Bill Possiel - NFF President
Shereé Bombard - Director, Administration
Karen DiBari, Western Collaborative Assistance Network (WestCAN) Coordinator
Heidi Jury - Development Data Manager Associate
Adam Liljeblad - Director, Conservation Awards
Laura Henning - Director, Friends of the Forest
Mary Mitsos - Vice President, Conservation Programs
Chelsea Pennick - Conservation Awards Associate
Jennifer Schoonen - Director of Development
Mary Vasse - Associate Director, Conservation Program Development
Jeff Olson - Vice President, Development

Bill Possiel - NFF President
Bill Possiel has served as President of the National Forest Foundation (NFF) since 1998. He has conducted conservation activities in the Caribbean and South America, as well as in the U.S., and prior to joining the NFF served as Vice President and Western Regional Director for The Nature Conservancy (TNC). In 1987, Mr. Possiel initiated one of TNC's first large-scale conservation projects on the Big Darby Watershed in Ohio, and successfully completed the Ohio 'Let's Save the Best to Last' capital campaign. In February 1990 he established TNC's Brazil program, developing partnerships focused on conservation of the Atlantic Forest, Pantanal, Cerrado, Caatinga, and the Amazon, and successfully completed the Brasil Verde capital campaign. He negotiated acquisitions that resulted in doubling the size of the Pantanal National Park and in 1992 negotiated the first debt-for-nature swap in Brazil. As TNC's Montana State Director, Mr. Possiel worked with staff and trustees to create a strategic focus for TNC's Montana program, resulting in community-based programs with greater conservation impact. He also worked with teams to develop strategies for TNC's Latin America and Caribbean Division, Canada Program, and served on the Conservation Committee, helping to define a new strategic direction for the Conservancy called Conservation by Design.

Mr. Possiel graduated from Kean College of New Jersey with a Bachelor of Science in Management Science in 1974, received a second B.S. from the School of Forestry at Oregon State University with honors and went on to receive his M.A. in Anthropology from Oregon State with a graduate fellowship. In 1996 he completed the Stanford Executive Program in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. [top]

Shereé Bombard is the Director of Administration for the National Forest Foundation. Before joining the NFF, she spent 23 years serving in the United States Air Force holding a variety of positions within the Human Resource career field--with the most recent as Supervisor of the Recruiting Team for the Montana Air National Guard. After traveling for 23 years, she's decided that Montana is her home and she looks forward to serving another type of caring organization--the National Forest Foundation. [top]

Karen DiBari joined the NFF staff in September 2006 as Western Collaborative Assistance Network (WestCAN) Coordinator. Karen has 16 years of experience working and volunteering for nonprofit conservation organizations on a variety of issues, and has also worked for state and local government. Prior to joining the NFF, she served as Deputy Director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council (AMCC), a community-based organization of fishermen, subsistence harvesters, marine scientists, small business owners and families working to protect the natural diversity and integrity of Alaska's marine ecosystems.

Karen graduated from the University of Montana with a Master's of Environmental Studies, and earned a B.A. degree in Geography from Dartmouth College. She lives in Missoula with her husband and son, and loves exploring the mountains and rivers of the Rockies with them. Karen greatly values the opportunity WestCAN gives her to support collaborative efforts across the West in their work to forward conservation. [top]

Adam Liljeblad serves as Director of Conservation Awards for the National Forest Foundation. He joined the NFF in July of 2006 from the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, where he studied social issues related to the management of public lands. Adam has a strong interest in community based-conservation and effective resource stewardship. He holds a M.S. in Resource Conservation from the University of Montana, and a B.S. in Natural Resource Management from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.[top]

Heidi Jury joined the NFF in 2006. A native Montanan, Heidi earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of Montana. She spent three years as the Client Service Manager at O'Hara Investment Services before moving into non-profit work. In 2005 she joined the University of Montana Foundation where she assisted the Development team with the $100 million Invest in Discovery - Connecting People, Programs and Place giving campaign. Heidi joined the NFF in May of 2006 and is very excited to be working with our members who care so deeply for our national forests.[top]

Laura Henning Laura Henning serves as Director, Friends of the Forest program. She has a B.S. in marketing from the University of Colorado at Denver and a Master’s degree in marketing communications from the University of Denver. She spent more than 15 years in various marketing and fundraising positions with Denver-area organizations before moving to Montana to serve as the Director of Membership for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. She joined the NFF in June 2008.[top]

With more than two decades of experience in the natural resources field, Mary holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Business from the University of Colorado-Denver.  In addition, she earned a Master of Science in Natural Resources, and a Masters of Arts in Applied Economics, from the University of Michigan, where she complete her Masters project on Sustainable Management of Common Property Resources.  She served on the steering committee of the Seventh American Forest Congress Communities Committee, as a Board member of the National Network of Forest Practitioners and serves on the advisory board for the College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana. [top]

Chelsea Pennick joined the NFF in June of 2006. She graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in Rural and Environmental Sociology. Chelsea has spent five seasons working for the U.S. Forest Service on trail crews in northern California, northern Idaho, and north central Washington. Interspersed with that, she spent three years working for Planned Parenthood and as a bike messenger in Madison, WI. She is a native of Hope, Idaho and joined the NFF out of a passion for community-based conservation and outdoor recreation and an interest in the intersection of communities, economies and the environment. [top]

Jennifer Schoonen joined the NFF staff in January 2002 as Director of Foundation Giving. After a move to Missouri in summer 2004, she continued to work as an NFF consultant, and returned as an employee upon her move back to Montana in summer 2007. Prior to joining the NFF staff, Jennifer spent nearly 10 years in a variety of writing, fundraising and education positions with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. She holds a B.A. in Media Arts and Journalism and an M.A. in Journalism and Natural Resource Management from the University of Arizona. Having grown up surrounded by the beautiful Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, she brings to the NFF a deep commitment to caring for our National Forests. She now enjoys outdoor adventures in the Northern Rockies with her husband and two daughters.[top]

Jeff Olson joined the NFF in June 2008 as Vice President, Development. He has worked in various capacities with nonprofit conservation and philanthropic organizations including the Ford Foundation. In 1993, he co-authored Defining Sustainable Forestry, which was the first book to describe the field of sustainable forestry and ecosystem management. He has also organized and hosted a number of conferences that explore forest ecosystem services including carbon sequestration. Prior to joining the NFF, Jeff was President of the Natural Resources Council of America. [top]