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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.
Marie Uehling (Chairperson, Membership / Development Committee) 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.
Austin Kane (Chairperson, Land Use Committee)is a Policy Specialist for NWF. Her work primarily focuses on safeguarding wildlife from climate change. Currently, she is working with affiliates, fish and wildlife agencies, and other partners in Virginia and North Carolina, and throughout the region, to integrate climate change into their states’ Wildlife Action Plans. She head’s her office’s efforts to engage in regional clean energy issues, such as offshore wind energy development. Prior to joining the National Wildlife Federation, Austin was a Science and Policy Analyst with the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), where she worked as a part of ELI’s State Biodiversity and Wetlands Programs, focusing on implementation of state wildlife action plans, invasive species and climate change issues, and wetlands protection. She has also worked as an Assistant Planner for the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources, where she helped develop and write Hawaii’s Wildlife Action Plan. Austin received a master’s degree in Environmental Management from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, and a B.A. in Biology from the University of Virginia.
Katie Conaway (Treasurer) has lived in Loudoun County for over sevenyears and in Virginia for over 17. 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.
Mike Alter is a Principal Hydrogeologist based in Clear Creek Associates' Leesburg, Virginia office. Mike's previous professional experience includes starting and managing Clear Creek's Tucson office and managing the Geoscience Division of Dames & Moore's Tucson office. His specialties include well design and acquifer testing, hydrogeologic studies, site characterization, and groundwater flow and transport modeling. He has represented both private and public sectors clients on water resources and environmental projects.
Peter Weeks lives on the Blue Ridge near the village of Bluemont. From his vantage point looking across the valley to the Bull Run Mountains, he understands the need to protect this precious resource of open land while there is still the opportunity to do so. Peter is a member of numerous conservation groups, both internationally and locally. Planting trees is his practical expression of love of nature: besides planting hundreds of trees on his mountainside property, he is chairman of the Tree & Beautification Committee for the village of Bluemont.
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