Earlier this year we sent out a request to members for interest to serve on the Board of Directors. The candidates below expressed an interest and have been interviewed by members of the Board of Directors.
Please read more about each Board Member Candidate below and then click the button to vote. As there is sufficient room on the Board, you may vote for all of the candidates on the slate.
Jessie Horner
Jessie grew up in Spokane, attending Mead High School and Eastern Washington University, where she earned Bachelors degrees in Accounting, Finance, and MIS. She worked for years in finance, and has served as president of the PTA, worked on school auctions and multiple volunteer projects in the local community. Jessie is passionate about the environment, and will work to promote The Lands Council goals to protect forests, water, and wildlife.
Chrissy Loe
Growing up in the Inland Northwest instilled in me a passion for the outdoors and the precious environmental resources held in such spaces. This passion, in unison with the current climate crisis, has both inspired and forced me to insert myself into spaces dedicated to mitigating harm in a necessary time frame. I look forward to bringing fresh ideas to the board and collaborating with like minded individuals to help preserve the same environment that helped shape my childhood.
Ellen Maccarone
Ellen Maccarone is excited to have the opportunity to get back into community board work, this time with The Land’s Council. She is an applied ethicist at Gonzaga University and sees the work of The Land’s Council as fitting in with commitments to ethics. Her environmental commitments began in earnest as she learned and taught about food ethics—but it’s not far to thinking about the watershed and local environment from thinking about food and how we grow it!
Kris Neely
D.M. 'Kris' Neely is a technology consultant and business process engineer who has worked with Tesla, IBM, University of California, Bank of America and others. He and his wife also own Cresting Wave Publishing. Kris brings an intense interest in forestry, fire prevention, and the preservation of wilderness.
Paz Ochoa
Born in Santiago, Chile and progressively moved from London, England to New England, to the Midwest and finally the West Coast. Studied Music at the New England Conservatory in Boston before going on to a BA in Art History & Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then a Master’s in Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon – Eugene. Practiced as a Landscape Architect in the PNW and SW for various multidisciplinary Engineering/Architecture and Landscape Architecture design firms and enjoy being involved with Master Naturalist Organizations & Architect’s without Borders when possible. Passionate about plants, their respective ecosystems and getting out in the wonderful great outdoors.
Mindi Sheer
Mindi Sheer moved to Spokane in 2019, lured by the Spokane River and the majestic pine forests. She has a background in aquatic science, landscape ecology, mapping, stream restoration, research planning, and habitat modeling. Having worked for federal agencies (U.S. Geological Survey, National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Forest Service) for much of her career, she was drawn to more community-oriented projects and left the federal government for other pursuits in 2014. She is currently a private consultant for a Canadian company and does stream and watershed-related mapping. Mindi is also a dancer, and works to create artistic projects and lead community movement classes that help encourage people to understand the connection between us and our natural environment. She lives on the South Hill with her pets in a house overlooking Hangman Creek. She has a B.S. In Biology from Eastern Washington University and an M.S. in Geography from Oregon State University.
Jake Stillwell
Jake Stillwell is a land use attorney focused on sustainable development and natural resources. While he lives in Seattle, he has deep connections to Spokane and is passionate about protecting and preserving the wild wonders of the Inland Northwest. Jake also serves on boards for building affordable housing and the Central Washington University alumni association.
John Wallingford
John Wallingford was trained in metabolism and human nutrition (PhD MIT, Cambridge), worked at FDA (Washington DC) and Wyeth Nutrition (Philadelphia) before continuing as an independent consultant (Spokane) on the regulation of foods for special dietary uses. A Spokane native (LC, ’71) he brought his wife Karen and two daughters (Jessica, Christine) to the northwest, that they each and his Springer Spaniel, Chase, have come to love. l John and Karen are completing the Master Forest Stewards program through University of Idaho Extension. John was recently senior warden at St John’s Episcopal Cathedral, where he set up the Paris Groves tree planting project, encouraged parishioners to join Spokane River clean up, and is organizing the Hope for Creation Conference scheduled for April 2022, intended to recognize the upcoming 50th anniversary of EXPO ;74. John is a member of Spokane 350 Interfaith group and the Episcopal Diocese working group on Care for Creation.
Jessica Walston
Hello! Being outside and enjoying nature has been a passion of mine both professionally and personally. My educational background includes a M.S. and a couple of B.S.’s. Professionally I worked as a Fish Biologist for University, State, and Tribal agencies and currently I am a program manager for the WA DNR Service Forestry where we help small forest landowners improve forest health and increase fire resiliency. In my free time I love going on hikes with my family. We often find ourselves in high altitude terrain, surrounded by glaciers and our family has hiked over 300 miles with our almost two year old. I am excited to get to know you all and help support the goals of TLC.