Board & Staff

Jenny Lange, President

Jenny and her husband John, a Bainbridge Island native, settled here over 25 years ago. Jenny worked in Government Relations at the Seattle office of The Nature Conservancy, pursuing public partnerships in conservation and helping to protect natural areas at the state and federal levels. After starting a family, she became an active volunteer on Bainbridge, including serving on the Vestry and leading annual campaigns at Grace Church, and helping to establish Mom’s Morning Retreat, a support group for mothers. Jenny earned two degrees from Duke University – a B.S. in zoology and a law degree. She enjoys sea kayaking, walking on our local trails, and living in a place that values natural spaces and a vibrant community.

Ben Klasky, Vice President

Ben is the Founder and Principal of Seismic Philanthropy, which advises foundations and families on philanthropic strategy. For over a decade, he served as the CEO of IslandWood – an environmental education organization based on Bainbridge Island. Ben was formerly the CEO of Net Impact, cofounded Camp Galileo, and worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help turbocharge the giving of some of the world’s wealthiest individuals. Ben has taught graduate courses on Social Entrepreneurship and Nonprofit Management at the University of Washington. He began his career as a Teach For America corps member in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has served on over a dozen boards including PCC Community Markets; KUOW; and the Japanese-American Exclusion Memorial. He and his wife Lisa do their best to keep up with their two boys, Jake and Eli.

Laurie Miller, Treasurer

Laurie grew up on a ranch in the mountains of Montana, enjoying a childhood largely spent outdoors on horseback exploring the national forests that border the ranch. Laurie’s parents were dedicated conservationists whose passion for preservation and environmental sustainability was passed on to their children. With family in tow, Laurie arrived on Bainbridge Island in 1991 to pursue a career in corporate Seattle as a CPA with an MBA. She inevitably recognized her affinity for the not-for-profit sector and has devoted the last 20 years to the art of financial and operational leadership for mission-driven organizations. Laurie honed her business skills during 16 years at IslandWood, then transported her knowledge base to New Zealand to provide strategic guidance to a start-up group of sustainable companies formed to benefit the local New Zealand communities.  She has served on several nonprofit boards and is currently a financial advisor to Global Child Nutrition Foundation, an international organization dedicated to school feeding programs around the world.

Carolyn Harper, Secretary

Carolyn Harper is a long-time resident of Bainbridge Island and the Pacific Northwest. After earning an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and an MBA from Columbia Business School, Carolyn worked for over 30 years in professional services as a management consultant. She retired from Willis Towers Watson, a global professional services firm, in 2020. Carolyn currently serves as the board treasurer for PeaceTrees Vietnam, a Seattle- and Viet Nam-based NGO focused on de-mining and economic development in Viet Nam. She has also served on the board of The Island School, as well as committees for the Bainbridge Island School District and Grace Episcopal Church. In the winter she teaches skiing to veterans and people with disabilities through Higher Ground, a Ketchum, Idaho based organization. Carolyn is an avid cyclist, skier and hiker and a fledgling flyfisher.

Nicole Bavo

Nicole grew up in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California and made her way to the Pacific Northwest for college after spending summers on Whidbey Island.  After a few years in Washington, Nicole knew this would be her home state due to its natural beauty and the people. After earning a degree from University of Puget Sound, Nicole pursued a career in non-profit management and fundraising. Her education includes The Fundraising School through IUPUI and a certificate in Non-Profit Management from UW Tacoma. Nicole has her Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from UW Tacoma. When not working to make her community a better place, Nicole can be found traveling, crabbing in the summer, skiing in the winter and exploring the world with her husband and three energetic boys.

Azure Boure

Azure is a professional community educator in the field of traditional foods, medicine and Indigenous technologies. She is knowledgeable and passionate about the natural environment and dedicated to community service. Azure has found that teaching about gathering and use of native plants and materials goes hand in hand with caring about land restoration. Recently she was elected to her first term on the Suquamish Tribal Council. Prior to joining the Board of the Bainbridge Island Land Trust, she was involved with the annual native plant sale. Azure lives in Indianola, Washington.

Maradel Gale

Maradel grew up in the state of Washington and worked for two summers on forest service lookouts on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. This experience, combined with early camping and hiking activities with her family, created in Maradel a strong desire to protect the environment from corporate and industrial mismanagement and overuse. After five years in Michigan, Maradel returned to the Pacific Northwest and became active with the effort to protect Oregon’s coastal beaches for public use. She then enrolled in the UO Law School, at a time when women were just beginning to enter the law sector in significant numbers. Maradel’s primary career was as a Professor at the University of Oregon, where she taught courses in legal issues in planning and public administration, environmental law, and leadership skills.Upon retirement, Maradel returned to the Puget Sound area and settled on Bainbridge Island, where she was appointed to the city’s Planning Commission, on which she served for 11 years. She was the founder of Sustainable Bainbridge and is thrilled to bring her extensive experience in environmental issues to the Land Trust’s Board.

Fred Hoffer

Fred grew up in the woods of Des Moines, Iowa, and has loved the natural understory ever since. He is a pediatrician and radiologist with nationwide experience, and still does academic work with the Children’s Oncology Group in his retirement. Fred successfully eradicated invasive kudzu as a Friend of Overton Park in Memphis, Tennessee. In the Seattle area, he controlled invasive weeds within the Union Bay Natural Area, and he worked to establish an accessible boardwalk and trail as a Friend of Y esler Swamp. Having lived four years on Bainbridge Island with his wife Donna Rodger, he is now an active volunteer with the Grow II Community, IslandWood, Rotary, and the Bainbridge Island Medical Reserve Corps. He continues to slay invasive plants wherever he can find them.

Steve Jenning

Steve was born and raised in western Oregon where his family was involved in farming, the forest products industry and politics. Moving to Bainbridge Island in 2017 with his wife, Linda, a writer and former Georgetown University professor, was a homecoming after 30 years working in Washington DC as a congressional staff person and a health care lobbyist. Prior to those years he was a newspaper, magazine and wire service reporter in New York, San Francisco and Portland. During college at Columbia University, Steve worked four summers as a US Forest Service firefighter in the Pacific Northwest. He has served on several non-profit agency boards, most recently the Washington DC Tennis and Education Foundation for 12 years, primarily on fundraising and capital projects.

Nora Nickum

Nora grew up on Bainbridge Island and moved back in 2017 with her husband (also a Bainbridge native) and daughter.  As the Senior Ocean Policy Manager at the Seattle Aquarium, she leads state and federal policy advocacy efforts related to ocean health, species conservation, and climate resilience. Previously, Nora was an environmental consultant leading climate change planning efforts and community engagement projects. She also worked at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) as a Senior Climate Change Adaptation Specialist, served on the US negotiating team to the UNFCCC, and sat on the Climate Change Advisory Committee to the Bainbridge Island City Council. She has a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. Nora is also a children’s author writing about nature and conservation, with Superpod: Saving the Endangered Orcas of the Pacific Northwest (for ages 8-12+) coming out in 2023 from Chicago Review Press and picture books in the works. She and her family can often be found on the shores of Bainbridge trying to catch a glimpse of a passing pod of orcas.

Tom Ringo

Tom is a native of Puget Sound who grew up Seattle and has lived on Bainbridge for over 30 years.  After obtaining a BA in History from Stanford and an MBA from the University of Washington, Tom worked for Price Waterhouse and Westin Hotel Company in Seattle before moving to Kitsap County in the late 1980’s to take a position with Pope Resources, a publicly traded timber and real estate company based in Poulsbo. After 33 years at Pope Resources in executive management roles, Tom retired in 2020.  His free time interests include cycling, golf, cello-playing, and walks with his 2-year-old English Shepherd in the parks of south Bainbridge.  He is actively involved in lay leadership at Grace Episcopal.

Sandy Schubach

Sandy immediately fell in love with the Pacific Northwest’s beauty and outdoor activities, including sailing, hiking, bicycling and cross-country skiing, when she moved to Seattle after growing up and attending college in Michigan. She moved to Bainbridge in 1999 with her husband Ed and son Conrad and was soon an active volunteer with several local nonprofits. She was a founding member of the Bainbridge Community Foundation and was active in the early days of IslandWood.  Volunteering with a local nonprofit that helped landmine victims, she traveled extensively in Southeast Asia and filmed testimonials and videos of projects. This eventually led to her co-creating a nonprofit organization to help provide educational opportunities for under-served children in Myanmar. Sandy has worked with the Land Trust for many years and looks forward to continuing and expanding her Land Trust work to help preserve and protect her beautiful island home.

Steve Todd

When Steve was nine, his family moved from California to Bainbridge Island, his mother’s hometown. Steve has vivid memories of venturing into the local woods with friends when public natural areas were rare. After receiving a BS in Environmental Science (Huxley College) at Western Washington University in 1991, Steve worked forestry jobs in Oregon and Washington. He then joined a Seattle consulting firm involved in lake and stream restoration projects and earned an MS in Fisheries Resources at the University of ldaho in 1998. Since then, he’s been a tribal biologist focused on salmon habitat protection and restoration and the ecological recovery of Puget Sound. Upon returning to Bainbridge Island in 2003, Steve and his wife Denise raised two children. Steve finds comfort knowing that his kids grew up exploring the forests, trails, and shorelines of Bainbridge Island, a gift he’s certain they’ll keep their entire lives.

Lori Weise

Lori is a Southern California native who relocated to Bainbridge Island with her husband Steve in 2018 to be closer to family. Lori grew up camping, hiking, and fishing along the Pacific Coast, including trips to Western Canada and Alaska. Lori attended UCLA for both her undergraduate and graduate school programs in Political Science and Urban and Health Planning. Lori worked in a variety of leadership positions in healthcare strategic forecasting and business planning in her career, including 20 years at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles serving as Vice President, Strategic Planning and Business Development. She and Steve enjoy running, cooking, travel, and entertaining grandchildren. Lori also provides pro bono consulting services for non-profit organizations through the Seattle-based 501 Commons, and is Board President of Bainbridge Island’s only synagogue, Congregation Kol Shalom.

Cullen Brady, Executive Director

Prior to his role as Executive Director, Cullen served for two years as the Director of Development and Communications, and two years on the Board of Directors of the Land Trust before joining as staff, including on the organization’s Executive Committee. During his time as a Board member and as Director of Development and Communications, Cullen helped develop and lead the unprecedented Stand for the Land campaign – which has raised nearly $8 million for Island conservation and protected over 120 acres of critical habitats. He also led the development and adoption of the organization’s current five-year strategic plan.

Before his involvement with the Land Trust, Cullen served in regional and national fundraising and government relations roles with The Wilderness Society, Sustainable Northwest, and The Nature Conservancy. Cullen also served as a Maritime Policy Fellow within the Washington State Department of Commerce for the Governor’s Maritime Sector Lead.

Born in Colorado and raised in the Midwest, Cullen has lived on the Island for over ten years. He holds a bachelor’s degree with dual majors in International Affairs and German Studies from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and a master’s degree in Marine and Environmental Affairs from the University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs in Seattle.  He lives on Bainbridge Island with his husband, Michael Scott.

Cullen currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Washington Association of Land Trusts.

Email Cullen

Farrah Ferguson, Communications Manager

Farrah is a third-generation islander. As a child, she roamed the forests and beaches near her Sunrise Drive home looking for treasures like heron eggshells,  trilliums, and finding (what felt like) every hidden stinging nettle. Farrah traded island life for the mountains of Colorado in 1995, graduating with honors and earning dual degrees—a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism—from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Returning to the Pacific Northwest, she devoted over two decades to crafting brand identities, print materials, and digital assets. Farrah previously collaborated with the Bainbridge Island Land Trust as a freelance designer, lending her creativity to initiatives like the Stand for the Land campaign. Now she’s excited to channel her energy fully into the vital mission of the Land Trust.

When not thinking about typefaces, Farrah seeks out anything made with butter and outdoor adventures with her husband, daughter, and pup, Noodles.

Email Farrah

Andrew Fraser, Stewardship Manager

A Pacific Northwest native, Andrew grew up spending his summers out along the coast and weekends throughout the year volunteering at invasive species pulls and tree plantings. After earning his undergrad at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, Andrew returned the Northwest to attend graduate school at the University of Washington and earn a degree in Restoration Ecology and Environmental Horticulture. Since graduating, he has worked and volunteered with a number of non-profits, county, and federal agencies though out Oregon and Washington. Having fallen in love with the island during grad school, Andrew is thrilled to join the Bainbridge Island Land Trust and help preserve the unique island landscape for future generations. In his free time, he enjoys cooking new recipes, propagating plants, reading, telling bad puns, and volunteering at restoration projects.

Email Andrew

Brady Jones, Office Manager

Born and raised on Bainbridge Island, Brady comes to the Land Trust following careers as an environmental journalist and a PGA golf professional. He holds a Master’s degree in health, science and environment journalism from Northwestern University—as well as undergraduate degrees in Communication, English Writing and Business Administration from the University of Colorado.

Growing up next to Gazzam Lake, Brady developed an early passion for environmental advocacy exploring the abundant natural areas of the island. He is thrilled to be able to return home and contribute to the continued preservation of such a unique and inspiring place. Brady lives on the island with his wife and their dog, Zola.

Email Brady

Sarah Keller, Stewardship Associate

A longtime Northwest resident, Sarah grew up in the sagebrush steppes and wide-open spaces of southwestern Idaho. It was in her mid-20s that she fell in love with conservation and resource management. After obtaining her B.S. in Biology from Boise State University, she worked a variety of seasonal positions with state and federal agencies throughout the West. During her time with the National Park Service, she worked on data management and field studies involving fragmentation of habitat in a wildland-urban interface, post-wildfire restoration work, and aquatic invasive species prevention and monitoring. She is excited to start this next adventure with Bainbridge Island Land Trust in such a vibrant community and stunning, diverse ecosystems.

Email Sarah

Kate Kelly, Development Manager

Kate lives on the island with her loving family and dog, Birdie.  Kate enjoys paddle boarding and photography and has recently developed a keen interest in birding, finding immense joy in connecting with nature on a deeper level.

With a background in commercial real estate from Marcus & Millichap and electric transportation with Tesla, Kate’s administrative expertise is well-honed. Her warm-hearted nature and unwavering dedication to preserving the environment make her an invaluable member of the Bainbridge Island Land Trust team.

Email Kate

Gina King, Conservation Director

Gina moved with her family to Bainbridge Island in 1983 and has had one foot on the Island ever since. She went off to study zoology and natural resource science at University of Washington and UC Berkeley and spent 26 years as a wildlife biologist with the Yakama Nation, protecting sensitive species and habitats in south-central Washington. When her daughter started at UW she moved back to the area, and is excited to be back on the wet side of the mountains, helping to preserve the natural places that make the Island so special. She and her husband enjoy hiking, reading, and travel, and are finally learning to kayak like true Northwesterners.

Email Gina

Barbara Shane, Development Associate

Barbara moved to the island two decades ago from the east coast and has been elated by the green island environment ever since. She had a long career in international public health, developing, managing, and writing about reproductive, maternal, and child health programs. Long a supporter of the Land Trust, she is excited to contribute to its important work preserving natural areas on the island. She enjoys rowing in Eagle Harbor, getting her hands dirty in the garden, and hiking with her family.

Email Barbara

Jennifer Sharp, Accounting Manager

Jennifer is a native New Yorker who grew up in a small town and spent many hours exploring the woods and streams near her home. Since, 1990 Jennifer has had the pleasure of calling Bainbridge Island her new home. Her love of nature drew her to IslandWood where she spent 20 years ending her career there as the Director of Accounting. Before joining IslandWood, she worked mostly with non-profit companies including as an auditor in New York City where her clients were visual and performing arts companies. Since living on BI, she has been the Treasurer of several non-profits including the original Kids Up!, Meadowmeer Water Service Association, BHS PTSO and Bainbridge Parks Foundation. She is also a current board member of One Call For All. After raising two kids on BI, she and her husband are now empty nesters, and are kept company by their two much-loved dogs.

Email Jennifer

Fawn Wagner, Community Education Manager

Fawn is a lifelong Kitsap County resident. Growing up around the estuaries and forests of the Salish Sea has inspired her place-based studies in environmental science. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from the Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University and a Master of Environmental Studies from The Evergreen State College. Her research focuses on water quality and land use metrics in Puget Sound lowland streams. She has over a decade of experience working and volunteering with local non-profits on environmental restoration and environmental education. Fawn is also a Native Environmental Science faculty member at the Northwest Indian College where she teaches undergraduate courses in biology and ecology. Fawn is excited to use her skills and experience to help fulfill the Land Trust’s mission of conserving Bainbridge Island’s natural habitats.

Email Fawn