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A 15-member Board of Directors governs the Land Trust. Our Board is an engaged and hard-working group who represents the many different facets of the Bainbridge Island Community.
Our staff includes a full-time Executive Director, Asha Rehnberg, hired in the Spring of 2008. Laura O’Mara joined BILT in 2003 and now oversees the Membership and Fundraising program. Stewardship Director, Brenda McMurray, has been with BILT since the fall of 2006. Susanne Schneider, our office manager and events coordinator, joined the staff in early 2009 and Frances Ran was added as our Administrative Assistant in 2012. In addition, Martha Monkman of the Number Factory is BILT's contract bookkeeper. Jonnie Dunne is our AmeriCorps Stewardship Coordinator Intern.
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Tom Backer
Tom is an environmental and land use lawyer whose practice focuses on public clients in the greater Puget Sound region. An island resident since 1992, Tom and his partner Jane Leslie Newberry and their son Eli live in the Rose Loop neighborhood. In his spare time, Tom enjoys working outdoors where he and his family are restoring native plant species on land formerly overrun with old-growth blackberries. Tom is also a traveler, bicyclist, and electric car enthusiast.
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Bill Booth
Bill Booth became a conservationist when he married Beatrice. She taught him things from her oceanographic disciplines, for example: carrying capacity of land and water for micro-organisms and humans; the benefit of spiritual rejuvenation in wilderness; the role of philanthropy in conservation action. He applied some of these ideas in designing buildings that are efficient in use of non-renewable energy sources, and being very involved through the 1970s in start-up non-profit conservation organizations. Finally in the 1990s he focused his energy on The Trust for Public Land, because the benefits of acquiring land for people seemed so tangible and permanent. Since moving permanently to Bainbridge Island in 2011 (they had been summer residents since 1972) he wanted to apply the same goals to the B I Land Trust.
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Bill Eckel
Bill is a native of the Midwest and attended the University of Notre Dame in Physics and the University of Illinois in Urban and Regional Planning. After grad school, he moved to Ballard he lived for two decades before buying land on Bainbridge, almost 20 years ago. Bill's career has been at King County, developing and managing programs in salmon recovery, storm water management, wetlands protection, groundwater management, ecological/resource land acquisition and management, farm and forest preservation, noxious weed management, and environmental education. He has also managed a small, Group A, water system on the Island. Bill is semi-retired and enjoys vegetable and landscape gardening. His daughter is a post-doc biostatictician at the USC Department of Preventative Medicine.
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Thomas Fenwick
Thomas and his wife Deb moved to Bainbridge Island full time in 1998. Many years before, with a degree in Mathematics and Physics, he did the sensible thing and became a computer programmer. Twenty-five years later, he returned to his high school passion of photography and became a landscape photographer. He became involved with the Bainbridge Island Land Trust when asked to photograph the Close property for the promotional material to fund acquiring the property for BILT. As a landscape photographer, Thomas has observed a wide variety of landscapes and ecosystems and he recognizes the need to help preserve them for the future.
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Tom Goodlin, President
Tom, his wife Cestjon, and two children have lived on Bainbridge Island since 1998 and in the Seattle area since 1988. Tom has a B.S and an M.S. degree in geology, and is a senior technical manager with Sealaska Environmental Services, a native Alaskan corporation. Professionally, Tom performs groundwater hydrology evaluations of contaminated sites and water resource projects. In 2003, Tom and Cestjon granted a conservation easement to the Land Trust, preserving the wetland and woods on their 4.5 acre residential property. They also entered the same property into the Kitsap County Open Space program. Gardening, camping/backpacking, and bicycling are some favorite pastimes. Tom has also coached Little League and soccer teams on the Island.
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David Harrison, Vice President
David is a senior lecturer at the Evans School of Public Affairs at UW. He is also founder and coordinator of Strategies to Eliminate Poverty, a grant-making program seeking to reduce the extent and severity of poverty in the NW. For the academic school year, he will serve as director of the Nancy Bell Evans Center for Nonprofits and Philanthropy. David is one of the organizers of Skill-Up Washington and is a member of their Executive Committee. Skill-Up WA is a new collaborative in King County sponsored by several foundations and companies, as well as local and state government. Skill-Up WA strives to double, and then redouble, the number of low income, under-skilled working adults in King County who are seeking a post-secondary education credential. David has held many other positions related to education and workforce development, including serving as a member of the Bainbridge Island School Board for several years. He and his wife, Cynthia, live on Bainbridge Island and have two grown sons.
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John Hough
John Hough is a public relations and marketing professional with a strong interest in conservation. He has served as CEO, then Chairman, of Rockey Hill & Knowlton, and earlier as Executive VP, Director of Marketing and member of the management team at First Interstate Bank of Washington. Hough has also served in various capacities in the administration of Idaho Governor Cecil D. Andrus including chief of staff. When Andrus was appointed Secretary of the Interior, Hough served as a member of the Northwest Salmon Fisheries Task Force appointed by President Carter to assist in the implementation of Indian Treaty fishing rights. Hough has also served on numerous boards and commissions including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Seattle Art Museum trustees; the boards of regents of both Gonzaga and Seattle Universities; Seattle Chamber of Commerce trustees and as a director of the William Ruckelshaus Public Policy Consensus Center of the University of Washington and Washington State University. John joined the board in late 2012 by appointment to complete the first term of Kathy Haskin (Kathy’s term ends 2/2013).
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Jan Mulder
Jan is an environmental and land use planner who has practiced in both the public and private sectors throughout Washington, Oregon, California, and Alaska. For the past 10 years, she worked as a Seattle-based consultant conducting land use and regulatory review, permitting, and environmental impact assessment. Jan is a co-founder of a nonprofit filmmaking organization that has been engaged by Olympic National Park to produce a series of films documenting the Elwha dam removal and river restoration process. She is delighted to be managing this project and to be based on Bainbridge Island for the first time since arriving here with her spouse, Greg Bedinger, on New Year’s Eve 1989. Jan has lived in Winslow since 1999 and is currently co-chair of the Land Trust’s Stewardship Committee.
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Barb Robert, Treasurer
Barbara, a lifelong resident of Washington, moved to Bainbridge Island in 2004 with her husband, Leon. Now retired, Barbara was a CPA and Certified Internal Auditor who spent many years in the Accounting, Internal Audit, Finance, and Treasury departments of major local businesses including Bank of America, Washington Mutual, Safeco Insurance and Microsoft. Barbara was enthused with the concept of the Bainbridge Island Land Trust and became involved when asked to head up the "May Day at Hilltop" event, and to join the Finance Committee. Barb enjoys traveling, bicycling, skiing, gardening, and walking in Fort Ward Park with Leon and their children, grandchildren, and granddogs.
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Carol Sperling
As a 33-year resident of Bainbridge Island, Carol has been a long-time admirer of the Bainbridge Island Land Trust and its impressive track record of preserving open space on the Island. She was honored to be asked to serve on the Board of this outstanding organization. In addition to this Board, Carol has spent a combined total of 16 years on the Island School and Hyla Middle School Boards of Trustees. She has also been an active participant in Girl Scouts (troop leader for 12 years), Boy Scouts, and her church. Now as an “empty nester,” she has more time to pursue hiking, biking, travel, and gardening with her husband, Dale, and to continue her community volunteer work. Their 92-year old house also continually vies for time and attention. The preservation of our Island’s beautiful natural landscape and open space has become an important mission for Carol.
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John Thomas
John is an architect with a passion for design and the environment. A native of Seattle, he and his wife Karen met and spent many years in San Francisco before returning to settle with their family on Bainbridge. John, Karen, and their son and daughter Max and Emma live on a beautiful property near Port Madison which is permanently protected with a Land Trust conservation easement. John’s career has spanned many aspects of the built and natural environment, with a focus on interdisciplinary sustainable design and planning. John enjoys skiing, snowboarding, and community involvement.
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Jim Thrash, Secretary
Jim Thrash is presently Manager, Thrash Associates, a consulting firm established to provide management and strategic support to selected organizations, primarily in the construction industry. He currently serves as Advisor to the Board of Directors for a large engineering firm in Seattle, and supports other firms associated with the construction industry. Jim’s 40 year career in the engineering and construction industry included 25 years with Parsons Corporation in a wide variety of roles. He has held positions on the Board of Business Council for International Understanding, American Council of Engineering Companies, and The Infrastructure Security Partnership. He was also a member of Secretary Of Commerce William Daley’s Business Development Mission to Korea and China in 1999. Jim resides in Washington State with his wife, Ginger.
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John van den Meerendonk
John has been a resident of BainbridgeIsland since 1984. From 1985 through 1990, he was the Horticultural and Grounds Superintendent at the Bloedel Reserve and he still volunteers there for plant i.d. walks. Presently, John works with Botanica, Inc., a landscape consulting, design and installation company that he founded it 1990. John has been a teacher and lecturer in the Plant Sciences and has also been involved for many years with the Hardy Fern Foundation and continues to serve on their board. He has served on the B.I. Forestry Commission as well and recently John joined the board of Seapix, a new foundation focused on the use of media and film in the public education of the marine environment of the Pacific Northwest. John’s interests are all things of the natural world, agricultural systems and travel.
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Connie Waddington
Connie is excited to return to the board of the Land Trust. Her passion for land conservation started with the campaign to save the GrandForest which led to her first term with the Land Trust. She went on to serve on the boards of the Kitsap Open Space, Parks and Recreation Commission, the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition and the city’s Open Space Commission. One of her favorite activities was to help develop and participate in the Nature Mapping program for the BainbridgeIslandSchool District which introduced 5th and 6th graders to the concept of being volunteer scientists and stewards. Her family, husband Bill and son Scott, moved to the Island in 1986. She has a degree in biology and worked in medical research before starting her second career in land protection. Connie and Bill can be found fishing for halibut, salmon and crab on most summer weekends.
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Hallie Stevens, Executive Director
Hallie served as Finance Director for The Nature Conservancy in Florida, and then as Conservation Director for the Northeast Florida region. While at The Nature Conservancy, she received national recognition for her work to protect the St. Marys River Basin and the Okefenokee Swamp. A native New Englander, Hallie is delighted to be relocating to the Pacific Northwest to be closer to family. Hallie enjoys exploring local natural areas as well as kayaking and traveling.
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Brenda Padgham, Stewardship Director
Brenda brings over 25 years of natural resource, community engagement and public relations experience to the Land Trust through her involvement with a number of non-profit, state and local organizations and agencies including the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board, local and state Audubon Societies, the Watershed Information Center in Yakima, and more. Brenda joined the Land Trust in 2006. Working with landowners, volunteers and the community, Brenda oversees the Land Trust’s Stewardship Program, which helps ensure protected properties retain their conservation values - forever. Brenda is a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, with the past 20 years spent in Washington. She lives on the Island and constantly explores the rivers, mountains, coastlines and more of the PNW with her 10 year-old son, James.
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Laura O'Mara, Membership Director
Laura feels entirely fortunate to work with the Bainbridge Island Land Trust--the Board, Staff and Members are a remarkable group. Having worked for a number of non-profits in paid and volunteer roles, she joined the Land Trust at the urging of a BILT member, and as the last of her three children entered 1st grade. Laura frequents Island trails with her husband, children, dog and friends--always in awe of the great physical beauty that surrounds us. She continually works with native plant restoration on her family's South-end property and plans to reside on the Island forever.
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Susanne Schneider, Office Manager and Events Coordinator
Susanne is excited and happy to be a part or the Land Trust ~ good people, good cause, good work. She has lived on Bainbridge Island with her husband, Mark, and their 3 children since 1993 . A life time ago she was a retail buyer for major department stores but has spent the better part of her years on the Island as a full-time mother and a professional volunteer in many different capacities. Susanne is a happily transplanted mid-westerner who loves the Northwest and gets out to experience it's wonder first-hand whenever time allows.
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Frances Ran, Administrative Assistant
Wanting to do her part to help protect natural places on Bainbridge, Frances became a member of the Land Trust and began volunteering in the office upon moving here in 2004. In her life before children, she worked as a chemist in the environmental consulting field. She enjoys gardening with native plants, reading, and bicycling and traveling with her husband and two daughters.
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Jonnie Dunne, AmeriCorps Stewardship Coordinator
Jonnie recently graduated from Willamette University with high honors and a B.A. in Environmental Science. He has applied the lessons he learned there to a number of research positions in Ecuador, the Willamette Valley, Mt. St. Helens, and the Mariana Islands. Ecology, botany, biogeography, and local food system development are among his chief research interests that he is excited to explore now on Bainbridge Island. When not doing so directly, he enjoys dogs, dancing, cooking, and trail running. He plans on pursuing an advanced degree in restoration ecology in the near future.
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Mission
