Board Members with CBF President Will Baker (far left). Photo by Jim Auerbach, September 2007
Officers
Dick Raines, Chair
Dick is the President of Carfax, a rapidly growing Internet business that provides used vehicle history information services. Dick is also the co-founder of Agua del Pueblo, a non-profit technical assistance company that constructs drinking water systems in rural Guatemala, Central America. Prior to Carfax, Dick was President of Blackburn Marketing U.S where he was responsible for the U.S. operations of a Canadian information company and managed acquisition, turnaround and divestiture of two marketing database companies. Dick has also served as a Branch Chief of the Environmental Protection Agency's policy branch focused on the Clean Water Act. Dick received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Harvard College.
Cary Ridder, Vice Chair
Long-time community activist and organizer Cary Ridder has expertise in nonprofit management, fundraising, and event planning. Cary has a sustained interest in the Potomac River, having grown up along the banks of the Potomac Gorge in McLean, Virginia, and is now living in the Palisades neighborhood of Washington, DC, just one block away from the overlook to Chain Bridge. Cary holds a B.A. in History from Stanford University and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University. She has worked as a consultant to many local and national environmental groups and was President of the Palisades Citizens Association. At present, Cary is Development Director at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
Bert L. Swain, Treasurer
Bert is a certified public accountant with Goodman & Company, LLP. He has more than twenty-five years experience in auditing and accounting for not-for-profit organizations. An active member of several C.P.A. associations, Bert has served as chairman of the Not-for-Profit Organizations Committee and on the Board of Governors with the Greater Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants. Bert has also served as President of the GWSCPA in 1995-1996 and is Past President of the Not-for-Profit Services Association. He holds a B.S. in accounting and a M.S. in Taxation from American University. Bert is a member of the Swain family, whose ancestors worked, boated, and served as lock tenders on the C&O Canal. Swain's Lock was named after the family, and Bert grew up in the lockhouse.
Burr Gray, Secretary
Burr is President of the Cabin John (Maryland) Citizens Association, as well as a co-founder of Friends of the Cabin John Creek Watershed. An attorney with the National Guard Bureau's Office of Chief Counsel, he was formerly a Senior Associate with the law firm McKenna & Cuneo, specializing in environmental law. Burr has been very active in the conservation movement for many years, and also served as Vice President of the Potomac Conservancy.
Directors
Shelley Slade Betts
Shelley is a partner in Vogel & Slade, LLP, a national law firm based in Washington, DC, that represents individuals informing the US government of fraud on federal programs. Prior to entering private practice in 2000, Shelley was the Senior Counsel for Health Care Fraud for the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and previously served in various positions investigating and litigating fraud. She obtained her law degree from Stanford University. As a riverfront landowner, Shelley's love for the Potomac, united with her law experience, will be instrumental to the Potomac Conservancy.
Jerome Cramer
Jerome is President of Cramer & Associates, a strategic planning and media outreach firm. With nearly fourteen years of experience in the communications industry, he has been a correspondent for Time magazine and has written articles for Sports Illustrated. Jerome also served as an on-air contributing correspondent for the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, and was a speechwriter for former Secretary of Education Richard Riley and other Department of Education officials.
Mark Haynes
Mark is currently Vice President for Energy Development and Washington Operations for General Atomics. Early in his career, Mark was a water quality inspector in Kentucky, and he later staffed the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. A committed and frequent canoeist, Mark holds an MEn in Environmental Sciences from Miami University and a BS in Environmental Science from Morehead State University.
G. Tracy Mehan, III
Throughout his career in conservation, Tracy has been a leader in watershed protection. He is currently a Principal with The Cadmus Group, Inc., an environmental consulting firm with offices in Arlington, Virginia. From 2001-2003, Tracy served as Assistant Administrator for Water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where he managed both the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts programs. He also served as director of the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes, Associate Deputy Administrator at EPA, and director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Tracy, a graduate ofSaint Louis University and its law school, is known as a proponent of collaborative partnerships in restoring waters polluted by runoff from the surrounding landscape. He is a member of the Water Environment Federation and the Environmental Law Institute. He also serves as an adjunct professor in environmental law at George Mason University Law School.
Rafe Pomerance
Rafe has more than 30 years of experience in the environmental field. He is a founder and Chairman of the Climate Policy Center, a non-profit focused on developing equitable and efficient policies to deal with global warming. From 1993 to 1999, Rafe served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment and Development, where he helped formulate U.S. policy on global environmental issues. In his distinguished career, Rafe has also worked as a Senior Associate at World Resources Institute; served as President of Friends of the Earth; was a founder and chairman of the Board of American Rivers; and served as chairman on the Board of League of Conservation Voters.
Fred Rapaport
Fred brings to the Conservancy a strong background in marketing and media. He recently moved to Maryland from New York City, where he worked in the advertising and publishing industries. Over the years, he has worked on behalf of such clients as DeBeers, AT&T, and Gallo Wines, and media companies representing cable networks including Discovery, CNN, and MTV. He was also a partner in a publishing company that created entertainment industry publications. Fred now spends his time on several non-profit endeavors, and is an avid kayaker who enjoys both whitewater and flatwater excursions on the Potomac.
Harry Rauner
Harry Rauner is currently president of United Financial Banking Companies, a bank holding company in Vienna, Virginia; president and CEO of The Business Bank, a community-based commercial bank specializing in providing services to small business, and CEO of Business Venture Capital, Inc. He is a past director of the Northern Virginia Community Foundation and a founding director of the Rotary Club of Dunn Loring, Virginia, as well as Director of The Community Banker's Bank, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Harry has a Bachelors of Science degree in Management and a Master of Business Administration from George Mason University.
Sunny Jung Scully
Sunny was a founding principal with Lewis.Scully.Gionet.Inc, and has been a registered landscape architect for more than 25 years. Involved locally and nationally with the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Urban Land Institute (Washington's Smart Growth Committee), and the Board of Casey Tree Foundation, she has also served on the Board of the Claude Moore Colonial Farm at Turkey Run and on the Ballston Partnership Board and its Urban Design Committee. She served as the president of the Woolly Mammoth Theater and is currently working with their building committee to finalize its new theater facility. Sunny's interests lie in the cultural and natural environment around Washington.
Abigail Spring
Abby has experience developing and implementing international advocacy and issue campaigns on a wide variety of humanitarian, environment and development issues. Abby has been responsible for overseeing relations with governments, NGOs, private sector, multilateral organizations and foundations, including the United Nations and the World Bank. Abby served as a communications and advance advisor on three
Mary Ann Stein
For nearly two decades Mary Ann has served as president of the Moriah Fund, a private foundation seeking to promote human rights, foster sustainable development, promote women's rights, and protect and preserve the environment. A graduate of Wellesley College and George Washington University Law Center, Mary Ann has chaired several committees, coalitions, and mayoral advisory commissions on family and children's issues. She served on the DC Judicial Nominations Commission and has written and published papers on public assistance and child welfare.
Mark Van Putten
Mark is Past President of the National Wildlife Federation, the nation's largest membership-based conservation organization. He is now principal of Conservation Strategy, an environmental strategy and organizational development consulting firm that he founded in 2003. Mark is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Law. The Conservancy benefits from his expertise on environmental litigation, strategic planning, and organization building.
Bill brings a wealth of public policy and public relations experience to M+R. Bill has helped numerous M+R clients design large-scale grassroots programs, including Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Prostate Cancer Coalition. Before joining M+R, Bill served in the Clinton Administration as director of the Office of Consumer Affairs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he advised the Secretary of Agriculture on consumer issues, conducted constituent briefings and public hearings on departmental programs, and directed marketing campaigns to improve childhood nutrition. He has led numerous national campaigns on consumer, environmental, and civil liberties issues.