Board of Directors
ALAN YOUNG, Picton, Ontario – Board Chair
Alan has worked as a facilitator, planner, analyst and activist with a wide range conservation groups, Aboriginal organizations, companies and governments across Canada. His focus has been on sustainability strategies for the extractive sector which has involved projects throughout North America, Latin America and Europe.
In 2002, Alan formed the Materials Efficiency Research Group, in order to be able to focus on his interest and experience in bringing different sectors together to build joint solutions to social and environmental issues in the extractive industries. Since starting MERG, he has worked with a range of NGOs, Aboriginal communities, governments and companies.
In addition to serving as Chair of the Centre for Science in Public Participation, he is leading the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance’s Verification Working Group, is a member of the Mining Association of Canada’s Community of Interest Panel and is a member of NRCan’s National Mine Performance Review Committee. He is the past chair of the Forest Stewardship Council of Canada.
ANNA CEDERSTAV, Oakland, California
Anna Cederstav is with the Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente (AIDA, the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense), a legal advocacy group that works via collaborative efforts in many nations to promote the ability of citizens to protect their health and environment through development and enforcement of environmental law. She is based with the International Program of Earthjustice in the United States, and works closely with non-profit environmental law groups in Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico and Canada. AIDA’s projects focus on addressing environmental problems that are international in cause or effect. Anna holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. from Yale University. She has a varied background in environmental policy, chemistry, and engineering.
ANN MAEST, Teluride, Colorado - Board Vice-Chair
Ann Maest is an aqueous geochemist with Buka Environmental in Boulder, Colorado, USA and Chief Scientist for E-Tech International. She has over 25 years of research and professional experience and specializes in the environmental effects of hardrock mining, baseline water quality, and geochemical testing methods. She has evaluated more than 150 Environmental Impact Statements for large-scale mines in the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Africa and provides training to government agencies and communities on EIS evaluation, the environmental effects of mining, and best practices. After completing her PhD, Dr. Maest was a research geochemist in the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Research Program, where she conducted research on the geochemistry of surface water and groundwater systems. She has served on several National Academy of Sciences committees and a Board related to earth resources and was an invited speaker on technical challenges and solutions for the mining sector at the United Nations. Ann holds a PhD in geochemistry and water resources from Princeton University.
CAMERON WOBUS, Boulder, Colorado
Dr. Wobus is a broadly trained Earth scientist with specific expertise in geomorphology, surface and groundwater hydrology, and numerical modeling and data analysis. For approximately 15 years, he has supported Federal, State and nongovernmental clients on topics including climate change impact analyses, environmental impacts of hard rock mining, and environmental litigation and natural resource damage assessment (NRDA). Prior to his career in consulting, Dr. Wobus was a research scientist at the University of Colorado, where he led a field-based, multi-investigator study of climate change and coastal erosion on the North Slope of Alaska. Dr. Wobus regularly presents his work at national and international meetings. His more than 30 peer-reviewed publications have appeared in journals including Nature, Geophysical Research Letters, Global Environmental Change, Climatic Change, Earth’s Future, Geology, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, and the Journal of Geophysical Research. Cam has a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Earth Sciences (Geomorphology), an MS, Dartmouth College, Earth Sciences (Hydrogeology), and a BA, Bowdoin College, Economics and Geology, summa cum laude.
DAVID CHAMBERS, Bozeman, Montana
David Chambers is the president and founder of the Center for Science in Public Participation.
Dr. Chambers has 40 years of experience in mineral exploration and development – 15 years of technical and management experience in the mineral exploration industry, and for the past 25 years he has served as an advisor on the environmental effects of mining projects both nationally and internationally. He has Professional Engineering Degree in Physics from the Colorado School of Mines, a Master of Science Degree in Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and is a registered professional geophysicist in California (# GP 972). Dr. Chambers received his Ph.D. in Environmental Planning at Berkeley. His recent research focuses on tailings dam failures, and the intersection of science and technology with public policy and natural resource management.
DAVID SECORD, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia
Dave Secord is descended from Alaskans, trained as a marine invertebrate ecologist, and has evolved into strategic philanthropy for conservation and communities. He has a PhD in Zoology from University of Washington and a BA in Ecology and Evolution from Pomona College, and retains appointments at Simon Fraser University and the University of Washington. Before entering philanthropy, he was a professor and academic leader for 12 years, where he guided various research and educational initiatives and partnerships, and co-founded and directed two award-winning environmental programs at the University of Washington.
He has been a Fellow of the International Canadian Studies Institute and the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, and completed the Rockwood Advanced Art of Leadership for Philanthropic Leaders. He has long been active in funder affinity groups in land and marine conservation and Indigenous philanthropy, including co-founding and chairing the Arctic Funders Collaborative, and serving on the board of the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers’ Network.
SARAH KLIEGMAN, Tonasket, Washington
Sarah holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. from Reed College. Sarah grew up with the successful struggle to stop Washington State’s first open-pit cyanide-leach, gold mine. That work inspired her study of environmental chemistry and interest in the fate and transport of pollutants in the environment. Sarah is co-Executive Director of the Okanogan Highlands Alliance (OHA), a public interest conservation organization that advocates for the protection of the Okanogan Highlands of north-central Washington State from large-scale mining.
JILL WEITZ, Juneau, Alaska
Jill Weitz serves within the Office of the President for the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Tlingit & Haida). Jill grew up in Minnesota before moving to Juneau, Alaska in 2007. Jill earned her graduate degree in natural resources law and policy from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2010, and promptly returned to Juneau to serve as a Compliance and Enforcement Officer with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation – where she was first introduced to large-scale mining. Since 2013, Jill has been working alongside tribes, local communities, fishermen, and business owners to defend and sustain Southeast Alaska’s largest salmon producing rivers and the livelihoods dependent upon them—formerly as the Director of SalmonState’s Salmon Beyond Borders campaign.
When she’s not working, Jill can be found exploring the offerings of The Tongass National Forest in Lingít Aaní.