USA Team
TOM ROWLEY is the Executive Director, former Chair and founding board member of A Rocha USA. He is a LEED Accredited Professional. Previously, he served as Fellow at the Rural Policy Research Institute, Project Manager at TVA Rural Studies Program of the University of Kentucky, Editor of Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, and Analyst at USDA's Economic Research Service. He also worked with the National Rural Development Partnership, National Commission on Agriculture and Rural Development Policy, President's Council on Sustainable Development, and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
ASHLEE GRISHABER is the Creation Care Camp Coordinator for San Luis Obispo, California and the Director of Communications for A Rocha USA. After volunteering with A Rocha for two years in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, California, in September 2010 Ashlee joined the A Rocha USA staff.
DAVE TIMMER is the Stewardship Director in Northwest WA. After several years of volunteer projects, in late 2010 Dave began a full-time effort in NW Washington. Projects are watershed based - working with community members, landowners, and churches on 1) native plantings, water quality issues, and species monitoring on local streams 2) organizing community and food bank gardens throughout the city and 3) conservation projects (ex. a kestrel box study in agricultural areas where starlings are a major pest).
Board of Directors
ROBIN BRADY, Treasurer, is Finance Director for the entertainment group of the National Geographic Society. Her education includes a Bachelor's in Industrial Engineering from the University of Florida and an MBA in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
ROBERT CAMPBELL pastors a faithful and healthy church serving the people and place of Santa Margarita, California. He has earned degrees from Biola University, The Master's Seminary and a Doctorate of Ministry from Trinity Western University.
CARSON DICKIE is President of Ignite, an educational nonprofit, and President of Dickie Energy Investments. He has a Bachelor's of Business Administration from the University of Texas.
SARITA HOYT works in the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water handling policy and communication issues. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College and holds a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
DAVID JONES is Principal of Strive LLC, a non-profit advisory. He has served as a District Representative and Legislative Assistant in Congress, Public Relations and Advertising Director at Met Life, President of two non-profits (John Stott Ministries and Scripture Union) and Founding President of both a philanthropic advisory and a non-profit consultancy.
MARK McREYNOLDS is the Director of the Environmental Science Program and an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department of Biola University. His knowledge concentrations and experience are in ornithology, conservation biology, environmental education, environmental theology and ethics. Mark and his wife have lived 5 years in the Dominican Republic and 4 years in Belize.
MARK PURCELL, Chairman, is Vice President of Production and Operations at Morse Best Innovation. He holds degrees from Grand Canyon College and Azusa Pacific University, and a Doctorate of Education from Seattle Pacific University.
MARK RUSSELL, Secretary, is co-founder of Russell Media. He has a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies from Asbury Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a Bachelor of Science in International Business from Auburn University.
KAREN STEENSMA is Co-Director of the Environmental Studies Program and Assistant Professor of Biology at Trinity Western University. Her areas of expertise are in marine biology and organic and sustainable agriculture. She and her husband are also dairy farmers in Washington State.
TOM ROWLEY, ex officio, non-voting
A Rocha International Trustees
PROF SIR GHILLEAN PRANCE, Chair, was for eleven years Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, until his retirement in 1999. He trained as a plant taxonomist and is an expert on the flora of the Amazon rain forests, having led annual expeditions there over a period of 25 years and collected more than 450 Amazonian plants new to science.
STEVE BECK is the Co-founder of SpringHill Equity Partners, LLC, a private equity fund manager that provides growth capital and managerial support to small and medium sized enterprises in Africa and India. From 2002-2007 he served as Executive Vice President and then Chief Executive Officer of Geneva Global.
SARAH FRENCH is an Associate Senior Lecturer and Consultant with the Centre for International Development and Training, University of Wolverhampton, UK. She is also on the Board of Earthmind, a Swiss NGO, and a member of two IUCN Commissions.
REBECCA IRVIN is director of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise and the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, two international philanthropic programmes of the Rolex watch company in Geneva. She joined Rolex in 1993 to head the Rolex Awards, a unique corporate programme that supports innovative people and projects in science, exploration, the environment, cultural heritage and technology.
PAUL JEANSON has been involved in international conservation for many years, as Director of France’s largest ornithological reserve, at Marquenterre, for 20 years, and in various projects in Africa, French Guyana, Vietnam and Thailand.
DR PAUL KARIYA is Executive Director of the Independent Power Producers Association of British Columbia, and continues as an adjunct faculty member at Trinity Western University. Prior to this, Paul was the Executive Director of Pacific Salmon Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the protection, conservation and recovery of Pacific salmon based in Vancouver BC.
IAN MARLOW runs a tax and accountancy business in South London, working with individuals and small businesses in the UK and further afield. He has an MBA in Small Business Administration and a Diploma in Theology.
GERRY RAWCLIFFE is a Managing Director in the Financial Institutions Group at Fitch Ratings in London. He trained as a Chartered Accountant after studying German literature at the universities of Warwick, Kiel and London.
STELLA SIMIYU works with Botanic Gardens Conservation International, seconded to the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to support the implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.
