Team
Staff
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Katie Ryan
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Katie has spent her entire career working with environmentally focused non-profits throughout the Pacific Northwest. Preserving and stewarding our wild places is a key value for her, and she builds programs that work to engage people with our natural landscapes and support resilient communities. Katie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, and completed a Master of Business Administration at Oregon State University in June of 2020. Prior to joining The Wetlands Conservancy, Katie served as Executive Director of Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center for 10 years, and as Program Director, overseeing coordination and instruction of all natural science programs for Opal Creek and Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
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Megan Garvey
STEWARDSHIP DIRECTOR
Megan has a lifetime love for natural areas in Oregon, especially for those places where land and water meet. She has worked in Oregon as a natural resource technician, an outdoor educator, and a land manager. Megan joined TWC in 2013 as our Stewardship Director for properties in the Portland metro area as well as on the north coast. In addition to wetland management, Megan manages our community science and education programs and loves to help build stronger connections between people and nature. Outside of work, she still seeks out cold and wet climates for hiking, cross country skiing, eating seafood, and kayaking.
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Patty Lyons
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Patty has 20 years of experience in nonprofits including a stint in the Peace Corps. Her most recent experience has been as Associate Director and Operations Manager at organizations who serve vulnerable populations. She is glad to be back in the environmental field and assist those who have their boots on the ground/water. Outside of TWC, you can find her designing a pesticide free garden, cooking an exotic dish, or looking for her next travel adventure.
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Shea Fuller
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MANAGER
Shea has worked for years in Oregon as a master gardener and urban tree steward. Her background in environmental studies and outdoor education brought her to The Wetlands Conservancy as an intern in 2019, working with volunteers on wildlife surveys, cleanups, and fundraising events. Since then, she's caught the "beaver believer" bug and taken on some of TWC's community science and land management fieldwork. When not knee-deep in the mud, she spends her time cycling, reading, and working in gardens.
Board
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Camille Carbajal
BOARD PRESIDENT
Camille is a corporate sustainability and communications professional with over 15 years of experience driving environmental, social & governance (ESG) strategy and engagement with large corporations. Camille graduated from Wellesley College with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and holds an MBA with a focus on sustainability from Portland State University. She has published research on corporate governance disclosures and global progress indicators, and has been named as a leader in the Greenbiz Corporate Sustainability Twitterati Index. Outside of work, she can be found rowing on the Willamette River, hiking Portland’s lovely trails and traveling with her family.
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Lori Lull
BOARD VICE PRESIDENT
Lori is a project manager with nearly 10 years of experience with wetland science, policy and law having worked for Washington State Department of Ecology and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Lori has a degree in biology, a graduate certification in Wetland Science and Management, and an MBA from Bainbridge Graduate Institute focusing on Sustainable Business and Finance. Lori currently works for the Energy Trust of Oregon in renewable energy. Lori and her family love exploring the outdoors in Oregon while skiing, hiking, mountain biking, and camping.
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Amy van Saun
BOARD SECRETARY
Amy is a staff attorney at the Center for Food Safety’s Portland, Oregon office where she works to protect the environment from harmful food production technologies and to promote safe, healthful, and ecologically restorative food. A 2011 graduate from Lewis & Clark Law School, Amy focused on public interest environmental and food law. After temporarily returning to her home state of New York after law school, Amy is extremely happy to be back in Oregon, where she spends her spare time enjoying the Portland food culture and the great Oregon outdoors. Amy is also a painter and guitar player.
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Chris Simmons
BOARD TREASURER
Chris began his life-long love for the outdoors by spending summers on the family farm in rural West Virginia. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies. Upon graduation, he moved to Oregon and became deeply involved in the local climbing community. Chris currently resides in Boise, Idaho where he is part of the trail running community. He loves traveling, cooking and exploring the outdoors with his wife, and occasionally relaxing at home with his cat, Samba.
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Giovanni Salimena
BOARD MEMBER
Giovanni is an entrepreneur and designer who strives to create good things with great people. He is passionate about finding unobtrusive ways to explore our world, which led him to co-found Nearstory, a platform that connects immersive audio stories with the listeners’ location. Nearstory was named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the 100 Brilliant Companies to Watch in 2016. Native to Portland, he spent his summers working as a dairy farmer in Tillamook County. Prior to founding Nearstory, Giovanni spent 10 years working between Chicago and the Bay Area. He honed his craft working at creative agencies, digital startups, socially responsible companies and nonprofits, and his own design company, Salimena Studios. Giovanni is an avid outdoorsman; he loves hiking in Oregon and has also conquered the Inca Trail in Peru.
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John van Staveren
BOARD MEMBER
John is a Senior Professional Wetland Scientist and President of Pacific Habitat Services, Inc. For over 32 years he has worked on wetland projects throughout the Pacific Northwest and California. He has served on several state appointed Technical Advisory Committee concerning wetland policy in Oregon, has authored a chapter on freshwater wetland restoration, and has assisted numerous cities throughout Oregon with natural resource planning. He joined TWC as a natural outlet for his passion for wetlands.
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Tom Taylor
BOARD MEMBER
Tom retired in 2020 from a long career in government service with two Midwestern states, and three federal agencies, including the US. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, and Army Corps of Engineers. He capped his career working with the Oregon wetland and stream mitigation bankers. Wading the streams and wetlands of his Iowa childhood, camping under the stars, and floating countless hours in a fishing boat with family set him on a path toward a natural resources career. Degrees in Fish and Wildlife Biology (Iowa State University) and Zoology (Oklahoma State University) helped make that career a reality. And now Tom believes it’s time to give back and ensure that our wild places and their critters are available for the following generations. The Wetlands Conservancy feels like the perfect fit for him. When not advocating for wetlands, Tom enjoys bird watching, fitness workouts, playing the trumpet in a Portland big band, and spending time with his wife and their granddaughter.
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Becky Kreag
BOARD MEMBER
Becky was born and raised in Michigan and took an interest in the environment and water at an early age. She attended University of Michigan for Bachelors in Math and a Masters in Water Resources Management. She moved to Oregon in the 70s and pursued a career with State and local government in coastal zone planning and water and estuary management related positions. She advanced to be an Administrator of the Oregon Water Resources Department and then a Senior Planning Manager with the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services. She has always valued public participation in policy development, and helped find ways to resolve conflicts.
In 2000 she changed gears and enrolled in New West Seminary to pursue a Masters or Divinity. She is currently an active member of Unity Church of Beaverton, where she has led retreats and workshops to find wholeness in nature and to promote environmental stewardship.
Becky enjoys rafting and kayaking, gardening, tennis and being among people. She has traveled to most of the nooks and crannies of Oregon with work and for fun. She also has traveled throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico as well as several countries abroad.
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Paula Gagnon
BOARD MEMBER
Paula has dedicated over two decades to environmental science and conservation. For 15 years, she led federal, state, and private partners in creating collaborative plans for healthier river and stream ecosystems across the US. From 2016 to 2018, she focused on community-scale urban wetland protection and restoration with The Wetlands Conservancy, managing 25 acres of urban wetlands and securing significant grant funding for these initiatives. Currently, Paula is transforming 39 acres near Sandy, OR, into Scrumpy Forest Farm, a regenerative farm business and ecosystem. This project involves developing biodiverse ecosystems, including orchards, gardens, silvopasture, and native forest and wetland areas. Her expertise in ecological restoration, project management, and community partnership building continues to drive her commitment to sustainable land stewardship and environmental renewal.