Staff and Board of Directors

StreamWatch Staff

David Hannah, Executive Director

David Hannah was named the Executive Director of StreamWatch in March 2013. Prior to joining StreamWatch, he served for six years as the Conservation Director of Wild Virginia, where he focused on national forest issues. David received his M.S. degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Florida and has worked as a professional in the conservation and natural resource field since 1993. His conservation career has found him working as a General Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Delaware, a Natural Resource Manager for the North Carolina state park system, a Land Protection Specialist for The Nature Conservancy of Virginia, and a Conservation Officer for the Piedmont Environmental Council in Albemarle County, Virginia. David formerly served on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Society of Ornithology. He has also worked as a teacher, computer programmer, and in real estate and construction. Since 1998, David has lived in Charlottesville with his wife, Laurie.

Anne Dunckel, Monitoring Program Manager

Anne joined StreamWatch in the spring of 2014 as the Monitoring Program Manager. She received her M.S. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia in May of 2014 and her B.S. in Hydrogeology from University of Texas at Austin in 2009. She began volunteering with StreamWatch in January of 2014 after she read a PSA during her radio show on WTJU for volunteers needed for the bacteria monitoring program. Anne volunteers locally with Community Bikes, WTJU 91.1 FM, and the Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club. Anne enjoys reading by and swimming in the Rivanna at Darden Towe Park during the hot summer months.

John Murphy, Science Advisor

John received a B.A. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia in 2001, graduating Magna cum laude. He founded StreamWatch in 2002 and served as the Executive Director until 2011. He served as an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors for several years. He is currently the Science Advisor for StreamWatch, providing technical guidance, data and project analyses, and working with staff on all projects.

StreamWatch Board of Directors

Mike Foreman, Chair

Mike Foreman joined the StreamWatch Board of Directors in February of 2014. During his 28 year career with the Commonwealth, he has developed and implemented policy and program advances within the natural resource policy arena. Additionally, he has led administrative and field operations in two state agencies. He is currently serving as Director of the Office of Environmental Education (OEE) in the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The OEE staff has internal responsibilities with State Parks, Natural Heritage and Stormwater Division activities and staff across multiple agencies. He had been the DCR Deputy Division Director for the last 6 years and faculty/teaching with the Virginia Natural Resource Leadership Institute for the last 14 years. Prior to working at DCR, he was in a variety of positions with the Virginia Department of Forestry for 21 years. He has work experience in private business and in academia with employment with a Forest Products Company and the Agricultural Research Service out of North Carolina State University. Mike received his B.S. in Biology in 1978 from Albright College in Reading Pa. and his M.S. in Forestry from Duke University in 1980. Mike lives in Fluvanna County and has been married for 35 years with 3 grown children and 6 grandchildren.

Bill Kittrell, Vice Chair

Bill Kittrell is the Deputy State Director of Virginia for The Nature Conservancy, where he has worked for the past 24 years. His duties include oversight of the Conservancy’s 65 preserves across the Commonwealth, management of the land protection program, development of innovative conservation strategies, conservation planning, policy work, fundraising, and general management. Prior to assuming his current position, Bill was Director of Conservation for Virginia. Earlier, Bill served for nearly 12 years as director of the Conservancy’s Clinch Valley Program in southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee. Bill received degrees in biology and economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been on the board of StreamWatch since 2009 and currently serves as the Vice Chair, and is also the Vice Chair of the Albemarle County Service Authority. He is married with one daughter and enjoys fishing, hiking, paddling, gardening, woodworking, playing music (viola and violin) and with the encouragement of his daughter has taken up yet another hobby: horseback riding.

George W. Barlow, III, Secretary

George Barlow is an attorney in The Nature Conservancy’s Legal Department and handles legal matters in Virginia and West Virginia. His practice with the Conservancy includes conservation easements, land acquisition and divestiture, tax strategies for conservation transactions, government contracts and awards, and land use issues. After twelve years in private practice, George began work for the Conservancy in 2000 and is located in the Charlottesville office. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia School of Law. George is married to Audi, has three daughters, and has fished, birded and hunted in the Rivanna watershed all his life.

Martha Hodgkins

Martha Hodgkins is Communications Director at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, in Pocantico Hills, N.Y. Previously, she served as Director of Communications at the Forest Stewardship Council-US, and spent 17 years at The Nature Conservancy, where she held positions as an editor, communications manager and staff writer. She worked on consulting projects for The Wilderness Society, Island Conservation and World Wildlife Fund, and was on staff at the National Trust for Historic Preservation and National Academy of Sciences. She holds a B.A. in English from Sewanee, The University of the South. An avid boater, Martha likes to canoe with her family throughout Virginia and can be found floating a blue whitewater raft on the James and Maury as well as on many western rivers. She lives with her husband, Brian Richter, and son, Henry, when he’s home from college, in Crozet.

Jim Nix

A Charlottesville area resident since 1970, Jim joined StreamWatch Board of Directors in April 2014. He is a mechanical engineer who retired in 2007 after a long federal career in the Defense Department. An avid birder and nature enthusiast, he began working as a volunteer for The Nature Conservancy immediately after retirement and has also done some volunteer work for StreamWatch and the Rivanna River Basin Commission. He developed a deeper commitment to the health of the Rivanna River system during the recent extended debate on the Community Water Supply System. For more than a year he worked with representatives of local environmental organizations and other concerned community members to inform the public of the merits of the plan and convince local elected officials to approve it. Jim lives in Charlottesville with his wife and their three Maine Coon (indoor!) cats.

Cathy Link Sedwick

A native Virginian and life-long outdoor enthusiast, Cathy Link Sedwick, is a new (2014) member of the StreamWatch Board of Directors. Cathy has lived in the Charlottesville community since 1997 when she returned to Virginia after completing her graduate degree in not-for-profit management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Cathy’s professional background is in fund raising and not-for-profit management, planning and administration and she has worked with several conservation organizations serving Central Virginia communities. Cathy’s most avid interests include hiking, XC skiing, beekeeping and travelling with her husband, Ben.

Marilyn Smith

Victoria Young

Victoria Young grew up in Virginia and has lived in Charlottesville on and off since 2005; she received her Bachelor’s degree from UVA and returned in 2011 to teach at the Peabody School, where she currently teaches 4th/5th grade English and Environmental Science. Victoria’s background is in environmental education, having worked as an educator with Living Classrooms in Washington D.C. and helping to establish an environmentally-focused charter school in Richmond. In 2011, Victoria was certified as a Master Naturalist through Richmond’s Riverine Chapter, and in the spring of 2014, Victoria will earn her Master’s in Natural Resources through Virginia Tech’s Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability. She loves being outdoors and is pursuing her dream of visiting all of our country’s National Parks.