Dave grew up in Johnson County and returned to his roots in 2008. He took up birding a few years after that, and through this grew a love for both the tallgrass and shortgrass prairies. He currently works in energy transition consulting on issues related to decarbonization and future energy systems. He had previously worked for the US Department of State where he provided analytic support to policymakers on international energy policy, economic crises, and Middle East political dynamics.
Dick serves as Vice Chair and member of the Executive, Investment and Communications and Prairie Wings Committees and is an attorney in Manhattan.
Tom is a member of the Executive and Celebration of Cranes Committees as well as being Chair of the Finance Committee. He is retired from managing international humanitarian programs and enjoys birding in his backyard, in Kansas counties, our state, nation and internationally.
Cindy is a member of the Northern Flint Hills Audubon Society. She is the editor of the NFHAS newsletter and administrator for the NFHAS website. Cindy was a docent at the Konza Prairie Biological Station for many years, and after 20+ years, retired as editor of the FOKP newsletter, "Bison and Bluestem."
Originally from Colorado, Vanessa moved to Kansas in 1981 and now lives in Manhattan. Now retired, she was the Assistant Director of Milford Nature Center by Milford Lake. She has been a falconer since 1993, and was the first woman licensed in Kansas, but has not actively flown birds for quite some time. She is still involved in the Kansas Hawking Club and is a strong advocate of the sport. Besides contributing to the success of AOK, she is also on Sunset Zoo's Conservation Board and has been involved in the Black-footed Ferret reintroduction since 2008.
Becky is the daughter of longtime AOK friend and ally Gordon Barnhardt. Her introduction to the natural world came from her parents. Her dad took Becky and her siblings on nature hikes and to Southwestern College's biology department. Her mom sent them outside to play while supplying them with strainers to use at the pond and bug jars for the critters they collected. She and her dad shared a lifetime of nature walks and drives, and Becky has continued this tradition with her own children and grandchildren. She also collects rocks and fossils from her hikes and is an avid reader and gardener. She's a graduate of Baker University and WSU.
A native of Topeka, Brian Bohnsack has more than 25 years of experience with federal and state fish and wildlife agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. Before returning to his native Kansas, Brian served as the coordinator for the Department of Interior’s Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council and as the liaison to the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, DC. He currently works as a Program Manager for the Wichita State University Environmental Finance Center. Brian received his PhD in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University, his Master of Science in Zoology from Oklahoma State University, and his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Fort Hays State University. In his spare time, Brian founded Fish Wizards with his sister Sheryl Thowe. The Fish Wizards lead a native fish identification tour in Wabaunsee County as a benefit for the Volland Foundation and the Native Stone Scenic Byways.
Rex is a member of the Sanctuaries and Celebration of Cranes Committees and is a member of Jayhawk Audubon. He is Director Emeritus of the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS), based at the University of Kansas and has co-authored several books on geology.
Randy is a lifelong Topekan, graduating from Topeka High School and Washburn University with a double major in Sociology and Economics. He and his wife, Loretta, sold their family business Kansas Tire and Auto in 2021. He had worked there since 1972. He still maintains 12 rental houses owned by himself and his sons. He is an avid birder and a big brother in Big Brothers Big Sisters since 1978, now mentoring his 11th little.
Elizabeth is a member of the Executive Committee and the Governance Committee. She is a longtime professor of creative writing and environmental literature at Kansas State University, as well as the nonfiction editor at Terrain.org, a journal of place and justice.
Heidi is a lifelong nature-lover and some of her earliest memories include seeing a Snowy Owl perched on a sign and fields full of what are now called Tundra Swans in rural Michigan. She moved to Kansas when she was six, so both of these memories are from when she was 4 or 5 at most. Heidi’s family regularly took drives on back roads or to wildlife refuges, with her mom pointing out Indigo Buntings and Dickcissels. She didn't keep a life list until she took ornithology at Kansas State University, on the way to her degree in Biology. She checked off all the birds she saw or had seen in the back of her Golden Field Guide to Birds of North America.
Heidi’s degree and love of animals led her to a 26-year career as a great ape keeper at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Part of her job was learning about conservation issues affecting the species she worked with and then educating the public about how they could help. Over the years she lived in Colorado, she became more and more involved with birding, including leading field trips with Aiken Audubon Society and the Pikes Peak Birding and Nature Festival.
Heidi and her husband moved to Leavenworth, Kansas in 2021. She enjoys meeting birders out in the field, and helping new birders learn. She has helped with Christmas bird counts and in 2021, she coordinated the Benedictine Bottoms count. This year, she took over a breeding bird survey route in her area. She considers herself an all-around naturalist, as there really aren't any taxa she doesn't like, and she believes everything needs to be considered when conserving an area, because it is all connected.
Gary grew up on a small farm in central Kansas where he spent endless hours exploring the fields and pastures. He traveled extensively throughout Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska as he facilitated development of emergency response plans under the Clean Water Act. A lifelong birder, he has visited all 50 states, Tanzania, and six countries in South and Central America. Gary and his wife Carolyn, live in Manhattan. They own Far West Farm, an AOK legacy farm in Morris County.
Neva grew up in northwest Kansas. Graduating from the University of Nebraska-Kearney with a degree in wildlife biology, the love of nature propelled her to seek organizations that would help her develop a way to bring her passion for nature and help bring education to people. She moved from Nebraska back to Kansas and found the Smoky Hills Audubon and through them, discovered AOK. She has been a member since the beginning and has enjoyed the people of the organization and the important work that the AOK has been involved with helping people see a different perspective on wildlife issues. She has been a chapter representative for many years for the Smoky Hills Audubon and has recently loved helping with the Celebration of Cranes.
Lucia is a member of the Governance Committee. She is a retired laboratory scientist, healthcare educator, and certification agency executive. Lucia is a born and bred city girl who became interested in birding at a young age.
Bruce is a member of Wachiska Audubon Society in Lincoln as well as National Audubon. Bruce lives on an acreage near Malcolm, NE, about ten miles from Lincoln. He is very interested in the Niobrara River and therefore also interested in the Hutton Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary.
George is a member of the Sanctuaries Committee. He and his wife, Denise, own the Flint Hills Prairie Bison Reserve, established in 1996. George is a former President of the Manhattan Downtown Farmers Market and has worked as an arborist for the City of Manhattan Forestry Dept. George is a professional animal handler and trainer; tigers, bears, rhinos, bison and chimps at both the Sunset and Rolling Hills zoos. Denise has been the big cat and bear keeper/caregiver/trainer at Sunset Zoo, for the last 25yrs. Taking care of wild animals for future generations and educating is what they do.
Michael retired from a career in corporate human resources, working in a number of different industries for over 33 years. Currently, Michael teaches management and leadership to new supervisors and technical leads through the Peaslee Technical Training Center in Lawrence. Michael was chair of the Lawrence Public Library Board, helping to pass an $18 million bond referendum to renovate the library in 2011. He also served on the Lawrence Human Relations Commission and currently chairs Lawrence's Citizens Police Review Board. Michael and his wife Denise enjoy domestic and international travel, visiting national and state parks in a class B RV, and living in an active college town. Michael is a graduate of Georgetown University, earned an MBA from the University of Michigan and a JD from Georgia State University.
Laura’s introduction to nature and the great outdoors started young. She tended to be out in nature from dawn until dusk – playing, exploring and observing nature. While she ultimately has an “inside” job and is involved in a variety of civic activities, she continues to enjoy being in nature whether it’s hiking and camping or just being. Though not a degreed (or even learned) ornithologist, she is fascinated by migrating birds, appreciates observing birds in their natural habitats and is learning to distinguish their varied voices.
After moving to Kansas about 40 years ago Sil taught science at Manhattan High, earned a Master’s degree at KSU and also served as president of Northern Flint Hills Audubon Chapter. Sil enjoyed the friendship and camaraderie of members and was active in conservation issues including “Saving Cheyenne Bottoms.”
Moving to the Washington, D.C. area, she worked at the Smithsonian Institution/National Academy of Science creating science curricula. For 10 years, as Director of Environmental Studies at Hard Bargain Farm located on the Potomac River, Sil taught everything from ecology to canoeing to cow milking. She formed partnerships to create an annual Potomac Watershed Cleanup with more than 100 sites and thousands of volunteers throughout the multi-state drainage basin from headwaters to the Chesapeake Bay. She was invited to Japan several times to teach environmental education “American Style.”
As a board member of Jeffers Foundation in Minnesota, Sil created Team Teaching with Mother Nature, a professional development workshop encouraging teachers to take learning outdoors. She also wrote several publications for teachers as well as two natural history books for children. She is excited to be living in the Flint Hills again.
Alexis is a natural history enthusiast and biologist with research interests in organismal, evolutionary, and conservation biology. Most of his formal work has involved birds, but he also studies mudpuppy salamanders and turtles in rivers of eastern Kansas, experimental evolution of a species of filamentous fungus, and has a passion for prairie-obligate butterflies. He also enjoys travel, photography, birding, bicycling, reading, and politics. His background spans seven generations in rural Lawrence, where he became involved with Jayhawk Audubon Society. Since 2015, he has lived in Emporia, where he aims to remain and where he is a Biology Professor at Emporia State University.
Diana Stanley graduated with her law degree from the University of Kansas where she earned the Environmental and Natural Resources Law certificate. While in law school she received the Hershberger Energy Law Award and came in second at the National Environmental Moot Court Competition. She’s published several scholarly articles on environmental and natural resources law related topics. On the weekends, she can be found hitting the trails at one of Kansas’s state parks.
Ann Tanner is a pharmacist by training and a naturalist at heart. She is originally from Mississippi but has lived in Kansas for many years. Ann serves on the Board of Directors for the Burroughs Audubon Society of Greater Kansas City, is on the the Advisory Board for Kansas Master Naturalists, and is on the Board of Directors for Delta Wind Birds in Mississippi.
Michelle holds degrees in both journalism and law from the University of Kansas. She is also a licensed property and casualty insurance agent and is a frequent speaker on cyber, media and intellectual property insurance, insurance coverage issues and risk management. Michelle is a remote cyber product counsel for Zurich NA. She has two sons, two dogs, a cat and a horse. An equal opportunity employer, Michelle feeds both the birds and squirrels at her suburban home. Animals and their well-being have always been important to Michelle as she grew up in a home where spiders and mice were trapped and carried outside. Michelle has been a vegetarian for more than thirty years because of health, animal, and environmental concerns.
Evalynn works at Wichita State University as a research project manager in the Biological Sciences Department. She manages a large, multi-faceted research project to study bird and plant communities in cattle grazed CRP lands. She did her bachelor's at the University of Missouri in Columbia in Fisheries and Wildlife Science and her master's at the University of Illinois in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences studying the post-fledging survival of Golden-cheeked Warblers. She's an avid birder from Missouri, but has worked in a variety of states from Texas to North Dakota. While in North Dakota, she became more involved with Dakota Audubon (now Audubon Great Plains), leading birding hikes and performing bird banding demonstrations. She enjoys doing outreach and extension work in natural resources, particularly when it comes to birds!
