The NBNC Team

Richard Campbell (he/him) is a parent of a North Branch Nature Center Forest Preschooler and a Montpelier resident. He has a Master of Forestry degree from Yale University, and has worked in forests across New England and California. Born in Northern Ireland and raised in Vermont, Richard brings to the board a love of the Green Mountains and their forests, a career dedicated to land conservation and climate solutions, and a background in forest management and education.

Emily Wetherell (she/her) moved to Vermont in 2001 and lives in Montpelier with her husband and two children. Emily enjoys outdoor activities such as Nordic skiing, running, hiking, and biking. She has served as an ECO and Four Winds volunteer in her children’s classrooms. She and her family have participated in multiple NBNC programs and activities. In her professional life, Emily is an attorney and serves as the Deputy Clerk of the Vermont Supreme Court. Emily joined the NBNC Board in 2016 and served as Secretary of the Board from 2017 until 2020 when she became Board President.

Georgia Valentine (she/her) was first introduced to NBNC in 1998 on a visit to Vermont, where her children and grandchildren lived. On one memorable walk, an NBNC Teacher Naturalist plunged into a pond and pulled out a ferocious snapping turtle, much to the delight of her 4-year old grandson. These sorts of experiences at NBNC and remembering her own childhood rich in outdoor explorations helped Georgia see the value of first-hand nature education for children. When she moved to Vermont in 2003, she joined an early iteration of the Board of Directors, focusing on fundraising and public relations. She’s been on the Board ever since, and has been Treasurer for five years, putting to use her 22-year career in estate and trust accounting and her subsequent 15-years of experience preparing individual tax returns - families and finances! She’s a firm believer in full engagement with NBNC, from Board service, to consistent financial support, to participating in walks and classes and committees, with a full commitment to the nature center’s mission and people.

Ela Chapin (she/they) is a state representative, representing East Montpelier and Middlesex in Vermont’s House of Representatives. Her professional background includes a decade working in outdoor education and leadership development, and 15 years supporting entrepreneurs and expanding local and regional food systems as Director of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board’s Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program from 2006-2021. Ela is founder of the National Farm Viability Conference, and co-founder of the Agricultural Viability Alliance. She holds a master’s degree in policy and planning from Tufts University, a bachelor’s in environmental science from Brown University, and a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Marlboro College. In the Statehouse, Ela serves on the House Committee on Environment, and co-chairs Vermont’s Legislative Women’s Caucus. She is a current member of the Northern Forest Center's review committee for workforce housing projects, and has served on a variety of other boards, including Community Capital of Vermont, the Agricultural Viability Alliance, the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Initiative, Vermont Farm to Plate, and the Vermont Compost Association. She is an avid dancer, gardener and hiker, and enjoys spending time with her husband and two children in the mountains and lakes of Vermont.

Catherine Coteus has been working on environmental conservation and climate change for nearly 20 years. Raised in the Connecticut River valley, Catherine has a strong land ethic and sense of place that drives her commitment to climate change and sustainability. As a sustainability consultant, she has advised some of the world's largest companies on mitigating climate change and reducing their carbon emissions. Catherine holds a law degree from Northeastern, a Master's in Environmental Policy from Vermont Law School and a BA in Environmental Science from Hampshire College. She is also a mother of two and an avid hiker and explorer of Vermont. She has been hiking the North Branch Nature Center trails since 2011 and enjoys attending programs and events at NBNC with her family.

Curt is a relatively new resident of Vermont. He lives in Waitsfield with his wife Claire in a new passive certified house built by his son. His interest in nature stems from time outdoors and his doctoral study of complex systems. Since moving to the state, he’s devoted himself to learning about unique features of nature in Vermont, connecting with naturalists and leaders of conservation organizations and exploring the land. As a result of an amazingly rich learning experience in the Vermont Master Naturalist Program offered by NBNC, he helped bring VMN to the Mad River Valley. His other nature-related priority are facilitating the creation of the Vermont Biodiversity Alliance and chairing the Waitsfield Conservation Commission, where he’s helping coordinate a Mad River Valley invasive species management and floodplain restoration initiative.

Bob Klein (he/him) holds an undergraduate degree from Brandeis University and Masters degree in environmental management from Duke University. He has worked for the Martha’s Vineyard Conservation Society, the Maine State Planning Office, the Vermont Natural Resources Council, Goddard College, the University of Vermont, and The Nature Conservancy.  Bob opened The Nature Conservancy’s Vermont Field Office in Montpelier in 1979, and was State Director there for 34 years before retiring.  Bob lives in East Montpelier.

Rick Paradis (he/him) is Director Emeritus of the University of Vermont’s Natural Areas Center and Faculty Emeritus in the University’s Environmental Program, positions he held for 33 years. Both his faculty and administrative roles are intimately tied to land conservation and stewardship. As Director of the Natural Areas Center, Rick supervised the administration and management of the University's Natural Areas System and provided outreach services and professional development for those interested in the protection and management of natural areas and other conservation lands. His faculty appointment allowed him to pursue a research agenda that focused on the ecologies and conservation of mountain and desert landscapes throughout North America from the Canadian Arctic to the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico. Rick resides in Middlesex with his wife Susan, a retired preschool teacher who unflaggingly tries to keep him from using his outdoor voice indoors.

Opeyemi Parham, MD ("Dr. O") is a retired family physician, writer, teacher, healing artist, interfaith minister, and community activist. She specializes in women’s reproductive health and healing through nature. After 22 years as an allopathic family doctor, she is now an elder, a woman in tune with conscious healing, learning to thrive in the last phase of her life. Lately, she has focused her healing talents on areas minimized by conventional medicine: our sensual experiences, our sexuality, our spirituality, and our relationships to suicide. As part of this "rogue" era of her life, Opeyemi served as NBNC's second Visiting Teacher-Naturalist, focused on the intersection between nature and healing. She also donated the yurt, known as Dot's Place, that now lives at NBNC.

Josh (he/him) is the parent of a North Branch Nature Center Forest Preschooler, and an alumnus of NBNC programs himself, dating back to their earliest iterations in 1996. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Science Education from the University of Vermont, and was a program participant at the College of the Atlantic and Green Mountain College. Josh is the North American Manager of Sales and Marketing for Mavic. He leverages a unique blend of sportsmanship and leadership, bringing a strategic acumen and entrepreneurial spirit to the Board that is built in a respect for nature, community, and education. Josh is a passionate cyclist, year round outdoor enthusiast, and naturalist.

Janet (Jan) Heyman Thouron (she/her) has studied ecology, marine biology, and specifically marine mammals at several academic institutions over the years. She studied the marine life of mangroves and bottlenose dolphin behavior at the New York Museum of Natural History’s marine research laboratory and studied humpback whales songs in Hawaii through grants from National Geographic and World Wildlife Fund with Drs. Roger and Katy Payne. Jan has been a Vet Tech, on ski patrol, a ski instructor, acted in local theater productions, and founded Splash Naturals in Montpelier. She is the chair of the discussion interview committee at the Thouron Award, a scholarship for postgraduate educational exchange between Britain and the US, is a recent graduate of an MA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts on Writing Books for Children, and writes environmentally based picture books. Jan has been on the board of North Branch since 2013, has three wonderful children, and lives with her charming husband on their beautiful land at the base of Mount Hunger in North Middlesex tending extensive gardens, fields and forest, bike and ski trails and a multitude of critters.

Carol Vassar (she/her) practiced internal medicine in Montpelier for 35 years, retiring in 2016. She and her family have enjoyed jogging, hiking, canoeing, biking, Nordic skating and cross country skiing, often in the North Branch Park and on the NBNC land across the river. She has appreciated the evening lectures at NBNC and its exhibits of nature-oriented paintings, drawings and other artwork. An NBNC birding trip to Costa Rica introduced her to serious birding and, more importantly, to Chip Darmstadt, the NBNC founder, recently retired executive director, and current Bird Ambasador, who led the trip.  She believes that NBNC's land and programs increase our appreciation of and willingness to protect the natural world and that our future depends on that commitment. As a member of the NBNC board of directors, she is able to help accomplish that mission.