Board of Directors

Minnesota State Board

Don Arnosti is Forest Program Director at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, where he works on sustainable development concerning forests and communities. Don served as Executive Director of Audubon Minnesota from 1990–2000. He serves on the Board of the Audubon Center of the North Woods and was a founding Board Member of the Minnesota Environmental Initiative and the Minnesota Environmental Fund. Favorite bird: White-breasted nuthatch.

Paul Egeland became interested in birds at a young age while watching them at his bird feeder and in the prairies and ponds near his rural Cottonwood, MN home. The local Presbyterian minister wrote a column in the community newspaper each week about native birds and what he was seeing. He inspired Paul to look for the same birds. An Audubon bird book helped Paul with bird identification. Paul has been active in birding and environmental issues ever since. Receiving an MBA from the University of Minnesota, his career was in reinsurance, but he found time to serve on the Boards of the Sierra Club’s North Star Chapter, Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, and the Minnesota Land Trust. He has also been active in The Nature Conservancy and remains an enthusiastic birder. Favorite birds: shorebirds and prairie birds.

Rebecca Field is an active community volunteer, having served on the boards of directors of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, The Ripley Memorial Foundation (President), and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She served for 18 years on the Institutional Review Board of Abbott-Northwestern Hospital (now Allina). Her greatest hobby interest is combining her love of nature with photography. In 2007 Rebecca had an exhibit of bird photography at The Minnetonka Center for the Arts featuring images of birds from Minnesota, Southern Africa, and St. Barthelemy in the French West Indies. She has been published in numerous publications, including “Birders World Magazine,” “Minnesota Monthly”, and “Photographer’s Forum.” Some of her photos are in Audubon Minnesota’s “Great River Birding Trail Guide.” Many of her photos appear on her web site. Favorite bird: wood thrush.

William George has served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Honeywell and served in similar capacities with Simplex Time Recorder Company and Jostens, Inc. Bill is now in a private law practice. He has enjoyed birding since ninth grade when he became fascinated with Cape May warblers in the backyard of his New Brighton home. Since then he has seen 368 bird species in Minnesota and is President of the Minnesota Ornithologist Union. Favorite bird: Scarlet tanager.

Jan Green has been involved with Audubon since 1960. She has served as chair of the Duluth Audubon chapter and was an Audubon National Board member in 1987-1990. Her conservation activities have focused on bird distribution, abundance and habitats with an emphasis on land use and northern forest policy. She has written several books including Minnesota Birds: When, Where, and How Many with R. B. Janssen; Birds of the Superior National Forest and Birds and Forests: A Management and Conservation Guide. Jan has served on many DNR advisory committees, especially for endangered species, forestry and Scientific and Natural Areas. For over 10 years she was a member of the Minnesota Forest Resources Council. Other board memberships include: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, MN chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, Seventh American Forest Congress, and St. Louis County Planning Commission. Currently she is on the board of Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, which she helped establish in 1972 and the Town of Duluth Planning Commission. Favorite birds: wood warblers.

David Hartwell is President of Bellcomb Technologies and a current or past member of many conservation Boards in Minnesota including the Minnesota Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy, the Belwin Conservancy, and Conservation Minnesota. He was Co-Chair of the Legislative-Citizens Committee for Minnesota’s Resources and now serves the state on the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Committee. David is a current member of the National Audubon Society Board of Directors and the Land Trust Alliance. Favorite bird: Red-headed woodpecker. Favorite bird: Red-headed woodpecker.

Joel Koemptgen (Vice-Chair) was the Senior Vice President of St. Mary’s/Duluth Clinic Health System before retiring. He’s a founding member of “Men as Peacemakers” which links business with at-risk youth and has served on the Boards of The Nature Conservancy’s Minnesota Chapter and United Way of Duluth. Favorite bird: Common loon.

Scott Lanyon is Professor and Head of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, and was Director of the university’s James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History from 1995 to 2008. As the son of Wesley E. Lanyon (Curator of Birds at the American Museum of Natural History), Scott grew up watching and banding birds at AMNH’s Kalbfleisch Research Station where his father was director. Scott began his professional career at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History in 1985, beginning as Assistant Curator of Birds and assuming responsibilities as Curator of Birds from 1992 to 1995. Scott teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, and occasionally courses for K-12 teachers on evolution. His research focuses on behavioral and morphological evolution of blackbirds. Favorite bird: Yellow-headed blackbird.

Gene Merriam is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and worked as a Certified Public Accountant. He was elected to the state senate in 1974 and served for 22 years until 1996. He served on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee all those years including six years as its chairman. He also served on the Legislative Committee for Minnesota’s Resources from 1980–1996. In 2003 Governor Pawlenty appointed Gene as Commissioner of the DNR, a position he held until he retired in 2007. Gene’s interest in birds was sparked by the white-throated sparrow’s song which he would hear on fishing trips up north. “Its song was so striking and alluring, so recognizable, it captivated me,” Gene remembers. He became curious as to what bird had such a melodious voice, so he purchased a bird recording tape, and began to study bird calls. From then on, his interest grew.

Cassandra (Cassy) Ordway has a degree in Wildlife Biology and minor in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont. She has worked with trumpeter swans at the Minnesota DNR and was a volunteer last year for the Wildlife Recovery Program. Her interest in education is reflected in her past work as Board Chair for the Minnesota Children’s Museum. She currently serves on the Board of the Minnesota Zoo and monitors a bluebird trail and its 31 nest boxes in Orono. One of her favorite bird memories is witnessing the sandhill crane spring migration around Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary in Nebraska. Favorite bird: Tree swallow.

Walter Pratt, Managing Director – Investments at UBS; former Chair of the Minnesota Chapter of The Nature Conservancy; current Chair of the One Percent Club; board member of the Quetico-Superior Foundation and numerous other community Board positions. Walter has birded around the world with recent trips to Panama and across Siberia. He has named his sailboats after birds – the peregrine and the merlin. MN Favorite bird: Peregrine falcon.

Deborah Reynolds is President and CEO of DA Reynolds Group LLC, specializing in supply chain management. Before forming her own consulting group, Debbie was a Senior Vice President of Merchandise Planning for Marshall Fields. Debbie is a board member, and has been board chair, for Milkweed Editions, a literary non-profit press, and has served on the board of the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota. She is also a board member for the International Wolf Center. Favorite bird: Great horned owl.

Michael Steffes is Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Minnesota and has numerous studies around the globe on juvenile diabetes. Mike became interested in birds when his daughter was an infant, holding her and looking out his back window at birds. Today he watches peregrine falcons that nest near his North Shore property on Lake Superior. Mike has made a study of black-throated blue warblers along the Lake Superior Trail, documenting larger than suspected numbers of the birds. Favorite bird: Black-throated blue warbler.

Roby Thompson joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1974. His current appointments include Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs, University of Minnesota Medical School and CEO, University of Minnesota Physicians, a multi-specialty group practice of over 650 physicians. He is a member of the Fairview Health Services Board of Directors and currently serves as chair of its finance committee and a member of the Minnesota Medical Foundation Board of Trustees and Chair of its Development Committee. Favorite bird: Baltimore oriole.

Mary Ellen Vetter, is a retired second grade teacher; Board member of the Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis and the Audubon Center of the North Woods. She became interested in conservation during our nation’s first Earth Day in 1970 and served as Brooklyn Center’s Conservation Commission as chairperson for 10 years beginning programs in recycling, open space preservation, sign ordinances, and energy conservation. She became interested in birds from backyard birding and seeing an avocet on the Missouri River which she found so beautiful and extraordinary. Favorite bird: American avocet.

Susan Wilson (Chair) is a community volunteer and active outdoors person; former Chair of Minnesota Land Trust; former Board member of Minnesota Chapter of The Nature Conservancy and the DNR’s Scientific and Natural Areas Advisory Board. Favorite bird: Bluebird.