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Pinchot Institute for Conservation Staff
Staff Biographies
Jennifer Yeager has served with the Pinchot Institute for Conservation in Washington, DC since 2001. As Chief Financial Officer, she has management oversight and responsibility for the Institute's finance, human resource, contractual and administrative functions and oversees a $1.8 million budget. She is responsible for preparing financial statements; implementing and overseeing financial policies and procedures, negotiating contracts and procurement; administering the Institute's GSA Schedule, assisting in short and long term financial planning; monitoring all grants and contracts and other sources of funding; administering the Institute's employee fringe benefits plan; and overseeing the Institute's annual independent audit. She has designed and implemented business protocols and improved the integration of technology in the Institute's day-to-day business operations that have made the Institute more effective in fulfilling its mission to improve natural resource conservation and environmental policy. During her tenure with the Pinchot Institute, Jennifer has ensured sound stewardship of the nonprofit's federal, state and charitable grants and contributions and has made fiscal accountability her top priority. Prior to joining the Institute Jennifer served as the Assistant to the Director of Admissions at the University of St. Mary in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and more than fourteen years as a teacher and administrator at a private school in the San Francisco Bay area. Jennifer holds her degree in Accounting with a minor in Business Management, and is currently pursuing her CPA certification with the Commonwealth of Virginia. Her special interest and area of expertise is Nonprofit Accounting.
Will has been at the Pinchot Institute since 1999, working on public policy and market-based solutions that improve forest management and advance conservation. His studies on forest certification have included projects with state and federal agencies, companies, universities, and First Nations. In recent years he has also worked with agencies and landowners on ways to sequester carbon through forest conservation. Prior to the Pinchot Institute he consulted with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; and worked as a research technician with NASA, and with the Forest Service PNW Research Station in Corvallis, OR. Will graduated from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies with a Master of Forest Science degree, and holds a Bachelor's of Science from University of Notre Dame, where he studied ecology.
Before joining the Pinchot Institute, Blake Carpenter got an in-depth look at federal grant auditing during an internship at the U.S. Government Accountability Office headquarters in Washington, D.C. He returned to the University of Iowa to complete a Bachelor's in Business Administration in Accounting and a Bachelor's in International Studies. Blake's interests in renewable energy and environmental policy led him to the Pinchot Institute where his talents in accounting and business administration contribute to solutions to the environmental challenges he is passionate about. As Assistant Director of Finance and Administration, he maintains complete records of all funding instruments and subcontracts, he tracks various reporting deadlines and assists program staff in preparation of reports to funders, Blake performs day-to-day accounting functions such as ensuring that all invoices are promptly paid and deposits are properly made. Blake also oversees payroll and helps administer the Institute's employee benefits program.
Amy is directing the implementation of an integrated conservation management plan in Ecuador's Mache-Chindul Ecological Reserve for the Institute. This effort, aimed at preserving Ecuador's remaining Chocó coastal rainforests, dovetails with that of Peter Pinchot and the Ecomadera Project. Together, and by deliberately incorporating all relevant ecological, socioeconomic, and policy considerations, these two programs will address deforestation from ‘both sides' of the problem by: 1) slowing and eventually reversing the current pace of deforestation, and 2) preventing future sources of anthropogenic and ecological habitat degradation. Amy's current work builds upon five years of on-the-ground experience in Mache-Chindul, as well as upon the results of her doctoral research, which was focused on developing an ecologically-based strategy for reforestation in tropical secondary forests. She holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from UCLA, an M.A. from San Francisco State University, and a B.A. from UCSC. Amy's conservation work has taken her to Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, Alaska, and California, and her funding has included fellowships from the Wildlife Conservation Society, US Dept. of Education, Switzer Foundation, and US Dept. of State Fulbright Program.
Blair Rynearson, Research Fellow (top)
Blair graduated from Beloit College with a Bachelor of Science in ecology, evolution and behavioral biology and a minor in environmental studies. His summers were spent working as a teacher naturalist for the Glacier Institute, a non-profit organization devoted to outdoor education based out of Glacier National Park, MT. He worked five years as a seasonal US Forest Service employee with jobs ranging from trail maintenance, to public relations, to working on a fire suppression hotshot crew. For three winters Blair was employed by Confluence Timber Co., a business focused on restorative forestry based out the Flathead Valley, MT. He started as a volunteer with the Pinchot Institute's EcoMadera program in January of 2009, and assisted on a baseline study of the existing methods of timber extraction. He is currently working in conjunction with local sawyers to introduce technologies that will improve the transport and yield of harvested timber, and reduce damage and mortality associated with non-directional felling.
Aaron Lien, Project Director (top)
Aaron is facilitating the Bay Bank working group process for the Institute. The Bay Bank will link private farm and forest landowners in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to ecosystem service markets through a centralized marketplace for multiple ecosystem services. In spring of 2008, Aaron earned a Master of Science in Urban Planning and a Graduate Certificate in Water Policy at the University of Arizona. His graduate research focused on Arizona water policy through a research assistantship at the Arizona Water Resources Research Center and private land conservation and stewardship. Prior to graduate school, Aaron worked at the National Council for Science and the Environment as program coordinator for the National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry, the US Forest Service Research Outlook process, and the Wildlife Habitat Policy Research Program. Aaron holds a Bachelor of Arts from Willamette University in Salem, OR, where he studied environmental policy.
Brian focuses primarily on the Institute's work on bioenergy and community-based natural resource management and policy. His current work examines the extent to which various approaches to wood-biomass utilization can support renewable energy development, sustainable natural resource-based communities, and the improved management and conservation of forest resources. Brian has helped lead a broad-based multi-sector policy dialogue to identify appropriate mechanisms to help ensure that as markets for wood-based energy develop, they remain closely aligned with principles of sustainable forest management. In addition to this work on bioenergy, Brian manages a process to monitor and evaluate the role communities play in the conceptual development, design, and implementation of stewardship contracts and agreements on National Forest System and Bureau of Land Management lands. Before his work at the Institute, Brian managed programs for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and also worked on wilderness management issues in the Mt. Hood National Forest. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Policy from Colby College and a Master of Science in Environmental Science and Policy from the Johns Hopkins University.
Maria-Alexia is assisting the Pinchot Institute daily through overall organization, administrative duties, event planning and database management. With a strong desire to work in the nonprofit sector, Maria is excited to help with all program areas within the Pinchot Institute. A native of Northern California, Maria spent her childhood in the Bay Area. She moved to Southern California to attend the University of San Diego where she majored in Political Science. Although originally interested in retail, after five years she decided to pursue her passion of working for an organization whose mission was to improve the lives of others through temping at various nonprofit organizations. She began her temp work at the Pinchot Institute in 2008, and after having such a great experience, decided to stay on permanently. Maria's current work involves regular communication with the Pinchot Institute Board of Directors, fielding all inquiries that come into the office, planning all Pinchot hosted events, and building the overall development efforts.
Stephanie Pendergrass is working to implement a pilot drinking water source protection fund for the Delaware River watershed. Prior to joining the Institute, she managed the Coral Reef Conservation Fund and marine mammal programs at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, where she also administered a variety of grants across the western U.S. She earned her Masters degree from the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, where her Masters project involved assessing the potential for restoring pine barrens habitat (and fire) in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. She also interned at the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment to assess the ecological and economic impacts of the Secure Rural Schools Act on counties with national forests. In addition, she has worked on federal science policy at the National Council for Science and the Environment and environmentally preferable purchasing at the Center for a New American Dream. Originally from Oklahoma, she earned a Bachelor of Music in oboe performance with a Minor in environmental studies from the University of Illinois. Her interests include ecosystem services valuation, payments for ecosystem services (PES), institutions and political economy, local food systems, and ecological agriculture. She also hopes to get back to playing her oboe and riding horses in the near future.
Maria Bendana previously worked at Forest Trends, an international nonprofit dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management and conservation by creating and capturing market values for ecosystem services. While there she co-authored the first historical State of the Forest Carbon Markets report and managed the Forest Carbon Portal. Maria has also worked at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Secretariat in New York, the International Economic Development Council, the Office of the Governor's Delivery Unit in Maryland and an immigrant advocacy non profit as a graduate research assistant. Maria received her Masters in Community Planning from the University of Maryland with a focus on international development. She speaks Spanish and French. Maria is a fellow for the Bay Bank project, an online ecosystem service marketplace for private landowners in the Chesapeake Bay area. |
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