Ray Heithaus, Ph.D., President
Professor of Biology, Kenyon College; Co-director, Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon College; Co-founder, Environmental Studies Program at Kenyon College; Researcher, Kokosing River Watershed Howard Gratz, Vice-President
Former teacher and guidance counselor at Loudonville High School; Retired from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Recreation as a naturalist and planning section administrator, after 30 years service; Active volunteer with wild bird research, including Breeding Bird Surveys, point counts and Christmas bird counts with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Audubon Society; A resident of Knox County since 1980, Howard is very interested in the protection of open spaces, waterways, wetlands and natural areas throughout the county. Ian Watson, Treasurer
Retired Senior Vice President and Trust Officer, First-Knox National Bank; Certified Trust Financial Advisor; Treasurer, First Congregational United Church of Christ and Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County Endowment Fund; Member of the Knox Community Hospital Foundation Board of Directors; Native of Knox County. David A. Pressler, D.D.S., Secretary
Full-time dentist in Mount Vernon; Member of the United Way Board of Directors; Treasurer and Past President of the Dental Society for Knox and Licking Counties; Past President of Mount Vernon Kiwanis Club, Freedom Center and ADAMH Board for Knox and Licking Counties; Past member of the Head Start Board and the Knox County Board of Health; An avid fisherman interested in preservation of rural land and how preservation relates to water quality. Scott Craigo, R.Ph.
Senior Manager of Quality and Compliance with Medco Health Solutions, Inc., a Pharmacy Benefit Manager. Scott and his wife, Heidi, are lifelong residents of Knox County and Mount Vernon, where they chose to stay to raise their three children. Scott and his father, Al, were owners of Medical Arts Pharmacy, in Mount Vernon, until 2000. Scott, who has served on the Mount Vernon City Council, the Knox County Regional Planning Commission and the Mount Vernon Municipal Planning Commission and coaches soccer and basketball teams, has a deep admiration for Knox County's environment, especially our woodlands and forests. Eric Holdener, Ph.D.
Born in Tennessee, Eric moved to the St. Louis area when he was a week old and later moved across the Mississippi to Belleville, Illinois. A love of nature grew while exploring the woods near his home, both living in the form of any bug or critter he could get his hands on and dead in the form of rocks and fossils that littered the creek bed running through the woods. He has shared this love of nature and the Earth with others through work at the University of Illinois Natural History Museum (Champaign, IL) and the Western Museum of Mining and Industry (Colorado Springs, CO); through teaching, most recently at Kenyon College; and in public service as a representative of the Village of Gambier to the Knox County Regional Planning Comission and member of the Gambier Shade Tree Commission. Mark Leonard
Lifelong resident of Mount Vernon; career in banking since graduating from Kenyon College; YMCA board member since 1986; current President of the Board for "Diversified Products and Services" at the Mount Vernon Developmental Center; past Co-Chair of the United Way Campaign (2009); Senior Vice President of commercial Lending at First-Knox National Bank; avid fisherman and kayaker who has spent much of his life exploring/fishing the Kokosing Valley. Charles F. McCluskey, Jr.
Retired District Conservationist, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, with 30 years in land use/resource planning and management and in BMP design and implementation in agricultural and urban environments; Past member, Hopewell Township (Muskingum County) Zoning Commission; Current principal in Mc2 Engineering, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in residential and commercial site development planning, utility design and storm water management; Native of Knox County.
Richard Stallard, Ph.D., Executive Director
Clinical Cytogeneticist, American College of Medical Genetics; Founding Fellow,
American Board of Medical Genetics; Vice Chairman, Knox County Regional Planning Commission, 1999-2009; President
of the Conservancy 2001-2010.
Retired Chief, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves Ohio Department of Natural Resources; Secretary/Treasurer, Outdoor Writers of Ohio; Member of the Board, Midwest Biodiversity Institute, Brown Family Environmental Center, Scenic Ohio, Friends of the Governor's Residence and Heritage Garden, and Ohio Trust for Public Lands; Special Advisor, Ohio Environmental Council, and Ohio League of Conservation Voters; Member, District Seventeen Natural Resources Advisory Council; Former Executive Director, Ohio Biological Survey; Appointed by Governor Taft to a term on the Governor's Residence and Heritage Garden Commission. Sally Nelson, CPA (Advisor to the Board)
President of Nelson & Nelson, CPAs; Treasurer, Community Foundation of Mount Vernon and Knox County; Past-Chair and Treasurer, Knox County Chamber of Commerce; Treasurer, Food for the Hungry; Treasurer, Schnormeier Gardens Foundation; Past President and Treasurer, United Way of Knox County; Past President and Treasurer, Psi Iota Xi.; Past Member, Rotary Club and Foundation. John Urton (Advisor to the Board)
Registered Architect, Ohio and Real Estate Development Consultant; Twenty-eight years in real estate development, managing urban-commercial projects nationwide for major corporations and public institutions; Retired Senior Vice President, Jones Lang LaSalle, an international real estate services and investment firm, London, England; Former Senior Vice President and Development Director, The Galbreath Company, an international real estate development company, Columbus, Ohio; Member, Knox County Storm Water Advisory Committee; Former Trustee and Board Member, Ohio Easter Seals Foundation. Jim Henry, P.E. (Advisor to the Board)
Former Assistant City Engineer for the City of Mount Vernon ('72-'78), Marketing Manager for Cooper Energy Services Rotating Products ('78-'93) and Knox County Engineer since 1993; Active in the Knox County Regional Planning Commission and member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors of Ohio, the National Association of County Engineers, and the executeve committee of District 17, Ohio Public Works Commission; Current chair of the District 17 Natural Resources Assistance Council of the Clean Ohio Program.
