Joelle Marier (she/her), Executive Director

Born and raised in Minnesota, Joelle found her first connections with wilderness in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness along Minnesota’s Canadian border and has been dedicated to the wild ever since. She joined NWSA as executive director in 2023 after many years spent filling a variety of roles in land conservation, with a primary focus on wilderness and public lands.

Most recently, Joelle served as associate director of the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust in southern Colorado where she led the finance and operations side of the organization, managed an array of grant funding, completed private land conservation projects and worked alongside the executive director in nearly all other aspects of the organization. Prior to this role, she worked as a grassroots organizer for New Mexico Wild where she promoted advocacy campaigns to protect wilderness-quality BLM lands across the state. Here, she also managed a budding wilderness ranger partnership with the USFS Southwestern Region. Prior to this, she served as an interagency wilderness fellow for the National Park Service where she completed wilderness character baseline assessments for parks in western Colorado and Hawai’i through the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute. Several seasons spent on trail crews and as a wilderness ranger for the Forest Service in Montana and New Mexico, and as a naturalist and backcountry guide in Alaska have helped to foster much of her wilderness ethic, along with countless personal wilderness adventures.

Joelle holds a Graduate Certificate in Geographical Information Systems, a B.A. degree in Environmental Studies, and A.S. degrees in Wilderness Management and Parks & Recreation. She currently resides in Del Norte, Colorado where she enjoys skiing in the San Juan Mountains, hiking and backpacking the many nearby wilderness areas and watching the wildlife that share the lands surrounding her home. She is excited to apply her experience and vision to lead NWSA toward new levels of success, connect and grow our stewardship community, and increase our impact across the nation.

Contact Joelle at [email protected]

Director for Public Lands & Recreation Back Country Horsemen of America

Since 2012, Randy has represented Back Country Horsemen of America—a widely respected national, non-profit volunteer service organization.

Randy assists BCHA’s 31 state organizations to advance initiatives and strengthen partnerships to ensure that current and future generations will continue to enjoy access to back country and Wilderness experiences. He was a key player in the development and promotion of concepts contained in the National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act, which gained widespread bipartisan support and was signed into law in November 2016.

Prior to joining BCHA, Randy was senior policy manager for American Hiking Society. He was a founding board member of Trailkeepers of Oregon, a non-profit volunteer trail maintenance organization.

Ann Baker-Easley, Vice-Chair

Ann Baker Easley is a Colorado native who grew up in Boulder.  There, she first discovered her love of the outdoors through family camping trips, backpacking and hiking.  Over the past 25 years, Baker Easley has led state and national environmental, volunteer, and youth-development oriented nonprofit organizations, with a focus on strengthening their programs and helping them grow to new levels. Most recently she served for 14 years as the CEO for Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC), a statewide stewardship organization. Prior to Ann served as the founding director of the Colorado Youth Corps Association where she was its Executive Director for 11 years. She is a graduate of Colorado State University where she earned a BS in Psychology and the University of Michigan where she earned a MSW in policy and program development. She and her husband recently moved to Corvallis, Oregon where she is entering her new rewiring” phase! In addition to serving on the NWSA Board of Directors, Baker Easley serves as a governing member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Stewardship Council and The University of Michigan School of Social Work Alumni Board of Directors. Effective December 2021, Ann will begin a remote position as full-time Director of Institutional Giving with the national non-profit, Playworks, Inc. out of Oakland, CA.

Anne Sentz, Secretary

Anne is the landscape partnership manager for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, where she works to advance the pace of conservation within the Appalachian Trail landscape. She loves her job because it allows her to connect with public and private organizations across the East Coast.

Originally from Asheville, North Carolina, Anne holds undergraduate degrees in journalism and technical photography from Appalachian State University and a master's degree in Rhetoric and Composition from Western Carolina University. She now lives in West Virginia, where she enjoys exploring the beautiful scenery that makes up the Wild and Wonderful state. 

Anne joined the NWSA Board in October 2016, and she is excited to spread the word about the incredible work being accomplished by NWSA partner organizations. 

Michael Splain, Treasurer

A native of Maryland, Mike Splain relocated to the west coast in 1991 to pursue wilderness advocacy and stewardship with organizations like Forests Forever, Sierra Club, and Ventana Wilderness Alliance. He currently resides in northern California and manages the Conservation Funding Project at Resources Legacy Fund. Mike holds a BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UC Santa Cruz and spends his free time seeking flora, fauna, and solitude in the Klamath Mountains bioregion.

David Cantrell

Dave grew up in the woods and lakes of North West Pennsylvania, a land his parents helped him learn to love and respect. His passion for wild places now finds a center in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he is a Poudre Wilderness Volunteer, helping maintain the wilderness areas of the Northern Colorado Front Range, which are much loved and always in danger of being much trammeled without the support of volunteers.

Dave chairs the Programs Committee, helping create an allied constituency for wilderness by connecting stewardship organizations nationwide with each other, linking our efforts and experiences, directing groups to resources, and fostering new organizations. 

In 2012 Dave was recognized by the United States Forest Service with the Bob Marshall Award as Individual Champion for Wilderness Stewardship.  Dave was the founding Chair of NWSA, and returned to the Board in 2016. 

Ian Nelson

Ian works with the Pacific Crest Trail Association as the Southern Oregon Regional Representative.

Kaitlin DeVarona

Kaitlin de Varona is a Nevada native living near Asheville, North Carolina where she currently serves as the executive director for Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards (SAWS). Kaitlin has more than a decade of experience in the conservation world. Throughout her career, she has worked passionately to steward and protect our county’s wildest public lands. In addition to SAWS, Kaitlin worked for California State Parks, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Montana Conservation Corps, and Great Basin Institute. Kaitlin is committed to working towards equity in the outdoors and in conservation and continues to foster inclusivity in outdoor spaces and work to address past injustices to equitable access.

Throughout her time working to safeguard America’s wildest places, Kaitlin has seen the role volunteerism and non-profits are playing in wilderness stewardship as well as the value of partnerships working toward stewarding America’s enduring wilderness resource and preserving wilderness character. As such, Kaitlin joined the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance board in 2021 and proudly serves as a board member.

Kaitlin is absolutely enamored with her family, currently raising two young boys, and enjoys spending time with them outdoors hiking, camping, rock scrambling, gardening, and adventuring down the creek in their backyard. She earned a B.A. from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a M.S. from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. Kaitlin is certified in crosscut saw, holds a red card in wildland firefighting, and earned a Graduate Certificate in Geospatial Information Sciences from North Carolina State University.

Bob Ratcliffe

Bob is recently retired from the National Park Service where he served as Division Chief, Conservation and Outdoor Recreation. In his most recent capacity, Bob oversaw a portfolio that included the NPS Office of Outdoor Recreation; the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) Program, National Trails System and National Rivers system among others. Previously, Bob served 24 years for the Bureau of Land Management in a variety of field and national leadership roles including over a dozen years as Deputy Assistant Director for Resources and Division Chief for Recreation and Visitor Services. He has spent much of the last four decades exploring public lands and developing new and progressive national policies conserving and restoring special places, enhancing visitor experiences, and partnering with gateway communities, recreation, and tourism interests in promoting responsible recreation and encouraging community engagement while balancing protection of resources. For over 40 years, Bob has run rivers in the West including time spent as a river guide and eventually a backcountry ranger on the Green and Colorado Rivers. Bob and his wife hope to spend more time at their home Bend, OR following their retirement.

Bill Hodge

Bill currently serves as Montana State Director for The Wilderness Society. Bill previously served for over four years as the Executive Director of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation and prior to that over 12 years as the Founding and Executive Director of the Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards. He comes to NWSA having deep connections and passion for wilderness and for the work of NWSA. He served as NWSA Board chair during the early years of the organization and was instrumental in helping to shape the organization as it transitioned to hiring its first contracted staff member, Randy Welsh.

Jeff Randa

Jeff has a significant passion for the outdoors, including public land stewardship and participating in numerous outdoor activities. His background includes forty years in developing and executing global business and marketing plans in the engineered plastics industry, leading to revenue growth and expanding brand awareness. Before retiring, he worked for leading global companies, including Dow and Avient. The last seven years were spent building a business which focused on working with leading name brand outdoor gear manufacturers, assisting in innovating new products for outdoor enthusiasts.

Jeff was a Board member for a business-to-business nonprofit for four years, gaining an appreciation for the nonprofit drivers versus those for a profit entity. He is currently a patrolling member with the Poudre Wilderness Volunteers and serves on the organization’s Board of Directors as well as on several committees.

Simon Heinberg

Simon is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the Duke Nicholas School of the Environment and previously served as Philanthropy Manager at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, managing the organization’s portfolio of grants. At Duke, Simon is pursuing a Master of Environmental Management specializing in ecology and conservation.

Simon is passionate about conservation and outdoor recreation. At the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, he oversaw the organization’s institutional fundraising and fundraised on behalf of the Conservancy’s work in landscape conservation, natural resource stewardship, trail maintenance, and outdoor volunteerism and education. Simon is also an avid outdoor enthusiast, and grew up canoeing, backpacking, and hiking in Vermont and New England. Simon has a B.A. in philosophy with a minor in economics from Pomona College. In his free time, he can be found hiking, skiing, or in the kitchen attempting recipes above his skill level.