Contributing expertise to the Dean and SNRE's leadership team, our new Visiting Committee will help expand the School's reach and impact on campus, across the nation and around the world.

William H. Banzhaf (SNR 1967 BSF)

William Banzhaf currently serves as the President of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc., independent 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization. A 15-member multi-stakeholder board of directors and a 7 person staff oversees and implements the Sustainable Forestry Initiative ® Standard, the most widely used forest certification standard in North America (over 60,000,000 acres third party certified). Prior to his work with the SFB, he served as the Executive Vice-President for the Society of American Foresters (SAF) from 1988 to 2002. In addition, Banzhaf served as President of George Banzhaf & Company, a consulting firm with a national practice specializing in forest land valuation and present and future projections of sustainable wood supply for the forest products industry, from 1967 to 1988.

Banzhaf has held or holds positions on the boards of a numerous professional organizations including the Sustainable Forestry Board, Roundtable on Sustainable Forests, Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives, Pinchot Institute of Conservation, Seventh American Forest Congress, Natural Resource Council of America, USDA, National Commission on Wildfire, National Council on Private Forests, the Association of Consulting Foresters and is an Advisory Board member for EMI.

Banzhaf is a Certified Forester, 2002 through Society of American Foresters. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1967 with a BSF Forestry (one year graduate degree) and from the University of Colorado in 1964 with a BA History/Political Science.

Martin D. Cargas (SNR 1981 BS)

Martin (Marty) D. Cargas is Vice President - Government Affairs for Anheuser-Busch International, Inc., the international beer subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Companies. In addition, he is a director of Anheuser-Busch Europe Ltd., the company's European operating company. Cargas is responsible for managing the company's relations with governments outside of the United States.

The scope of his responsibilities includes representing the company at all levels of foreign governments around the world and at all levels of the U.S. government in Washington, DC and in U.S. Embassies located in the company's key international markets.

Prior to being named vice president, Cargas served as associate general counsel in the international and commercial sections of the company's legal department. In these roles, Cargas was responsible for projects involving joint ventures, licensing and distribution agreements, arbitration and litigation and sponsorship agreements.

Cargas is a board member of the Meridian International Center and the U.S. - Asia Foundation in Washington D.C. as well as the St. Louis World Trade Center and the Youth & Family Center in St. Louis. He is a member of the Board of Advisors to the St. Louis University Boeing Institute of International Business. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Missouri Bar Association and the St. Louis Council on World Affairs. In addition, he is a frequent lecturer at local universities.

A native of Ann Arbor, Mich., Cargas received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan. He holds a law degree from Hofstra University and received a master's degree in International Business Studies from St. Louis University.

Lisa Delplace (SNR 1988 MLA)

Lisa Delplace is a graduate of the University of Michigan where she received a Master of Landscape Architecture degree in 1988. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Park Planning and Design from Michigan State University. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1982 to 1984. She first joined Oehme van Sweden & Associates in 1988 and is now a principal there. Ms. Delplace is highly proficient in the practice of sustainable design.

This "green" design approach encourages the protection of valuable environmental resources. Her specialty with respect to this concept is the design of rooftop gardens. She is a registered Landscape Architect in the State of Maryland and a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. She lives in Washington DC with her husband Christopher McGahey.

Peter C. Mertz (SNRE 1974 BSF; 1981 MBA)

Mr. Mertz is Chief Executive Officer of GFP. In addition, Mr. Mertz is Chief Investment Officer of the firm and is Chairman of the Investment Committee. Mr. Mertz's primary responsibilities include setting the strategic direction of the firm and overseeing development and implementation of investment strategies.

Mr. Mertz has more than 30 years of forest management, and investment experience. Prior to co-founding GFP, Mr. Mertz was the Managing Director of UBS Timber Investors, the predecessor business to GFP. Mr. Mertz holds a B.S. in Forestry and an MBA from the University of Michigan. He is a member of the Society of American Foresters, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and serves on the Advisory Board for the ERB Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. He lives in Hanover, New Hampshire with his wife and two daughters.

Mark A. Retzloff (SNR 1970 BS)

Mark A. Retzloff is a 38 year veteran of the natural and organic industry. Mark currently serves as President, Chief Organic Officer of Aurora Organic Dairy. As co-founder of Horizon Organic Dairy in 1991, Mark served in several capacities within the company, including Chairman, President, and President of the company's international business until his retirement in August 2001. Mark co-founded Alfalfas and was CEO & Chairman of the Board until his resignation in 1990. In the Organic Trade Association, Mark acted as a Board member for nine years and President for three years. Mark also co-founded and acted as Chairman of the Board of the Organic Food Alliance, and was instrumental in the passage of the Organic Foods Production Act.

He has received numerous industry awards, including the Organic Trade Association's 2002 Organic Leadership Award for outstanding individual achievement, and Boulder Chamber of Commerce's Entrepreneur of the Year award. He currently serves on the boards of Greenmont Capital Partners, Under the Canopy, Traditional Medicinals, BlueSun Biodiesel and Crocs Footwear, as well as several nonprofit organizations. His 3 children are K-12 graduates of Shining Mountain Waldorf School and he has been active in the Waldorf movement for over 30 years.

Stephen O. Simmons (SNR B.S. '67, B.S.F, '69)

Steve Simmons spent much of his career working in the field of environmental consulting for large engineering companies involving environmental impact studies of energy and natural resources development projects for hydroelectric power, nuclear energy and water supply and water management projects domestically and internationally. In addition, as work evolved to clean up the nation's vast number of hazardous waste-contaminated sites, he has managed contaminated site restoration under federal and state programs, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program. He later worked with site owners involved in contaminated site restoration to negotiate clean-up strategies with USEPA and the U.S. Department of Justice, saving site owner's substantial investments to arrive at fair and equitable allocation of liability and balanced restoration plans.

He built consulting staffs in significant disciplines, including those that have studied marine mammals in the Bering Sea, North Pacific and Arctic environments. His staffs have developed second-generation high-level nuclear waste disposal site analyses and nuclear waste clean-up solutions at U.S. Department of Energy complexes.  He lead work in the commercialization of landfill gas-to-energy projects and worked to coalesce investment in these projects amongst multiple parties under federal programs that created investment incentives.

In his latest engagements, where he provides individualized consulting services, he has developed and implemented turnaround strategies and business betterment roadmaps involving engineering and technical firms that had lost their competitive edge. In this role, he has converted firms that had lost focus into profitable businesses and prepared them for sale where owners desired an exit strategy and worked through the sale process to meet owner’s objectives. He currently provides strategic and operational advice to a business in the construction quality-assurance market where he has a taken the firm to profitability and increased market share and elevated the business to a leader in its field.

Geri Eileen Unger (SNR B.S. '77)

Geri Eileen Unger is director of education at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. She manages a staff of 15 including Green Corps, a summer teen work-study program resulting in urban gardens, vegetable growing, harvesting and farmer's markets. She is also responsible for development of after-school programs for science enrichment. In addition, she is the liaison with Cleveland Metropolitan School District's Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics initiative.

Before joining the Cleveland Botanical Garden, she was with the Chicago Zoological Society and New England Aquarium, where she served in a variety of positions, including training staff on energy audits, exhibit design for energy efficiency, natural building products, green cleaning regimens, composting plans, and waste reduction in cafeteria operations. She received a master's of science in 1984 from Hebrew University and is ABD from Tufts University in the field of urban and environmental policy.
 

Mark Van Putten, J.D. (LAW 1982 JD)

Mark Van Putten has 25 years of experience in environmental policymaking and nonprofit management at the international, national, regional and local level. He is the founder and President of ConservationStrategy® llc, an environmental strategy and organizational development consulting firm based in the Washington, DC, area. ConservationStrategy's clients have included the Wege Foundation and other foundations with significant environmental grantmaking programs, the Federal Highway Administration, National Wildlife Federation, National Parks Conservation Association, The Wilderness Society, Restore America's Estuaries, the Apollo Alliance, Republicans For Environmental Protection, Water Advocates, The Aspen Institute, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment, the International Bottled Water Association, and the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.

Prior to founding ConservationStrategy in 2003, Mark spent over 20 years on the staff of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) - America's largest membership-based conservation organization - including nearly eight years as President and CEO. Prior to serving as CEO, Mark founded NWF's Great Lakes regional office - building it into NWF's largest regional office - and founded the University of Michigan's Environmental Law Clinic. Mark served on President Clinton's Trade & Environment Policy Committee, the Energy Future Coalition advisory board, and numerous U.S. Environmental Protection Agency advisory committees. Mark currently serves on the board of directors of the Audubon Naturalist Society, chairing its Conservation Committee, and serves on the board of the Potomac Conservancy. He is a graduate magna cum laude of the University of Michigan Law School where he currently serves as a Public Service Law Fellow. On the 30^th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, Mark was named one of 30 nationwide "Clean Water Heroes."

Mark Zankel (SNR 1994 MS)

Mark Zankel is the Deputy State Director for the New Hampshire Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. He has worked for the Conservancy for thirteen years, and has extensive experience in conservation planning, land protection, conservation easements, natural areas stewardship, government grants, and partnerships. Zankel is responsible for directing the Chapter's conservation strategies and programs, which are engaged in multiple endeavors related to conserving large-scale forest ecosystems, understanding and restoring freshwater aquatic systems, and protecting and restoring the Great Bay estuary.

Zankel serves on several boards and committees including the NH Forest Advisory Board, the NH Aquatic Resources Mitigation Steering Committee, the NH Landowner Incentive Program Steering Committee, and the NH Estuary Project Management Committee. He is the Board Chair of Five Rivers Conservation Trust, a regional land trust operating in central New Hampshire.

Zankel received a Master's of Science degree in Forest Ecology from the University of Michigan (1994), and an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College (1989). He lives in Hopkinton, New Hampshire with his wife and two children.