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.
Jeffrey Harris serves as treasurer. President of JMH Wealth Management, he 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.
Gail McPeek serves as secretary. A wildlife ecologist, she 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.
Members At Large
Stan Colla, Vice President for Alumni Affairs at Dartmouth until 2005, recently retired from his position as Vice President for University Relations at Alfred University. A Dartmouth College and Tuck School alumnus, he also holds a master’s in Education from Harvard and has advised many non-profit organizations. He has served on the boards of Hanover Improvement Society, Vermont Academy, Dartmouth Alumni Association, and the Mountain School, among others. A long-time Hanover resident, he has returned to live in the Balch Hill neighborhood with his wife, Judi. He observes that living in this extraordinary community reminds us that wholesome resources like clean air and water, conserved wilderness, and healthy food are the products of thoughtful stewardship.
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.
Tom Hall is principal of Sage Investment Inc. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Amos Tuck School, and was an executive at Ford Motor Company for 31 years, working in marketing, strategic planning, and merger and acquisitions. He is currently the Finance chair and member of the planning and executive committees of Upper Valley Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice, and active in the Hanover Rotary Club, Howe Corporation, and DHMC Board of Overseers, as well as treasurer of the Lake Mitchell Trout Club and the Pier 19 Dock Association. Previously, he served on the CHaD development board, the boards of the Hood Museum and Hopkins Center, and was an alternate to the Hanover Planning Board. He and his wife Barbara have lived in Hanover since 1994.
Tom Jack, former Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth, has taught laboratory science for 19 years in addition to his research interest in plant biology. An avid hiker, trail runner, and cross country/backcountry skier, Tom volunteers to maintain a section of the Appalachian Trail and has assisted the Conservancy with similar stewardship projects. He holds a PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale. He and his wife, Elizabeth Barry, have lived in Hanover since 1993 and have a passion for the outdoors and for the importance of preserving outdoor and wilderness spaces.
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.
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.
Joanna Whitcomb, Dartmouth’s Director of Campus Planning, is responsible for the implementation and oversight of the campus master plan including space planning, landscape design, architectural programming, spatial policy development, and sustainability strategies. She works on feasibility studies for major renovation and new construction projects, planning for the College’s residential and commercial portfolios, and Town/Gown interface. Throughout her career, Joanna’s professional focus has been sustainable development and resource protection. Certified with the American Institute of Certified Planners and a member of the American Planning Association, Joanna has a MS in Resource Administration and Management from the
University of NH and a BS in Physical Geography and Environmental Science from McGill University. A native of Hanover, Joanna lives near Balch Hill with her husband, Bill, and two daughters.
Staff
Adair Mulligan, Executive Director, holds a master’s degree in Environmental Biology from Smith College, and has worked in the conservation field for 35 years. A former loon biologist and Education Director for New Hampshire Audubon, 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 and is a speaker for the New Hampshire Humanities Council’s “Humanities to Go” program. Her three adult children have pursued careers in the law, environmental economic policy, and the Peace Corps. Adair came to the Hanover Conservancy in June, 2010.
