Executive Leadership

Martin Goebel, President

Forests & Wood Products

Ryan Temple, Program Director

Chad Davis, Program Associate

Ranches & Rangelands

James Honey, Program Director

Policy

Maia Enzer, Policy Director

Alden Boetsch, Policy Associate

Operations

Kelly Reardon, Finance Manager

Jed Mitchell, Development Manager

Renee Magyar, Administrative Assistant

John Harrington, Communications Manager

Staff Biographies

Martin Goebel is the founding President of Sustainable Northwest.  He has been responsible for initiating most of its community sustainability partnerships in Oregon, Idaho, Washington and California.  He spearheaded the early-stage design of Sustainable Northwest’s Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities Partnership and its sustainability finance initiatives and serves as the principal liaison with Sustainable Northwest’s board and donors.  Born and raised in Mexico in a tri-cultural environment, Martin received a Bachelor's Degree in Forestry at Oregon State University, and a Master's Degree at Texas A&M University in Natural Resources Conservation and Development. In his early career Martin worked for the National Park Service as a seasonal ranger at Crater Lake National Park.  He has also practiced community forestry with the forest service of Mexico.  His international conservation career began with The Nature Conservancy’s International Program as assistant director for science.  He later helped found and worked at Conservation International as its Mexico Program director, a position he also held subsequently at World Wildlife Fund.  As WWF’s Mexico Program director he founded the Mexico Nature Conservation Fund.  From 1996 through 2006 Martin served as a trustee of the Summit Foundation.  He has served on the Oregon Sustainability Board since its inception.  Currently Martin is a Trustee of the Compton Foundation, where he chairs its environment & sustainability and its nominating committees, and of the recently established American School Foundation - USA.  He also serves on the advisory councils of Oregon Solutions, San Diego Museum of Natural History Museum, and the Mexico Nature Conservation Fund (Mexico City).   Since 2006 Martin has served as an advisor to the Walton Family Foundation.  In all these organizations he endeavors to promote environmental and sustainable development values and practice, ecosystem-level conservation initiatives that build local capacity, foster responsible market and business practices, and foster healthy, long-term partnership between government agencies, non-profit organizations, research institutions, grassroots community groups, private enterprise, bi- and multi-lateral development agencies, and philanthropies.  Martin enjoys speaking publicly and frequently writes and publishes on the subjects of conservation and sustainable development in the Pacific Northwest and Latin America.  He is also an avid fly fisherman and enjoys sailing and travel.

Alden Boetsch is the Policy Program Associate at Sustainable Northwest where she works on public land management and rural economic development issues. Before joining Sustainable Northwest she researched and analyzed collaborative planning efforts on Western state trust lands with the Sonoran Institute. Alden's previous experience also includes working as a coordinator of the Bureau of Land Management's citizen-based Resource Advisory Councils, and on legislative and public affairs issues for the agency in Washington, D.C. In addition, she has worked on public relations campaigns at Fenton Communications in Washington, D.C. Alden holds a Master's Degree in Natural Resource Policy from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment and a Bachelor's Degree in Geology from Carleton College.

Chad Davis is engaged in supporting HFHC Members, administering financial and technical assistance provided to partners through various grant programs, and is the Group Coordinator for HFHC's Forest Stewardship Council Group Chain of Custody certification.   Before coming to Sustainable Northwest, Chad was employed at Oregon State University in the College of Forestry as a Research Assistant.  His research work there focused on collaborating with forest contractors and investigating ways to increase harvesting efficiencies in forest restoration projects.   At OSU, Chad also had the opportunity to teach several classes on forest harvesting and help conduct various training seminars for forest contractors.   Chad has also worked in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida in a host of forest management roles.  Chad holds a Bachelors degree in Environmental Policy and Sciences from Duke University and a Master's degree in Forestry from the University of Tennessee.

Maia Enzer is the Director for the Policy Program at Sustainable Northwest. In that capacity she works on issues related to forest restoration and community economic development, with a focus on federal lands policy. She has more than 13 years experience in bringing diverse stakeholders together to identify common ground around federal lands management issues. Previously, she served as Sustainable Northwest's Director of the Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities Partnership (HFHC), a regional collaborative working to market the byproducts of forest restoration. Prior to joining Sustainable Northwest, Maia was the Director of Forest Policy at American Forests in Washington, D.C. (1993-2000). She has also worked as an organizer for MASSPIRG and NYPIRG on state and local environmental issues.  Maia has a Masters degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (1993) and a BA in Political Science from Union College (1989). She currently is serving on the Western Governors' Association Forest Health Advisory Council. She served on the board of the Communities Committee of the Seventh American Forest Congress and was the Co-Chair of the Policy Task Group for the (1997-2002); she served on the board of the National Network of Forest Practitioners (2000-2005).   She is one of the editors on the book entitled, Understanding Community Based Forest Ecosystem Management, published by the Journal of Sustainable Forestry.

John Harrington manages communications and events at Sustainable Northwest.  He volunteers for a variety of sustainability and conservation organizations and public entities in Oregon, currently serving as board chair of Orlo, publisher of The Bear Deluxe magazine.  John has nearly a decade of experience in project management, public relations, graphic arts, editing, and publishing.  His past professional experiences include communications consulting with Ecotrust, coordination of design and technology workshops for nonprofit organizations through Baruch College, and studio supervision and production work for a photographer in NYC.  In 2005 he edited and published the book, Renewing the Countryside: Washington.  John has a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from New York University.  His non-work interests include urban planning, architecture, video and music production, photography, biking, hiking, enjoying regional food and drink, and advancing Portland's creative/green community.

James Honey, Program Officer, manages Sustainable Northwest’s programs in the Klamath Basin and oversees SNW’s increasing involvement in ranching issues.  James was born and raised in Mexico and moved to the United States to study at Stanford University.  He graduated with a BA in History, receiving high honors for his research on the environmental history of the Tohono O’odham, a Native American tribe divided across the US-Mexico border.  Major coursework included biology, conservation, and Latin American models of economic development.  James’ professional background includes conservation (in Mexico, generally, and hydro-relicensing in CA), and litigation (as a complex class action paralegal).  Over six years, James has assisted a half dozen community-based organizations and become deeply involved in the search for comprehensive solutions to issues in the Klamath Basin. James is responsible for one of the first “working lands” conservation easements in Oregon, and one of the only in the US held by an Indian tribe.  He is a recipient of the John Wesley Powell Award for contributions to Western watershed management for his work on this easement and assisting Basin organizations in the development of ranching-compatible restoration regimes.

Renee Magyar is Sustainable Northwest’s Administrative Assistant. She has four years experience in graphic design for print, and five years experience with database maintenance for non-profit and for-profit companies. Before joining Sustainable Northwest, Renee spent nearly three years supporting the supply and logistics operations at McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott South Pole science research stations in Antarctica. She is an artist who works primarily with textiles and recycled materials. Renee also enjoys travel, paddling on a dragonboat team and commuting by bicycle.

Jed Mitchell, development and sustainable finance manager, oversees fundraising activities for Sustainable Northwest and helps create new finance mechanisms to support conservation and sustainable development.   Before his move to the Northwest, Jed served as a program manager for the Center for Venture Philanthropy, a division of Peninsula Community Foundation. In this role, Jed helped launch and run, the Environmental Solutions Forum, a $4 million initiative to increase the capacity and enhance the effectiveness of 15 San Francisco Bay Area non-profits. Jed developed a keen interest in matching the interest of "donor-investors" with effective, high-performing non-profits, and in strategies that advance the impact of philanthropy. Prior to this work, Jed was the Associate Director for Stanford Sierra Programs and responsible for oversight of a $20 million non-profit educational facility and resort located in Lake Tahoe, California.

Ryan Temple is Program Director for the Healthy Forests Healthy Communities Partnership.  The Partnership enables communities throughout the Northwest to develop sustainable enterprises and economies based on the restoration and maintenance of forest ecosystems and the value-added use of woody biomass removed. Ryan is responsible for creating and growing markets for sustainably produced wood products and for building HFHC businesses' capacity to serve market needs. As lead coordinator of the National Community Forestry Business Alliance, Ryan also works to document, share and successful models of community forestry across the U.S.  Ryan is also Board President of the Build Local Alliance, a network of forest owners, mills and builders in Oregon who promote the uses of sustainable and local building materials.  Specific areas of expertise include marketing, business strategy, financial management, and sustainable economic development.  Prior to joining Sustainable Northwest, Ryan worked for the Forest Trust from 1994-2001.  There, he directed the community forestry program which provided support to local wood products businesses throughout New Mexico and each year employed fifty rural residents on forest conservation and restoration projects. Ryan is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a Masters Degree in Natural Resource Management and Planning from the University of New Mexico. He has served as a steering committee member of the Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership and as a Board member for the Canyon Preservation Trust, La Montaña de Truchas Woodlot, and the Wildlife Center
The unlikely son of Miss Cherokee Nation and the Oklahoma High School golf champ, Ryan spent his youth on the banks of farm ponds using bacon to lure crawdads into a net.  His undergraduate years were punctuated by trips afield, giving him a wanderlust that persists today.  At the first chance, Ryan fled west and has not looked back.  Ten years in New Mexico provided a keen awareness of the cultural and historical relationship between humans and the forest.  Today, he looks to foster a positive relationship between people and the land in everything that he does.  While Ryan aspires to create a marketplace that recognizes and rewards responsible land stewardship; his greatest aspiration is to raise his two daughters to be as inspirational to others as they are to him.

Kelly Reardon is the Sustainable Northwest Finance and Operations Manager. When not paying invoices and generating reports, he helps troubleshoot many of SNW's computer software or hardware problems.  Before joining SNW he spent several years in local broadcast communications working as a producer and traffic reporter for local morning radio.  A fifth generation Oregonian, Kelly is deeply committed to the scenic, recreational, and economic value of the natural resources and environment in the Northwest.