Kieran has been Executive Director of the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy since 1999. Before coming to CMLC, Kieran gained experience at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, the Land Trust Alliance in Washington, DC, and Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in Asheville. He received his BA in Anthropology and his MLS in Information Science from Rutgers University. He lives in Asheville with his wife Miriam and son Conor and loves exploring Western North Carolina's many marvelous places whenever he has the chance.
Staff
Tom Fanslow: Land Protection Director
After earning his BA in history in 1988 from Emory University, Tom served for three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, West Africa working in agricultural education and reforestation. Tom received his J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1996, and worked on coastal conservation issues in Georgia. A native of East Tennessee, Tom began working for CMLC in 2004 as an AmeriCorps member. Tom also serves on the board of the Friends of DuPont State Forest and the Henderson County Bird Club.
Kristin Harkey: Director of Special Projects
As Director of Special Projects for CMLC, Kristin Harkey draws from nearly nine years experience in nonprofit fundraising, program development and cultural tourism. Previously Kristin was an educator at The Columbia Museum of Art in downtown Columbia, SC and a grants program officer for The Humanities Council of SC. A native of Charleston, SC, Kristin has a BA in English from the College of Charleston, a professional writing certificate from the Iowa University, and has completed graduate work at the University of South Carolina. She enjoys gardening, hiking, and history. Kristin serves on the Hendersonville Community Co-op board of directors and recently completed Henderson County’s VISION business leadership series at Blue Ridge Community College. She and husband, Jeff Johansson, relocated to the rolling hills of Fairview in 2008 after moving to western North Carolina in 2007.
Lynn Killian Neill, CFRE: Development Director
Lynn joined CMLC in January of 2012 as Development Director. Her recent background includes positions as Director of Development for Pavillon in Mill Spring, NC, and Executive Director of Park Ridge Hospital Foundation in Fletcher. She received her BA from Wake Forest University, her MBA from Clemson and has earned the professional designation of Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE).
Lynn has two grown sons, and makes her home in Hendersonville where she has served on numerous non-profit boards. She is currently active with CooperRiis, Wake Forest University, Hendersonville Symphony and First United Methodist Church. An accomplished musician, she plays violin in several area orchestras, and is an avid tennis player and hiker. Her most recent hiking highlight was the completion of the 4 peaks in 4 days thru-hike on the Inca Trail from Cusco, Peru to the ruins of Machu Picchu.
Julianne Johnson: Administrative Director
Julianne grew up in the mountains of Colorado and earned her Bachelor's in Political Science from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. After five years working in human resources in Denver, she spent some time living and traveling between Oregon and Washington state. Julianne relocated to the mountains of North Carolina in the fall of 2009 to join CMLC as an AmeriCorps Project Conserve member. She brought volunteer coordination experience from her role as an Oxfam America Action Corps Leader in Denver where she worked to develop a regional volunteer corps for the organization. Julianne is a Whole Communities 2042 Today Fellow and earned her Duke Certificate in Non-Profit Management. She enjoys exploring North Carolina and surrounding states, hiking and gardening.
Nancy Marshall: Finance Director
Nancy brings over 19 years of experience in accounting and financial management to her role at CMLC. She has a B. S. in Business Administration from Gardner-Webb University and is currently pursuing a MBA. Nancy and her husband, Keith, live in Forest City and enjoy camping, hiking, waterfalls, cooking and gardening. They are passionate about protecting our natural environment and preserving our heritage, especially farms, forests, and parks.
Rebekah Robinson: Administrative Director
Rebekah grew up in Alabama and received her BA in Anthropology from Auburn University. After several years playing with plants in Oregon, she returned south to Tulane Law School where she earned her Juris Doctor in 2008 with a certificate in environmental law. As a student Rebekah interned with two non-profit environmental law firms and represented community organizations in environmental citizen suits as part of Tulane's Environmental Law Clinic. After briefly working in Raleigh, she was eager to return to the non-profit environmental community and joined CMLC in 2009 as an AmeriCorps Project Conserve Land Program Associate.
Amy Stout: AmeriCorps Project Conserve Program Director
After completing her degree in Biology and Environmental Science from the College of William and Mary, Amy served as an AmeriCorps member for three years, including one term doing education outreach for the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire. As VISTA Leader for the Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team, she coordinated a team of thirty AmeriCorps VISTAs serving with community watershed associations throughout Appalachia. Most recently, she attended graduate school at Clark University, where she studied environmental science and policy and completed her thesis on collaboration between environmental nonprofit organizations. Amy also holds a Duke Certificate in Non-Profit Management.
Peter Barr: Trails & Outreach Coordinator
Peter holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A native of Charlotte, NC, he has authored two books: Hiking North Carolina’s Lookout Towers and the forthcoming Hiking the Southeast’s Highest Peaks. Peter initiated the NC chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, an organization working to restore and preserve historic fire lookout towers in western NC. An accomplished hiker, Peter has completed all 900 miles of trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and climbed every southern Appalachian peak exceeding 5,000 feet of elevation. In 2010, he completed a thru-hike of the 2,181 mile Appalachian Trail. Peter and his wife Allison live in Hendersonville.
Julie Brockman: Stewardship Coordinator
Julie spent her younger years in northwestern Pennsylvania exploring the shoreline of Lake Erie. In 2002, she moved to Virginia to pursue her Bachelor's degree in biology and environmental science at the College of William and Mary. Since graduating, Julie has spent most of her time working in eastern Virginia, including some time at the Jane Goodall Institute in Arlington. In the summer of 2009, she decided she needed to expand her horizons by moving to the open prairie of South Dakota. There, she worked with The Nature Conservancy before returning to the east coast to join CMLC in 2009 as an AmeriCorps member. She currently resides in Asheville, NC where she takes advantage of great food and hiking and rock climbing opportunities.
