Board Of Directors
Want to join a dynamic board that is making a difference for the long-term health and viability of eastern Idaho? Teton Regional Land Trust is accepting applications for board positions until August 1st. The Land Trust is committed to having a diverse Board of Directors. We are looking for board members from Bonneville, Madison, Jefferson, Clark, and Fremont Counties, multicultural members, and/or members with professional experience in agriculture, accounting, law, and fundraising. We are currently not accepting applications from Teton County due to having several board members representing this county already. If you are interested or have an individual you would like to nominate, please contact Kim Trotter at kimt@tetonlandtrust.org.
Current Teton Regional Land Trust Board of Directors
Bill Rogers
President
Idaho Falls and Teton Valley, ID
A native Texan, Bill moved to Idaho in 2004 as the Associate Laboratory Director for Science & Technology and Chief Research Officer at the Idaho National Laboratory. He retired in 2017 after working 28 years as a senior research manager and scientist at three DOE National Laboratories as well as 10 years as Professor and Chair of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. He also served as Director for the Center for Advanced Energy Studies in Idaho Falls, ID, and Director of the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory in Richland, Washington. Bill received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry and BS in Chemistry from the University of Texas. He is a fellow of the American Vacuum Society (AVS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In retirement, besides interacting with the Land Trust, he enjoys traveling abroad, skiing, hunting, and cooking Texas pit barbeque. Bill and his wife, Lee, live in Idaho Falls and Teton Valley, Idaho.
Bruce J. Mincher
Vice President
Idaho Falls, ID
Bruce has his origin in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York and was brought west by Idaho National Lab in 1984. There he designed, proposed, and managed research programs in the areas of actinide and radiation chemistry until his retirement as a Laboratory Fellow Scientist in 2018. He has had a lifelong interest in hunting, fishing, and wildlife conservation and has spent countless hours raising money and participating in fieldwork for wildlife research projects for Idaho Fish and Game and several NGOs. The realization that protecting habitat is the single most important thing we can do for wildlife is the origin of his interest in Teton Regional Land Trust. He holds a BS in Biology from the State University of NY at Albany, and an MS and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Idaho and currently resides in Idaho Falls.
Ned Corkran
Secretary
Victor, ID
Ned Corkran grew up on the east coast and fled to the mountains as soon as he finished college to get away from the world of strip malls and parking lots. He was drawn to Teton Valley in the 1990s primarily to climb and ski in the Tetons and has come to value the ecosystem, the wildlife, and the rural community over his time here. Ned has worked on numerous wildlife studies in the Greater Yellowstone and passionately recognizes the uniqueness of this area we call home. He believes that we are lucky to spend time in a place this special and that it is in our own best interest to preserve it, for the benefit of both the people who live and visit here, as well as for the wildlife who call it home. Ned’s professional life has included working with various youth populations helping them find their passions and values as they become adults through programs like Red Top Meadows and Outward Bound. He spends much of his recreational time in the mountains, parks and open spaces of the area, skiing, hiking, camping, and floating the rivers.
William “Brad” Bradley
Treasurer
Overland Park, KS
Brad is a retired IT company co-founder/senior executive and attorney. He was raised on a farm outside of Lawrence, Kansas and currently lives in Overland Park. While in school, he fell in love with the mountains on backpacking trips in Colorado. He graduated from the University of Kansas with honors earning a BA and JD. Twenty years later, he bought a second home in Jackson, Wyoming. When Jackson was getting “crowded and noisy” he moved to Irwin, Idaho where he became acquainted with TRLT. “Though I recently sold my place in Irwin, I’m still a big fan of the work you do. I’m pleased to join the board of such an important organization,” said Bradley.
He currently owns and manages the 2000-acre Little Osage Ranch, along the Kansas-Missouri border. Some of the land is reclaimed mining land, and over one mile of the Little Osage River flows through another parcel. They practice regenerative agriculture for row crop production and intensive livestock grazing. The entire ranch is under a conservation easement with Pheasants Forever.
Brad keeps busy the rest of the time with investments in and mentoring some start-up companies, including one he co-owns, FarmTender, LLC, that helps match regenerative farmers with landowners wanting regenerative techniques. It will launch in 2022. He recently completed a two-term stint as chair of The Nature Conservancy in Kansas board of trustees, and actively supports The Children’s Mercy Hospital Research Institute in Kansas City, and the Down Syndrome organization, also in Kansas City. He is a former Master 4-Her, and a former US Army, later National Guard artillery officer, and National Guard JAG officer.
Brad is married to Robbie Harding and he has five children/stepchildren, and eight grandchildren/ step-grandchildren. He enjoys fishing, hunting, hiking, skiing, sailing and scuba diving.
Sarah Ashworth
Finance Committee Chair
Teton Valley, ID
Land conservation is near and dear to Sarah. She sees being on the board as an opportunity to make a positive and constructive contribution in support of TRLT’s mission “to conserve working farms and ranches, fish and wildlife habitat, and scenic open spaces in Eastern Idaho for this and future generations.” As the founder and former president of NET 30, Inc. and owner of CrackerBoxes, LLC, Sarah’s unique combination of creative thinking paired with a very logical approach to problem solving makes her an ideal board member.
Most recently, Sarah has served as active board chair of the Big Hole River Foundation in southwest Montana. She likes that the area TRLT serves to conserve is focused, which hopefully makes educational opportunities a little easier with farmers, ranchers and other landowners in the area. Sarah’s major cause for concern is the persistence of developers to intrude on Nature’s gifts without serious regard or care for their negative impact.
Jeff Carr
Idaho Falls, ID
Jeff has been the Executive Director of the Museum of Idaho since January 2023, and on the museum staff since 2017. As an eastern Idaho native, he is highly involved in the Idaho Falls community, including serving on several other boards. In addition to the museum, Jeff also has a background in journalism, academia, and foreign affairs having worked for the Central Intelligence Agency as a Political and Leadership Analyst and for Stanford University as a Program and Publication Coordinator. Jeff is a veteran communicator and storyteller who knows the Idaho Falls cultural, nonprofit, philanthropic, and business communities well.
Sandy Schultz Hessler
Development Committee Chair
Victor, ID
Sandy’s passion is to help people and teams catalyze the power within for maximum health, growth and success. She has over 30 years of experience in business from blue chips to start ups along with a lifetime of study on human potential and consciousness.
She began her career in brand management at Procter & Gamble, then co-founded a startup called Imagitas, which received a prestigious “Hammer Award” from then Vice President Al Gore for helping build a government that works better and costs less, and later sold it to Pitney Bowes in 2005 for $265 million. She has taught leadership, communications and marketing at Tufts, Miami of Ohio and Harvard Kennedy School where she served as Assistant Dean, running the office of career advancement, field experience and internships for students. For the last six years, she has co-created and taught the Start Up Intensive – 10-week, 200 hour boot camps in Jackson, Wyoming through Central Wyoming College, while also doing private leadership coaching and consulting. She has her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, and advanced degrees from Harvard, Miami of Ohio and the University of Santa Monica. She is a mother of five and an avid adventurer. Over the last six years, Sandy has deepened her knowledge of psychology, consciousness, and success coaching by earning a Masters in Spiritual Psychology and working on a PhD in Depth Psychology.
Bruce Linger
Winettka, IL
Bruce joined the board of TRLT in January 2025 after a 38-year career in commercial banking. He and his wife, Laura, completed construction of their home in Driggs several years earlier and divide their time between Teton Valley and Winnetka IL, a suburb of Chicago. The Linger’s, including their two grown sons, fell in love with Driggs due to the small-town feel, abundance of recreation opportunities, and authentic character of the valley’s residents. Reflecting his love for the outdoors and open spaces, when combined with the outlook for growth in the region, Bruce feels compelled to give time, energy and experience to our natural resources and the broader community in order to sustain the values that Southeast Idaho holds dear. He looks forward to serving our neighbors and residents in a consultative and learning fashion while advocating for our agricultural and wildlife resources.
Mike Merigliano
Conservation Committee Chair
Teton Valley, ID
Mike is an experienced plant ecologist, whose work includes natural resources management and research in plant ecology, specifically the connection between the physical environment, disturbance, and animals. He believes the Land Trust’s role in private land protection is especially important because such lands are typically very productive and yet often degraded, making long term stewardship of existing easements difficult logistically but also so important.
Paul Merrill
Victor, ID
Paul graduated from Boise State University with a B.B.A. in Business Management. He has 30 years of experience in the investment management business. He has worked for various Wall Street firms and currently owns an independent financial advisory practice in eastern Idaho. As a Utah native and resident of Victor, Idaho, he was drawn to the area because of his passion and love for the outdoors and in particular, the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Paul realizes the real need to preserve and protect open spaces for wildlife habitat and for future generations. He enjoys traveling and spending time with his family. He and his three kids are all avid skiers. In his spare time, he is also enjoys backpacking, biking, and diving.
David Pease
Salt Lake City, UT and Teton Valley, ID
Dr. Pease works as an emergency department physician in Salt Lake City, UT where he has been a partner in the same group for almost 30 years. He has had the opportunity to do lengthy volunteer medical trips to Nepal and the Solomon Islands as well as several volunteer build trips with Habitat for Humanity and the Fuller Center.
David’s greatest passion is for the natural world. He spends much of his free time outdoors, trail running and climbing in the spring, summer and fall and backcountry and Nordic skiing in the winter. He is eager to bring that passion to conservation projects in Teton Valley with the Land Trust. David loves the phrase “think globally, act locally” and feels that serving on the Land Trust board is a great way to “act locally”. He and his wife have been visiting Teton Valley for 30+ years, have owned a home here for 16 years, and plan to retire here. David feels we are at a tipping point and he thinks we need “all hands on deck” to help mitigate the crises and to preserve the environment for those coming after us.
Arantza Zabala
Past President
Victor, ID
Arantza brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the board. She recently retired from the Idaho National Laboratory where she held various management positions in the Human Resources Department since 1991. She has a broad expanse of community service roles, including working with the Idaho Workforce Development Council, the Breaking Boundaries Board, the Idaho Migrant Council and the Industry Liason Group to name a few. In her free time, Arantza enjoys snowboarding, mountaineering, hiking, mountain biking, waterskiing, and SCUBA diving.
