Washington Council Executive Committee

I have been a long standing member of TU dating back to the early 1990s. In 2017, after retiring, I volunteered with my local chapter Yakima River Headwaters which eventually led to the chapter conservation chair position. In January 2018, I joined forces with Steve Miller to co-chair the first state Advocacy Committee. After 3.5 yrs of leading advocacy, I was elected to the state council chair position in September 2021. The chair is the CEO of the council with responsibilities for the general and active management of the business and affairs of the council. I am fortunate to have such a great team of leaders on the council making it easier to ensure the long-term sustainability and health of the council as a whole. All chapters make up the council and helping those chapters is paramount to keeping the council at the heart of our grassroots volunteers so we can effectively pursue our mission. I also write the monthly newsletter and help provide coordination between TU grassroots and staff. I absolutely love the mission of TU!!

I’m a life-long Washingtonian who was introduced to fishing at an early age by his father. We fished the Yakima River many times, often with my two brothers. I’ve always thought of the Yakima as my home waters due to my many fond memories of those outings.

I followed my career to Minnesota in 2006, and it was there that I joined TU and became an active volunteer. After retiring in 2021, I returned to Washington where I connected with the Washington Council. I’ve since served as the Council’s Financial Reviewer, Barrier Assessment Team volunteer leader, Conservation Committee Co-Chair, and now Council Vice Chair.

I’ve always been an ardent conservationist: I am grateful to TU for giving me the ability to take concrete action and make a difference for the future. My personal goal would be for my grandchildren to see a greater abundance of salmon and steelhead than we see today. That sounds like a win to me!

I originally joined TU in October of 2011.  In February of 2022, I volunteered to be the WCTU Assistant Treasurer and then was elected as the WCTU Treasurer in September of 2022.

I first joined the Bellevue/Issaquah Chapter (now the Three Rivers Chapter) to see what TU was doing to aid the Kokanee in the Lake Sammamish watershed because my wife had heard about their efforts through her job at King County.  I became very interested in the Kokanee Fry Trapping/Counting project and volunteered to help on Lewis Creek in 2012. In 2021, I was informed about the Barrier Assessment project at the Council level and signed up for training.  On one of the following assessments Brad Throssell, past Chair of the Council, invited me to participate in a few meetings to see if I was interested in taking on a more involved role.  Something about the Treasurer role appealed to me so I volunteered to assist Pat Prichard in his last year and was then elected to the role. 

I first joined TU as a Lifetime Member and became an active volunteer in 2016 when I retired.

I started by working with my local chapter on both Conservation and Advocacy projects. I was counting Kokanee fry when I met Brad Throssell, who had recently become Chair of the WCTU. It turned out Brad was a mountaineering instructor at an outdoor school where I had completed training in both basic and winter mountaineering when I was in my 20’s. I finished my training several years before Brad got there, but we smiled remembering what it’s like to climb a mountain when you wake up in your sleeping bag and it’s -35 F°. Brad asked me to be on his Advocacy Committee which he was just starting, and I said ‘yes’.

In my work for the NLC I’m serving as Chair of the Responsible Mining & Energy Workgroup.

I met some incredible people who shared my passion for wild fish conservation and fly fishing. They agreed to help me lead the chapter which was at the time called the Kitsap Salmon chapter. We changed the name to Kitsap-Olympic Peninsulas chapter to include the Olympic Peninsula where much of our wild steelhead conservation efforts were to take place. I remained President for three years. I’ll never forget those times shared by amazing fellow TUers all passionately engaged…we had so many good times and accomplished a lot! 

I took a few years off from TU leadership to focus on my career, but I have now decided to step up at the Council level to help. I have missed it and am looking forward to working with my fellow board members and chapters around the state. There are so many important TU accomplishments being achieved all around our state and hearing about them and meeting fellow TU leaders has re-energized me immensely!