Board and Staff

          Board and Staff

Our Board of Directors has a range of expertise and conservation experience, as well as a deep concern for the future of wildlands in our region. We are a working board that formulates policies and programs, and members serve on administrative or issue oriented teams. Our staff work with the Board members and conservation partners  to further Wild Connections' mission .

Jim Lockhart

President

Colorado Springs, Legal writer (ret.)
jim@wildconnections.orgJim helps lead our backcountry hikes and has inventoried many of the Forest and BLM roadless areas as a part of the mapping team. As President, he convenes Board meeetings and has general oversight of Wild Connections' mission. He is active in Pikes Peak Group of Sierra Club. Backbacking in California’s Sierras and other western wildernesses are among his favorite adventures.

john stansfield

Vice-president

Monument, Storyteller/writer
johnstan@wildconnections.org
John's interest in wilderness includes leading our hikes, advocating for Wilderness legislation and a special fondness for Alaska’s wild backcountry.  He is active in Pikes Peak Sierra Club and Coordinator of the Central Colorado Wilderness Coalition. John is noted for his historical re-enactments as frontier physician Dr. Charles Fox Gardiner and National Park pioneers Enos Mills and John Otto. 

Claude Neumann

Treasurer

Denver, Civil Engineer (ret.)
claude@wildconnections.orgClaude is retired from the City of Denver Building Department. He leads Wild Connections hikes and has done conservation work and led hikes for many years with the Colorado Mountain Club. His special wilderness interest often leads him to Utah to explore the canyons and and support protection of the red rock lands. 

Alison Gallensky

Secretary

Westminster, Conservation Geographer
alison@wildconnections.orgAlison’s extensive background in software engineering and geographic information systems have been put to use in support of Wild Connections' roadless area inventories and climate modeling.  She is Rocky Mountain Wild’s Conservation Geographer Director and active in GIS in the Rockies. She likes to travel and visit far flung places across North America. 

Kristin Skoog

Member

Colorado Springs, Software Engineer (ret)
kristin@wildconnections.orgKristin chairs our funding team and is on the planning team.  She likes hiking, backpacking, skiing, and working on wildlands inventory and monitoring projects.  Her background is in software development, and she lends her technical skills to help with the website and productivity tools for the team.  

John Sztukowski

Staff: Conservation Director

Westcliffe, Program Implementation john@wildconnections.org
John oversees Wild Connections' public lands work, wilderness lands inventories and educational hikes. Outreach to the public, agency staff and government offices on conservation issues and BLM or USFS activites are a large part of his job.  He chairs several citizen coaltions active in conservation issues in the region and serves on BLM's Rocky Mountain Resource Advisory Council. John's background ranges from climate change to sustainable agriculture to habitat restoration, and wilderness conservation.

Jean Smith

Advisory: Founder Emerita

Colorado Springs, Non-profit Administration (ret)
jean@wildconnections.org 
Jean organized a steering committee and volunteers to map roadless areas on the Pike-San Isabel National Forest beginning in 1995. This grew into Wild Connections where she served as Executive Director or Board Chair, and continues as a volunteer.  Her background includes fund-raising and village development. She enjoys birding, gardening and caring for the native plants in her yard.