President – Mark Demyan, Audubon Society of Greater Cleveland. Mark is an independent business owner who consults on construction projects, primarily in the area of water treatment. He also is a life-long conservationist who inherited a love of nature from his father. Mark is Vice President of the Audubon Society of Greater Cleveland.
Vice President – Liz Woedl, Audubon Miami Valley. Liz is an Audubon volunteer leader and activist for over 45 years at a local, state and national level. Former elementary school art educator and land trust executive director. Current profession, hospital volunteer coordinator. Member of Audubon Miami Valley in Southwest Ohio, now guiding website design and maintenance; social media and member outreach. (2019-2022)
Secretary – Linda Chen,Canton Audubon Society. Linda is President of Canton Audubon Society since June 2016. She spearheaded the CAS Chimney Swift tower construction at Sippo Lake, Stark County Park District and volunteered for 8 years at the Wildlife Conservation Center located there. Linda was a former Great Trail Girl Scout leader and neighborhood co-chair with Jackson Girl Scouts, Stark County and is an Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist. (2019-2021)
Treasurer – Nancy Howell, Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society. Nancy Howell has been involved with Western Cuyahoga Audubon almost since the chapter was formed. Nancy presently serves on the WCAS Board as treasurer, in membership and as program coordinator and is the compiler for the Lakewood Christmas Bird Count sponsored by Western Cuyahoga Audubon. Nancy has served in the role of vice-president, president, education coordinator and field trip coordinator. She is a leader for the Spring Bird Walks, sponsored, in part, by WCAS. (2019-2022)
Member at Large – Heather Farrington is Zoology Curator at the Cincinnati Museum Center where she manages all the animal collections (both live and preserved) and the museum’s DNA lab. A geneticist by training, she studied Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos Islands in her graduate studies. Since then, she has applied genetic techniques to research questions on everything from insects to mammals. Heather is the president of Audubon Society of Ohio (Cincinnati chapter).
Member at Large – Jim Jablonski, Black River Audubon Society president, 2017-2019, has also served as a board member and secretary for that chapter. He was instrumental in organizing Black River’s back to back Burke Plants for Birds grant’s from National Audubon. The first, carried out at Black River Audubon Park, helped turn a former dumping ground off Elyria’s downtown into a promising mini-arboretum of native trees. The actual planting was performed by Elyria High School students, Rotary Club members, and local residents that Jim recruited, as well as BRAS members. The project earned praise in the president’s keynote address at the 2019 Audubon convention in Milwaukee.
A former social worker and college sociology instructor, Jim turned to Black River Audubon and birding after retirement. Much more recently converted to birding than most, he likes to joke that the first bird he identified with his brand-new Peterson’s was a goldfinch – when he was 60! Recognizing he would never become accomplished at identification, he turned to monitoring bluebird trails in Black River’s highly successful program.