Above: Board and staff at the Hanover Conservancy’s 50th Anniversary Celebration at the summit of Balch Hill, September, 2011
Current officers
Nancy Collier is President of the Conservancy Board. She holds a B.S. from the University of Vermont and Master’s degree in Resource Management & Administration from Antioch New England Graduate School, and recently completed a Certificate in Nonprofit Management at Marlboro College. She is a former community planner at Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission and environmental consultant at DuBois & King, Inc., preparing environmental impact studies. Nancy chaired the Hanover Planning Board for 12 years, leading the Master Plan revision effort. She also chaired the Hanover Conservation Commission, has served on the Etna Library Board of Trustees and Hanover Scenic Locales Committee, and volunteers for the NH Coverts program. She is a hiker, XC skier, mountain biker, pond hockey player, and gardener. Nancy and husband John are the parents of two college-aged boys.
Kristine McDevitt serves as board Vice President and Chair of the Lands Committee. A graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, she is licensed in the District of Columbia where she worked on First Amendment and advertising issues pending before Congress, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission. She currently handles probate settlement and trust administration at Caldwell Law. In 2005, McDevitt served as co-chair of the Lyme Road Village town committee on the rezoning of Lyme Road. Kristine enjoys cooking, gardening, skiing and hiking. She and husband Pat and three school-age children have lived in Hanover since 2001. Their forays to Balch Hill were the basis for her deep appreciation of the readily accessible, unique natural resources in Hanover.
Andrew Samwick, Conservancy Treasurer, is the Sandra and Arthur Irving Professor of Economics and Director of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College. Dr. Samwick holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a doctorate from MIT in economics. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. In 2003, he joined the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, serving for a year as its chief economist. He also serves on the boards of the Montshire Museum of Science and Ledyard Financial Group. A resident of the Upper Valley since 1994, his family includes wife Terry and two young children. His hobbies include skiing down hills when there is snow on them and hiking up them when there isn’t.
Robert Ballou, Secretary of the Board, is a landscape architect, land planner and urban designer with almost 40 years of experience working in both the public and private sectors. Bob holds a B.A. in landscape architecture from North Carolina State University and a Master’s in Urban Studies from Loyola University, Chicago. As a consultant with a Boston area planning, engineering and environmental services firm, Bob has provided master planning and design expertise for large institutions and universities and the development community. His activities in urban/open space planning and economic revitalization for large cities and small towns included efforts on behalf of the Lyme Road Village town committee and evaluating sites for Hanover’s middle school. He lives in Hanover with his wife Bronwen and high school-aged son.
Members At Large
Sandra Chivers has been Manager of the Ojibway Guest Lodge on Lake Temagami in Ontario for 28 years, and also assists with development activities at the Keewaydin Foundation. Chivers has been an alpine ski coach and ski instructor for 20 years with various programs including Ford Sayre, Waterville Valley, Holderness School, Vail (Colorado) and Penn State University. At Tabor Academy, Sandy was Assistant Director of Admissions. She loves being in the outdoors and enjoys alpine skiing, cross country skiing, snow shoeing, day hiking, pond hockey and exploring the many trails the Hanover area has to offer. Sandy is the mother of a college-age daughter.
Eric Evans is a retired labor lawyer who practiced for 30 years in Rochester, New York, where he was managing partner of one of the oldest and largest firms in Upstate New York. Eric holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the Albany Law School of Union University. In addition to service on various boards and advisory boards, he has worked as a tutor and mentor with children in need. He has lived in the Balch Hill neighborhood of Hanover for seven years, and has family roots in the Upper Valley reaching back 40 years. He and his wife Anne have three adult children and four grandchildren. His interests include hiking, skiing, canoeing and kayaking, tennis, squash, and history. Eric chairs the Conservancy’s Governance Committee.
Jeffrey Harris, president of JMH Wealth Management, is a Chartered Financial Analyst and has managed individual and institutional investment portfolios for 21 years. He has assisted many nonprofits with the drafting and adoption of Investment Policy Statements and spending policies, creation of endowments, selection of investment managers, implementation of fiduciary compliance protocols and creation of other financial control procedures. Harris helped found the Mascoma Chapter of the New Hampshire Audubon Society. An avid birder with a particular interest in raptors, Jeffrey also enjoys kayaking, cycling, and fly-fishing. He lives in Hanover with his wife, Pamela, and children.
Betsy McGean is currently Senior Director of Philanthropy in Northern New England for The Trust for Public Land. From 1998-2006, she directed the Conservation Partnerships and Leadership Program in Asia and the Pacific region for The Nature Conservancy. McGean is a graduate of Williams College and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science. She is a past president of the Conservancy and chairs its Development Committee, and is a member of the Dartmouth Liaison Committee. She grew up in Norwich and Hanover, and returned to the Upper Valley from Washington, D.C. to raise her young children with her husband, Tom Blinkhorn. A figure skater, swimmer, hiker, photographer, gardener, and skier, she has a passion for conserving land and water.
Gail McPeek grew up in southern New Jersey and always had an interest in nature and the outdoors. She holds a B.S. in Natural Resource Management from Rutgers University (Cook College) and a Master’s degree in Wildlife Biology from University of Kentucky. Much of her research and work has involved birds, and she had the opportunity to help write and edit two bird books while working in Michigan at the Kalamazoo Nature Center. Gail moved to Hanover in 1992, when her husband joined the faculty at Dartmouth College. She has two children and two dogs, and loves the many trails and wild places of Hanover. She chairs the Conservancy’s Outreach and Education Committee.
Hugh Mellert has been the Fitness Director at Dartmouth College for the past 17 years. He holds a Master’s in Public Health from Tulane University. Hugh is active in the community serving for 12 years on the Hanover Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee, coached many youth sports teams, and is the current President of the Connecticut Valley Babe Ruth League. He enjoys numerous outdoor activities and has led many nature hikes for the Conservancy into the woods on trails in Hanover. Hugh and his wife Barbara have two college/high school-age sons.
Carl Renshaw is Professor of Earth Sciences at Dartmouth College. His research interests span two different fields: hydrology and experimental geomechanics. He is involved in a variety of projects ranging from the use of novel field techniques to better understand the impacts of dams on New England rivers, field studies on the transport and fate of pesticides and mining waste in streams and rivers, and experimental studies on the failure of ice and rock. He lives with his wife, Holly Taylor, and their children near the Mink Brook Nature Preserve.
Jay Rozzi is a Principal Engineer and Part-owner at Creare, where he leads the Advanced Manufacturing business area. His work focuses on the processing of metals, ceramics, and composites. Dr. Rozzi holds a PhD in Thermal and Fluid Sciences from Purdue University. He has developed innovative technologies related to thermal systems, cryogenics, and biomedical systems, with several patents pending. A former member of the Hanover Parks and Recreation Board, Jay coaches youth football and is actively involved in the Ford Sayre alpine ski racing program. He enjoys trail running, mountain biking, and other outdoor activities, and lives in Hanover with his wife, Colleen, and two school-age sons.
Stephen Shadford, Dartmouth College’s Energy Program Manager, oversees the College’s conservation and efficiency program. Shadford has been in the building energy systems field for over 35 years, including as owner of a building automation company and independent energy consultant. A registered professional engineer and Certified Energy Manager, he is an accredited professional under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program. A native of Connecticut, Steve holds a B.S in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hartford. He and wife Susan moved to Hanover in 2008 and are the parents of two adult daughters. Steve enjoys hiking, kayaking, rowing, gardening, woodworking, and music.
Staff
Adair Mulligan, Executive Director, holds a master’s degree in Environmental Biology from Smith College. She has worked in the conservation field for 35 years. A former loon biologist and Education Director for the Audubon Society of NH, she moved to Lyme Center 20 years ago to join the staff of the Connecticut River Joint Commissions. As Conservation Director, she managed the task of 150 volunteers to write management plans for the river’s 275-mile valley in NH and VT. Adair is the author of several books and of essays in Where the Great River Rises and Beyond the Notches, an anthology of NH’s North Country. A member of the Lyme Conservation Commission for 14 years, she now serves on the Lyme Heritage Commission. Adair came to the Hanover Conservancy in June, 2010.
