—Olivia M. Rebanal, Interim Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, 2022

Milestones: 2016-2022 

2016
2016

Ecotrust's Equity Working Group is established.

2017
2017

Ecotrust and PolicyLink publish Jobs & Equity in the Urban Forest, which strong recommends expanding green infrastructure opportunities for historically disenfranchised communities.

2019
2019

The Redd on Salmon Street is fully open in Southeast Portland.

2021
2021

Ecotrust staff develop a 2021-2026 Strategic Plan, naming six goals to guide the organization’s evolution.

Links: Shift Power

BLOG POST

We are honored to host Ricardo Salvador, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, as our keynote speaker at Light up the Redd, our annual benefit and celebration of people, place, and food.

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Publication

A partnership of PolicyLink and Ecotrust, with extensive input, review, and data assistance from Verde Portland, Jobs and Equity in the Urban Forest examines the economic, ecological, and social impacts of existing community based urban forestry investments designed to benefit low-income communities and communities of color.

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WEBPAGE

Ecotrust is committed to the ongoing work of embedding racial equity throughout the organization and our programmatic strategies.

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WEBPAGE

In 2020, we set out to create a strategic plan for greater impact in our region. More than 100 people—including staff, board, and partners—came together to create this plan to guide the next five years of our work.

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Chapter 5: 2023 – onward

today & onward

A group of four dozen people smiling at the camera, with tall apartment buildings behind them.

A group of Ecotrust staff and board members in June 2023. Photo credit: Jason Hill

In late May of 2023, the Ecotrust board unanimously selected Ronda Rutledge as Ecotrust’s new Executive Director, after an extensive nationwide search and hiring process involving staff at all levels of the organization. Ronda began her tenure on June 1, 2023.

We are moving forward together. Today with our partners, we are building towards an equitable, prosperous, climate-smart future. We invite you to get involved and follow us as the story grows.  

In appreciation

A’Nova Ettien

Aaron Racicot

Adam Lane

Alana Probst

Alex Speaks

Alice Price

Allison Bidlack

Amanda Weiman

Amanda Oborne

Amanda Peden

Amber Peoples

Amber Schulz-Oliver

Amber Wagoner

Amiana McEwen

Alister Fenix

Andrea Hildebrand

Andrew Coleman

Andrew Fuller

Andrew Haden

Andrew Keating

Andrew Lightcap

Ann Mary Dussault

Arthur M. Dye

Astrid Scholz

Beck Barger

Benjamin Donaldson

Beth Hatfield

Bettina von Hagen

Brent Davies

Brett Williams

Brie Schettle

Brody Abbott

Bryan Ortega-Schwartz

Cait Kelley

Caitlin Leonard

Caitlin O’brady

Carolyn Holland

Cathy Kellon

Catriona Buhayar

Chad Derosier

Charles Steinback

Charlie Dewberry

Cheryl Chen

Chris Jones

Chris Sanford

Christina Cooper

Christine Caurant

Courtney N. Moss

Craig Jacobson

Dagmar Carstensen

Daniel Etra

David Pray

David Albert

Dawn Youmans

Deborah Kane

Debra Sohm

DeL’Aurore Kyle

Derek Reiber

Donald Sampson

Donna Marie Hicks

Dorie Brownell

Dorie Roth

Doug Thompson

Drew Seminara

Dwayne Canfield

Ed Hunt

Edward Backus

Edward C. Wolf

Edwin Knuth

Eileen Brady

Eleanor Sandys

Eli Kenny

Elizabath Groosman

Elizabeth Coleman

Elizabeth Woody

Elle McKay

Emalee Assenberg

Emi Brizuela

Emily Dietrich

Eric Foley

Erica McCall Valentine

Ericka Carlson

Erin Kellogg

Ernest McCarty

Felicia Murray

Gabe Carleton-Barnes

Gabe McMahan

George Dockray

Gladys Ruiz

Greg Robillard

Helyn Trickey

Howard Silverman

Hoyt Wilson

Jamie Denning

Jason Pretty Boy

Jaz Bias

Jeanne Kubal

Jeff Wright

Jen Marlow

Jenna Stathopoulos

Jennifer Bloeser

Jennifer Richards

Jennifer Froistad

Jennifer A. Allen

Jennifer H. Allen

Jerry Ledesma

Jim Norton

Jiselle Kennedy

Joel Miller

Joelle Marr

John Domingo

Jon McCloskey

Joren Love

Josh Ahmann

Juliana Baseman

Kala Biittner

Kaley Charlet

Kara Orvieto

Karl Dawson

Kate Carone

Katherine White

Kathie Wasserman

Katie Russell

Katy Pelissier

Kelly Harrell

Ken Vollmer

Kent Goodyear

Kevin Bumatay

Kevin Williams

Kim Burkland

Kimber Anderson

Kira Elam

Kira Harrow

Kristen Penner

Kristi Rux

Kristin Bowen

Kristin Saxton

Kristin Sheeran

Kyle Sweasey

Lalena Dolby

Lauren Johnson

Lauren Ward

Laurie Dunne

Leah Altman

Leanne Weiss

Leif Olsson

Leigh Ann Shelton

Leora Stein

Linda Delgado

Lisa Miles

Lita Buttolph

Lizzy Marsters

Lola Milholland

Lori Reinecke

Luke Gavin

Lyndon Barrois

Lynette “Kiwi” Ward

Madeline Corich

Malka Geffen

Manuel Guerra

Maralea Lutino

Marcus Hecht

Mark Sykes

Mary Krumm

Mathew Goslin

Matt Weber

Matt Flag

Matthew Perry

Megan Mackey

Melanie Troutman

Melia Donovan

Melissa Tatge

Michael Geffel

Michele Dailey

Michelle Markesteyn

Michelle Waters

Mike Mertens

Modeste Kabissaie

Nancy Bales

Nancy Church

Nate Hildebrand

Nathan Schwartz

Nick Lyman

Oakley Brooks

Ofelia Svart

Olivia Bartroff

Paige Poorman

Pete Reed

Peter K. Schoonmaker

Raymond Hollander

Rebecca Pilcher-Cleland

Rei Barnes

Rick George

RJ Kopchak

RM Eaves

Robert B. Richardson

Robert J. Ellis

Robin Rogers

Sam Beebe

Sam Doak

Sam Stoner

Samantha Parsons

Sarah Flaata

Sarah Lonigro

Sarah O’Connor

Sarah Klain

Sarah Kruse

Scott Fletcher

Seth Zuckerman

Seth Walker

Shauna Noah

Shaunna McCovey

Sheryllyn Dougherty

Sonya Hetrick

Stacy Holtman

Stephanie Webb

Stephen Lloyd

Steven Dettman

Steven McGrath

Steven Paget

Stuart Cowan

Stuart Rosenfeld

Sydney DeLuna

Sydney Mead

T.C. (Charley) Dewberry

Tamara Briggie

Tatianna Pavich

Taylor Hesselgrave

Tiffany Austin

Tim Welch

Tina White

Todd Diskin

Vishal Sharma

Wendy Crozier

Whitney Winsor

Will Novy Hildesley

Willa Rabinovitch

William Moore

Yveline Wilnau

Zoe Bradbury

Past Staff & Board

Andrea Alexander

Carol Edelman

Constance Best

Dalee Sambo Dorough

David Martin

Ian Gill

Jack Hood Vaughn

Jacqueline Koerner

Jeremy Barnicle

Jim Lichatowich

Mariusz Wroblewski

Nancy Schaub

Patricia Marchak

Sophie Engelhard Craighead

Spencer B. Beebe

Steven McGeady

Wade Davis

We honor our former staff and board members for their contributions to Ecotrust and our region! This list was created from past years’ Annual Reports and we apologize for any inaccuracies and omissions. Please contact us at contact@ecotrust.org if you would like your name added, removed, or updated.

Alan Parker

Amos Eno

Cameron Healy

Cory Carman

Dan Wieden

David R. Montgomery

Dick Jaffe

Dylan T. Simonds

Gerald Amos

Howard G. Buffett

Jack Loacker

Jane Jacobs

Jean Vollum

John Miller

Karie Thomson

Kat Taylor

Kathleen Shaye Hill

Ken deLaski

Leon Smith

Mark Edlen

Mary Houghton

Nancy G. Schaub

Nell Newman

Priscilla Bernard-Wieden

Robert C. Warren

Susan Hammer

Susie Lee

William H. Neukom

William T. Hutton

Past Staff & Board

Andrea Alexander

Carol Edelman

Constance Best

Dalee Sambo Dorough

David Martin

Ian Gill

Jack Hood Vaughn

Jacqueline Koerner

Jeremy Barnicle

Jim Lichatowich

Mariusz Wroblewski

Nancy Schaub

Patricia Marchak

Sophie Engelhard Craighead

Spencer B. Beebe

Steven McGeady

Wade Davis