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Home > About Family Nature Summits > Directors
Meet the Executive Board
The Family Nature Summit board members are all volunteers. We join on the phone about every two weeks. If you are interested in volunteering with a great group of people, contact info@familysummits.org and we'll find a volunteer opportunity that you'll enjoy.
Many thanks to Wes Kussmaul for his years of volunteer service, and welcome new board member Martin Harrell at the 2010 Annual Meeting!
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Chris Blank
President
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When not working on Family Nature Summits I am private practice attorney based in Newport Beach, California. My firm focuses on business litigation, business law, and bankruptcy. In addition to my law practice, I have been involved in local environmental education non-profits and political organizations.
I've been coming to the Nature Summits since 1994. This is the highlight of the year for my sons and me. I've been a committed environmentalist since the 1970s. I'm excited about continuing the Summit mission.
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Michael Shelby
Technology
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My family's relationship with NWF Family Summits started in North Carolina. We have attended every Family Summit since 2000. I attend the Summit annually with my wife Sabina and children Nika (13) and Ryan (11). My children always look forward to the next summit as much as we do. We all have made wonderful friends all over the country that we stay in touch with between the summits and always look forward seeing them every summer.
For the last 11 years I've resided in West Hartford, CT. I am owner of Shall Be, LLC – a premier regional technology consulting firm.
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Kathleen Tollaksen
Treasurer, Compliance
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My husband, daughter and I have attended summits since 1989. My daughter loved the teen program and we enjoyed everything we learned and the new places we visited. The past two years our 6 year old granddaughter started attending and she just loves it.
I'm a CPA in public accounting in Illinois. I work both professionally and as a volunteer with not for profit entities.
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John Kullmann
Marketing
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My family's involvement with NWF Family Summits began five years ago in Montana. After reading an advertisement in Ranger Rick, we suggested my in-laws attend with our son. After hearing their enthusiastic reviews, we agreed to all attend in Maine. Since then our full family has been forever hooked. I attend the Summit annually with my wife Emily and children Becky (16) and Dean (13). Our participation always includes my in-laws and has included my brother in-law's family.
Back at home in New Jersey, I am Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Macrosoft, a technology consulting firm.
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Rosanne Mistretta
Secretary, Volunteer Coordinator
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Rosanne has been coming to Summits with her family for the past 8 years. She has been a science teacher at Abington Friends School in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania for the past 10 years. She was also an attorney for the US Environmental Protection Agency in Philadelphia for 10 years before going back to school for a Master's Degree in Environmental Education and becoming a science teacher. She is the Summer Programs Coordinator for the Mokoma Conservancy, a nonprofit land conservancy group in Northcentral Pennsylvania, running educational outdoor programming every summer for the community.
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Steve Houser
Faculty
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Steve Houser is a Talent Development teacher in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System. He has a master's degree in Elementary Education as well as a graduate degree in Counseling. Steve is also certified in gifted education, social sciences, geography, and is certified as an Environmental Educator by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources. His work as an educator of young people for over 30 years has been recognized through numerous awards, including receiving The President's Award for Excellence in Science Teaching (sponsored by the White House and the National Science Foundation), receiving the North Carolina Governor's Award as the NC Environmental Educator of the Year, receiving Outstanding Educator Award for Contributions to the Arts by the Mecklenburg County Arts and Science Council, and receiving the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System's Wachovia Ben Craig Teacher of the Year Award. He has been a presenter numerous times at national, state, and local educational conferences. In addition, Steve is a professional storyteller with over 25 years experience in telling old North Carolina tales and international stories that inspire and educate the listener. He has worked the past twenty summers as a National Wildlife Federation Family Summit youth faculty member at locations all over North America. Recognized as an “Educator of Excellence” with the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, Steve has participated in their educator institutes in Belize, Ecuador, the Amazon Rain Forest in Peru, and in Yellowstone National Park.
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Dave Linthicum
Faculty
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Dave is a recipient of the 2000 Jug Bay (Md.) Environmental Award. He used mapping to help save the last 2,200 acres on the Potomac near Washington, D.C. and 1,200 unique acres on the Patuxent from becoming a 4,200 unit town home development and a gravel pit respectively. In Pakistan in 2006 he helped bring an endangered snow leopard cub ("Leo") to safety after its mother was killed. Trekking for weeks in snow leopard habitat on the world's longest glacial traverse outside of the Polar Regions, he found that a GPS and map could be handy (staying out of crevasses, for example.) This is his 33rd Summit. |
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Dave Egan
Faculty
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Dave Egan has a BS in Geology from Bucknell University and an MS in Geology from Wright State University. As a hydrogeologist, Mr. Egan has been working on the cleanup of hazardous waste sites throughout the nation since the 1980's. He assisted with development of EPA regulations for the Superfund program, and implemented a nationwide training program for EPA personnel in the Superfund program. More recently, Mr. Egan founded and operated a small business focusing on the cleanup of hazardous waste sites, including the restoration of freshwater and saltwater wetlands. His responsibilities included marketing, contract negotiation, insurance, budgeting and financial tracking. Mr. Egan and his family have been attending Family Summits since 1988. |
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Carla Brown
Faculty, Website,
E-newsletters
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I'm originally from Atlantic Canada - I was born in Newfoundland and my parents live in Nova Scotia. I became acquainted with Family Nature Summits when they were run by the National Wildlife Federation, where I have worked on the internet team since 2000. I taught at the Summits in Montana, Maine, Colorado, New Brunswick and Oregon. I taught crafts such as hand quilting, crazy quilting and rug hooking, as well as classes in green lifestyles, global warming solutions and raising children as global citizens. My daughter said her first "word" at a Summit (a bear's roar in Colorado) and now my parents come to Summits as well.
I highly recommend Family Nature Summits because you just show up and you are guaranteed to try new things, make new friends and see new places. As a parent, my vacation planning time is minimal. It's great when others show me the gems across North America. The programs are customized for all age levels, which means everyone in my family looks forward to Summit.
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Dawn Schroeder
Young Adult
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Family Nature Summits have been a focus of my family's summers for as long as I can remember, and I always enjoy my summit experience. The summits have provided me with the opportunity to participate in outdoor adventure activities, build lifelong friendships, as well as learn about the unique local ecosystems from people that are recognized as experts in their fields. I am currently studying environmental science at Iowa State University.
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Martin Harrell
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I have been an environmental and criminal enforcement attorney with the U.S. EPA in Philadelphia since 1983 where my wife, Kathy Hodgkiss, also works as an environmental scientist and manager. Originally from eastern North Carolina, my first outdoor experiences involved boating and fishing in rivers and creeks there using an old-style cane pole outfitted with a simple line, cork bobber, sinker and hook. I have also been a newspaper reporter, and spent three years in the U.S. Army in the mid-1970s.
I came to my first Summit in 2004 in Rocky Mountain National Park thanks to a friend. My wife and I have now been to the last four across the United States. Her mother, stepfather, brother, sister-in-law and their teenage children have joined us as well, highlighting the fact that Summits do indeed offer something for everyone.
A Summit provides a great deal to families with children, but it also has quite a lot to offer singles, couples without kids, empty nesters and grandparents. While I love the range of activities offered at Summits and the diversity of locations, what draws me back year after year are the people from across North America whom I have met, socialized with, and seen throughout the year. They are a great group of caring, curious, and involved people committed to protecting and improving the environment. I hope you will join us!!
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