Nick DiPasquale, Secretary
Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Control,
Dover, DE
Nicholas A. DiPasquale has served as Secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) since April, 1999. Nick joined DNREC in 1993 as Director of the Division of Air and Waste Management. Before coming to Delaware, he spent over six years with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, where he served as Director of the Water Pollution Control Program and as Director of Waste Management. From 1983 to 1987, Nick served as staff for the Missouri House of Representatives Committees on Energy and Environment; State Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources; Mines; and Labor. A native of Rochester, NY, Nick is a U.S. Navy veteran, having served from 1970-1976 as an electronics technician and reactor operator aboard the USS Stonewall Jackson, a Poseidon Class submarine.

Caren Glotfelty, Program Director for the Environment Program
Heinz Endowments, Pittsburgh, PA
Caren Glotfelty is the Program Director for the Environment Program at the Heinz Endowments, whose focus in the environment is on sustainable urban design, environmental enterprise and innovation, energy and the environment, and watershed protection and ecosystem management. Prior to joining the Endowments in 2000, Caren was the Maurice K. Goddard Professor of Forestry and Environmental Resource Conservation at Pennsylvania State University. She has a Master of Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from the University of the Pacific. Most of her career has been in state government, including 13 years in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, where she became deputy secretary. Caren was the co-chair of the 21st Century Environment Commission. She is on the Board of Directors of the Clear Water Conservancy (Centre County), 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, and Pennsylvania Biological Survey.

Randy Gray, State Director
The Nature Conservancy, Conshohocken, PA
In March of 1998, Randy Gray became State Director of The Nature Conservancy of Pennsylvania. Since that time, Randy has led the chapter through a period of phenomenal growth, with increased support for The Nature Conservancy's work and with increased scope of work throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He also currently serves as Chair of the Pennsylvania Biodiversity Partnership. Randy originally joined the Chapter’s staff as Director of Protection in July 1997 following a 25-year career in finance and administration, including 15 years in mergers and acquisitions. An avid fly fisher, Randy was raised on a farm in North Carolina and has had a lifelong interest in conservation and preservation.

Roger Latham, Consultant
Wallingford, PA
Roger Latham is a plant community ecologist. His basic research is on plant diversity patterns, from micro- to global scales. He also does conservation biology research and planning as a consultant for The Nature Conservancy, Natural Lands Trust, and other wildland management organizations and agencies.

Shane Mahoney, Executive Director of Science
Newfoundland & Labrador Dept. of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation,
St. John’s, Newfoundland
Born and raised in Newfoundland, Shane Mahoney is a biologist, writer, and frequent lecturer on environmental and resource conservation issues. He has a master’s degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland and is completing his Ph.D. at the University of Calgary, Alberta, where he is studying with Valerius Geist, the well-known animal behaviorist and conservation writer. Shane has spent 20 years conducting extensive field investigations of wildlife species as diverse as caribou, seabirds, black bear, and moose, and has been published in many scientific journals. He has authored or co-authored more than 120 scientific articles and reports, spanning fields as diverse as animal behavior, parasitology, predator-prey interactions, and population dynamics. In addition, he has authored management plans and co-authored wildlife policies for Newfoundland and Labrador. Over the past 20 years, he has been responsible for a variety of wildlife management programs, including inventories, quotas, and hunting seasons for big game species in Newfoundland. In 1992, he was appointed head of wildlife research and inventory for all wildlife species in Newfoundland and Labrador, where he was responsible for the creation and direction of a new wildlife research unit in the province. In 2001, Shane was appointed to the new position of Executive Director of Science in the Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation. The position reports to the assistant deputy minister for Natural Heritage and Recreation and is responsible for the design, development, operation, and supervision of a provincial scientific research program for inland fish and wildlife.

Jim McElfish, Director, Sustainable Land Use Program
Environmental Law Institute, Washington, DC
Jim McElfish directs the Sustainable Land Use Program at the Environmental Law Institute, a research and policy nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC. He is a graduate of Dickinson College and Yale Law School.

Bob McKinstry, Maurice Goddard Professor
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Bob was appointed in July 2001 to the Maurice Goddard Chair in Forestry and Environmental Resources Conservation. He took a leave of absence from Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, and became Of Counsel, where he was formerly co-founder and co-Partner in Charge of the 24 lawyer Environmental Law Practice Group. Bob practiced environmental law for 20 years after receiving his J.D. and M.F.S. from Yale Law School and Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, respectively, and serving a two-year clerkship with the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

Dessie Severson, Associate Director
Allegheny Institute of Natural History, Bradford, PA
Dessie Severson received her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Chicago. She earned a master's in Botany and a bachelor's in zoology from the University of South Dakota. She is currently a professor of biology at the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford, where she serves as department chair and the associate director of the newly formed Allegheny Institute of Natural History.