Fifteen men and women with an array of connections to the Appalachian Trail-including five of the 30 members of the old board of managers of the Appalachian Trail Conference-have been elected to serve as the first board of directors of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
A change in the organization's name and downsizing of its governing structure took effect just a few hours before the new governing body was elected by acclamation July 4. The name change better expresses the 80-year-old group's modern role as conservator of more than 250,000 acres of public lands through which the legendary footpath is routed-lands rich in biological diversity and in the cultural heritage of the days when they were the colonial frontier.
Most of the previous board of managers, ATC's governing body since 1928, represented three trail regions and were drawn from the ranks of trail workers, but all the new directors represent the membership as a whole. Their hometowns range from Memphis, Tennessee, in the west to Gatineau in Quebec (near Ottawa) in the north to the Washington suburbs in the east to Sarasota, Florida, in the south.
ATC members meeting in Johnson City, Tenn., voted on the slate during their biennial meeting. The officers and directors will serve for the next two years, meeting four times a year at different locations along the trail.
They are:
Chair: Brian T. Fitzgerald of South Duxbury, Vt. A hydrologist with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, he has served for 14 years on the board, the last four of those as chair of the conference, and took the organization through an accelerated strategic-planning effort and its implementation.
Vice Chair: J. Robert (Bob) Almand of Suwanee, Ga. During a long career with Bank of America, Almand was a project manager specializing in change management following business restructuring. As a member of the board since 1999, he has been heavily involved in strategic planning and implementation efforts and chaired the publications committee for four years.
Secretary: Roger L. Moore of Raleigh, N.C. An associate professor in the department of parks, recreation, and tourism management at North Carolina State University, Moore's major research and scholarly interests lie in the areas of outdoor recreation and natural resources management. Specialized interests of this 1973 Appalachian Trail thru-hiker focus on outdoor recreation behavior, trails and greenways, partnerships, and volunteerism.
Treasurer: Kennard R. (Ken) Honick of Sarasota, Florida. A CPA and tax partner in an accounting firm, Honick has served as treasurer for six of his eight years on the board. He has section-hiked the A.T. once and is making progress on a second end-to-end hike.
Directors
Barney Brannen of Lyme, N.H. A practicing attorney with a master's of business administration, Brannen serves as special assistant attorney general for the state of Vermont, representing both the state and private clients in civil litigation. As the Democratic nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire in 2000, he organized volunteers and raised funds for that campaign.
Goodloe E. (Geb) Byron, Jr., of Middletown, Md. Founder and president of Potomac Investment Services, Byron served on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail Advisory Committee in the 1980s and has served as an at-large member of the board since late 2003. He has long-standing family ties to the A.T.: As members of Congress, both his parents were strong supporters of federal appropriations for A.T. land acquisition, and the bridge carrying the Trail across the Potomac River is named for his late father.
Vicki Clark of Memphis, Tenn. Currently a volunteer-services consultant, Clark has spent the past 20 years building capacity in nonprofit organizations. She served eleven years as vice president for the Points of Light Foundation.
James E. Ditzel of Brunswick, Maine, vice president for sourcing at L.L.Bean, Inc.
Robert E. Durham of Atlanta, Ga., managing director and regional manager of Lehman Brothers, Inc.
Jen Hunter of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, vice president for leadership in the customer success department at Tomoye Corporation.
Destry Jarvis of Hamilton, Va. Currently a conservation and recreation consultant, Jarvis' government service from 1993 to 2001 included stints as senior advisor to the assistant secretary of the interior for fish, wildlife, and parks and assistant director of the National Park Service, responsible for external affairs.
Kevin (Hawk) Metheny of Gorham, N.H. As backcountry management specialist for the Appalachian Mountain Club, Metheny, a member of the board since 2003, brings professional trail- and resource-management training and expertise to it. Metheny has thru-hiked the A.T., the John Muir Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail and section-hiked the Long Trail.
William L. (Bill) Plouffe of Freeport, Maine. During his 20 years of environmental-law practice, Plouffe has represented clients before federal and state natural-resource agencies and been instrumental in drafting and passing many of the state environmental laws in effect in Maine today.
Robert G. (Bob) Stanton of Alexandria, Va. From 1997 to 2001, he served as director of the National Park Service, capping a career of more than 30 years with NPS, during which he also served eight years as director of the national capital region and made his first visit to ATC headquarters in Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
John H. Stookey of Sheffield, Mass., is the founder of two innovative nonprofit organizations: Landmark Volunteers, which provides service opportunities (including work on the A.T.) for high school students, and Per Scholas, which addresses the “digital divide” by reconditioning used computers and distributing them to technology-deprived families.
