Jack Calhoun of Harrisville has lived in the Keene area since he was six weeks old, with the exception of his college years and an 18-month stint in Washington, DC. He holds a B.A. in political science, and a M.B.A. from the University of New Hampshire and is a graduate of Leadership New Hampshire. Jack has served as a longtime member and chair of both Harrisville’s school board and planning board. He also serves as a trustee for the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music and has served for nine years as trustee and president of the board for the Monadnock Conservancy. Jack is interim executive director of Antioch New England Institute and assistant to the president of Antioch University New England, based in Keene, where he focuses on training, supporting, and developing citizen leadership in rural communities. Jack was also the New Hampshire Lakes Association’s first full-time executive director from 1992 to 1998.
Annie Card of Peterborough moved to the Monadnock Region after graduating from Boston University with a degree in journalism and photography. After completing a nine-month internship at Yankee Magazine, she joined the staff for another 16 years, the last ten as picture editor. In 2000, she left Yankee to try some other things including a canoe scouting trip for Outward Bound on the Coppermine River in Canada. The 300- mile trip landed the wind-whipped paddlers in the Coronation Sea in the Arctic Ocean. She’s dabbled in white water kayaking — often upside down — but prefers gentle water paddling, often with a good book. Annie started Annie Card Creative Services in 2007 after returning from a two-year stint in Mississippi where she founded Mississippi Home Again, a relief NGO that provided beds, refrigerators, and other basics to residents after Hurricane Katrina. Annie’s marketing agency helps businesses and nonprofits reach their audience with stories that inspire and prompt action.
Susan Copley of Peterborough has a lifelong love of the outdoors, and wants children today to have the chance to learn bird calls, catch salamanders and turtles, and explore their local fields and woods. Since growing up in Princeton, NJ, Sue earned her B.A. from Bates College, masters degrees from Mount Holyoke and UNH, and a Ph.D. from UConn. She loves to teach children and adults of all ages and backgrounds. Recently retired as the long-term Principal of Peterborough Elementary School, Sue is currently the Executive Director of an educational non-profit. She has served on the Boards of Brantwood Camp, the NH Journal of Education, the Monadnock Summer Lyceum, various educational organizations, and the ConVal Community Scholarship Foundation. She is an active member of the Monadnock Rotary Club. Sue is a past recipient of the Harris Center’s “Educator of the Year” Award and loves sharing all season picnics with her husband, Doug, on the summit of Thumb Mountain.
Hunt Dowse of Hancock writes, “My wife Sara and I have enjoyed the Monadnock Region for many years, first as staff for an outdoor education program each fall in Harrisville at the old Camp Marienfeld property on Silver Lake and then as residents of Hancock. It was easy for us to begin our association with the Harris Center due to our backgrounds in education and our love for this region. The three-sided mission of the Harris Center — conservation education, land protection and programs for the public — is unique for a conservation organization. This strong mission has kept me involved at many levels over the ensuing years as a member of the Board of Trustees, as an occasional hiker on trips, as a proud parent watching our son grow through the Wol’s Nest summer camp experience several years back. It is exciting to once again be part of the board as we welcome Jeremy Wilson as our new Executive Director.”
Paul Faber of Hancock, board treasurer. Paul is actively engaged in his community of Hancock and the greater Peterborough area. Paul and his wife Sandra have two young children who have enjoyed many Harris Center activities exploring the wonders of nature. Paul holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Economics from Fitchburg State College, has earned additional academic credits at Babson College and Harvard University Extension School, and is a graduate of Leadership Monadnock. Paul is senior vice-president of commercial and municipal banking for Lake Sunapee Bank in Peterborough. He serves on the Hancock Conservation Commission, is past president of the Peterborough Rotary Club, is past treasurer of the Cheshire Housing Trust, and has served for a number of other civic organizations.
Emily Hartshorne of Nelson has lived, run, and hiked in Nelson and throughout the Monadnock Region for the past 20 years. She holds a B.A. in philosophy from Mount Holyoke College and a M.Ed. from Antioch University New England. She is currently the teaching principal at Wells Memorial School in Harrisville and has worked closely with the Harris Center in designing her school’s naturalist in residence program. That work continues as the teaching staff continue to provide extensive opportunities for placed-based science education. Emily is also a musician and plays her violin in several community groups, including the Raylynmor Opera, Keene Chorale, and the Mill Pond String Trio.
Marcia Kayser of Stoddard has a master’s degree in education and human services and has provided workshops for many years in the areas of children and grief and suicide. She worked as a pediatric dental hygienist for many years and has been the dental coordinator at Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield for 24 years. She has four grown children and moved to the area four years ago after 33 years in Amherst, N.H. “I like to read, travel, and try new things,” Marcia says. “I especially enjoy exploring outside with grandchildren. So working with the Harris Center is a great fit.” As a lifelong volunteer and learner, Marcia is currently on Stoddard’s school and library boards and is a member of the N.H. Disaster Behavioral Health Team. Employed part-time, Marcia spends much of her time outdoors, hiking, kayaking, gardening and snowshoeing.
Ted Leach of Hancock, board chair. Ted was born in New York, raised in Illinois, and attended the University of Tulsa, its College of Law and Harvard University. He served as administrative assistant to Oklahoma Governor Dewey F. Bartlett. He was executive editor of Pipeline and Gas Journal in Dallas. Ted founded Leach Newspapers, Inc. in 1979 when he acquired the Monadnock Ledger in Peterborough, N.H. The company then purchased newspapers in South Carolina and Nantucket, MA. He also created America’s first and only opera company performed entirely by string-operated marionettes – The New England Marionette Opera (www.marionettes.org). Ted was elected to the N.H. House of Representatives in 2000 and founded the Legislature’s Environmental Caucus. In 2003, he became co-chair of the Carbon Coalition, a non-partisan, non-profit group of New Hampshire citizens who advocate for a responsible energy policy. Ted lives with his wife Beverly on Powdermill Pond in Hancock. He has two grown children, both Wol’s Nest alums, who live in California and New Mexico.
Charles A. Levesque of Antrim is founder (1994) and President of Innovative Natural Resource Solutions, LLC (INRS), a forest and natural resource consulting firm with offices in New Hampshire and Maine. INRS clients are from the business, non-profit and government sectors. The firm seeks sustainable ways for forest landowners and the forest products industry to do business and keep lands in forests. Before founding INRS, Charlie was executive director of the Northern Forest Lands Council, the Trust for New Hampshire Lands and the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association. Early in his career, he worked for the forest industry in northern Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont and for the U.S. Forest Service in the West. Charlie is a forester and avid outdoors person. He chaired the Antrim Open Space Committee and was recently Board Chair for the Center for Northern Woodlands Education, the organization that publishes Northern Woodlands magazine. Charlie has served on the national board of the Society of American Foresters and numerous other non-profit industry, civic, and local government boards. He was a town moderator for many years in New Hampshire. In his spare time, Charlie makes fine New Hampshire maple syrup with his son Galen Kilbride at their Old Pound Road Sugar House and produces firewood for local customers. He and his wife Noreen Kilbride have two sons. Their idea of a good time is to be at their remote Pittsburg log cabin, listening to coyotes by moonlight.
Alison Rossiter of Hancock, board secretary. Alison earned a B.S. in nursing and an M.B.A. from Rivier College. She has taught in the graduate program in health services administration at Framingham State College. Alison and her husband Dennis have lived in Hancock since 1980. “As a neighbor, we have enthusiastically supported many of the Harris Center’s efforts over the years,” Alison said. “Serving as a trustee of the Harris Center allows me to extend my involvement in a more formal and meaningful way.” With more than 25 years of experience in providing and managing nursing and healthcare services, Alison is vice-president of clinical services for Life Coping Inc. of Nashua.
Jane Shapiro of Keene has nurtured gardens, children, and community projects in Cheshire County since 1976. With a B.A. from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) and an M.S. from Antioch University New England, her professional life has been varied, including teaching biology, administrative work at the Monadnock Waldorf School and Hospice of Cheshire County, and community health work for Cheshire Medical Center/ Dartmouth Hitchcock Keene. Currently a freelance project leader, she most recently helped create an education program for the Kaddish project at the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College, and chairs the community coalition Advocates for Healthy Youth. She is a founder, board member and past president of Dental Health Works, Keene, and on the executive committee of the Ladies Charitable Society. Always ready to pack a suitcase or backpack, she loves hiking, kayaking, and travel. Her current to-do list includes becoming a birder and finishing the 4,000-footers in Maine.
Craig Stockwell has lived in Keene for 22 years. He is an artist and a professor of art at Keene State, Vermont College of Fine Arts, and Union Institute & University. His art work (abstract painting) has been shown widely and is in many private and public collections including Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. He is very involved in the Keene community, having served on the board of Ashuelot Valley Environmental Observatory before it joined with the Harris Center and also on the board of The Colonial Theatre. He founded the art school that is a part of MOCO Arts. His love of the outdoors was developed during years of work for Outward Bound.
Carol Thompson and her husband, Dennis, built their Frost Pond home in Jaffrey over 20 years ago as a part-time refuge from life in Cambridge, MA. Carol earned a B.A. in music history from the University of Michigan, but spent her career as an academic administrator within liberal arts universities. Carol has enjoyed a lifetime passion for the out-of-doors, having grown up on a river in small town Illinois. She discovered birding after her move to Jaffrey, and is particularly interested in bird sounds and song. In 2003 she joined the board of the Monadnock Conservancy, serving first as chair of the stewardship committee and later as vice-president and then president of the board. In 2011, she became a trustee of Antioch University New England.
R. Charles (Chuck) Van Horn of Hancock has lived in the Monadnock area since 1983. He was born and raised in Michigan, but moved to New Hampshire when he took a job as Vice President – Finance and Treasurer of Monadnock Paper Mills in Bennington. Since 1997 he has operated his own accounting, tax, and investment advisory practice in Antrim. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a B.B.A. degree in accounting and general business. He is a certified public accountant (CPA) and a personal financial specialist (PFS). He and his wife Nancy have been active in church and community affairs in Hancock since they moved here. Chuck served as a board member and treasurer of the Hancock Depot Association and also served as Trustee of Trust Funds for the Town of Hancock. He lives on property that is adjacent to the Moose Brook Conservation Area and has explored that area (and the Harris Center trails) for many years. His personal interests are photography, hiking, kayaking, and working with non-profit organizations. Chuck has two children and three grandchildren, all of whom live in Michigan, so he and his wife travel back there frequently.
Thomas Warren of Dublin has had a lifelong interest in ornithology since being introduced to a Scarlet Tanager at age 4 by the president of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. He is a graduate of Harvard University and holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Finance. His business career began at General Electric and Harvard University. He is a Compensation Consultant to the banking industry and over the past 40 years has worked for more than 1,000 banks in all 50 states. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, New England Baptist Hospital, Belmont Hill School, and the Wellesley Scholarship Foundation. He was recently asked to serve on the Board of the New Hampshire Audubon Society. An active field ornithologist, Tom has guided bird walks in New England, Ontario, and the Rocky Mountains in the western United States and Canada. He has been a youth hockey coach for 21 years and still plays senior hockey with the Legends at tournaments in New England, California, and Canada. He and his wife Anne Marie live in Dublin, New Hampshire.
Honorary Trustees
Hunt Dowse, Hancock
Roger Sweet, Sullivan
Francie Von Mertens, Peterborough