Cheri was born and raised in the Upper Kittitas County-Cle Elum area, where she still lives today. Her lifelong familiarity with the unique issues and opportunities facing central and eastern Washington were foundational in her role as a lead project consultant in community relations with One Washington Outreach in the 14 years before joining Forterra. Cheri has always been active in her community. She founded and is president of Life Support I-90, a nonprofit to improve EMS response to the stretch of I-90 between Snoqualmie Pass and Cle Elum.  Cheri serves on the Roslyn Downtown Association Board and facilitated the Northwest Improvement Company Store building purchase and historical renovations in Roslyn, Washington, and recruited business tenants.  Cheri also serves on the board of USO NW and oversees the Jermaine Kearse USO NW Gold Star Kids program.  A former board member of Junior Achievement (JA), she championed building the JA Learning Center in Yakima. She is a Rotarian and engaged with numerous other organizations. Rural community development, conservation, attainable housing, and a clean, healthy environment are passions that energize her current role. Cheri seeks solutions that strike the best balance between preserving the integrity of what exists while propelling progress. With her husband Rob, she enjoys the outdoors year-round, sports, performing arts, travel, and cherished time with family and friends.

Christopher is fascinated with patterns in the landscape–why things appear where they do, how they interrelate, and how we might make our own habitats more harmonious with nature. He uses spatial modeling to identify and evaluate considerations relevant to issues such as wildlife habitat, land use, urban growth, and social equity across neighborhoods. He has been geospatial director at Forterra since 2006, where he developed the organization’s first geospatial program and enterprise GIS. As lead geographer he provides communication, documentation, and decision-support resources for the full range of operations. He designed possibly the largest reference map of Washington State, currently displayed on an entire wall of Forterra’s Seattle office conference room. In 2011, he was awarded first place in the social impact category in the Esri/Society for Conservation GIS International Conservation Mapping Competition for his Green Seattle Partnership outreach map. Christopher has a master’s in environmental policy analysis from College of Charleston and a bachelor’s in conservation ecology from Purdue University. When he’s not sitting in front of a computer, you can usually find him indulging in anything automotive; working with, loving and learning from dogs; or immersing himself in one of his many interests, such as architecture, interior and landscape design, botany, human history and evolution, or speculative fiction.

Dan has a background that includes substantial work in legal, business and community issues. On the legal side, Dan spent 10 years in private practice both in New York City and Seattle, where he was a partner with Helsell, Fetterman, Martin, Todd & Hokanson in the 1980s. After leaving the Helsell firm, Dan served as Vice President and General Counsel with Holland America Line until when he took over responsibility for Fleet Operations at Holland America Line. From 2011 to 2013, his role was expanded to include Seabourn Cruises. Dan has served as a member of the Mercer Island City Council in 1999. His tenure included four years as Deputy Mayor. Dan counts as some of his most significant accomplishments on Mercer Island the addition and preservation of park land and other green spaces. Prior to moving to Mercer Island, Dan served on the Queen Anne Community Council and was involved in the Seattle rezoning that was occurring in the 1980s. Dan has a B.S. Degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, his Law Degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a MBA from The Wharton School.

Dan brings more than a decade of experience managing nonprofit donor and revenue data to his role at Forterra. Prior to joining Forterra, he spent 12 years at Northwest Kidney Centers, where he overhauled the coding structure and manner of tracking donor and revenue, integrated third-party applications used for events with the primary database (Raiser’s Edge), and successfully managed growth in the organization’s direct mail and employee-giving programs. His experience also includes eight years managing multi-million dollar capital campaigns, and he began his career working in public relations.

Dan earned his bachelors in public relations from Gonzaga University, where he also captained the GU club lacrosse team. Away from work, he spends his time outside – skiing with family and friends throughout winter, hiking the Issaquah Alps and beyond year-round, or walking his dog, Elvis, around his hilly Issaquah neighborhood.

After growing up in rural Ohio, Daniel attended Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, earning degrees in Mathematics and Environmental Studies.

Post-graduation, Daniel engaged in habitat restoration, erosion control, and fish habitat preservation on private lands through the Washington Conservation Corps. Daniel is deeply passionate about fostering sustainable communities, preserving natural landscapes, and actively working in the field.

As a dedicated project manager at Forterra NW, Daniel leads initiatives focused on environmental conservation and restoration. Their journey with Forterra began as a Stewardship Associate, actively engaging volunteers in restoring native ecosystems across King County.

Outside of work, Daniel is an avid hiker, enjoys cycling, knitting, playing video games, and movies.

Erin has over ten years of Controller experience most recently at Ad-West Realty Services, a Property Management company that specializes in multifamily affordable housing. While there she recruited, led, and coached a team of ten, led an ERP Implementation with multiple integrations and coordinated audits. Other accounting experience includes as Accounting Manager at CallisonRTKL Architecture, Construction Accountant at Whole Foods Market and as an Audit Senior with a Big Four Accounting firm where she worked on the Sealaska Heritage Institute. Growing up in Issaquah, Washington, Erin earned her Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from the University of Washington and has been a licensed CPA in Washington State for several decades.

Erin is at her best when outdoors, enjoying gardening, hiking, mountain biking, and when forced to remain inside, creates quilts and bakes. When the opportunity arises, she will also climb into an airplane with her dad in search of the best pie. She lives in Maple Valley, WA with her husband and two kitties.

Growing up surrounded by the beautiful landscape of eastern Washington, with its scenic farmland ad staggering canyons, Jacob has always loved and appreciated the outdoors. He moved to Seattle to receive a B.S. in geology form the University of Washington, and it was there that he fell in love with the cool weather and the lush forests of the Puget Sound.

Jacob has since finished two service years with AmeriCorps, serving first with King County DNRP to restore wetlands and riparian habitat. He served his second year at Forterra, where he supported the work we do in out Green Cities, Riparian, and Conservation Lands programs. He’s now transitioned full time at Forterra, where he supports the Conservation Lands and Conservation Transactions teams, helping to manage and support the lands Forterra has protected over the decades. When he’s not working to restore and steward natural habitat, Jacob enjoys hiking, camping, or staying in and having game nights with his friends.

Julie brings over 25 years of diverse real estate experience, specializing in partner relations, acquisition, development, construction, leasing, and property management. She played a pivotal role at Franciscan Health/Catholic Health Initiatives and Unico Properties in acquiring and developing over 1.5 million square feet of new product spanning all product types from medical office, out-patient surgery centers, commercial office, mixed use, and high and mid-rise residential apartments with affordable housing components. 

A champion of sustainability, Julie has several notable achievements, such as developing Seattle’s first rain garden and Tacoma’s first LEED-certified building. She also repositioned a 1928, historic high-rise  office building to apartments receiving NAIOPs Historic Renovation of the Year award. She consistently developed projects meeting LEED Gold certification or higher. At Brookfield Properties, Julie worked on land development, securing entitlements for two master-planned communities.

In her free time, Julie enjoys hosting clam bakes on the beach, waterskiing, and boating from Puget Sound to Desolation Sound when time allows. In the winter, Julie enjoys cross-country skiing and travel.

Julie attended the University of Washington, where she pursued a degree in marine biology and business. She is enthusiastic about preserving our natural resources for future generations.

Kari holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology/Anthropology with a minor in Media Studies from St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Prior to Forterra, Kari served for eight years as an executive assistant at a management consulting firm and supported complex engagements through executive support, meeting coordination, and project management. At Forterra, Kari provides support to the Executive Leadership Team and assists with Board coordination.

Kari was born and raised in northern California and has countless memories of camping and hiking throughout the Sierra Nevada foothills, which fostered her appreciation of nature and the importance of conservation. She is a fan of live music, dabbles in playing the fiddle, and is continuously adding to her vinyl record collection. She enjoys travel, film, reading, and DIY projects. During the weekends, you can find Kari seeking adventure from mountains to sound with her sweet old boxer dog, Darwin.

Kristi grew up in rural Idaho where appreciation of the outdoors is a way of life. She has more than 20 years as a consultant in corporate communications, campaigns, public affairs and community relations with extensive experience in reputation management, external and internal relations, as well as stakeholder and community mobilization.

Kristi first came to work with Forterra back when it was Cascade Land Conservancy as a consultant for a small neighborhood project in West Seattle. From there, she continued working to organize The Cascade Dialogues and The Cascade Agenda. She’s worked with clients on a number of local, national and global environmental initiatives; and was fortunate to lead Seattle Climate Action Now, an initiative of former Mayor Greg Nickels that asked city residents to take small steps toward stopping climate change. She received her B.S. in Political Science. Kristi currently serves on The Seattle Public Library Foundation Emeritus Board after completing ten years of service as a Board of Trustee for The Seattle Public Library, and has served on the boards of Water 1st International, the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle and Seattle Works.

Laura has an extensive background in accounting in finance in both the non- and for- profit sectors over the past 40 years, with a preference for the meaningfulness, accomplishments, and rewards of non-profit.

As a lifelong resident she has hiked many of the Cascade trails, fished the lakes and rivers, explored Mounts Rainier and Baker, and enjoyed everything the beaches have to offer.  Although she has left the state on 3 separate occasions she has always been drawn back to the area.

Laura enjoys all of the benefits nature has to offer, spending time with family, pets, gardening, and Seahawks football.  GO HAWKS!!

Marcelle graduated from Grand Valley State University (Michigan) and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute of Organization Management at Notre Dame (Indiana); she is certified in Forensic Accounting and Fraud Examination (W. Virginia).

Marcelle’s career is focused in the non-profit sector, as a chamber of commerce executive in Gand Rapids, MI, and Redmond and Kent, WA.  In Michigan Marcelle produced the annual Briefcase Open, the largest and highly anticipated golf and tennis outing.  In Washington Marcelle advocated for regulations related to land use, transportation, taxation, and education. Marcelle led the team that developed and launched the Center for Advanced Manufacturing Puget Sound-CAMPS. At the Workforce Development Council Marcelle served as the contract monitor, providing expert assistance to staff and contractors resulting in zero findings from funders. She also served as the Equal Opportunity Officer and as Chief Administrative Officer.

Marcelle is a life-long tennis player and is married to a teaching pro. Sadly, she has never beat him and her annual New Year’s resolution is to “keep my eye on ball” – in tennis and in life.

Born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Matthew earned a B.A. in Finance and International Business from Seattle University, before returning to his home state to pursue further educational and work opportunities. After working as a development analyst at a real estate company in New Mexico, focused on land development and single-family home building, Matthew returned to Seattle in the fall of 2022 to join Forterra. A lifelong learner, Mathew has continued to engage in educational endeavors in a wide range of fields including Engineering, Real Estate, and Spatial Data Science.

Michelle Connor has worked to steward the well-being of people and nature through how land is owned and being managed throughout her 28-year career at Forterra. She has played a part in more than 400 transactions worth ~$500M and provided executive leadership in all phases of public policy, community engagement, negotiations, fundraising and innovative finance (notably the Forterra Strong Communities Fund).

Highlights of her leadership include successful completion of the 4,000-acre Kitsap Forest and Bay Campaign, conserving the Wayne Golf Course in Bothell so that it can become a large public park, protecting waterfront on Maury Island from being developed as a gravel pit, restoring the culturally important Duwamish Hill Preserve, adding the scenic Moolak Lakes to the Mt. Si Natural Area, negotiating a community stake in coming redevelopment at 23rd and Union in Seattle’s Central District, and laying the groundwork for Wadajir, a micro-enterprise hub in Tukwila together with the Abu Bakr Mosque.

Michelle is a third-generation Washingtonian, with an M.S. from the University of Washington’s College of Forest Resources and a B.A. from the Evergreen State College.

Nicole Prater joins our finance team with her twenty years of knowledge and experience ranging from GL accounting, construction accounting, treasury, payroll, for-profit, non-profit and government affiliated agencies accounting. She obtained her BA in accounting in 2014 and her master’s degree in accounting with a Specialization in Forensic Accounting in 2016.

Nicole has efficiently managed both restricted and unrestricted investment portfolios with an estimated Fair-Market Value of over one-billion dollars. She has successfully managed and implemented a new ERP system across several departments. She also consulted as an accounting expert in a nonprofit fraud case where her work was instrumental in coming to a timely and beneficial case settlement.

Though Nicole was born in Kent, WA. She has spent 14 years living in Maui, HI. In 2022, her husband and herself purchased their first residence near Black Diamond, WA, and they both understand and love the idea of conserving natural land areas.

Paul strongly believes in the interdependence between people and land. His ultimate professional and volunteer aspiration is to help foster humility and respect for lands that we manage.

He holds Master degrees in Environmental Horticulture and in Social Work from the University of Washington and has a certificate in project management. He has more than two decades of experience in social service, academic, and non-profit settings. His areas of expertise include urban ecology, project management, and building organizational capacity.

Paul’s personal passion is to help increase outdoor opportunities for people with disabilities including recreation, restoration, and leadership opportunities. He has organized restoration work parties and plant sales for youth and young adults with disabilities and has helped launch a garden program for neurodiverse teens and young adults.

He is a citizen scientist with the Washington State Rare Plant Care and Conservation program, is a long-time board member of the Children’s PlayGarden, and founded a Ryther League program dedicated to supporting neurodivergent youth and young adults.

Paul and his family live in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, where he tends to a garden of over 150 plant species and more than thirty species of indoor plants.

Rachel Valdez has over 20 years of people & technology management experience, along with teaching experience in higher education. Rachel was born and raised in Washington State, majored in Communications & Social Sciences at the University of Washington (UW) and earned her bachelor and masters’ degree in Communications from UW.  She is a doctoral student at Fielding Graduate University earning a PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Media Technology. She comes from a multi-cultural background of Spanish(Iberian), Native American (Blackfeet), Irish, Italian and is a member of the LGBTQIA family. She is an entrepreneur and has successfully managed her own company. She has volunteered and served on several boards including The Pride Foundation, Pat Graney Dance Company, YWCA Dress for Success and Casa Latina. In her own time, she enjoys the outdoors with her family, friends and two golden retrievers.

Sandi is known for communications transformations and reputation management of high-profile leaders and organizations. She’s driven communications for a governor and public lands commissioner and directed communications and public affairs team for several state natural resource agencies. At her core, Sandi is a change evangelist and storyteller. Someone who believes almost anything is possible. And someone who firmly believes it’s not just what you do, but who you partner with to get it done – including unexpected partners.

Empathy drives her keen ability to understand and reach all kinds of audiences – with communications that doesn’t simply inform, but that engages and influences.

Sandi was drawn to Forterra for both its legacy and its limitless potential. Embracing its unconventional and collaborative approach in conserving not just at-risk lands but working lands. 

A fourth generation Washingtonian, Sandi’s homebase is Olympia. She and her family find the most joy in the simple pleasures of outdoor life at their Hood Canal cabin.

Please send a warm welcome to Suzanne Evans to the PCLT Team. Suzanne is a seasoned Talent Acquisition Partner who has worked for over 20 years to assist companies with their hiring, onboarding, and building of talent programs. She has worked at enterprise tech organizations like Microsoft and Google, but also tech startups to build, grow, and enhance their people and recruiting functions.

She has a bright and active mind that enjoys solving hard problems. Her strengths include building teams and processes to execute across the organization and help move the business forward. She is driven to get things done, but focuses on getting the right things done, that are priorities for the organization. She enjoys working as part of a team with a shared mission/goals.

When not working, Suzanne is spending time with her 2 Australian Cattle Dogs, going to concerts with friends, and rebuilding her aging beach cabin.

Vivian is an accomplished Executive Assistant with a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector. She currently serves as an Executive Assistant at Forterra, where she oversees donor outreach, database management, and provides support to the Executive Leadership Team.

Before joining Forterra, Vivian worked at Kline Galland Home for seven years, where she served as the Manager of Office Operations and Executive Assistant to the CEO and Board. She provided extensive assistance to the executive team, Communications Director, and Fund Development Department, which further strengthened her passion for philanthropic work.

Vivian is a first-generation Vietnamese American who was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. Her upbringing instilled in her a love for nature, as she spent her childhood camping, hiking, and fishing throughout Washington State. As a resident of South Seattle, Vivian is committed to the conservation of nature and affordable housing in low-income BIPOC communities.

In her spare time, Vivian enjoys exploring new cuisines, traveling, and spending quality time with her loved ones. She is an avid hiker who finds solace in the mountains and rivers.