♦ James C. Abbot Jr., Atlanta (2005)

Jim, a professor of classical history and languages, was born and raised in Louisville, where he spent many a summer afternoon swimming in the Ogeechee. He was one of the founding directors of Friends of the Ogeechee and served on the OCRK Executive Committee before being elected chairman in 2007. Jim has graduate degrees in classics and in education. For the last ten years he has taught ancient history and Latin at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, where he was formerly an assistant dean of the College and the director of foundation and corporate relations. In addition to his work for OCRK, Jim is a longtime volunteer for Trees Atlanta and past chairman of the Atlanta Boy Choir. Jim and his family live in the historic Inman Park neighborhood of Atlanta.

♦ Thomas Black, Louisville (2005)

Thomas is one of the several original founders of Friends of the Ogeechee River, then Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper, and then Ogeechee Riverkeeper. His family has extensive property (Old Town Plantation) along the Ogeechee in Jefferson County

♦ Simone Charles, Ph.D., Statesboro (2011)

Simone is an assistant professor of environmental health sciences in the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health at Georgia Southern University. She is a native of Trinidad and Tobago. She has a B.S. in Chemistry from University of West Indies (St. Augustine), M.S. in Environmental Science from University of Maryland, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Chemistry (Crop and Soil Science – Environmental Toxicology) from Michigan State University. Her research interests include exposure assessment and the human health impacts of exposure to air and soil contaminants, environmental fate and transport studies, and environmental impact assessments. She is passionate about community health and empowerment, environmental justice issues, and the use of community-based participatory research methodologies in environmental health research. Simone holds memberships in several professional organizations. She enjoys visiting family and friends, volunteering in her community, the performing and visual arts, hiking, sewing, dancing, and a good cup of coffee and good conversation.

♦ Gerald D. Cowart, Savannah (2008)

Gerry, an architect, is senior partner of the Cowart Coleman Group. His firm specializes in historic preservation, environmental stewardship, and appropriate urban design, for which it has won numerous awards, including twelve American Institute of Architects (AIA) Excellence Awards and two AIA Georgia Sustainable Design Awards. Gerry, who earned a graduate degree in architecture at Georgia Tech, is the author of numerous publications and is LEED certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. For the AIA, he has served on numerous committees and in leadership roles, twice presiding over its Savannah chapter. Gerry has also been a member of the Historic Savannah Foundation Board of Trustees for over twenty years. When he is not designing award-winning buildings, Gerry enjoys reading Southern history and studying coastal environmental science.

 ♦ Mike English, Savannah (2011)

 A native of Swainsboro, Mike is a graduate of Georgia Southern and has worked in banking for the past 15 years. Mike joined Queensborough in 2007 and heads up their Savannah office. Active in diverse community activities, Mike is involved in the leadership of the Marine Corps League, Citizens Advocacy and the local Green Building Council. Mike lives in Savannah with his wife Ashley and two daughters Haley and Kinsey. His family maintains a 200 acre recreational farm on the Rocky Comfort Creek in Jefferson County which they visit frequently.

 ♦ Willard Fell, Statesboro (2007)

Will is a retired forester.

♦ Tim Goodson, Wadley (2005)

♦ Ann Hartzell, Savannah (2009)

A native of Colorado, Ann has lived in Savannah, GA since 1999. She is passionate about the rivers, coast and marsh of her adopted state.

♦ Larry M. Hodges, Louisville (2005)

Larry, a forester, co-founded both Citizens against Sludge Pollution and its successor organization, Friends of the Ogeechee, where he served as secretary. A certified forester and registered appraiser, Larry is employed by Queensborough National Bank & Trust Company as its trust forester. He also serves as supervisor in the Brier Creek Soil & Water Conservation District and is an active member of the Louisville United Methodist Church, for which he chairs two committees. When Larry is not indulging his enthusiasms for his grandchildren, falconry, and early rock and roll, he can be found advising Riverkeeper Chandra Brown on forestry issues or coordinating the annual Rivers Alive clean-up of the Ogeechee River in Jefferson County.

♦ Emelyn Hunter, Sylvania (2011)

Emelyn has practiced accounting in Sylvania since 1985. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from UGA in 1982. Her husband is Hugh Hunter, a Sylvania lawyer. They have two grown children, Natalie and Matthew. Emelyn enjoys kayaking in local waterways in her spare time.

♦ Charles Lewis, Louisville (2011)

 After graduation from the Naval Academy in 1970, Charles completed Navy Dive School in Key West, Fl.; he then entered Navy Pilot training and earned his wings of gold in February of 1972. He has accumulated over 4800 flight hours in 29 different aircraft types and has logged 587 arrested landings on six aircraft carriers. In 1992, Charles earned a Masters Degree in Management from Troy State University. Charles retired as Director of the Navy’s prestigious Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola in July 1993. He taught for five years at Fairhope High School in Alabama; then for eleven years as the Senior Naval Science Instructor at Jefferson County High School’s Navy Junior ROTC, retiring from teaching in 2009. He was married 33 years to Jere Elaine Wasden of Wadley, Ga.; they have been triply blessed with three children: Jonathan Samuel (36), Joy Meadows (31), and Matthew William (26). Jere passed away of cancer in July of 2003. Charles married Susanne Smith, his childhood sweetheart, in December 2004. Spare time in retirement is filled with community theater, church and community service, as well as travel, golf, sailing, windsurfing, flying his powered parachute, kayaking and orienteering.

♦ James H. Newsome, Warrenton (2005)

James, a businessman, was born and still lives in Warren County, where he grew up fishing and swimming on the Ogeechee River at Mayfield and Jewell. As sales manager with The Carpet Shop in Augusta, he is actively involved in the floor covering industry: he is a founding member, director, and first president of the CSRA Floor Covering Association, as well as a member of the National Insurance Accounts Advisory Board for Carpet Coop of America Global Partners. James is a generous volunteer of his time and talents. Before Friends of the Ogeechee merged with Canoochee Riverkeeper to form OCRK, James served as vice chairman of that organization, and for OCRK, he chairs the important Legal and Advocacy Committee. In addition, he is vice chairman of the Warren County Board of Education and a member of the First Baptist Church of Warrenton. James and his wife Susan have three daughters, and whenever he has the opportunity, he enjoys coastal sailing, snow skiing, and canoeing.

♦ Keith Seibert, MD, Richmond Hill (2011)

Recreational Background: Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, avid kayaker and sailor in coastal waters. Family: born in Turkey to a U.S. military family, traveled extensively, now married to Heather Hugener Seibert, two pugs, 1 child on the way. Professional Background: Medicine: Practicing physician, specializing in pediatrics, Chairman of Pediatric Department at SouthCoast Medical Group Financial Services: affiliated with Harbor Light Securities as FINRA-registered advisor, consultant to First Healthcare Payment Systems. Education: B.S. Biology, summa cum laude, University of Georgia, 1995 M.D. magna cum laude, Emory University School of Medicine. Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society Pediatric Residency, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia M.B.A., Auburn University, 2010, Beta Gamma Sigma Business Honor Society.

♦ Donald D. J. Stack, Savannah (2005)

Don, an attorney, is the founder of Stack & Associates, P.C., an environmental compliance law firm with offices in Savannah and Atlanta. His firm focuses on plaintiffs' work, representing individuals, citizens' organizations, neighborhood associations, and businesses as they strive to protect and preserve the beauty and natural resources of the Southeast as well as their own individual properties. Don was the attorney in the case that led to the creation of Canoochee Riverkeeper, for which he then served as president and chairman of the board. Before establishing Stack & Associates, Don took an undergraduate degree and did postgraduate work in biology, followed by employment as a park ranger, environmental education coordinator, and naturalist for the U.S. Department of the Interior. After graduation from law school in 1986, he became an expert in environmental law issues during work for private law firms and also as an assistant regional counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Don has served as legal counsel for many citizens' groups, and his firm provides legal counsel to several environmental advocacy organizations. In addition to being immediate past chairman of OCRK, Don is a past president of the Georgia River Network. He was the Georgia Environmental Council’s Outstanding Environmental Professional of the Year in 2003, and three years later, he received the Ogden Doremus Award for Excellence in Environmental Law. Don is married to Ann Marie Ernst Stack, herself a noted environmental lawyer, and they are parents to five children.

♦ John Thrift, Metter (2009)

John is the Forest Technology instructor at Southeastern Technical College. He received a B.S in Biology from Furman University while on a football scholarship. After working several years in environmental science and with endangered species, including the eastern indigo snake, he returned to school and earned a M.S. in Forest Resources from Clemson University. He is a native of Hartwell, GA and now lives on the family farm near Metter, making him the 6th generation to live on the same farm. Their property adjoins the Canoochee River, where he spends the fall and winter hunting and trapping. During the warmer months he enjoys growing a vegetable garden, planting food plots, and farming. He is a member of the Society of American Foresters, The Wildlife Society, the Gopher Tortoise Council, Ohoopee Dunes Management Team, and volunteers with the GA DNR Nongame Section assisting in ecological prescribed burns. He is also an Associate Wildlife Biologist through the Wildlife Society.