Staff & Board of Directors

Coming soon!

Kirin Lattomus

Kirin discovered Rockbridge County in 2018 after making the decision to move back east from her time in Oregon and Washington. Her background in farming and working with educational non-profits led her to pursue a Master’s in Natural Resources at Virginia Tech where she is currently enrolled. Kirin’s conservation interests started with waste prevention, and her outside interests include hiking, camping, gardening, yoga, and various fields of artistic expression.

Kirin joined the RC staff in 2023 as our Communications Administrator, and writes our bi-weekly Eco-Calendar and our Mostly Monthly online zine. She also handles our external communications.

Bob Biersack, President

Bob Biersack served in several capacities on the staff of the Federal Election Commission from 1981 through 2011.  From 2011 to 2013 he was Senior Fellow at OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, OpenSecrets is the nation’s premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. He is an avid birder and helps his wife, Jan Smith, control invasive plants and encourage native diversity on their farm in the Denmark area.

Bob is the president of the Rockbridge Conservation board. He has been active in the land use planning and trails committees. He chairs the energy & climate committee, and is a member of the Events and the Advancement committees.

Shannon Spencer, Vice President

Shannon grew up in Rockbridge County, was one of the founding members of Imagine Rockbridge and was proud to receive a Conservation Award from RACC in 1999. She is a graduate of Guilford College (business management-BS), the University of Virginia (environmental planning-MP), and Yale University (environmental studies-MPhil). Shannon is an artist and freelance editor and writer. She previously worked as the Climate & Sustainability Planner at a small college in PA. Prior to joining the RC board, Shannon worked as the RC Communications Director. She currently serves on the Lexington Planning Commission and is a board member at Boxerwood Education Association. Shannon lives in Lexington with her husband, Rich Wallace. They have two sons: Tucker, a mechanical engineer and Jonah, a woodworker & committed Habitat and RARA volunteer.

Shannon currently serves as Rockbridge Conservation’s board vice president and is the chair of the advancement committee and the events committee. She also serves on the tech committee.

Megan Hess, Treasurer

Megan is an associate professor of accounting at Washington and Lee University. She teaches a variety of courses in the areas of accounting, ethics, and corporate sustainability. Prior to starting her doctoral studies at UVA, Megan spent twelve years in industry, most recently with Deloitte where she investigated financial statement fraud. She also has an MBA from Texas A&M University and a BA from Washington & Lee University. Megan’s research focuses on the intersection of ethics and accounting, exploring topics such as fraud risk management, ethical leadership, whistleblowing, and sustainability accounting. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors for Stuart Hall School and is the Board Treasurer and Bookkeeper for Hoofbeats Therapeutic Riding. Her previous service includes work with Rockbridge Area Habitat for Humanity and Grace Episcopal Church.

Megan joined the Rockbridge Conservation board in 2023. She serves as the board treasurer, chairs the finance committee, and serves on the advancement committee.

Sally Nunneley, Secretary

Sally grew up in Alexandria, VA, and Minneapolis, MN, graduated from Mount Holyoke College and the University of Minnesota Medical School, then trained in Aerospace Medicine. She did research in environmental physiology for the US Air Force for 25 years, later becoming Editor-in-Chief of a monthly medical journal. She moved to Rockbridge in 2003 with her horse and two dogs. She has been an enthusiastic member of Rockbridge Conservation since 2005 and has worked on its quarterly newsletter since 2010.

Sally is currently a member of the RC Board and secretary for the organization. She is the editor of Rockbridge Conservation’s quarterly Ridge and River News.

Astrika Adams

Astrika is an environmental attorney with the law firm Beveridge & Diamond. She represents clients with project development and transactions implicating environmental laws, regulations, and policies. She helps clients navigate complex commercial transactions, including mergers & acquisitions, financing agreements, service agreements, and more. In addition, she counsels clients on regulatory compliance.

Before joining Beveridge & Diamond, Astrika served as Assistant Chief Counsel for Environmental Law and Policy at the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, an independent federal government office that represents the interests of small businesses, non-profits, and small governments. Astrika has taught as an adjunct law professor at Penn State University Dickinson School of Law and at Washington & Lee University School of Law, as well as as a Lecturer in Law at North Carolina State University, where she taught coursework in Environmental Law and Mergers and Acquisitions.

Astrika lives in Lexington with her husband Jake Adams, a native of Rockbridge County and Natural Bridge, and their son Michael. In addition to her service on RC, she is active with St. Patrick Catholic Church.

Astrika joined the Rockbridge Conservation board in 2024.

David Agnor

David is one of the leads on the annual community cleanup and serves on the watershed committee.

more to come!

Sam Allen

Sam lives and works in Lexington.  He works at VMI where he teaches economics and does research on a variety of microeconomics topics, including economic history and individual behavior.  Sam and his wife, Amy, have two teenage children. Sam has a range of interests, but especially values fresh air, mindful use of resources, and supporting community.

Sam is a member of the Trails Committee and serves as the Green Infrastructure liaison for the RC board.

Bonnie Bernstein

Bonnie moved to Lexington in 2005. After briefly volunteering at Boxerwood, she developed and directed the nature center’s Early Education program from 2005-2011 and now serves on the executive board for the Boxerwood Educational Foundation, which subsidizes nature education programs for low-income schools and families. She is a Virginia Master Naturalist, member of Friends of the Chessie Trail and Friends of Woods Creek, publicist for the Rockbridge Bird Club, and organizes nest monitoring along bluebird trails in Rockbridge County.

Bonnie is also a letterpress printer affiliated with the Book Arts Program at Virginia Center for the Book, and continues to write and produce graphic art for local nonprofits.

She serves on RC’s Waste Prevention and Trails and Land Stewardship committees, and assists with communications.

Brian Jenkins

Brian grew up in Lexington and graduated from LHS. He got his degree in nursing from ______. He returned in 2007 as many do. Brian feels strongly about his home county, “Rockbridge County is a wonderful place to live and working with RC is a great way to help preserve the natural beauty and uniqueness that make this county special.” Brian works as a RN at Carilion Rockbridge Community Hospital. He lives on a farm in Kerr’s Creek with his wife Leigh and son Cooper.

Brian joined the Rockbridge Conservation board in ____. He serves on ____.

Jim Manley

Jim has a BA in Urban Geography & Public Policy from North Carolina State University and the University of Maryland. He served in the US Army as a crypt-analyst and then worked with a regional planning council in Maryland working on a US Census mapping project as well as a satellite land use study. He spent the bulk of his career as the owner of a software business, specializing in device connections, database processing, remote troubleshooting and more.

Jim has served on the Rockbridge Conservation board since ____. He serves as the board liaison to the executive committee. He is also a member of the technology committee.

Lee Merrill

Lee is an architect who has been designing residential and commercial projects throughout Lexington/Rockbridge County and other Virginia communities since 1976.  Raised in California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, Merrill earned BA and Master of Architecture and Urban Planning at Princeton University’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Prior to moving to Lexington, Lee was the City of Annapolis, MD’s Urban Designer where he developed scores of alternate site plan studies and reviews for municipal agencies and proposed private sector projects.

Residing in Rockbridge County, Va. Since 1977.  In 1980 Lee was hired by Virginia’s Energy Division in Richmond to create that agency’s Solar Design Assistance Program.  As the Virginia Passive Solar Design Consultant until 1983, Lee created and administered the first educational programs advocating passive solar energy and efficient design for designers and builders throughout the Virginia housing industry and addressed scores of public and private sector audiences.

Merrill has served the Lexington and Rockbridge community as a trustee of Historic Lexington Foundation, a board member of Rockbridge Habitat for Humanity, he was an originating member of the Lexington Tree Committee (now a Lexington City Board).

Lee is a current board member and past president of Rockbridge Conservation. He serves on the land use planning committee.

Jane Stewart

Jane is the director of sustainability at Washington and Lee University, where she oversees a wide array of campus sustainability projects with a particular focus on greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts. She serves as co-chair of W&L’s University Sustainability Committee and is an active member of national sustainability and climate action networks. She is a graduate of Columbia University and holds professional certifications in Energy Innovation and Emerging Technologies and Energy Auditing. Jane lives in Lexington with her husband, three children, and one beagle. She is grateful every day for Rockbridge County’s natural beauty and wonderful community.

Jane joined the Rockbridge Conservation board in ____. She serves as the chair of the nominating committee.

Jane serves as the Nominating Committee chair.

Gretchen Sukow

Gretchen, born and raised in New Orleans, LA received a BA in Communications from Loyola University of New Orleans and an MSW from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.   Prior to starting her family, she was a clinical social worker for eight years.  Since returning to work after her youngest child entered kindergarten, she has worked as a preschool teacher in several local schools and is currently employed at Woods Creek Montessori. Gretchen has been a supporter of Rockbridge Conservation since moving to the area in the early 2000s.

Gretchen and her husband, David, have been married for 26 years.  They have two children; Carl, a high school teacher in Florida, and Ingrid, a student at UVA.

Gretchen serves on the Watershed Committee and the Annual Meeting Committee.

Melody Tennant

Melody moved to Rockbridge County 15 years ago. She came from Stockton, Calif., where she worked for 40 years in education and administration at a 47,000-student school district.  In those years she created dance classes and a Conflict Management Program; was Student Activities Director; was awarded a Healthy Start Grant and built and ran a Health Center on a 3,000-student high school; and was head counselor of that high school. She is married to Butch Snow and has one son and one granddaughter as well as stepchildren and grandchildren. She is interested and active in promoting health and good nutrition as well as being a steward of our environment.

Melody serves as the chair of the Waste Prevention Committee. She is also serving on the Annual Meeting Committee.

Craig Vinecombe

Craig works for the Rockbridge Area Health Center as a marketing and development associate. He graduated from Keene State College with a BA in Communications. He thru-hiked the AT in 2015. In addition to serving on the Rockbridge Conservation board, he is also on the Boxerwood Board. He lives in Fairfield with his wife.

Craig joined the Rockbridge Conservation board in ____ and he serves as the chair of the Technology committee.

Charles Winder

Charles is a professor of Biology at Washington & Lee University. He attended UNC Asheville for his undergrad degree in biology and the University of Tennessee for his PhD in Botany. He lives in Lexington with his family.

Charles joined the Rockbridge Conservation board in ____. He serves on the Advancement committee.

Chris Wise

Chris grew up in Lexington, went on to get a degree in Landscape Horticulture and then worked as an agricultural extension agent on the North Carolina Outer Banks before moving back to Rockbridge.  He worked at Washington and Lee as a landscape and recycling manager and also supported various sustainability initiatives there. He served as a county planning commission member and is presently active in various local trail groups, including Friends of Brushy Hills, Friends of the Chessie Trail, and Rockbridge Outdoors.  He is the chair of Rockbridge Conservation’s Trails Committee and is very involved with the Land Use Committee.

Sandra Stuart

Sandra is involved with the watershed committee, Moore’s Creek reservoir, Source Water Protection Zone designation, Friends of Woods Creek, and the Maury River Alliance.

Check back again for more information about Sandra’s work with Rockbridge Conservation

John Pancake

Check back again for information about John’s work with Rockbridge Conservation