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Al Van Huyck (President) and his wife, Betty, live in an 1816 historic home on a farm at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Al served as a member of the Loudoun County Planning Commission from 1996 to 2003 and was chairman when the Revised General Plan was prepared. During his tenure he was active in preparing the Mountainside Overlay District and the River and Stream Corridor Overlay District which are critical elements in preserving the mountains from over development.
Carole Napolitano (Vice President), a leadership consultant and executive coach, first became interested in preservation and environmental concerns when, as a high school teacher in Omaha, Nebraska, she organized students in a celebration of the first Earth Day in 1970. Carole and her family moved to an historic home in Round Hill in the foothills of the Blue Ridge in 1977 when the western part of the county was still largely pastoral. For Carole and her family the Blue Ridge has served as a stunning backdrop and a recreational resource . . . for hiking, rock-climbing, and glorious sunsets on the Bears Den overlook. A favorite memory for Carole and her husband, Stephen, is having stayed up till the wee hours any number of times waiting in high anticipation for a forecasted snowfall to make its way over the mountain from the west. Carole and Stephen have three adult children and four grand-children.
Suellen Beverly (Secretary) has a special love for the Blue Ridge Mountains since her birthplace was in the Virginian Appalachians which her ancestors entered with Daniel Boone. She now lives in a Loudoun County village at the foot of the Virginia Blue Ridge and is an enthusiastic gardener with a special love for the flora of the region.
Katie Conaway (Treasurer) has lived in Loudoun County for over five years and in Virginia for over 15. Her career in hospitality led her out west for a decade, however, she was drawn back to the shorter, and much greener, mountains of the east. She arrived back with a multitude of animals and a Masters Degree in Accounting.
Tom Pratt (Chairperson, Celebrations Committee) has been a horseman most of his life. He began training show horses in California and eventually made his way to the racetrack where he became the youngest trainer (at 21) licensed in California at the time. After training racehorses for 25 years he left training to manage and buy and sell horses for clients. In the early eighties he moved from California to New York and then eventually to Virginia to fox hunt and ride in the beautiful wide open country no longer available in Southern California. A long time activist, he has turned his attention to help keep the amazing Virginia countryside just that, amazing.
Jane Pratt Shilling (Chairperson, Land Use Committee) has worked in mountains all over the world and makes her home on a farm at the foot of the Blue Ridge. She previously headed The Mountain Institute, a non-profit working to promote mountain conservation and mountain cultures around the world, and helped create the electronic network, Mountain Forum, dedicated to sharing information among people and organizations focused on mountains. She served as Chief of Environmental Operations at the World Bank, and was lead author for the UN Global Millennium Biodiversity chapter on mountains. Jane received her doctorate from MIT, is married to Jed Shilling, and has two grown daughters and a grand-daughter.
Vern Conaway is an enthusiastic hiker and lover of the outdoors who realized his life long dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail in 1996. Prior to that Vern spent 20 years as an Air Force pilot and traveled extensively with his wife during her career with the State Department. In 2003 Vern and his family moved to Purcellville to be closer to the mountains. As a result of his adventure on the AT, Vern wanted to give something back to the hiking community for their wonderful work in building and maintaining the Trail. He became active in the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) and until recently served as the Vice-President for Volunteerism. Currently he is the overseer for the Bears Den Trail Center which is owned by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and managed by PATC.
Bob McKew is an attorney, outdoorsman, and long-time advocate of land conservation and preservation. A resident of Loudoun County since 1990, Bob represented Scenic Loudoun Legal Defense as pro bono counsel before the Virginia State Corporation Commission in one of the most contentious and lengthy (2004-2007) high-voltage powerline routing proceedings in Virginia history. An outspoken advocate of underground construction of powerlines, Bob was appointed to the Underground Transmission Lines Advisory Committee of The Virginia Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS) chaired by Virginia Delegate Joe T. May. Bob graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and received his law degree from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and an MBA from Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. Bob lives with his family in the Mount Gilead area of Loudoun County.
Marie Uehling was raised in Ohio and received her Botany Degree from Miami University after which she moved to the Washington D.C. area to do botanical research for the Smithsonian Institution including work on projects throughout Latin America. She subsequently joined The Nature Conservancy where she supported program work by organizing fundraising events and nature trips. She has served on the Board of the Ecotourism Society and the Educational Travel Conference. Marie is currently doing fundraising work for National Wildlife Federation and continues to thrive on the beauty of her adopted Blue Ridge Mountains. She and her son Alex live in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and enjoy hiking the Blue Ridge.
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