Board of Directors

Federal Government:

Carmin Chapin, U.S. National Park Service, Wisconsin

Carmen Chapin is the coordinator of the National Park Service Great Lakes Exotic Plant Management Team.  She facilitates exotic plant control in 8 National Parks in the western Great Lakes.  In addition to assisting parks with on the ground effort, Carmen is active in many partnership activities related to invasive species and natural resource management, including serving as chair for the Midwest Natural Resources Group Great Lakes Terrestrial Invasive Species Committee.  She has a MS and PhD in ecosystem science and has previously worked for USDA-ARS in the area of biocontrol.

Kelly Hogan, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Minnesota

Kelly Hogan holds a Ph.D. in Zoology from Texas A&M University and is employed as the Assistant Refuge Supervisor for Region 3, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  He is the Regional Integrated Pest Management Coordinator and provides guidance for invasive species management activities on National Wildlife Refuge and Wetland Management District lands in eight Midwestern states.  Prior to moving to Minnesota, he has worked on a number of invasive species issues in New Jersey, Louisiana, and Oregon. 

Jan Schultz, U.S. Forest Service, Wisconsin

Jan is currently the Botany and Non-native Invasive Species Program Leader for the Eastern Region of the U.S. Forest Service which is composed of approximately 20 states and 15 national forests. Jan represents the Eastern Region of the US Forest Service on the TISC (Terrestrial Invasive Species Committee) of the Midwest Natural Resources Group and also represents the Eastern Region of the USFS as the RISIT (Regional Invasive Species Issue Team) for the national RISIT.  Prior to this position, she spent seventeen years on the Hiawatha National Forest in the upper peninsula of Michigan working as Forest Plant Ecologist, Non-native Invasive Species Coordinator, Research Natural Area Coordinator and Plant Program Manager for propagation of native plants for restoration purposes.  She has received a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Master of Science in Ecology.

State Government:

Kelly Kearns, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Kelly Kearns has a B.S. in Horticulture from Purdue University and an M.S. in Restoration Ecology from the Landscape Architecture Department of the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She has worked at the Bureau of Endangered Resources, WI Department of Natural Resources since 1984, and as the Plant Conservation Program Manager since 1990. She is responsible for the conservation of native plants, for coordinating the state wild ginseng program and for coordinating DNR activities regarding ecologically invasive terrestrial plants. These responsibilities include education and outreach, grants management, policy and rule revisions, working with partners and researchers, sharing control information, and supervising the Wisconsin early detection project for invasive plants.  She works extensively with the Wisconsin DNR Invasive Species Team, Forest Invasives Leadership Team, Wisconsin Council on Invasive Species, Invasive Plants Association of Wisconsin, and MIPN.

Jody Shimp, Illinois Department of Natural Resources (Treasurer)

Jody has been working in Illinois natural areas for the past nineteen years as a volunteer, researcher, ecologist, and administrator.  He completed his M. S. in Plant Ecology from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in 1996.  He has experience working for county, State, and federal land managing agencies and the control of invasive species to improve natural area quality has always been his area of interest. Currently, working as an administrator for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources's Division of Natural Heritage, he isresponsible for the administration, management, and implementation of programs for non-game wildlife, threatened and endangered species, and natural areas for a 28 county region in southern Illinois.  Jody is very interested in the challenges of invasive species management and has spent much of the past few years working on large-scale control projects in Illinois.  He is currently serving on the Board of the Natural Areas Association (NAA) and am chairing NAA's Management and Technology Development Committee, as well as also serving on the Board of the Illinois Invasive Plant Council.  

Industry:

Gary Knosher, Midwest Groundcovers

Gary has been involved with the nursery industry for 30 years.  He started his career as an assistant manager for Amlings Flowerland, a retail garden center in the Chicago area. He is currently President of Midwest Groundcovers, located in St. Charles, Illinois.  Midwest Groundcovers is a regional nursery serving garden centers and landscapers throughout the Midwest with container grown groundcovers, perennials, shrubs and native plants.  Gary has been with Midwest for 28 years and has experience in most areas of production and sales. 

Gary has a Bachelor’s degree in Ornamental Horticulture from the University of Illinois and a MBA from North Central College.  He has been a board member and Past President of the Ornamental Growers Association of Northern Illinois; a board member of the International Plant Propagator’s Society, Eastern Region; and served on various committees for the Illinois Nurseryman’s Association and the American Nursery and Landscape Association.

Gary is currently a board member for the Illinois Invasive Species Council, and is a member of the Michigan Invasive Plant Council.  He has been active in the area of invasive species for the past 4 years by giving presentations, attending seminars, and working on various projects involving invasive species.

Trish Beckjord, Conservation Design Forum, Elmhurst, IL

Bob Masters, Dow AgroSciences LLC, Indianapolis, IN

Bob Masters received a B.S. in Wildlife Biology at Texas A&M University in 1978, a M.S. in Rangeland Science at Texas A&M University in 1981, and a Ph.D. in Rangeland and Wildlife Management at Texas Tech University in 1985.   From 1985 to 2001, he was a Rangeland Scientist with the USDA- Agricultural Research Service at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.  He was responsible for developing integrated invasive plant management strategies designed to restore grassland quality and health in the Central Great Plains. From 2001 to present he has been employed by Dow AgroSciences.  He is now stationed in Indianapolis, Indiana and serves as the Global Product Development Leader for the Rangeland, Pasture, and Industrial Vegetation Management business.  He currently is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska and Department of Agronomy at Iowa State University. 

Non-profit Organizations:

Lisa Brush, The Stewardship Network, Michigan

Lisa Brush has worked in the environmental field in Michigan for the last fifteen years. She is currently the Executive Director of the Stewardship Network and has been involved with the Network's since its inception more than seven years ago. She has a wealth of experience helping non-scientific people understand scientific issues. For over seven years as she has built  and coordinated the Stewardship Network she has emphasized effective and meaningful stakeholder involvement in developing and implementing all aspects of this program. Prior to her work with the Network, Lisa worked with the Huron River Watershed Council on drinking water protection, land use planning, and communication programs. She developed and helped implement the HRWC's award-winning mass media education campaign and the award-winning Community Guide to Drinking Water Protection. She has a M.S. in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan and a B.A. (Science in Society) from Wesleyan University. When she's not working Lisa loves playing with her six-year old daughter and four-year old son and looking for that spare moment when she can help out on a prescribed burn, make a quilt, sneak in a run, or even rarer these days catch a game of ultimate Frisbee.

Kay Havens, Chicago Botanic Garden, Illinois

Kayri Havens holds a B.S. and an M.A. in Botany from Southern Illinois University and a Ph.D. in Biology from Indiana University where she studied reproductive success in a rare evening primrose (Oenothera organensis) from New Mexico.  She spent three years as the Conservation Biologist at Missouri Botanical Garden before joining the Chicago Botanic Garden in April 1997.  She is currently the Garden’s Director of the Institute for Plant Conservation.  Her research interests include restoration genetics and the biology of plant rarity and invasiveness.  Her work on invasive plants has included studying the growth and reproductive responses of a weedy annual (Abutilon theophrasti) to different nutrient regimes.  She wrote the Chicago Botanic Garden’s invasive plant policy and is currently developing a predictive weed risk assessment system for the Garden to use when importing plants.  She is on the adjunct faculty of Loyola University, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois-Chicago and collaborates with a variety of academic institutions and stewardship organizations to help improve conservation efforts for rare plants.

Ellen Jacquart, The Nature Conservancy, Indiana (President)

I have a B.S. in Conservation and in Botany from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a M.S. in Botany from University of Wisconsin-Madison.  I have been the Director of Stewardship for the Indiana Chapter of The Nature Conservancy for seven years and am responsible for the management of the Conservancy's preserves in Indiana.  I have been co-chair of the Invasive Plant Species Assessment Working Group for four years in Indiana, working to decrease the intentional introduction of invasive species in the state.  I have been the chair of the Invasives Committee for the Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society for the past seven years.  For the last two years I have also been coordinating The Nature Conservancy's efforts on invasive species in the Central U.S.  This has involved assessing how best the Conservancy can assist in the effort to decrease the threat of invasive species in the Midwest.  I was involved in the formation and development of MIPN because this organization is the best way to effectively increase all of our abilities to address invasive plant species.  The Nature Conservancy is hosting the MIPN coordinator position for that reason.

Sue Galatowitsch, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN

Sue Galatowitsch is a faculty member in Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota. For the past 15 years, her research team has focused on restoring wetlands, with particular interest in invasive species control and transitioning to native communities. She has worked on reed canary grass invasion and control in sedge meadows of the Midwestern US and on Acacia control and riparian restoration in South Africa. She and her students have published more than 40 research papers on revegetation and wetland invasive species. Her current research projects focus on using adaptive management to develop strategies to address invasive species in large river systems, including the Mississippi and Platte Rivers. She has a PhD from Iowa State University in Ecology. Sue is a Fellow in the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment and is currently a Fesler-Lambert Chair of Urban and Regional Affairs.

Kevin Gibson, Purdue University

Kevin Gibson has a B.S. in Biology from Indiana University, an M.S. in Biology from San Diego State University, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California at Davis.  He is an Assistant Professor of Weed Science at Purdue University, and his research focuses on the ecology, biology, and management of invasive plants and herbicide-resistant weeds.  Kevin is also the current Chair of the Invasive Weeds Section of the North Central Weed Science Society.

Mark Renz, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

Mark Renz received both his B.S. (Botany) and Ph.D. (Plant Biology/weed science) from the University of California, Davis.  He has held several positions in research and extension, but currently is an extension weed scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Currently his program conducts extension and research in the management of weeds in perennial cropping systems and natural areas.  Specific areas of interest include

1.      The biology, ecology and management of perennial weeds 
2.      Integrating invasive weed management and estoration/revegetation methods
3.      Root biology of perennial weed species

Land Managers:

David Borneman, Ann Arbor Parks, Michigan

David Borneman has worked as the Natural Area Preservation Manager for the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan since 1993. Among other responsibilities, this includes overseeing the ecological restoration of about 1200 acres of city parkland. David also owns a private ecological consulting business specializing in prescribed burning. He holds a B.S. degree in Outdoor Education/Field Biology from Northland College and an M.S. degree in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development from UW-Madison.  David's areas of expertise are in using fire to manage natural areas in the Midwest and in urban natural area issues.  He serves on the boards of the Natural Areas Association, The Stewardship Network and the Michigan Prescribed Fire Council.  David was born and raised on a farm in Illinois, and has lived his entire life in the Midwest, except for one year spent teaching school in the Monteverde Cloud Forest of Costa Rica.

Jennifer Hillmer, Holden Arboretum, Ohio (Vice President)

Jennifer is a founding member and officer of the Ohio Invasive Plants Council. She is the Land Steward for The Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio, and has also worked as a land steward and a volunteer coordinator for The Nature Conservancy, Ohio Chapter, and as a Natural Heritage data specialist at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. Jennifer is particularly active in invasive plant management using volunteers and seasonal staff. Her interest in invasive plants includes early detection and response, mapping and tracing removal efforts, and post-removal habitat restoration.

Debbie Maurer, Lake County Forest Preserve District, Illinois

Debbie Maurer has a M.S in Botany with an emphasis on plant ecology and restoration from University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Conservation Biology degree (B.S.) from University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee.   She has been with the Lake County Forest Preserve District in Illinois for nearly 5 years.  She is both a Restoration Ecologist for the District and the Invasive Species Coordinator.   She provides countywide awareness and communication involving invasive plants to District staff, volunteers and the general public.  Debbie develops and implements habitat restoration projects, oversees invasive plant control programs, coordinates the development of the District's Ecological Database.  Debbie is Co-PI on the New Invaders Watch Program, an early detection program to limit the spread of new exotic invasive plants species in NE Illinois and NW Indiana.  She is currently working with others to establish a CWMA in Lake and McHenry counties to improve invasive species management on public and private lands. 

Coordinator:

Kate Howe
The Nature Conservancy of Indiana
1505 N. Delaware St., Suite 200
Indianapolis, IN 46202
(317) 951-8818
(317) 917-2478 (FAX)
Info@MIPN.org