Dan serves as the Treasurer of CBI, bringing over two decades of experience as a financial leader and CFO across multiple industries including technology, financial services and hospitality. With a proven track record in financial strategy, Dan ensures fiscal discipline and transparency in all aspects of the organization’s operations. Having led multiple organizations through high growth stages and multiple exits, Dan is committed to supporting CBI’s mission of protecting natural treasures for future generations.
Laura Jean (Jean or Lj) Palmer-Moloney is intrigued by the chaos of systems and the often tangled complexity of human-environment interaction. With two PhDs, Palmer-Moloney has experience across the scientific, academic, nonprofit, policy, and environmental communities, recruited often to give meaning and context to highly technical material and to serve as a go-between for engineers and scientists, policy analysts, and decision-makers. She brings 30+ years of experience and expertise in education (K-16), problem-based learning, and environmental sustainability and systems assessment (water-food-energy nexus).
Living in coastal North Carolina, she is on the faculty at East Carolina University and teaches undergraduate and graduate physical geography courses. In addition to teaching, Palmer-Moloney is founder of VTT, a science consulting business supporting ecosystem health and blue economy innovation.
In addition to numerous academic appointments, she served in the Department of Defense as Senior Advisor on Water – Helmand Province, Afghanistan (2011-2012) and as a Senior Research Geographer with the US Army Corps of Engineers/Geospatial Research Lab and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
As a research scientist, hydrogeographer, and educator with experience and expertise in coastal resources management, her values and core beliefs are reflected in the work she does.
As Chairman of the Board, Melinda (Mindy) Weck brings a wealth of non-profit and nature education expertise to the CBI board of directors. Currently, she manages Business Development and Strategy at Hundzsoil, a pioneering firm specializing in an organic recycled content soil amendment that reduces agricultural water use by up to fifty percent.
Mindy has a decade-long legacy with the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement, where she founded the ongoing Synapse School Nature Days Program and turned the Nature Awareness Department into a primary revenue source. Her leadership secured key funding and notable partnerships, including the recruitment of Grammy-winner Macy Gray for the annual Rally for Riekes fundraiser. Additionally, her passion for human connection and environmental education has extended to her work with both the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, WA and The HIll School in Middleburg, VA.
Robin Jones is passionate about conservation and complements the CBI team’s expertise, bringing to the organization her deep experience in starting, managing, and growing technology startup companies. She has held leadership roles across a broad array of functions, including marketing, partner/developer ecosystems, IP licensing, sales operations, HR & finance, product & project management, and fundraising. Among her various business experiences, she was Senior VP Marketing & Business Development at Socrata, a platform for publishing, managing, and analyzing government open data. After Esri acquired a company called Geologi for which she served as Chief Operations Officer, she founded and grew the geospatial developer business unit at Esri.
Robin has an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and a BS in Biological Sciences from Stanford. She serves on the board of directors of TiE Oregon Foundation, is a mentor for several Pacific Northwest-based entrepreneurs, and an active volunteer with several social justice organizations. She resides in Portland, Oregon, and when she’s not tied to her desk she enjoys knitting, trail running, gardening, hiking, and spending time with her family and pets.
Jun Onaka is principal of the firm Onaka Planning & Economics in La Jolla, California. Jun has a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the University of California at Los Angeles and an A.B. degree in Mathematics and Economics from Harvard University. He has over 25 years’ experience in conducting planning and economic studies, including socioeconomic impact and growth inducement studies, economic and fiscal impact analyses, and financing plans and feasibility studies for infrastructure improvements, public services, and habitat conservation. CBI Board member since 2002.
Marilyn Veek earned a B.S. in Food Technology from Oregon State University and an M.S. in Food Science from University of California, Davis. She is retired from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where she worked in field investigations, epidemiological operations, and international programs. CBI board member since 2005.
Terri Nopp is the founder of Online Newsroom, a PR agency focused on helping organizations evolve their communications to meet the needs and demands of today’s public. Over the past 2 decades Terri has built a reputation for her entrepreneurial spirit and innovative communication expertise, working with start-ups to some of the world’s leading tech and consumer brands. She has developed PR campaigns for leading technology companies such as Microsoft, WebTrends, Tripwire and Autodesk.
Prior to founding Online Newsroom, Terri was the Deputy General Manager at Edelman Portland where she ran the office operations and was also a global customer relationship manager for Autodesk. Prior to Edelman, Terri started TNT Communication, a boutique high tech PR agency and spent the first 8 years of her career driving PR strategies for a variety of Microsoft products, including Office, Outlook, Windows and Visual Studio.
Terri is an active outdoorswoman and enjoys spending time with her husband Mike and 2 dogs at their Yurt in the Columbia gorge.
John Vankat earned an A.B. in biology from Carleton College and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in botany from the University of California, Davis. He taught and researched plant ecology at Miami University for 31 years, before moving to Flagstaff, Arizona, where he continued research as a special projects ecologist with Grand Canyon National Park followed by senior research ecologist at Northern Arizona University. John has published in such journals as Conservation Biology, Ecology, Forest Ecology and Management, Journal of Vegetation Science, Ecological Modelling, and Landscape Ecology. Past professional activities included helping to start and later chairing the Vegetation Section of the Ecological Society of America and the North American Section of the International Association for Vegetation Science. John served on the CBI Board from 2006 to 2016.
David Johns earned degrees in law and political science from Columbia University. He currently teaches politics and law in the School of Government at Portland State University. David is a co-founder of The Wildlands Project and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiatives, both NGOs that rely heavily on science in shaping conservation goals. David has written extensively on the role of science in conservation and the politics of the conservation movement. CBI Board member since 1997.
Ed Schoaps is a senior strategic communications strategist with experience with for-profit businesses, government agencies and nonprofits.
Schoaps brings a strong track record of delivering strategic communications and public engagement for complex projects and issues. He builds understanding and goodwill among internal and external stakeholders and the public to support key business strategies, worthy causes and initiatives. He’s an expert at translating complex issues into simple language and engaging presentations. And he builds positive relationships through personal outreach to key stakeholder audiences.
Schoaps delivers award-winning, quality, timely public relations programs and initiatives for private businesses and leading government agencies. He brings a strong human element to communications and outreach through traditional, digital and social media engagement.
Schoaps led the public involvement and outreach team for Oregon’s 10-year, $1.3 billion bridge program, in which the Oregon Department of Transportation rebuilt hundreds of highway bridges statewide through 2014. He also led strategic messaging and stakeholder outreach for the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay and the CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington.
Schoaps has supervised, managed and delivered public affairs, communications, media relations, public engagement and online communications for the Oregon highway, public transit, aeronautics, motor vehicles, motor carrier, state parks, economic development and energy departments. He was the chief public information officer for the Oregon Department of Energy’s emergency response team for the Trojan nuclear plant. As a staff member of the Oregon Transportation Initiative Steering Committee, he helped Gov. John Kitzhaber develop new investment strategies for Oregon’s aging highway system.
He serves on nonprofit boards and led a $1 million capital campaign for a community nonprofit in his hometown of Salem, Ore.
Specialties: Public affairs and intergovernmental relations, policy development and strategic communications, public and stakeholder engagement, digital and social media engagement, editorial and media relations, special events, publicity and marketing, legislative relations, testimony and speech writing, crisis and issues management, project management and television, radio and video production for business, government and non-profits.