Board of Directors

Laurie Danforth Board President
Listening to the album “Songs of the Humpback Whale” in 1970 was an “aha” moment for Laurie. That heart-opening experience inspired her life’s passion for learning everything she could about the natural world. For more than a decade, Laurie was a board director and worked as an assistant naturalist at Seven Ponds Nature Center in Michigan. When Laurie moved to Vermont in 2001, she immediately volunteered at The Nature Museum and has enjoyed being on the board of directors since 2002. Laurie loves exploring and sharing the endless wonders of nature with her family, friends, and anyone who is even vaguely interested.
 

Leslie Goldman Vice President
Leslie grew up in the canyons of Manhattan with Central Park as her backyard, spent summers in the New England woods, and loved the beach at Rockaway where her grandparents lived. Those early years embedded in her a sense of wonder at the beauty of our world and taught her to find nature in the most unexpected places. The exploration and experience of nature continues!

Cheryl Charles, Ph.D. Board Member

Throughout her career, Cheryl has focused on the well-being of children, families, communities and the environment that supports us all. Considered one of the world leaders in the movement to connect children with nature, Cheryl is the Co-Founder, President and CEO Emerita of the Children & Nature Network (C&NN), www.childrenandnature.org. She is an elected local school board member, a member of the Steering Committee for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Education and Communication and Co-Chair of IUCN’s #NatureForAll, www.natureforall.global. She served as founding National Director of the pioneering K-12, interdisciplinary environment education programs, Project Learning Tree and Project WILD. She lives a short walk through the woods from her son, daughter-in-law and two nature-loving grandchildren.

Ken Finch Board Member

A nature lover from a young age, Ken spent over 40 years working in nature centers, children’s museums, and other conservation programs. In 2006 he founded Green Hearts Institute for Nature in Childhood, and operated it until his more-or-less retirement in 2016. He is a past volunteer president of the Association of Nature Centers, and was honored with ANCA’s annual Leadership Award in 2017. Over the course of his career, Ken gradually grew into a strong advocate for unstructured children’s play in natural settings as an important prerequisite to effective learning about the environment. Ken and his wife, Sharon, retired to Vermont in 2016 and are working hard to enhance the natural and human environment of their hilltop farm in Chester, where they are eagerly awaiting their first moose sighting.

Rick Cowan Board Member
Though he worked as a flight attendant and a humane society public relations director in his twenties, most of Rick’s career has been devoted to independent schools. He held teaching and administrative roles at Choate Rosemary Hall, Pingree and St. Paul's Schools and served as executive director of The Association of Boarding Schools in Boston and Washington, DC for 9 years. Locally, he was head of The Grammar School, Director of Admission at The Putney School and the Compass School before retiring in 2015. Rick lives in Cambridgeport and has two daughters. He also serves on the board of the Grammer School.

Will Danforth Board Member
Will collected Golden Nature Guides as a kid, and still keeps the dog-eared copies as totems to the force that inflamed him back then. That fire has only grown over the years, and animates his living daily. He is blessed to live in heaven at the end of a Vermont dirt road, and strives to create music and gardens that honor the beauty and mystery of nature.

Paul Spector Board Member

Paul Spector retired from Holden Forests and Gardens, located in Kirtland, Ohio in 2018. During his 40+ year tenure he held the positions of Director of Education and Public Programs, and Vice President of Community Engagement. He had leadership responsibility for a comprehensive museum education program, visitor services, marketing and communications, the Community Forestry program, Green Corps, an urban youth gardening program and, the Sherwin Institute for Woodland Management.

In addition Paul was active in many professional educational organizations at the national, state, and local levels including serving as the past President and Treasurer of the American Nature Study Society; the Steering Committee of EE Ohio – The Center for Environmental Education in Ohio; the Board of Directors of the Environmental Education Council of Ohio; Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Andrews School; and member of the school board of the Kirtland Local School District.

Paul, his wife Liz, and chocolate lab Malley, moved permanently to Wardsboro, Vermont in 2018. They have enjoyed the wealth of opportunities to explore the social and natural history of their new State, hiking and snowshoeing the abundance of trails, kayaking the rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, and getting involved in various community organizations.

Nia Blossom Board Member

Evgenia (Nia) moved to Vermont after years of living in cities and plunged into gardening. She’s currently reimagining the established garden around her family’s house with native plants. Nia loves to capture the wonders of nature through the camera lens. She’s passionate about rediscovering our connection to all beings.

Nia was born in Bulgaria, where she helped her grandparents and parents farm. She has past experience in marketing and education.

Kathleen Bryar Board Member

Born and raised in Ohio, Kathleen graduated from the College of Wooster with degrees in sociology and music. She spent a year studying music history, voice, opera and art in Vienna and went on to receive a Master’s Degree in Music/Vocal Performance at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. While pursuing graduate studies, she worked for a population health nonprofit at Harvard University funded by John D. Rockefeller III. It was there she first worked with executive leadership of major foundations and media companies, and learned the essentials of fundraising and non-profit management and development. 

Since moving to Vermont in 1992, Kathleen has worked in development for institutions large and small where she developed annual fund campaigns and major gift programs, helped small nonprofits prepare and execute capital campaigns, and worked with nonprofit boards to help them become effective and collaborative partners with directors and staff. She served on the board of Main Street Arts for many years and also appeared in many Gilbert and Sullivan productions there. Recently retired in 2024 as director of Corporate and Foundations Relations at Dartmouth Hitchcock Health and the Geisel School of Medicine, Kathleen worked with leading foundations and pharmaceuticals to secure more than $61M in funding for basic science, translational and clinical researchers. Kathleen and her husband Jack live in Grafton where they spend their summers pulling weeds from their pollinator gardens and their winters longing for summer.  They have three grown children and three grandchildren who live in the eastern US.