SCC Staff Members

Harry Bruell, CEO & President

Harry Bruell, CEO & President, has been with the Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) since May 2004 and has worked with service and conservation corps since 1991.  During his tenure with SCC the agency increased its revenue tenfold and expanded from one office in Colorado to four offices in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.  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.  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 co-founded the national Public Lands Service Coalition in 2009 and the Mountain Alliance of Conservation Corps in 2005.  He serves on numerous Boards including The Corps Network and Veteran Green Jobs. Email: harry (at) sccorps.org

Kathryn Coryell, Comptroller

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 (at) sccorps.org

David Critton, Chief Operating Officer

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 (at) sccorps.org

Amy Foss, Executive Director of Inter-regional Initiatives

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 (at) sccorps.org.

Chris Nesset, Resource Development 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.   Chris is also a Together Green Fellow, for more information see http://www.togethergreen.org/People/fellowsArchive.aspx.  Email: chris (at) sccorps.org.

 

Ruth Fletcher, Grants Coordinator

Ruth joined SCC in 2009 in a temporary position and has stayed on as Grants Coordinator.  After graduating from Western State College in Gunnison, she worked there nearly 20 years before moving to Durango.  In past lives she has worked as an office manager, paralegal, waitress and tree-sorter.  Ranking high on her list of things to do is spending time with her husband, three kids, four grandchildren and Alice the chicken. Email: ruth (at) sccorps.org.

 

 

Patrick Gallo, Marketing & Outreach VISTA

A self-proclaimed “AmeriCorps Lifer”, Patrick has made a point to make service an integral part of his life since graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2007.  A two-time AmeriCorps NCCC graduate, Patrick has served on or led crews serving projects ranging from hurricane recovery in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf coast to fuels reduction and wildfire management in South Dakota and Northern California. Becoming more and more drawn to conservation work, Patrick spent the summer 2010 leading an SCA crew and coordinated volunteer projects on the Angeles National Forest.  Patrick came to SCC in April of 2011 with the Los Valles office and led a crew maintaining OHV trails in the Rio Grande National Forest.  Always up for a new challenge, Patrick traded in his ATV and chainsaw for an office and computer screen to become the Outreach and Development Specialist VISTA for the headquarters office in Durango.  When he isn’t bogged down in ‘paper-fun’ or on a cross-country road trip, you can find Patrick tossing around a Frisbee or helping out on a weekend service project.  Email: patrick (at) sccorps.org.

Jennifer Bartlett, Director of Administration

Jenn began with SCC in August 2011, coming heavily from the field of youth development. Previously working with Boys & Girls Club, SUCAP Youth Services and other youth programs in our region, Jenn continues to spend much of her personal time on the train of youth development. She volunteers with other youth-serving organizations boards and committees; as well as directly mentoring teens through a variety of capacities.  As the coordinator of High School Leadership La Plata, she strives to empower teens to personally grow through leadership education in partnership with the local schools. Beyond her volunteer time, Jenn enjoys running, biking and snowboarding; among anything else that has to do with “adventure.” As a Lumberjack alumnus from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, she majored in Parks and Recreation Management. Though she grew up along the shores of San Diego, the Rocky Mountains are her home and playground. Email: jenn (at) sccorps.org.

Katy Olson, Office Manager (Four Corners & Administration)

Katy joined SCC for the summer in 2010 and came back full time in May 2011.  A southern belle from Birmingham, AL, Katy took a trip out west after college and ended up falling in love with a local Durango boy. Though his career moved them around a bit, they were finally able to settle back in Durango to raise their three children. Outside work,  Katy loves living vicariously through her adventuresome  kids of whom one lives in Alaska, one lives in Ecuador, and the youngest is happiest doing double back-flips in the backcountry.  Side note: Katy has been known to play favorites to those who provide her with chocolate! Email: katy (at) sccorps.org.

Four Corners Regional Staff

Ron Hassel, Executive Director

Ron Hassel joined SCC in the spring of 2011.   Previously to his work with SCC Ron worked with SCA, holding a variety of positions, coordinator and manager of the SCA fire education corps, director of the SCA Landfire and FIREMON Projects, corps operations manager, and most recently director of the Trails Corps.  Throughout these positions Ron has developed skills in many different emphasis areas, including fire prevention, fuels monitoring, and management, restoration, wilderness monitoring, and trail design and construction.  Ron is an SCA alumni having served as an intern team leader for the pilot year of the SCA Fire Education Corps in 2001.  Prior to working with SCA, Ron worked as an engineer and project manager for a large consulting firm and was responsible for the design and construction of several highway and bridge projects.  He has also been a construction laborer, inspector, and surveyor.   Ron holds a degree in environmental/civil engineering from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI.  When not working, Ron can be found biking the roads and trails of SW Colorado, hiking the canyons of the Southwest, bagging peaks, and skiing.  Ron is passionate about preservation of wilderness, and sustainable living in this changing world.  Email: ron (at) 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 (at) sccorps.org

Linnaea Renz, Program Coordinator

Linnaea joined the Four Corners team in March of 2011. Linnaea was first introduced to conservation work at the age of 15 when she joined the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) in Yellowstone National Park.  After one season she was hooked! She spent 7 more seasons with YCC, transitioning from member to Crew Leader to Program Director.  During the off-seasons Linnaea worked for a variety of other youth programs, including an after-school program, wilderness therapy, and a study-abroad program which sent her to Africa and South America to lead a wild bunch of high school girls.  Linnaea is excited to be back in the Rocky Mountains where she can climb peaks, descend dark canyons and explore everything in between! Email: linnaea (at) sccorps.org.

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.  Email – mike (at) sccorps.org.

 Brian Gold, Veterans Coordinator

Brian first came to SCC as a member of the Sonoran Desert Office’s Conservation Leadership Development Program in 2009 and subsequently served on a Veterans Fire Corps Crew in the Los Valles Region.  Immediately preceding his current role as Veteran’s Fire Corps Coordinator, Brian served as an AmeriCorps VISTA for The Action Leadership Project, a therapeutic adventure recreation program serving the Northern Arizona veterans community.  Brian holds a B.A. in International Politics from the State University of New York at New Paltz.  Prior to joining SCC he had worked as a Political operative, campaign manager, lobbyist, researcher and educator at various locations in the Northeast. Email: brian (at) sccorps.org.

Amber Beye, VISTA

Amber is a graduate of Colorado State University where she earned a B.A. in Sociology; she also has a Master Gardener certificate from CSU extension.  For the past two years Amber has been working at a juvenile treatment facility in Durango, Colorado where she worked with adjudicated youth.  Amber has spent almost half of her life living in S.W. Colorado and enjoys putting her knowledge to work as a VISTA addressing the area’s poverty by furthering the development of a year round sustainable agriculture program at the Old Fort Lewis College. She will also actively work with the Agriculture program at Fort Lewis College to expand agricultural and land stewardship programs for at risk youth and young adults ages 12 to 25. Amber enjoys hiking, gardening, running, horses, and learning new ways to become more sustainable. Email: amber (at) sccorps.org.

Anna Hendricks, Recruiting & Admissions Coordinator

Anna joined the SCC Four Corners team in early 2012.  Upon completion of her degree in Anthropology from Metropolitan State College of Denver, her calling to join the world of youth conservation corps began by serving with the Student Conservation Association’s (SCA) fire effects monitoring program traveling throughout the Great Plains of North and South Dakota.  Intrigued by the world of fire, she continued on in fire programs serving in southeast Ohio and throughout southern Utah.  Eager to escape the winter chill, she traveled to sunny Florida to coordinated SCA”s Alternative Spring Break program working along the Florida Trail.  Born and mostly-raised in Colorado, she is excited to be a part of conservation projects much closer to home and her heart.  She has found the SCC to be a great organization in which to cultivate her wonder for the natural world while connecting with and building community.  When released from behind the desk, you can find her climbing, dancing, and generally wandering about the amazing landscape of the southwest. Email: annamarie (at) sccorps.org.

Ancestral Lands Region 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.   Cornell previously worked 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 (at) sccorps.org.

Los Valles Region 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 (at) sccorps.org.

 

Todd Loubsky, Field Director

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 (at) sccorps.org.

 

Julie Mach, Program Director

Julie moved to Salida in January of 2009 to join SCC as an AmeriCorps VISTA and has continued on with the Los Valles office as Development Coordinator and Program Director.  After growing up in Northern California, Julie spent four years in NW Pennsylvania earning her degree in Neuroscience and Psychology at Allegheny College.  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 (at) sccorps.org.

 

 

Tyler Lincoln, Food Systems Specialist VISTA

Colorado born and raised, throughout his life Tyler has continued to live, attend College and work seasonally across the state.  Earning a double baccalaureate of arts degrees in Environmental Studies and Spanish this past spring from Western State College of Colorado in the Gunnison Basin, he moved one basin over to the Arkansas River watershed to find work. Starting May of 2011 he landed in the Southwest Conservation Corps and became a Crew Member for the Summer season and then evolved to Crew Leader come Fall. Now as a VISTA, he is excited to develop a sustainable food program with SCC, to grow and bring food to the field crews and the community of Salida. Whether it is skiing at a resort in Summit County or paddling a desert creek on the Colorado Plateau, Tyler loves all the opportunities that this mountainous place has to offer. Email: tyler (at) sccorps.org.

 

Eric Sainio, Education & Career Development VISTA

Eric joined SCC in February 2012.  As a recent graduate of Colorado State University with his M.A. in Public History, he wanted to return to living in the mountains of Colorado. With a background in secondary education, volunteer experience with Greeley Historic Preservation and Front Range Exceptional equestrians, and a love of the outdoors, Eric is thrilled to be a part of the team and looks forward to working with youth throughout the area in both an advisory and fundraising capacity. Email: eric (at) sccorps.org.

 

 

Cory Connett, Field Coordinator

Cory joined the Los Valles Staff in February 2012 after crew leading for the region two consecutive seasons.  Cory first made his way to SCC to lead crews with the Four Corners region in 2006 and 2007 having previously led with the Montana Conservation Corps.  He has additional experience with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Colorado Water Science Center as well as a few ski resorts around the rocky mountains.  Originally from Minnesota, he has spent many summer days out exploring the rivers and lakes, growing to love the outdoors and eventually earning a degree in Environmental Studies.   In his spare time you can usually find (or at least look for) Cory out exploring the mountains and trails of Southern Colorado. Email: cory (at) sccorps.org.

 

 

Greg Baxter, Youth Programs Coordinator

Greg Baxter joined the Los Valles Region in February 2012 with a smile on his face. He’s spent the past two years working with the Pacific Crest Trail Association as an Associate Regional Representative and Technical Advisor training, sweating and laughing with many a crew. Prior to that he served two AmeriCorps terms with the Northwest Service Academy, in which he fully embraced conservation and environmental work and never looked back! Greg comes to the mountains of Colorado from the lands of ice and snow (Minnesota) where he grew up and attended St. Cloud State University, receiving his degree in Travel and Tourism. When not hard at work you will find him intently staring at mountain topo maps, organizing and playing with too much gear, and quietly preparing for the next big climb. Email: greg (at) sccorps.org.

 

 

Sarah Small, Administrative Assistant

Sarah joined the Los Valles staff in May of 2012.  After spending her first years in Texas and Kansas her family moved to South Fork, CO where she lived for 9 years before relocating to Salida.  She spent her college years in Durango, Colorado Springs and Belize (South America) before returning to the Heart of the Rockies.  With a degree in accounting and administrative experience with several other local organizations, Sarah is a great asset to the SCC team.  Outside of work she also coaches high school volleyball, enjoys dancing and spending time with her boyfriend.  Email: sarah (at) sccorps.org

Sonoran Desert Region Staff

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 can.  Email: attila (at) sccorps.org.

 

Jean Hickman, Community Outreach and Development Coordinator

Jean, also a native of beautiful Arizona, comes to Southwest Conservation Corps from working many years in the corporate world where she had little freedom for growth 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 was placed at SCC in 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 two years than I have in a lifetime of dead-end jobs!”  She sets up events for Tucsonans to support local neighborhoods in beautifucation projects - digging and shaping rainwater harvesting basins, planting native trees and shrubs, removing invasive weeds, and picking up litter.  Jean is also active in community associations and partnering with other conservation-focused non-profits in Tucson.  She devotes her free time in developing marketing materials for the Sonoran Desert SCC and sitting on the marketing committee.  She enjoys her position, and loves learning more about conservation and giving back to the planet.  Email:  jean (at) sccorps.org.

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 (at) sccorps.org.

 

 

 

Dana Mendoza, Recruitment & Admissions Coordinator

 

Dana is excited to join the Sonoran Desert office as the Recruitment Coordinator in the spring of 2012.  After growing up in Colorful Colorado, Dana relocated to Tucson where she fell in love with the beauty of the desert.  During the past eight years, she has shared her passion for this epic biome with youth throughout the state of Arizona.  Dana has a B.A in Adventure Education from Prescott College and has extensive experience facilitating naturalist hikes, backpacking, mountain biking, rock climbing and kayaking excursions with various schools, summer camps and non-profit organizations.  She has worked as the Student Liaison for the Student Expedition Program STEP sending low-income high school students on sea-kayaking expeditions with NOLS in Alaska, and as the Volunteer Coordinator for Epic Rides creating large-scale professional mountain bike races.  She spent several years working for Fenster School in a variety of roles including Assistant Dean, as well as four years developing and implementing a wilderness leadership program for Fenster Ranch Summer Camp.  When she is not traveling and busy exploring the natural world, Dana enjoys reading, writing and creating art. Email: dana(at)sccorps.org.

Western Hardrock Watershed OSM/VISTA Team & Environmental Stewards Staff

Hailing from Charleston, South Carolina (ranked in the top ten for attractiveness, intelligence, and friendliness), Rachel made the puzzling decision to begin a career in conservation by joining AmeriCorps as an OSM/VISTA with the Western Hardrock Watershed Team serving Upper Pecos Watershed Association (UPWA) in Pecos, NM.  While there, she worked on water and community-related issues by helping to coordinate the Pecos Collaboration to address such issues, planning the 2010 NM Watershed Forum, and organizing UPWA’s first fundraising event.  Upon the completion of her term and in keeping with her interesting choices for places to settle, Rachel moved to southern West Virginia, nestled in central Appalachia to work for the Southwest Conservation Corps as the Eastern Coordinator for the OSM/AmeriCorps Regulatory Trainee pilot program.  While there, she also became the Coordinator for the Environmental Steward Summer AmeriCorps Program and helped develop the Environmental Stewards Program Associates.  In September 2011, Rachel moved to Durango, CO to take on her duties as Program Director of the Environmental Steward Programs.  She enjoys being outside and with Penny Lane, her Golden Retriever who has an unfortunate underbite. Email: rachel (at) sccorps.org.