Karin P. Sheldon, J.D.
Board President
Karin Sheldon is president of Four Echoes Strategies, a consulting firm providing policy analysis and strategic advice on Western land and water conservation issues. From 2007 to 2013, she served as president of Western Resource Advocates. Prior to 2007, Karin served as associate dean of the Environmental Law Program and director of the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School. Before joining the faculty at Vermont Law School in 1994, Karin served as president of The Wilderness Society. She was also a staff attorney with Earthjustice in Colorado, and was one of Ralph Nader’s original “Raiders.”
Peggy Nelson, J.D.
Board Vice President
Peggy Nelson served as New Mexico’s 8th Judicial District Judge until her retirement in 2008. She began her career in Taos working for Northern New Mexico Legal Services and for 10 years provided low-cost and free legal services with the the Community Law Center and as a Public Defender. Peggy has served on a lengthy list of non-profit boards and commissions, including Amigos Bravos.
Kevin Kirchner, J.D.
Board Treasurer
Kevin Kirchner owns and runs CenterPoint Communications, a media strategy and advertising firm in Maryland that serves environmental and other progressive groups. Prior to founding CenterPoint Communications, he served as managing partner at MacWilliams, Kirchner, Sanders & Partners in Washington, D.C. and Vice President for policy, legislation, and communications at Earthjustice. He also worked for the Agriculture and Interior Committees in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Brian Henning, Ph.D.
Board Member (he/him)
Dr. Henning is professor of philosophy and of environmental studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, where he is the founder and inaugural director of the Gonzaga Center for Climate, Water, and the Environment. He is co-founder and former board chair of the climate action group 350 Spokane. An award-winning author, Dr. Henning has written or edited 17 books and 45 articles, chapters, and reports, including Riders in the Storm: Ethics in an Age of Climate Change (Anselm 2015), Climate Change Ethics and the Non-human World (Routledge 2020), and Value, Beauty, and Nature (SUNY 2023). He has delivered more than 190 talks to general and academic audiences in North America, Europe, and Asia. Originally from Boise, Idaho, Dr. Henning lives in Spokane, Washington, with his partner, Dr. A. Suzie Henning.
Phil Katzen, J.D.
Board Member (he/him)
Phil Katzen retired from the practice of law at the end of 2021. Phil was a founding member of Kanji & Katzen, P.L.L.C., and he served as the firm’s managing attorney until he retired from membership in the firm and full-time work, converting to of-counsel from June 1, 2016 to December 30, 2021.Kanji & Katzen is a law firm dedicated to advocacy on behalf of Indian Tribes and peoples. Phil earned his A.B. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1970 and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1977. Phil represented and consulted with Tribes across the country on a wide variety of issues, including sovereignty and governance, treaty fishing and hunting rights, Indian gaming, environmental protection, reservation boundaries, taxation and jurisdictional matters. Prior to starting his own firm, Phil served as a staff attorney and Native American project director for Evergreen Legal Services (later Columbia Legal Services) in Washington state.
Lisa Manning, Ph.D.
Board Member
Dr. Lisa Manning is an experienced consultant in global leadership development and executive coaching, and has served as a facilitator for the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative. She is a licensed mediator in conflict resolution, an adjunct faculty and researcher for the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) and previously served as adjunct faculty at Gonzaga University. Dr. Manning’s legal and consulting background and range of professional positions and appointments includes: legal assistant to the Governor of Wisconsin; Chair of the Governor’s Pardon Advisory Board; Chair of the Governor’s Interagency Task Force on Emergency Response; researcher for the U.S. Congress Energy and Environment Committee; consultant to the EPA; and executive director and co-founder of CASA’s Project Opportunity, (an experiential education program for at-risk youth). Lisa received her M.A. in Organizational Leadership in 2000 and a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies in 2013 from Gonzaga University. She also received a B.A. and B.S. from American University in 1981.
Amelia Marchand
Board Member
Amelia Marchand is co-founder and executive director of L.I.G.H.T. Foundation, an Indigenous-led conservation nonprofit. She has over 27 years of experience in cultural and natural resource management, climate action, and food and water security policy, working alongside Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples in the U.S. and Canada. A citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (CTCR), Amelia earned a masters in environmental law and policy from Vermont Law School and a bachelors in anthropology from Eastern Washington University. In 2020, she led Tribal coordination of a successful and historic joint application between a conservation nonprofit and the CTCR to the Washington State Department of Ecology for Tier 111b designation of škwáxčənəxʷ (Soap Lake in Grant County, WA) as an Outstanding Resource Water. Amelia facilitated the passage of resolutions with the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and the National Congress of American Indians to address transboundary mining impacting Tribes and First Nations in the U.S. and Canada with elected Tribal officials in 2023 and co-authored two chapters of the Status of Tribes and Climate Change Report, Volume 2, published in 2025. In 2024, she made history as the first woman presidentially appointed to the Indian Tribe Member Seat on the Advisory Council of Historic Preservation.
Cliff Villa, J.D.
Board Member (he/him)
Cliff Villa teaches courses in constitutional law and environmental law on the faculty of the University of New Mexico School of Law, where he also provides clinical training to students in the Natural Resources and Environmental Law Clinic. Prior to joining UNM, Cliff spent more than 20 years as legal counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At EPA, Cliff’s practice focused on enforcement of federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. He also served as on-call legal counsel for response to emergencies and major incidents such as Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon. Cliff is a co-author of two textbooks: Environmental Justice: Law, Policy & Regulation (3rd ed. 2020); and A Practical Introduction to Environmental Law (2017). Cliff served in the Biden administration as political leadership for the U.S. EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management. In that role, based in Washington, D.C., he provided policy direction for national programs including Superfund cleanup, Brownfields revitalization, and emergency response. He is native of Albuquerque with local roots tracing back to the Atrisco Land Grant of 1692, Cliff spent his early years camping and fishing around northern New Mexico before earning a B.A. in English and economics from UNM and receiving his J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School.
Brooke Williams
Board Member (he/him)
Brooke‘s life has been one of adventure and wildernesses exploration. His conservation career spans thirty years, most recently with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. He has an MBA in Sustainable Business from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute. He’s a freelance journalist with four books including Halflives: Reconciling Work and Wildness, and dozens of articles. His book, Open Midnight, documents his exploration of places where the outer and inner wilderness meet. His most recent book, Mary Jane Wild, was a finalist for the Prism Prize for climate literature. He and his wife, the writer Terry Tempest Williams, and their dog, Winslow split their time between Castle Valley, Utah and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sandra Zellmer, J.D.
Board Member (she/her)
Sandra B. Zellmer is a professor and director of natural resources clinics at the University of Montana School of Law, where she teaches public lands, natural resources, wildlife law, water law, torts, and related courses. Prof. Zellmer has published dozens of law review articles as well as several casebooks, nutshells, and other books. She was awarded the Clyde O. Martz distinguished teaching award in 2023, and also received Fulbright Specialist status in 2021 and a Fulbright project award with the University of Calgary Faculty of Law in 2022. She is an elected member of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and a trustee of the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law. Before teaching, she was a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division. She also practiced law in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and clerked for the Honorable William W. Justice, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas.
English 
Español de México