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Audubon Staff


  • Leslie Cook

    Position: Development Director | Read Full Profile

    Favorite bird: Eastern phoebe. Leslie is responsible for raising contributed income for Audubon Minnesota. She has worked in the Twin Cities for over 20 years as Development Director at the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Minnesota Children’s Museum and in Corporate Relations for Walker Art Center.



  • Joanna Eckles

    Position: Bird Safe - Lights Out Coordinator | Read Full Profile

    Favorite bird: Chestnut-sided warbler. Joanna is our Bird Safe · Lights Out Coordinator. She has been a bird lover all her life. Joanna became fascinated with birds and birding as a child and this passion remained a constant in her life through high school, college and beyond. At Cornell University, she studied Natural Resources/Wildlife Science and worked on a number of projects studying wild birds.



  • Mark Martell

    Position: Director of Bird Conservation | Read Full Profile

    Favorite bird: osprey. Mark has been involved in bird conservation and raptor studies for more than 25 years; serving as co-coordinator of the Midwest Peregrine Falcon Restoration Program and the Minnesota Osprey Reintroduction, and as a member of the National Bald Eagle Recovery Team. He formerly was Coordinator of Conservation/Research Fellow at The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota.



  • Mark Peterson

    Position: Executive Director | Read Full Profile

    Favorite bird: Bufflehead. Mark was appointed Executive Director of Audubon Minnesota in April 2005. His career in conservation spans more than 25 years. Mark holds degrees in environmental education (B.S.) and environmental journalism (M.S.) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management from Colorado State University.



  • Bonnie Sample

    Position: Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas Coordinator | Read Full Profile

    Favorite bird: Red-headed woodpecker. Bonnie directs the day-to-day operations of a multi-year project that will map the distribution of breeding bird species throughout the state based on surveys conducted by hundreds of volunteers. The atlas is a critical bird monitoring project supported through the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund and a consortium of bird conservation organizations and agencies.



  • Jon Stravers

    Position: Driftless Area Coordinator | Read Full Profile

    Favorite bird: Red-shouldered hawk. Jon “Hawk” Stravers currently serves as the Driftless Area Coordinator for Audubon’s Mississippi River Initiative. Since 1977 Jon has worked on inventory and monitoring projects involving red-shouldered hawks and other birds, and the migration of raptors along the Upper Mississippi River in cooperation with federal and state agencies.



  • Jenny Vitale

    Position: Office/Finance Manager | Read Full Profile

    Favorite bird: Eastern bluebird. A Minnesota native, Jenny grew up in Stillwater exploring the St. Croix River Valley and the surrounding landscape. She graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. For the next seven years, she lived in various parts of the country working in accounting and financial positions all the while exploring state and regional parks and gaining a new appreciation for the wide variety of ecosystems and habitats.



  • Ron Windingstad

    Position: Audubon-at-Home Coordinator | Read Full Profile

    Favorite bird: Sandhill crane. As Audubon Minnesota's Audubon-at-Home Coordinator, Ron’s primary task is to promote bird conservation efforts on private lands in and adjacent to Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Minnesota through outreach/education with the public and development of partnerships required for the success of those efforts.



  • Don Arnosti

    Position: Policy Director | Read Full Profile

    Favorite bird: White-breasted nuthatch. Don rejoined Audubon Minnesota as Policy Director in 2010, a decade after he left Audubon to take his family to Argentina for a sabbatical year. His career in conservation spans 25 years in Minnesota, including 10 years previously as Executive Director of Audubon Minnesota (1990-2000).