Adirondack Council Staff Directors Brian L. Houseal, Executive Director Brian Houseal became the Executive Director of the Adirondack Council in 2002. Houseal holds a BA degree from Colgate University, and completed graduate degrees in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at Syracuse University and the College of Environmental Science and Forestry at the State University of New York, Syracuse campus. Houseal has extensive international conservation experience throughout Latin America and the Caribbean region, where a variety of organizations have supported his work, including: the US Peace Corps, UNESCO, US Agency for International Development, and the World Wildlife Fund. Before coming to the Adirondack Council, Houseal worked for 15 years as a Vice President of The Nature Conservancy's International Program, where he directed the Mexico Program. One of his major achievements while at the Conservancy was to design and direct the "Parks in Peril Program," which has successfully protected over 65 million acres of critically threatened parks and reserves throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Brian is a past Board member of the Adirondack Economic Development Corporation, and serves on committees for the Lake Champlain Basin Program, and Northern Forest Center, among others. Brian and his wife Katherine have been seasonal visitors to the Adirondacks for over 30 years, and are now full-time residents of Westport, a village in the eastern part of the Park on Lake Champlain. He has great admiration for Adirondack wilderness because he can still get lost in it, and often does. John Davis, Director of Conservation John Davis joined the Adirondack Council staff as Conservation Director in the fall of 2005. John began his conservation career in the early 1980s with various grassroots conservation groups, including Kentucky Rivers Coalition, Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest, the Mt. Graham Coalition, and Preserve Appalachian Wilderness. From 1990 to 1996, he was cofounder and editor of Wild Earth magazine. He has served as the editor of various conservation books, including Old Growth in the East: Prospects for Rediscovery & Recovery, The Big Outside, A Conspiracy of Optimism (a history of the US Forest Service), and Defining Vermont. From 1997 through 2003, Davis was the biodiversity and wilderness program officer for the Foundation for Deep Ecology, based in Sausalito, California, where he helped identify conservation projects deserving of the foundation's financial support. For the past few years, Davis has served as land steward for the Eddy Foundation. In August of 2003, Davis won an award from the Adirondack Council for "Distinguished Achievement in Open Space Protection." The award was based on his work at the Split Rock Wildway. Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Davis spent much of his youth in New Hampshire. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from St. Olaf College in Minnesota in 1985. John lives in Essex. Diane Fish, Director of Fund Development Diane Fish graduated from Denison University and holds a masters degree from Skidmore College. As Director of Fund Development and Marketing, Diane is responsible for working with the Board and staff to raise the resources needed to support the Council's advocacy efforts. Prior to joining the Adirondack Council staff in 2001, Diane worked in independent secondary schools as a teacher, administrator and fundraiser. Diane lives in Lake Placid with her husband Peter, a teacher at National Sports Academy. They have two grown children who are graduates of Lake Placid High School. Diane shares Council supporters' love of the Adirondacks, enjoys the Park's many outdoor recreation activities, and appreciates the astounding beauty of the Park every day. "I am proud and grateful to be part of Council's efforts on behalf of the Adirondacks. " Scott Lorey, Legislative Director Scott has worked for the Council since March 2000 and became the Legislative Director in January 2004. Prior to joining the Council, he had experience working in the legislative process in the Albany office of a United States Senator and on several New York State Assembly election campaigns. In his tenure with the Council, Scott has played a key role in creating new laws that increased penalties for the illegal taking of timber from private and public lands ("timber theft") and banned the sale of small lead fishing sinkers that can cause the death of loons and other waterfowl if ingested. He has also worked to help secure increased funding for local governments in the Adirondack Park through tax reimbursement programs and increased eligibility for local waterfront revitalization grants. Scott also leads the Council's efforts on the state budget issues, including the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) and funding for state agencies. Scott guides the Council's advocacy program, both in Albany and Washington, D.C., seeking an end to the devastation caused by acid rain. He has testified before the EPA on the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and was a participant on New York's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) state stakeholder process to enact the first cap-and-trade program in the U.S. designed to limit carbon dioxide emissions. Scott was the designer of the Council's carbon emissions retirement program, the first in the country to retire government-issued carbon allowances. Scott holds a BA in Political Science from Siena College in Loudonville, NY. He lives in Glenville with his wife Susan and two children. John F. Sheehan, Director of Communications Born and raised in Troy, NY, John Sheehan is a graduate of Catholic Central High School and the State University at Albany (1985; BA). Before joining the Council's staff in 1990, John was the managing editor of the Malone Evening Telegram, just north of the Adirondack Park. Prior to that, he worked as journalist for the Troy Record, (Schenectady) Daily Gazette, Watertown Daily Times and Newsday. For the past 20 years, John has been the voice of the Adirondack Council on radio and television, and on the pages of local, regional and national media. Sheehan has overseen the production of two films about the Council (The Adirondack Council, 1992; and, ACID RAIN: A Continuing National Tragedy, 1998), appeared in the independent film Inside the Blue Line (1993) and has produced a series of radio and television public service announcements with entertainers Bonnie Raitt (1994), Natalie Merchant (1997) and brothers/band mates Michael and Kevin Bacon (2009-10). John is a regular guest lecturer at several New York colleges and universities, including Colgate University, Hobart & William Smith College, Hamilton College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Union College, Siena College, SUNY Albany, SUNY Binghamton, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse), and SUNY Potsdam. He has also addressed dozens of local organizations including local Rotary clubs and chambers of commerce, scientific societies and community forums. In his spare time, John helps to train other not-for-profit organizations' staff as well as local farmers in how to promote sustainable agriculture. He also volunteers for the Ujima Journey cultural education project in Albany; the Hamilton Hill Arts Council's annual "Juneteenth" celebration in Schenectady; the Albany Youth Soccer League; and the Westland Hills ASA softball league in Albany. John and his wife Deborah live in Albany and are seasonal residents of the Adirondack Park. Their daughter Hannah attends Albany public schools.