Jenny Hansell - President
Jenny Hansell came to BNRC in February 2018 as its third President. Prior to that, she was Executive Director of the North East Community Center in Dutchess County, NY for 17 years. She has worked as an Environmental Policy Analyst at the National Audubon Society and Associate Director of the Council on the Environment of New York City, and held positions at Creative Art Works and Sesame Workshop, both in New York.
Timothy T. Crane - Chairman
Tim Crane has been a member of BNRC’s board for 22 years, and is serving his second term as Chairman of BNRC’s board. Tim is now retired after a career at Crane & Co. He and his wife, the poet Patty Crane, live in Windsor and have linked conservation easements on their property into the vast state-owned wildlife management properties on the Berkshire plateau.
Patricia Callahan - Vice Chairman
Pat Callahan retired some years ago after a career in banking in California. She lives in Richmond and serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Berkshire United Way, and is on the Town of Richmond Finance Committee.
Jeffrey Belair - Treasurer
Jeffrey Belair is a CPA and partner in the firm of Smith, Watson & Company, LLP based in Pittsfield, MA. He has more than 15 years of experience advising affluent individuals and their families manage the numerous aspects of wealth accumulation and transfer. Jeff offers clients extensive experience related to complex individual tax compliance and strategy, philanthropic planning, and trust and estate design. He, his wife Diana, and their three sons recently relocated to Pittsfield from Denver, Colorado where they lived for the previous ten years.
Kim Seward - Secretary
Kim Seward is a freelance writer, working primarily with medical product and higher ed software companies. She also writes nature-based children’s books. She and her husband are avid amateur naturalists and enjoy hiking, cross-country skiing, raising caterpillars to release as butterflies, and creating and enhancing habitat on their North Adams property.
Stephen Alsdorf
Stephen Alsdorf is a family physician. His preferred prescription is time outdoors. Prior to medical school, he lived in France and Japan for several years and loves travel and foreign languages. An avid trail runner, biker and skier, he lives in Lenox with his wife and two daughters.
Heather Bruegl
Heather Bruegl is a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and first-line descendent Stockbridge Munsee. She is a graduate of Madonna University in Michigan and holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in U.S. History. Her research comprises numerous topics related to American history, legacies of colonization, and Indigeneity, including the Dakota War of 1812, the history of American Boarding Schools, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (#MMIW). Heather has presented her work at academic institutions including the University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the College of the Menominee Nation, as well as at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for Indigenous Peoples Day 2017.
Heather consults for a variety of museums and universities and is a frequent lecturer at conferences on topics ranging from intergenerational racism and trauma to the fight for clean water in the Native community. She has been invited to share her research on Native American history, including policy and activism, equity in museums, and land back initiatives for such institutions as the Tate and the Brooklyn Public Library. Heather opened and spoke at the Women’s March Anniversary in Lansing, Michigan, in January 2018, and at the first ever Indigenous Peoples March in Washington, DC, in January 2019. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, Heather spoke at the Crazy Horse Memorial and Museum in Custer, South Dakota, for its Talking Circle Series.
Heather is the former Director of Education of Forge Project, a decolonial art and education initiative on the unceded homelands of the Muh-he-con-ne-ok in Upstate New York, where she organized public programming and events and led the Forge Project Fellowship program. Now, Heather is a public historian, activist, and independent consultant who works with institutions and organizations for Indigenous sovereignty and collective liberation.
Walter Cliff
Walter Cliff is a retired tax attorney, formerly practicing in New York City. He and his wife Ursula are founders of the Egremont Land Trust and are also trustees of the Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation of New York.
Thomas A. Curtin
Tom Curtin practiced as an attorney in Boston before moving to the Berkshires in 1993. He is today an independent financial advisor. In addition to his service to BNRC, he served as treasurer of Project Native, and is currently treasurer of Berkshire Grown.
Brian Fairbank
Brian Fairbank, member of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, is Chairman of The Fairbank Group, a company that operates ski resorts in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont—including Jiminy Peak in the Berkshires. Brian has also been recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the National Ski Areas Association, where he served as a member of its board from 1990 to 2004, including a term as Board Chairman. He is known for leadership with regard to sustainability and green energy within the ski industry.
Henry A. Flint
Henry Flint sits on the Conservation Commission for the Town of Alford and owns Scribner Brook Farm, a 170-acre farm protected with an Agricultural Preservation Restriction. He is president of the Alford Land Trust.
Ellen Hand
Ellen Hand has family roots in the Berkshires and divides her time between Lenox and Brooklyn. She is particularly interested in protecting farms, wetlands, and open fields—the latter because they provide an especially good introduction to nature for those who have grown up in a more urban setting and may not be immediately comfortable in the woods. Helping establish wildlife corridors between conservation lands is also of great importance to Ellen.
Caroline Holland
Carrie Holland is the Managing Director of Mill Town, an impact investment fund focused on the Berkshires. Prior to returning to the Berkshires, she lived in the Washington D.C. area working in the National Security field. Carrie also serves on the boards of Hancock Shaker Village, Barrington Stage Company, and Boston Symphony Orchestra. A former Division I soccer player, Carrie particularly enjoys the accessibility of outdoor sports as a returned-native to the Berkshires.
Eric Katzman
Eric Katzman, the Co-Chief Investment Officer of Rockingstone Advisors, has enjoyed a multi-decade career on Wall Street, and is recognized as an expert in consumer packaged goods. He received his MBA in Finance from New York University and his BA in Economics and Government from Oberlin College. Eric is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He serves on the Board of Trustees for Oberlin College as well as on the school’s Endowment Investment Committee. Previously he was a member of the NY State Board of The Nature Conservancy.
Larry Lane
Larry Lane is a Berkshire County native who owned and operated the Arcadian Shop in Lenox for over 46 years. He is an avid hiker, runner and cross-country skier who is committed to conserving land for the enjoyment of the public.
Wendy T. Linscott
Wendy Linscott is a partner in the Great Barrington law firm of Lamme & Linscott, where she is active in legal aspects of land-use planning. She is currently a director of the Egremont Land Trust and has served on many local nonprofit boards in the past. She is now serving her second term as a BNRC Director.
Tim Lovett
Tim Lovett is the co-founder of Berkshire Property Agents, a real estate agency in Great Barrington. He attended Lee High School and spent much of his youth on Otis Reservoir, kindling a lifelong passion for the Berkshire Hills. After an advertising career in NYC, Europe and Tokyo, he settled on Lake Garfield in Monterey and built the agency to help others find their dream homes in the Berkshires.
John Mancia
John Mancia has recently retired from a long career in publishing including 30 years’ senior management experience with Elsevier, the largest international science and medical publisher. He and his wife Linda split their time between West Stockbridge and New York and have a long tradition of working with local nonprofits as active volunteers and board members.
Karen Ross
Karen Ross grew up in Pittsfield and has volunteered with BNRC since 2001. She holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from SUNY/Albany and has taught high school English and Computer Science at Berkshire Community College. Karen is also a director of the Columbia Land Conservancy. She and her husband Jeff have conserved their 170-acre farm in Lebanon Springs on the western flank of the Taconic Mountains where they manage their fields for both hay and birds. She is an avid skier, biker, and hiker in the Berkshires and beyond.
Ron Shaw
Ron Shaw started his professional career in banking and today holds an interest in a seafood-processing company headquartered in Seattle with facilities in Alaska. He and his wife Judith have conserved nearly 150 acres on the eastern slopes of Perry’s Peak in Richmond.
Brian Tobin
Brian Tobin lives in Mount Washington, where he serves on the Board of Selectmen and as the Acting Chief of Police. He is an executive coach and former Chairman of the Board of the Railroad Street Youth Project.
Elena Traister
Elena Traister is a tenured professor of environmental studies at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams. She and her husband live in North Adams with their young sons. Elena, who earned her PhD in 2011, began her environmental career as a BNRC Rice Fellow in 2001.