Staff
Headquarters Staff
Harry Bruell, CEO & President
Harry, CEO & President, has been with the Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) since May 2004 and has worked with service and conservation corps since 1991. SCC employs and trains young people and completes conservation projects for the public benefit. During his tenure with SCC the agency increased its revenue from $550,000 per year to nearly $3 million per year. Harry led the merger of SCC with the Youth Corps of Southern Arizona and oversaw an increase in corpsmembers from less than 75 per year to nearly 400 per year. He recently co-led a successful $7.7 million capitol campaign to develop a new corps headquarters as part of a multi-tenant non-profit center. From 1994 to 2004 Harry worked with the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps (now The Corps Network), most recently as Chief Operating Officer and previously as Vice-President. At NASCC, Harry spearheaded the development of the Excellence in Corps Operations Standards process and NASCC’s AmeriCorps Education Award Program. He also led NASCC’s training and technical assistance program for many years and oversaw the Corps-to-Career Initiative. Harry began his work with corps at the Durham (NC) Service Corps in the early 1990s where he served as Work Project Coordinator and Associate Director. Harry serves on numerous Boards including The Corps Network and Mountain Alliance of Conservation Corps. Email: harry@sccorps.org
Kathryn Coryell, Vice President of Business
Kathryn has been with SCC since 2004 working in the office as Business Manager. Kathryn has an extensive background in business management. Before joining SCC she worked for the College of Fine Arts at the University of Arizona in Tucson as business manager as well as a Senior Accountant for the University. Kathryn also continues to work from home as a self-employed accountant. After several years of the intense heat of Tucson she chose to head back to her home state of CO to raise her children. While not at SCC or tending to her accountant duties she enjoys spending time with her two children, Meg and Aidan. If she manages to find any free time she loves to keep exploring CO by hiking, downhill skiing and fishing. Email: kathryn@sccorps.org
David Critton, Vice President for Site Leadership
David started in June of 2009 in this newly created position for SCC. Previously he spent more than a dozen years with the Student Conservation Association (SCA) where he held many positions from Crew Leader to National Director of the Conservation Corps Program. During this time David helped develop and manage several corps programs based on various models with different emphases – environmental education and trail work in Massachusetts, habitat restoration in the everglades region, native plant preservation in the arid west and post-fire restoration in southern California, among them. At various times he has also spent extended periods overseas, living for several years in both Africa and the South Pacific. Although his first degree was in engineering, he later received graduate degrees in both education and forestry. Traveling the world and hiking in any ecosystem that presents itself are passions, but new explorations with an outdoor theme are at the heart of all his activities. Not quite the adrenaline junkie that defines many of the younger folks at SCC, David prefers wandering through the forest or kayaking the seas or cycling the byways of the world in a more contemplative and observational state. Email: david@sccorps.org
Amy Foss, Director of Operations
Amy joined us in 2003 as a crew leader for the Crew Leader Development Program. She also worked as a logistics coordinator and as program director with SCC before moving into her current position. Before landing here at SCC, she spent time working for the Green Mountain Club (GMC) as part of their Long Trail Patrol Trail Crew. Amy has a variety of construction, masonry, landscaping and other outdoor job experience that she gained while working with her father and family back home in Maine. She grew up on a small island on the Coast of Maine and then attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. She majored in Environmental Science and Political Science and competed as a member of the Varsity Crew Team for four years. After school she was drawn to the West with a few friends to ski in Utah and has remained here in the sunny Southwest since then. In her free time she spends time up on the ski slopes, hiking/backpacking, exploring and anything else that involves the great outdoors! Email: amy@sccorps.org
Jonathan Barczyk, Sustainability and Communications Specialist VISTA
Jonathan joined us in July 2009. He was raised in Michigan, on a hill in a wooden valley, carved by a meandering stream. It was here where he walked deer trails, climbed trees, and observed the beautiful subtleties of nature. He has always held a deep appreciation for the natural world. He graduated from Michigan State University in 2008 with majors in International Studies and German. During his college career he studied for a year at Albert Ludwigs University in the city of Freiburg, which is nestled in the Black Forest region of Germany. While in Germany, he refined his fluency in German and fell in love with mountains. After college he worked as a camp counselor for Michigan State University’s entomology department’s Bug Camp. Following Bug Camp, he worked as an assistant office manager for a Farmers Insurance Agency. When Jonathan discovered that as an AmeriCorps VISTA he could help young people move out of poverty, take part in expanding the conservation efforts of the SCC, and live close to mountains; he couldn’t wait to get started. If you were to observe Jonathan in his free time, he would most likely be outside trying something new. Email: jonathan@sccorps.org
Krista Hansen, Sustainability and Communications Specialist VISTA
Krista joined the SCC in July of 2009 for a year-long position as an AmeriCorps VISTA service worker. After working in Estes Park at the YMCA of the Rockies and spending all of her free time hiking in the mountains; she was hooked on Colorado. Krista recently graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Environmental Studies. There is where she gained experience teaching environmental education classes to students through the West Eugene Wetlands Partnership. She was also very influenced by local foods/community garden movement in Eugene after working on the U of O Urban Farm and working for a Farm to School program; aimed at bringing local foods to school cafeterias. Krista grew up in the desert of Tucson, Arizona, where she discovered her passion for marathons and triathlons by biking with her dad and running with her mom and her sister. Email: krista@sccorps.org
Four Corners Staff
Chris Nesset, Executive Director
Chris has been with SCC since 2002 when she started working as our Educational and Recruitment Coordinator. Her experience includes serving as a corpsmember and crew leader for the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) out of Never, CO as well as a Senior Crew Leader for Montana Conservation Corps (MCC) out of Kalispell, MT. In addition to her corps experience she has over 3 years of experience teaching environmental education to young adults ages 7 through 19 on the Washington coast. When not at work, Chris loves to spend time with her family which includes husband, Jan and daughters Silva and Aleksia. She is also an outdoor enthusiast that enjoys mountain biking, snowboarding, cross country skiing, hiking, and kayaking. Email: chris@sccorps.org
Kevin Heiner, Program Director
Kevin joins SCC after finishing (finally) his undergraduate degrees at Western State College of Colorado with a double major in Outdoor Leadership & Resort Management and Business Administration. With a compelling urge to stay in the mountains and do something meaningful with his time, Kevin was ecstatic to rejoin the corps world again after leaving a stint of two life-changing seasons spent with Rocky Mountain Youth Corps of Colorado way back in 2002 to pursue other ventures such as running his own forestry company, finishing school, skiing, taking raft and kayak trips, and adventuring out in the wilds of Colorado and beyond. When he’s not at work Kevin can be found, often with his canine adventure companion, Mariah, exploring the many nooks, crannies, crags, and canyons that the Wild West serves up on a daily basis. Email: kevin@sccorps.org
Laura Faubion, Youth Programs Director
Laura arrived in Durango in 2009 after spending nearly 2 ½ years in New Orleans working exhaustively, first as an AmeriCorps member and then as staff, to help rebuild homes for elderly and low-income homeowners. Before NOLA, Laura was quite studious, completing a Bachelor’s degree in Recreation and a Master’s degree in Public Administration, as well as studying abroad in both Chile and Cuba. Her adventures also consist of traveling and exploring everywhere from the San Juan Mountains to remote villages in Central America, including 2 years living and teaching in Honduras. When not working or wandering around the world, Laura loves spending time with family and friends and her two loyal companions, Bud and Spaz. E-mail: laura@sccorps.org
Chuck Hollow Horn, Logistics Coordinator
Chuck began with Southwest Conservation Corps leading the Sustainable Forestry Team at the beginning of the summer ’09 season. All of his outdoor experience started in January of ’07 with the Coconio Rural Environment Corps (CREC) out of Flagstaff, Arizona. After two year long AmeriCorps terms with CREC, he decided to step into another corps in December of ’08. He has worked along-side a few other conservation corps like the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (RMYC), California Conservation Corps (CCC), Canyon Country Youth Corps (CCYC), and many others through the Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA). When not in the office, you can find him in the SCC shop; and when not in the shop, you can wave as he passes by on his bike on the Durango streets or trails.
Mike Wight, River Restoration Director
Mike grew up in rural Vermont where he grew to love the snow, the mountains and rivers. In the years following high school, he began to explore the varied Southwest and pursue a degree in Ecology and Natural History /Photography at Prescott College in Arizona. Over the summers he labored away, soon leading a trail crew, firefighting and as a lookout in the most remote tower in the lower forty-eight states. Mike finished his formal education by conducting Wild and Scenic river research in the Grand Canyon where his love for rivers really began. Mike was then hired by the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps in Steamboat Springs, CO, as Project Coordinator where he trained crew leaders and facilitated conservation projects in many stunning locations. Throughout the next few years Mike worked to hone his rafting skills on numerous private trips and worked as head sawyer for a fire mitigation company. Mike has also been carpenter, a snowboard instructor, and an Outward Bound River Instructor. In 2002, he moved to Nederland, CO where he directed the Mountain Youth Corps in Invasive Species inventory, monitoring and treatment. He soon was the Academic Director at the local alternative high school filling the roles of counselor, registrar, disciplinarian, records monitor, independent study facilitator, substitute, and district liaison for Chinook West, a program that serves at-risk youth. He also directed fundraising, coordinated and lead school excursions backpacking in Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, exploring the four corners area, rafting the San Juan River and more. Mike realized that his heart truly lies with conservation work, especially within the canyons of the Southwest, and jumped at the opportunity to reconnect with conservation corps as River Restoration Director.
Sarah Shade, Program Coordinator
Sarah joined SCC in February 2010. She grew up in the suburbs of Missouri before defecting to Kansas to become a Jayhawk. After graduating with a BFA in Industrial Design (and spending a summer in Italy), she ventured off to Montana to join Montana Conservation Corps. The expansive wilderness, tough work and conservation corps culture captivated her and she was hooked. Sarah spent two years working for MCC (including a month spent in Louisiana for hurricane relief) before venturing to Grand Teton National Park to fight invasive, non-native plants. She returned to Montana for a couple of years to work for an environmental company- sampling water and soil. But the pull of the corps was strong and she found her way back into it. She is totally stoked to be back in the corps world and imparting her knowledge and talents on unsuspecting people. You can usually find her biking around town, at the library, hiking the hills around Durango, snowboarding Wolf Creek, at a hot spring, dreaming about her next trip abroad, or generally goofing off. Email: sarah@sccorps.org
Phil Kuestner, Recruitment Coordinator
Phil joined SCC in August 2010. Hailing from “The Burbs” of Cleveland, Ohio, Phil spent his childhood in the woods behind his parents house, exploring the Cleveland MetroParks, and traveling to almost all of the 50 states in the Union. Phil studied Philosophy and Religion at Ashland University, graduating in 2003 with a B.A. He did a foreign language immersion program in Annecy, France, and has traveled extensively in Europe. Phil worked at Philmont Boy Scout Ranch in Cimarron, NM for four summers, two of those as an instructor in the Roving Outdoor Conservation School (ROCS), leading crews on 21 day trips in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Phil spent three years in Denver working as a District Executive for the Denver Area Council, Boy Scouts of America. In May 2009 Phil joined CREC in Flagstaff, AZ as a Crew Supervisor, and got to spend the next year and half exploring and working in Arizona. Phil loves skiing, college football, video games, Ultimate, and photography. Email: phil@sccorps.org
Lara Petersburg, Field Supervisor
Lara hails from northeastern Iowa, and recently graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Anthropology. Her trails background includes two SCA trail crews in northern California and southeast Alaska (where she left her heart), and she joined SCC in May 2009 as a Crew Leader, then led the Crew Leader Development Program Crew this spring. Like most Midwesterners, she’s been in love with mountains since as long as she can remember, and she’s overjoyed to be here in the wild west, and she looks forward to backpacking, climbing, rafting, kayaking, tubing, and biking. Lara thinks trail work is the coolest job in the world, and she’s really excited to facilitate others having life-changing experiences out in the wild.
Ancestral Lands Staff
Cornell Torivio, Program Coordinator
Cornell leads SCC’s efforts at the Ancestral Lands office. An Acoma native and resident, Cornell previously served as a Board Member and Crew Leader with SCC and has a long history of working with young people and on public lands. During the off-season, Cornell works with Acoma Game & Fish Department as well as Aztec Ruins National Historic Site. He is an expert in historic preservation and has expertise in restoring the historic structures of the ancient Southwest. Email: cornell@sccorps.org
Los Valles Staff
Heather MacSlarrow, Executive Director
Heather began working with Los Valles in the fall of 2007. Previously she has worked for the: Washington Conservation Corps; Rocky Mountain Youth Corps; Montana Conservation Corps; SCC Tucson and SAGA. Her love of conservation was cultivated growing up in the Pacific Northwest, and refined as an Environmental Studies major at the University of Montana. When not hard at work, she likes to hike, raft, snowshoe, ride horses, read, swim, listen to/play/watch music, and adventure with her dog, Yukon. Email: heather@sccorps.org
Todd Loubsky, Program Coordinator
Todd moved to Salida in May 2009 to work with SCC Los Valles team. Prior to arriving in Salida, he was working for the Wyoming Reclamation and Restoration Center in Laramie, Wyoming where he also completed a Master’s degree. His experience with conservation corps programs includes working on trails from Arkansas to Alaska with the Student Conservation Association and the California Conservation Corps. Having grown up exploring the prairies and northwoods of his native Midwest, he now enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountain region’s rivers, forests, and trails. Email: todd@sccorps.org
Julie Mach, Development Coordinator
Julie Mach moved to Salida in January of 2009 to join SCC as an AmeriCorps VISTA and has continued on with the Los Valles office in a new role as Development Coordinator. After growing up in Northern California, Julie spent four years in NW Pennsylvania earning her degree in Neuroscience and Psychology at Allegheny College, and several months living and working in Philadelphia. As an avid snowboarder, kayaker, camper, and horseback rider she enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains while working to improve energy conservation and environmental sustainability programs throughout the region. Email: julie@sccorps.org
Megan Strauss, Recruiting Coordinator
Megan joined the Los Valles team in January 2010. Megan grew up in Texas where she received an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M and then pursued her Masters in Social Work from the University of Texas. Seeking adventure, Megan moved to the Pacific Northwest and completed two AmeriCorps terms with Northwest Service Academy – Mt. Adams Center. The allure of more adventure, service and sun brought Megan to Salida where she will spend the rest of her days playing with her dog, exploring mountains, splashing around in the Arkansas River and making sure that SCC members have the best darn experience of their lives. Email: megan@sccorps.org
Brinkley Nelson Messick, Field Coordinator
Brink began crew leading with SCC Los Valles in March of 2009 and joined on as staff in April of 2010. Brink grew up in rural North Carolina and attended Appalachian State University where he earned a bachelors degree in anthropology and sustainable development. He has worked with several NGO’s in Honduras and Costa Rica focusing on sustainable human development and the environment of Central America. Brink made the journey west to Colorado to lead horse pack trips for the Colorado Outdoor Education Center where he also taught outdoor education and was a full time ranch hand until 2008. The recreational opportunities that the Los Valles region offers lured Brink to the area and helped create a bond and appreciation to the area he serves. Email, brink@sccorps.org
Sonoran Desert Staff
Celia Sanchez, Office Manager
Celia has been working with SCC Tucson since 2003, when it was in it’s infancy as the Youth Corps of Southern Arizona. She has been living in Tucson for over 20 years. When not at work, Celia spends time with her husband and two children and many extended family that also live in Tucson. Email: celia@sccorps.orgCelia has been working with SCC Tucson since 2003, when it was in it’s infancy as the Youth Corps of Southern Arizona. She has been living in Tucson for over 20 years. When not at work, Celia spends time with her husband and two children and many extended family that also live in Tucson. Email: celia@sccorps.org
Attila Boros, Program Director
Attila spent two thirds of his life behind the red curtain in Eastern Europe. He was born in Transylvania and he is Magyar, which explains the accent and why his preferred idiom is Hungarian by default. He decided to emigrate in 1998 and seek fortune in the land of plenty. Lived in a few U.S. states, but spent most of his time in Minneapolis where he studied the dismal science at the University of Minnesota. He replaced the harsh winters of the Midwest with the blue warmth of the Arizona sky in the fall of 2005. Disillusioned by nonsensical corporate practices, he found refuge in the nonprofit arms of the Southwest Conservation Corps in the fall of 2007. He’s been active all his life, although as years pass by, his seemingly bottomless energy tank shows signs of degradation. Played soccer competitively while growing up and is still very much partial to the game no matter how much his American friends try to belittle it. However, he seldom plays because it doesn’t feel the same on this side of the Atlantic. Instead he runs, bikes, hikes, and plays Ping-Pong every time he is Canada. Email: attila@sccorps.org
Holly Schempf, Recruitment Coordinator
Holly Schempf began her SCC career as a member of the Leadership Development Program in October of 2007. Since then her SCC career has consisted of; Assistant Crew Leader, Crew Leader, Valley of the Sun Coordinator and now Recruitment Coordinator. She is happily balancing placing people in positions on Sonoran Desert Conservation Crews with working towards her B.A. in Geography at the University of Arizona. Sharing outdoor experiences with young people and adults has been a passion of hers for six years. She is excited to get more young adults from the Tucson Area involved in the program and to make connections with other youth agencies that share the mission of empowering young people. Email: holly@sccorps.org
Kamillia Hoban, Executive Director
Kamillia worked with the Youth Corps of Southern Arizona (YCOSA) for 3.5 years before YCOSA merged with SYC to create SCC. She rejoined the SCC team in December of 2007 as Program Director of the Sonoran Desert program. Kamillia’s first experience with trail work was as a 14 year old crew member with a county program in her home town of Boulder, Colorado. After graduating from Columbia University in New York City, she reconnected with the great outdoors and trail work by becoming a Crew Leader with Northwest Youth Corps. She recuperated from the rigors of Corps life by thru hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2001. Since 2000 Kamillia has worked with NYC, SCA, YCOSA, and SCC in a variety of staff positions including Crew Leader, Field Coordinator, Program Director, and Executive Director. Kamillia is an avid international traveler who loves to hike. In her free time you can find her doing home projects to make her house more sustainable, hiking, riding her bike, doing yoga or reading on her back porch. E-mail: kamillia@sccorps.org.
Josh Burt, Field Coordinator
Josh is originally from Columbus, Ohio, a fertile land full of corn, puppies, and Ohioans. He grew up a Reds fan in Cincinnati and later became a Mudhens fan in Toledo, a city also full of Ohioans. Following university, Josh started doing trail-work for the SCA at Bearbrook State Park in NH. This transitioned smoothly into an outdoor education gig and leading summer high school trail-crews. Later, he taught for two years in China and finally found himself doing trail-work for SCC in the Fall of 2007 and spending a lot of time in Tucson, AZ (a city which is also strangely full of Ohioans). Email: josh@sccorps.org
Jean Hickman, AmeriCorps *VISTA Community Outreach Coordinator
Jean comes to Southwest Conservation Corps from working many years in the corporate world where she had little freedom or challenging opportunities. She’s attended ASU and most of the Maricopa Community Colleges to graduate with a BS in Recreation Management and Tourism, an AAS in General Studies, and an AS in Interior Design. Life and work experiences have taught her to be more flexible and accepting of others, which is why, when faced with wanting to make a positive change in her life, and the world around her, she researched positions with AmeriCorps and the AmeriCorps*VISTA at www.AMERICORPS.gov. At SCC since the winter of 2008, Jean says “It is amazing how this environment encourages me to grow!Everyone I meet is open to learning and becoming a better person, and making the world a nicer place in which to live, which motivates me to do the same! I truly have experienced and learned more here in the past few months than I have in a lifetime of dead-end jobs!” Almost daily you will find her enlisting volunteers for various projects, directing those volunteers in trail work, watershed management, trash pick up, etc., and sometimes camping at the projects. She is also actively involved at the Volunteer Center of Southern Arizona where she attends seminars and participates in local volunteer activities. She enjoys her position, and loves learning more about conservation and giving back to the planet. Email: jean@sccorps.org
Scout Phillips, Logistics Coordinator
Scout is an Arizona native who left the desert for the wet and moldy beauty of the Pacific Northwest for more than a decade. Feeling the need to let the moss grow on something other than a sleeping bag, Scout slowly made the move back to the desert. Being the grandchild of a man who spent most of his adult life expanding the publication base of Arizona Highways magazine, and the offspring of parents who shared their own love of the outdoors through family camping and hiking trips, Scout is quite proud to be actively involved in the beautification and conservation of the Southwest. Eternally an athlete, Scout can be found cycling, skateboarding, hiking, walking, rowing, snowboarding, surfing, playing, swinging on branches, climbing trees…Scout will even show up to races Attila signs them up for, and might even make brunch afterwards. Scout has been with the SCC Sonoran branch since August 2009, and can’t think of any office more wonderful to be stuck in. Email: scout@sccorps.org
