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April joined Georgia River
Network (GRN) as the Executive Director in June,
2003. In this position, she is responsible for working
with the GRN Board of Directors and staff to oversee
and develop GRN’s programs, projects, administration,
and fundraising to meet the organization’s
mission to protect and restore Georgia’s rivers.
She also manages GRN’s Advocate Program and
coordinates efforts aimed at gaining strong protections
for Georgia’s rivers. This includes serving
on the Leadership Team and chairing the Communications
Committee of the Georgia Water Coalition, a coalition
of 170+ organizations and businesses. She also monitors
and lobbies the state legislature and monitors and
participates in policy decisions within various state
and federal agencies.
April is from Indiana, where she served as Executive
Director of the Indiana Association of Soil and Water
Conservation Districts. April also served as the
Public Relations Specialist for the Association,
as the Coordinator of the St. Joseph River Watershed
Initiative, and as an environmental educator in Connecticut
and Maine. April received her Bachelor of Science
degree from Purdue University in 1996, where she
majored in Natural Resources & Environmental
Science with a specialization in aquatic resources.
She has also completed post graduate work in non-profit
marketing, public relations, and web design.
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Doug
joined the Georgia River Network staff in September
2009. In this position he plans and implements the
fundraising and communication efforts for the organization.
He attended high school in Athens and graduated from
the University of Georgia, receiving a degree in
history in 1995. Doug has worked in non-profit fundraising
and management for 15 years and most recently served
as the State Development Director for The Trust for
Public Land’s Georgia office, based in Atlanta.
He has held other fundraising positions for the American
Lung Association and American Heart Association.
Doug enjoys any and all outdoor activities in his
free time, including: backpacking, canoeing, kayaking,
fishing, gardening and camping with his family.
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A founding member of the Georgia River Survey
(www.georgiariversurvey.org), Ben is a canoeist and
birdwatcher who has spent time on rivers throughout
the state over the past several years. He is a frequent
volunteer with the Upper Oconee Watershed Network in
Athens and a member of the Oconee Rivers Greenway Commission
for the Athens-Clarke County government. A native of
Decatur, GA, he has lived in Athens since 1998 and
graduated in English from the University of Georgia
in 2002. From 2005-2009, he was City Editor at Flagpole
Magazine, the alternative weekly newspaper in Athens.
His experience includes field assistance on marsh bird
study in the upper Midwest, a year of volunteer service
as an AmeriCorps member in Boston, MA, and out-of-school
work with middle-school students at Citizen Schools,
a Boston-based nonprofit. Ben also doubles as the Oconee
River Project Director for Altamaha Riverkeeper, Inc.
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has served as the Director
of Administration and Outreach for Georgia River
Network since 2002.
Dana handles accounting, membership, event registration,
outreach and directs GRN’s Water Trails Project.
Dana has previously worked in the Education Department
at ZooAtlanta, served as Director of Education
and Monitoring for Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper
and coordinated the Georgia Stream Buffer Initiative.
She has served on the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Advisory
Board and has been involved with the programs since
1994 as a trainer, watershed coordinator, advisory
board member and volunteer. She also serves on
the Board of RiversAlive, and is a past president
of the Upper Oconee Watershed Network. Originally
from Roswell, Georgia, Dana graduated from Clemson
University with a B.A. in Spanish and International
Trade and a Masters in Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
In her free time, she performs with the Canopy
Studio Aerial Arts Repertory Company and enjoys
hiking.
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A native of Rome, Georgia, Jesslyn grew up swimming
and playing in the Etowah River. However, her real
love of rivers was sparked in college when she spent
a month kayaking the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers
of Montana on a school trip. According to her parents,
after that, she went “river crazy,” going
on more “school trips” and after graduating,
taking a research technician job at the Institute of
Ecology at UGA, which required that she slop around
in creeks and rivers looking for tiny fish. One unexpected
outcome of spending four years doing this sweltering/freezing/soggy/buggy/
slippery/smelly job was that she fell completely in
love with her own home state. Since then, she has explored
many of Georgia’s rivers (though, thankfully,
not in neoprene waders) by canoe, kayak and foot, and
considers all of them good friends.
Jesslyn received her B.A. from Prescott College, where
she majored in Environmental Studies and Creative Writing.
She also holds a M.S in Environmental Studies from
the University of Montana. Jesslyn has taught English
composition, plant identification, creative writing
and stream ecology to adults of various ages. Jesslyn
began working at Georgia River Network in 2006, and
since then she has spent a lot of time working alongside
Georgia’s river advocates to figure the best
way of building and maintaining effective and sustainable
river protection organizations. Jesslyn serves on the
board of the Upper Oconee Watershed Network and lives
in Athens, Georgia with her husband Bryan, daughter
Odessa, and various pets.
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