Ash grew up on a tree farm in southwest Washington and from this developed a love for the forests of the PNW. She received her B.S. from the University of Washington, majoring in natural resource management. Ash has worked in environmental education, at places such as Discovery Park in Seattle and the Red Butte Garden & Arboretum in Utah, as well as in urban forestry with the City of Vancouver. Ash has also volunteered and traveled with the International Forestry Students’ Association for several years, where she worked with forestry students from around the world on professional development and education.

Ash started as an AmeriCorps on the Restoration & Stewardship team with Forterra, where she now works full-time as a Stewardship Coordinator. She loves that she gets to work both with people and outside in the field, bringing attention to environmental issues and engaging with communities. In her free time Ash enjoys curling up with a good book, rafting, hiking, camping, game nights with friends, and making bad puns.

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.

After growing up in South Florida and attending college in New England, Collette set her sights on the Pacific Northwest and has lived in Seattle ever since. She is thrilled to be helping steward Forterra’s diverse lands and protecting the incredible natural bounty of the Pacific Northwest. She first came to Forterra as a natural resources fellow on Forterra’s real estate transactions team. Previously, she monitored rare plants as a volunteer with the RareCare program at the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, worked with the Washington Native Plant Society, trained as master native plant steward, and acted as an environmental consultant specializing in plant and wetlands ecology with David Evans and Associates. She holds master‘s degrees in environmental horticulture and forest science and biology from the University of Washington, as well as a bachelor’s from Smith College. When she’s not working, she’s likely outdoors hiking, running, skiing, walking, and gardening. She also enjoys baking and traveling.

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.

David has participated in the development of over 1,900 units of residential housing throughout the Puget Sound region, including townhomes, single-family homes, and mixed-use apartment buildings. He has experience as an analyst, a project manager, and an acquisitions manager for development companies including Intracorp Real Estate, Taylor Morrison, and StoryBuilt.

Prior to working in real estate development, David was a practicing attorney for the City of New York, and a human resources manager at Eddie Bauer and the Port of Seattle. He holds a master’s degree in real estate from the University of Washington, a law degree from the University of Miami, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

David enjoys travel; he has visited 20 different countries and 45 U.S. states. He also enjoys rowing, cross-country skiing, and bike rides with friends and family.

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.

Genna grew up around the Charter Oaks of New England but fell in love with the mossy giants of the Pacific Northwest, where she began volunteering for Forterra’s Green City Partnership.

With a B.A. in Anthropology from Central Connecticut State University, she has developed a commitment to conservation solutions through both natural and cultural perspectives.

Genna spent four years teaching English in rural Shiga, Japan, where she fell in love with hiking and the teeming life in the local rice fields and lakes. Her favorite memory is of wading out into rivers deep in the forests of Tottori to help track down and measure endangered Japanese Giant Salamanders.

While overseas she volunteered for several nonprofit and community events, including presenting bilingual speeches on waste reduction and educating Elementary school students on their community’s successful efforts to clean Japan’s largest and most valuable freshwater lake.

When not face-to-face with gentle river giants, Genna spends her free time badly singing karaoke, birding on Washington trails, reading, and saving cats as a board member and volunteer for Japan Cat Network International.

India Clark has over 15 years of experience in commercial real estate. She has spent her career helping investors, owners, and funds to build, manage and acquire commercial real estate portfolios. During her undergrad at Wesleyan, she lived abroad in Barcelona, Spain where she studied European Business Management and Spanish. After Graduation she moved to Paris, France to learn French and launch her commercial real estate career on the EMEA Industrial and Logistics team at CBRE.

Since then, her work now spans all asset types and classes with over 1 million square feet of transations to her credit. India held prior roles as an investment sales advisor, multifamily asset manager, property manager, and ground-up industrial developer. India has participated in organizations such as NAIOP, CREW, Master Builders Association, and JLL’s Young Professionals. During her free time India enjoys spending time with her family. You can find her on a family picnic at a local park, hiking miles to a mountain lake, biking along a scenic route, or enjoying a game of chess

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.

Jason was born and raised in the region of the Salish Sea and on the traditional lands and waters of the Duwamish, Tulalip, Muckleshoot and Suquamish tribal nations. He first developed his love for the treasures of the region as a wee one snowplowing his plastic skis between his mom’s legs and riding in her backpack through the Olympic Forest with his brother and sister, not all in the same pack of course.

Jason graduated from Gonzaga University, go Zags, with degrees in political science and communications, and parlayed that into a stint as an agroforresty volunteer with the Peace Corps in Niger. He earned his master’s in education while teaching in Washington DC and went on to teach in Honduras, Brazil, Venezuela and Poland. He has a passion for learning languages, and doing as much as he possibly can, be it block prints, trail running or volunteering with social justice focused organizations. Jason moved back to the Seattle area to earn master’s degrees in urban planning and public health, with an aim to help create just, equitable and healthful communities.

Joe got his start at Forterra from 2005 to 2008 where he rapidly learned the art and strategies of land conservation. In those early years, he collaborated with landowners, agencies, tribes, and nonprofit partners to conserve critical working farm and forestland, salmon habitat, and public land inholdings. Joe recently joins Forterra from Access Fund, the national advocacy and conservation organization that protects climbing areas. As access director, Joe launched a revolving loan program and worked in over 35 states to employ conservation strategies and multi-year financing and fundraising models. Here in the Northwest, Joe supported land managers and partners with recreation policy, nonprofit management, and stewardship initiatives. He grew up in Western Washington and graduated from Cornell University in 2005, with a bachelor of science specializing in environmental economics and sustainable business. Joe has a lifelong passion for climbing and can often be found hanging from a rope at the Index Town Walls. He lives in Edmonds and loves getting the entire family outside to hike, fish, ski, and paddle together.

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.

Kelsey is a recent transplant to the Pacific Northwest. Originally from Wyoming, she visited her sister in Bellingham and fell in love. She moved out here a year later. 

In particular, Kelsey loves how passionate residents are about land and wildlife conservation. The PNW is packed with breathtaking mountains, lakes and forests, and it’s important they remain accessible to everyone.

She graduated from the University of Wyoming with a B.A. in Journalism. Kelsey worked as a reporter in Montana and Wyoming, covering local government, public works and criminal justice. She then transitioned to digital marketing. For the past eight years, Kelsey has specialized in writing, editing, SEO and social media. 

In her free time, she enjoys relaxing in Bellingham’s beautiful parks, reading, playing video games and creating elaborate backstories for her Dungeons and Dragons characters. Kelsey has also been a volunteer at no-kill cat rescue for the past four years – her inbox is currently full of pictures from happy adopters.

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!!

Leanne has over ten years of experience managing environmental projects in Washington, Oregon, and California in both the non-profit and public sectors. She has worked with a wide variety of stakeholders, both from industry (commercial fishing and municipal waste water management) and government (state, federal, and local). Most recently, Leanne worked at the Washington Department of Ecology where she collaborated on water quality projects and managed grants and loans. Previously, she spent six years at Ecotrust, in Portland, Oregon, mapping commercial fishing grounds for state planning processes.

Leanne has a master’s in Environmental Management form the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Bachelors from Willamette University. She grew up fishing the Hanford Reach in Eastern Washington where she developed her passion for Washington’s waters and landscapes. Leanne enjoys cross country skiing, backpacking, climbing, gardening, and spending time with her family and friends.

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.

Michael’s diverse passions include forest ecology and plant identification, finding a sense of place and fostering community, collecting maps, and drinking coffee. He holds a Master of Forestry from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Vermont. He brings to Forterra experience in conservation, natural resources, regional planning, forest management, and community outreach, along with an enthusiastic and outgoing personality. From 2015 to 2018, he worked at the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission in Woodstock, Vermont, as a planner helping small communities in central Vermont adapt and become more resilient to the impacts of climate change, such as increasingly irregular precipitation patterns. In the summer of 2019, he worked with the Palmer Land Trust in Colorado Springs to develop communication tools to engage community members with conservation planning in Southeastern Colorado. He enjoys exploring new trails, reading, visiting craft breweries, and biking around new neighborhoods.

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.

Natalie has a strong background in accounting and a genuine love for natures. She began her accounting studies in 2005 and achieved her CPA license in British Columbia, Canada, in 2011. Throughout her career in the BC Government, Natalie has gained valuable experience in accounting standard research, project management, and process improvement. With a well-rounded skill set encompassing e-commerce, SaaS, and digital media, Natalie has also developed exceptional abilities in analytics and reporting, and system implementation. She approaches numerical data with a keen eye, always striving to extract meaningful insights. Natalie is eager to contribute her expertise to Forterra’s mission. In their free time, Natalie enjoys traveling, hiking, watching documentaries, and all kinds of food.

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.

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.

Tim moved from Houston, TX to the Seattle area to attend the University of Washington and fell in love with Seattle and WA state – the lakes, the greenery, the mountains. After graduating from UW School of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting, Tim started working as a staff accountant for GrapeCity, a Japanese software development company with offices in the US, India and China.

Tim has in-depth experience with both hands on and overseeing all functions within the accounting cycle – AP, AR, GL, Payroll. Tim held an accounting manager position in diverse industries of commercial/residential real estate, law and architecture companies. Additionally, Tim oversees operations as well as the area of HR.

Outside of work, Tim enjoys traveling, music and trying out international cuisines. Tim recently took up cooking at home and can make a mean bowl of chicken Pho!!