Board of Directors

Lester Abberger, Tallahassee, Florida, is an investment banker and lobbyist. He is president of 1000 Friends of Florida, senior advisor to Florida First Capital Finance Corporation, and serves on the boards of Health News Florida, Our Region Tomorrow, the FAJUA, the Museums of Florida History, the City of Tallahassee's Urban Design Commission, and numerous other civic, charitable, and business organizations.

Ernest Cook, Brookline, Massachusetts, is president of the Conservation Campaign and senior vice president of The Trust for Public Land. He oversees TPL's national programs, including the Conservation Finance program, which he helped to found.
Page Knudsen Cowles, St. Paul, Minnesota, is managing director for Knudsen Vineyards. She was formerly an investment professional and was founder and partner in Ruminator Books Press, an independent trade book publisher. Currently, she serves on the boards of The Trust for Public Land; the Minnesota League of Conservation Voters; St. Paul Academy and Summit School, a K-12 independent school; Unity Avenue Foundation, a family foundation; and Lawrence Creek, LLC, a private investment company.

Rosemary Fei, San Francisco, California, is a principal at the law firm Adler & Colvin. Her firm represents nonprofit organizations exclusively, and her practice focuses on political advocacy issues and nonprofit corporate governance. Currently she serves as co-chair of the Political and Lobbying Activities Subcommittee of the Exempt Organizations Committee of the Tax Section of the American Bar Association, and on the Public Policy Steering Committee of Northern California Grantmakers.

Douglas P. Ferguson, Mill Valley, California, is a business lawyer specializing in real estate and entertainment law. He also serves on the board of The Trust for Public Land and is an advisor to a number of nonprofit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

Reese Fullerton, Santa Fe, New Mexico, serves as Deputy Director of the state of New Mexico Personnel Office and was formerly the Deputy Cabinet secretary for the NM Department of Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources.  Previously he served as executive director to the Governor's Office of Workforce Training and Development, facilitator of "the Southwest Strategy" and for public policy planning and disputes in environmental areas, Assistant Attorney General of New Mexico and manager of Senator Jeff Bingaman's first U.S. Senate Campaign. 

Jennie E. Gerard, Oakland, California is Chief of Staff to Oakland Councilmember Patricia Kernighan, a former chair of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and a former member of the senior executive staff of The Trust for Public Land. She was co-leader of the campaign for the successful City of Oakland's Trust for Clean Water & Safe Parks in 2002, a $198.5 million bond measure to renovate Lake Merritt and waterfront parks.

William B. Johnston (vice chair), Arlington, Virginia, is president of TORQworks, Inc., a software company that helps workers transfer to new jobs that utilize their existing skills.  Prior to joining TORQworks, Bill was president of the Jane Goodall Institute, and executive director of the Conservation Campaign.

Caroline Niemczyk (vice chair) Bedford Hills, New York, currently serves as vice chair of the Open Space Institute, and on the boards of The Trust for Public Land and the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.  Advisory Board roles include the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, and the Land Trust Alliance. Her career includes having served on the staff of Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, as a program officer at the Smith Richardson Foundation, as special assistant to Boston University president John Silber, and as an adjunct professor on the history faculty at Barnard College.   

 

Lisa Ott, Oyster Bay, New York, is president of the North Shore Land Alliance.  Lisa led four successful ballot measure campaigns on Long Island, NY in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 that created $225 million for land protection.  She is currently vice chairman of Scholarship for the Garden Club of America and serves on The Nature Conservancy of Long Island Board of Trustees. 

Will Rogers, Kensington, California, is president of The Trust for Public Land and former director of its western region. He was previously a project manager of infill urban development projects for a commercial real estate company based in Chicago.

Mike Rosser, Aurora, Colorado, has served as chairman of the Arapahoe County Open Space and Trails Advisory Board. As chairman of TCC's campaign committee, Arapahoe Neighbors for Open Space, Water Quality, and Parks, he led the successful campaign for a new sales tax for open space in Arapahoe County, Colorado in 2003. He also serves on the Colorado advisory board of The Trust for Public Land.