WILD VIRGINIA STAFF

David Hannah, Conservation Director

David Hannah received his M.S. degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Florida and has worked as a professional in the conservation and natural resource field since 1993.  His varied career has found him working as a General Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Delaware, a Natural Resource Manager for the North Carolina state park system, a Land Protection specialist for the Nature Conservancy of Virginia, and a Conservation Officer for the Piedmont Environmental Council in Albemarle County.  In recent years, David obtained a teaching license and entered the field of education.  He lives in Charlottesville with his wife Laurie and hikes in our forests at every opportunity.


WILD VIRGINIA BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2007

Chris Bowlen

Chris Bowlen received a BS in Chemistry from WVU, then worked as a chemist at Eastman Kodak in Rochester NY, University of Washington in Seattle, WA and Schering Plough in Bloomfield NJ.  After moving to VA in 1996, Chris retired from chemistry to raise her two daughters and work on restoring their house. She is currently stewarding 10 acres in the Shenandoah Valley, which involves restoring a damaged woodland area and running a small, sustainable organic farm. Chris and her husband, Gene, have been committed to environmental issues and to living as close to green as possible since the early '80s. Chris is a member of the VA Native Plant Society and a VA Master Naturalist and enjoys being outside in all 4 seasons, especially in the George Washington National Forest.

Jen Creasy

Jen Creasy is a ninth grade biology teacher at Charlottesville High School. A native Charlottesvillian, Jen has been involved with Wild Virginia since 1997. She is the past editor for the Ancient Mountain Sentinel, Wild Virginia's newsletter. Jen has a B.S. in Wildlife Science, with minors in Geology and Biology, from Virginia Tech. She enjoys hiking, cycling, knitting, and playing her guitar and fiddle.

Eric Gilchrist, President

Eric Gilchrist is the principle of Green Resources of Virginia, a consulting firm specializing in marketing sustainable products in Virginia. Eric has over twenty years experience in sales and marketing for large and small companies, including his own for-profit green business. He holds an MBA and BS in Environmental Planning & Management from Penn State. He finished the International Honors Program which entailed studying Global Ecology issues in India, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, England, and Fiji in 1992-1993. He and his wife Deborah love forests and other wild ecosystems.

Jason Halbert

Jason Halbert is a Program Officer at The Oak Hill Fund in Charlottesville, VA. Previously, he served as Grassroots Program Officer at W. Alton Jones Foundation. Prior to joining the philanthropic world, Jason was the Coordinator of The Appalachian Restoration Campaign, an effort to delineate a system of wildland preserves in central Appalachia. From 1993-1995 he worked in Washington, DC as a lobbyist on forest policy issues. After some time working in Montana, he spent two years on an organic farm in his home state of Pennsylvania. He also taught a field course in wilderness canoeing, forest ecology and ethics in the Ozark Mountains, through the University of Montana and the Wild Rockies Field Institute. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Delaware. He serves on the Board of Commissioners of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. With his wife Kristin Taverna and their son Dylan, Jason enjoys gardening, botany, birding, backpacking, canoeing, cycling and swimming.

Cynthia Hurst

Cynthia Hurst is the owner of Butterflies in Progress, L.L.C., a development consulting company.  She has worked with non-profit organizations since 1988, most notably serving as the director of Clean Water Action in Baltimore and Miami.   In addition, Cynthia worked for the Wildlife Center of Virginia and WHTJ Charlottesville PBS.  Her Bachelor of Arts degree is from James Madison University and she did graduate work at Virginia Tech.  Cynthia grew up in the Shenandoah Valley hiking in the George Washington National Forest and still backpacks there when time will allow.  She also enjoys yoga, canoeing, scuba diving, dancing and laughing.

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer is an environmental data analyst for a consulting firm in Charlottesville. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2002 and decided to stay in Charlottesville (possibly forever) largely because of the beautiful natural environment that we are so lucky to enjoy here in central Virginia.She volunteers for several organizations in Charlottesville, and is currently fighting the construction of a coal-fired power plant near her hometown in southwest Virginia.In the words of the great environmentalist Ed Abbey, she is a "part-time crusader" wholoves the outdoors and feels compelled to do everything she can to protect it while saving time to enjoy it!

Ernie Reed, Vice President

Ernie Reed has been teaching continuously since 1973. He cofounded and is the Director of the Living Education Center for Ecology and the Arts, a private high school in Charlottesville. He has served the Virginia Chapter Sierra Club as Environmental Education Chair, Public Lands Chair and At-Large Delegate to the Executive Committee. He was the "Deep Ecology" member of the Working Group for the Land and Resource Management Plan for the George Washington National Forest, 1991-93. He chaired the Values and Ethics Subcommittee on the Sustainability Council of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District and served on the Community Interfaith Roundtable on Sustainability. He is on the Board of Directors of Oak Meadow School, a private, non-profit, correspondence school, Heartwood, a coalition of over 50 grassroots forest protection groups in the central and eastern US, and is Vice President of Wild Virginia. Ernie has a BSC in Economics from the University of Santa Clara and did his postgraduate work at University of California at Santa Barbara. He doesn't get out often enough into the forests he works to protect.

Kristin Taverna, Secretary

Kristin Taverna works as a field ecologist for the Virginia Division of Natural Heritage.  Her work takes her into the woods throughout Virginia, inventorying natural areas and documenting rare natural communities.  All her travels throughout the state have shown her how special the mountains of Virginia truly are!  She holds an MS in Plant Ecology from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and a BA in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia.  Kristin began her involvement with Wild Virginia back during her undergraduate days at UVA.  Kristin serves on the board with her husband, Jason, and they love nothing more than sharing the outdoors together and with friends, be it on foot, in a canoe, or on their knees in their garden. 

Nathan Van Hooser, Treasurer

Nathan Van Hooser works as a network engineer during the week but treasures secluded mountains cabins for weekend get-aways.  He grew up in the Shenandoah Valley and roamed the Eastern slopes of the Allegany Mountains from Rockingham to Giles counties.  Jefferson National Forest timber issues occupied Nathan's activist time at Virginia Tech while also earning a B.S. in Electrical Engineering.  After a two year teaching job in West Africa, he moved back to Central Virginia and helped start TradeLocal, a non-profit designed to encourage local small business patronage.  Nathan currently enjoys hiking the Blue Ridge with his wife, son and four-pawed friends.