Board Of Directors
Arantza Zabala
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.
Bill Rogers
Vice-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.
John Van Orman
Secretary
Swan Valley, ID
John Grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Utah. John moved to Idaho Falls in 1994 to open the Great Harvest Bread Company with two separate locations. In Idaho Falls, John serves on the Board of Directors for the Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corporation and the Historic Downtown Foundation, which established and now manages the First Business Improvement District in downtown Idaho Falls. John has also served on The Board of Directors for Camp Magical Moments Cancer Camp for Kids, founded in Swan Valley, Idaho, where John and his wife Tiffani currently live.
Bill Graham
Treasurer
Kenilworth, Illinois
Bill Graham is Founder of Rainbow Bend Capital, LLC. Prior, Bill was President and co-owner of USABlueBook, the nation’s leading catalog distributor of water treatment equipment. The company was an entrepreneurial start-up. Bill received his MBA from Kellogg and graduated with honors from Williams College. He is active in a variety of non-profit entities and is a founding member of his local Ducks Unlimited Chapter. Bill, his wife Libby, and their three children reside in Kenilworth, Illinois. The Graham family has a Teton Valley home protected by a Land Trust easement.
John Nedrow
Past President
Ashton, ID
John is a lifelong resident of Fremont County, Idaho where he farms land his parents started buying in the late 1930s. He and his wife, Sheila, live on the bank of the Henry’s Fork, west of Ashton, and are proud to have protected most of their land under a conservation easement with the Land Trust. He has a B.S. in Agribusiness from the University of Idaho. John served for six years on the Fremont County Planning and Zoning Commission. He and his family wish to keep enjoying the outdoors, the wildlife, scenery, and recreational opportunities the area has to offer.
Mike Allen
Swan Valley, ID
Mike is a primary shareholder and manager of a farm on the Pine Creek Bench that has been family owned for over 90 years. He is an attorney and practices law primarily in eastern Idaho and western Wyoming. He is currently serving as a council member for the town of Swan Valley. He and his wife have four children. His family enjoys hiking and skiing together as much as they can.
William “Brad” Bradley
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.
Ned Corkran
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. I was drawn to Teton Valley in the 1990s primarily to climb and ski in the Tetons and have come to value the ecosystem, the wildlife, and the rural community over my time here. I have worked on numerous wildlife studies in the Greater Yellowstone and passionately recognize the uniqueness of this area we call home. I believe 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. My 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. I spend much of my recreational time in the mountains, parks and open spaces of the area, skiing, hiking, camping, and floating the rivers.
Sandy Schultz Hessler
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.
Wes Keller
Salt Lake City, UT
I was born and raised in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Chicago Medical School in 1966. I discovered the West while doing a fellowship in Gastroenterology at the U of Utah. That 2 year commitment has turned into 50 years. A friend introduced me to fly fishing the Teton River in beautiful Teton Valley and our family was hooked. My wife, Jean, 4 children, and now our 6 grandchildren, have been coming here for 40 years.
I am honored to serve with such a dedicated group at the Teton Regional Land Trust -all working to preserve this land for future generations.
Bob Lugar
Finance Committee Chair
Rigby, ID
Bob holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and a Master’s in Environmental Pollution Control. He moved to Idaho twenty-six years ago to advance his career as an environmental scientist and to enjoy the variety of outdoor recreation the region offers. Bob notes, “The land protection efforts by the Land Trust with willing landowners is tremendously important if we want future generations to enjoy the same view scape, wildlife, and natural beauty that is so much of our quality of life we enjoy here today.” Bob, his wife, and their two children live outside of Rigby, ID. He transitioned from environmental consulting to wealth management consulting and he is presently a financial advisor for a major Wall Street firm.
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.
Bruce J. Mincher
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.
Laura Pickard
Ashton, ID
Laura is the fourth generation to return and run the family’s farm. Before returning to the farm she received and a B.S. in Agricultural Economics. She also worked for a short time for Senator Larry Craig until an opportunity came to return to the University of Idaho and earn an M.S. in Agricultural Economics. She serves on the Yellowstone Canal Board of Directors and is also a regional grant panelist for the Idaho Community Foundation. She loves spending time and working with her family. When they do take time off they love to travel, surf, go snow machining, hiking, camping, and going to movies.
Timothy D. Reynolds
Development Committee Chair
Rigby, ID
Tim grew up in the Midwest and, after serving as a combat corpsman with the Marine ground forces in Vietnam, earned a BS and MS in Biology from Illinois State University and a PhD in Vertebrate Zoology (ecology emphasis) at Idaho State University. During his career, he was a visiting professor at Boise State University, a Radioecologist for the US Department of Energy, a Research Ecologist for the Environmental Science and Research Foundation, and the principle of TREC, Inc., an environmental consulting firm. He retired from the Teton Regional Land Trust in 2012. He has been involved with conservation organizations and environmental issues throughout his adult life. He enjoys birding, fly-fishing, camping, old-time music, cross-country skiing and other non-motorized recreation. He lives with his wife, Patty, in Rigby, Idaho.
Karen Rice
Conservation Committee Chair
Idaho Falls, ID
Karen brings decades of conservation experience to the board, having recently retired from the Bureau of Land Management. She notes the highlight of her career involved working with land trusts to conserve key private properties that intermingle with public lands. Since 1996, she worked with the BLM’s Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Teton Regional Land Trust, The Conservation Fund and The Nature Conservancy to form an award winning partnership that has conserved 90 private properties valued at approximately $65 million along the upper Snake Rivers’ corridors and at Henry’s Lake. Her extensive experience as a wildlife biologist and program manager brings a wealth of knowledge to the position. She is enjoying some traveling, hunting, skiing, and free time.
Sue Talbot
Swan Valley, ID
Sue is a native of Idaho. She grew up in Idaho Falls and now lives and works in Swan Valley, Idaho as a fly fishing guide for South Fork Lodge and Outfitters. Her first job as a river guide was on the Salmon in Northwest Idaho over 20 years ago. After a couple of seasons running whitewater, Sue was offered a job guiding fly fishing trips on the South Fork of the Snake. She enjoys participating in the Jackson Hole One Fly and has won “2006 Idaho Top Guide”, the largest fish in 2004, and in 2014 awarded the Carmichael/Cohen Guide Award, which recognizes integrity and outstanding achievements in the fly fishing industry. Sue is also a US Coast Guard Captain and spent many seasons guiding saltwater fly fishing trips in the Florida Keys and Louisiana Delta. In the winter Sue can be found working for “Targhee Powder Cat Adventures” driving a cat full of skiers & boarders to the top of Peaked Mountain.
