Board of Trustees
We are continually rewarded by the generous gifts of time and skill from members of the CRWC Board. Many of our Trustees have served the Watershed Council for years. All are seasoned experts in fields that run the gamut from the environment and education, to legal, corporate business, and finance. We could fill much space with tales of our Board’s great expertise and assistance. Board Member bios are included below.
Suffice to say that the dedicated folks on our Board offer us the know-how and long-range thinking that helps keep CRWC pointed in the right direction. Their years of work and experience bring with them connections to the greater community that further enables our organizational success. Their efforts and effectiveness improve this great Connecticut River basin to the benefit of all. We cannot thank them enough.
James Okun (Trustee, Board Chair) is a principal at O’Reilly, Talbot & Okun, a full service
environmental, safety, health and geotechnical engineering firm. He served in the
CERCLA (Superfund) and RCRA division of the Environmental Protection Agency, is a
member of the Connecticut Low Level Radioactive Waste Advisory Committee. This is
Jim’s second stint as CRWC Board Chair.
Ken Alton (Trustee) of Strafford, VT, started his professional career in 1970 managing 80,000 acres of New England Power Company land for forestry, wildlife, and recreation. Currently the head of external relations for TransCanada Hydro, he works with all stakeholder groups in Vermont and New Hampshire to foster continual improvement in the river’s health.
Raul de Brigard (Trustee and CT chair) has lived in Haddam, CT for the past 30 years, and has degrees from Harvard and UCLA in architecture and land planning. Since his arrival in Haddam he has been active in town affairs, including many years as chairman on the Planning & Zoning and Conservation Commissions. He worked at Northeast Utilities in its Hydroelectric and Land Management and Siting departments, overseeing the management of open space, including the Wildlife Management areas cooperatively operated with the CT Department of Environmental Protection, and Candlewood Lake. As a Co-Chair of the CT Rivers Advisory Commission he spearheaded several river protection bills in CT. In addition to his work for CRWC, he is currently a member of the CT River Gateway Commission, the CT River Assembly, and The Trust for Public Land´s CT Advisory Board.
Mark Goodwin (Trustee) lives in Norwich, VT and is employed as a Senior Planner/GIS Coordinator for the City of Lebanon, NH. Mark is also the President and Founder of Stewardship Technology, which provides affordable technological services to conservation and planning organizations, municipalities, and private woodlot owners and foresters. Mark’s professional background has focused on Natural Resources, with an emphasis on landscape ecology and GIS technologies. His hobbies include canoeing, fishing, woodlot management and hiking, and Mark has canoed and fished numerous stretches of the Connecticut River, primarily north of the Massachusetts border.
Ed Gray (Trustee, Treasurer, and NH/VT chair), one of a number of Dartmouth graduates on the CRWC board, lives in Lyme, NH with his wife, Rebecca. He and Rebecca founded Gray’s Sporting Journal, and continue to publish game cookery and outdoors books. Ed previously worked as CFO for several companies, but is happiest when he is outdoors or helping a number of non-profit agencies. He has been both interim Executive Director of CRWC and Chair of the Board of Trustees.
Astrid Hanzalek (Honorary Trustee) from Suffield, CT is CRWC’s longest serving board member with a long, distinguished career of public service. After earning her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1949, she worked with a host of organizations, including the Greater Hartford Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Traveller’s Aid Society, and the Greater Hartford Community Council. She’s been an officer in many non-profits from CRWC to the Connecticut Energy Foundation and the Connecticut Humanities Council. Astrid was a member of Connecticut’s General Assembly from 1979-81 where she served both as Assistant Majority and Assistant Minority Leader. She’s currently a consultant and lecturer on public policy and environmental issues, working with regional radio and television stations and occasional op-ed writer for the New York Times and several Connecticut papers.
Rick Hartmann (Trustee), born and bred in Springfield, and a graduate of Western New England College, is president of Curtis Universal, a company his great grandfather started in 1935. Curtis continues to lead in the development and manufacture of universal joints for defense and civilian industries and commercial use. In addition to his valued work for CRWC, Rick has been a member of Gray House (a neighborhood charity in Springfield), the YMCA, and the Springfield Yacht and Canoe Club. If he’s not flying and repairing his model airplanes, he can be found white-water paddling or sailing.
Christine LeBel (Trustee, Board Secretary, Chair of Membership and Fundraising Committee), was born in Manchester, NH and lives in Florence, MA. After graduating from Smith College with a bachelor’s in English and a minor in geology, she took her law degree at the Vermont Law School concurrently with her Masters degree in environmental law. She currently works as counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and is active in the American Bar Association’s environmental section. What little time is left to her after heading up CRWC’s membership and fundraising committee, she spends on the finer points of swing dancing.
Phyllis Magoon (Trustee) of Gill, MA, worked for Western Mass Electric for over 40 years, most recently as Director of External Affairs. In that role, she was the key strategist for issues associated with deregulation, regional economic development, community relations and conservation and energy efficiency. Phyllis has translated her professional skills to strategic planning for CRWC.
Sue Merrow (Trustee), who served 12 years as First Selectman of East Haddam, CT from 1991-2003, has spent much of her life working with conservation organizations, much of it with the Sierra Club where she was President of the National Board in 1990-1991. She wrote about that period in her life in One for the Earth: Journal of a Sierra Club President. Most recently, Sue helped lead the recent effort to win Wild and Scenic River status for Connecticut’s Eightmile River and is a member of the Middlesex County Community Foundation. A graduate of Tufts University, she lives in East Haddam with her husband of 39 years and three retired horses.
Robert Moore (Trustee), was until his retirement this year Chief Administrative Officer for the Metropolitan District in Hartford, Connecticut. With degrees in both Civil and Sanitary Engineering, Bob was Chief Operating Officer of Connecticut’s Department of Environmental Protection and an Independent Environmental Consultant for Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., before moving to the MDC in 2000. He lives in Durham, CT.
Caprice Shaw (Trustee), comes to the Council's board with a wealth of experience working on water and environmental waste issues in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Caprice works as an environmental analyst for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. She has also been watershed protection director for the Housatonic Valley Association in Connecticut, as well as a digital mapping technician, an environmental research analyst, and an assistant foreman for the US Forest Service. Caprice received her B.A. in Environmental Science from SUNY Plattsburg. She lives in Barkhamsted, CT.
John Sinton (Trustee, MA Chair, and Chair of Strategic Planning Committee), a retired professor of environmental studies and land-use planning, has spent his professional life writing about and helping to manage environmental problems in the US and Europe. He currently contributes to a number of land preservation projects, edits CRWC publications, and recently co-authored The Connecticut River Boating Guide: Source to Sea with his wife Wendy Sinton and Elizabeth Farnsworth. He lives in Florence (Northampton), MA and is a confirmed river rat and fly fisherman, as well as skier, hiker and biker.
Brewster Sturtevant (Trustee), a Longmeadow, MA resident, has given more than 30 years of unstinting service to CRWC. Before he retired, he worked in the insurance industry and has led a distinguished career volunteering for local and regional non-profits, including the Child & Family Service Assoc., Bay State Hospital, and historical commissions and societies. Brewster graduated from Dartmouth, as did several other trustees, and loves fishing for striped bass in the salt and trout in fresh water.
Stan Swaim (Trustee) living close by the river in East Burke, VT, has paddled and fished much of the upper Connecticut River. He spent most of his adult life as a competitive cyclist and operator/owner of cross country ski centers. Stan is currently grooming trails for the State of Vermont. He represents Trout Unlimited of Vermont and is active in the federal re-licensing of hydroelectric facilities in the 15 Mile Falls area, as well as the Canaan Dam. A Fellow at the Fairbanks Museum, he has been actively writing and speaking for the environment many years.
Hooker Talcott (Trustee) lives in Brookline, MA, but his vacation home in Waterford, VT brought him in direct contact with the river. Since he retired from his investment, management and financial consulting work in Boston, he has been able to spend more time indulging his love of the outdoors and is enjoying his service on CRWC’s Board of Trustees.
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Image (Above) Ron Bouley www.ronbouleyphoto.com
Image Credits at Right - Illustrations: Bill Singleton; Photos: Elizabeth Leong, Megan Hearne, Ron Bouley www.ronbouleyphoto.com, Nancy Rich, Boating Guide cover photo © McConnell/McNamara, CRWC Archive.
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