Scott Anderegg
Scott Anderegg is a partner at the Minneapolis law firm of Faegre & Benson LLP, where he practices in commercial real estate law and is the head of Faegre & Benson's Real Estate Group. He earned a B.B.A. and J.D. from the University of Iowa, and lives in Edina, Minnesota, with his wife and two children. Scott has canoed in the Boundary Waters and Quetico wilderness areas for many years, and now regularly includes his children on those trips. He joined the Friends’ board in 2005, and serves on its Policy and Education Committees.

Paul Aslanian -- Treasurer
Paul Aslanian retired in 2004 as chief financial officer from Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Penn. Prior to Swarthmore, Paul served for 21 years as chief financial officer at Macalester College in St. Paul. He is an economist by training. Active in environmental matters since his college days, Paul joined the Friends’ board in 2003 and is its current Treasurer. He has been paddling in BWCAW and Quetico Provincial Park for many years, and owns a cabin on Clearwater Lake on the Gunflint Trail.

Jeff Evans -- Secretary
Jeff Evans is a Certified Public Accountant and teaches accounting at Macalester College in St. Paul. He served on the Friends’ board from 1985 until 2003. Having rejoined the Friends’ board in 2005, Jeff serves as the organization’s secretary. Jeff earned his B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, and lives in St. Paul. He describes the BWCAW as his “favorite place on earth."

Pete Fleming
Pete Fleming, a chemist by training, retired in 2004 after a 36 year career at 3M in primarily technical management. Pete has been an active volunteer with the Friends, serving on the Development Committee as well as working on special projects to inventory roadless areas in the Superior National Forest and improve relations with Ely outfitters. He is a volunteer naturalist at the Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul and a former member of the city council and planning commission in Woodbury. He holds a BS degree in chemistry from Union College in New York and a Ph.D in inorganic chemistry from Iowa State. Pete is the father of five grown children and lives in Woodbury with his wife, Barbara.

Jerry Greenberg
Jerry Greenberg is Vice President of Regional Conservation for The Wilderness Society, and in that role he oversees wilderness and other land protection campaigns in the organization’s 14 field offices. A former TWS Vice President of Communications, Jerry joined the society 13 years ago, after working as a public radio reporter in Los Angeles, and as a forester for the U.S. Forest Service in New Mexico and for a timber company in Georgia. He has a Master of Forestry degree from Duke University. Jerry lives in Madison, WI with his wife, Diana, and son, Alex.

Steve Hoffman
Steve Hoffman is currently Professor and Chair of the Political Science Department at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul. and was Director of their Environmental Studies Program 1992 to 2004. Steve holds a Ph.D. in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware. His many publications include Perspectives on Minnesota Government and Politics (Forthcoming, 2007. Editor). His professional involvements include helping arrange the 2006 Annual Meetings of the American Society of Environmental Historians/Forest History Society: Rivers Run Through Them: Landscapes in Environmental History. Steve has served on several boards including Superior Studies at Wolf Ridge (1999-2004), Minnesotans for An Energy-Efficient Environment (now Fresh Energy; Director and Chair, 1994-2003), and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (Director and Vice Chair, 1993 to 2000). Steve has served on the Friends Education & Outreach Committee for the past several years (except last year when he was in New Zealand) as well. Steve resides in the Twin Cities.

Lynn MacLean
Lynn MacLean is a family medicine physician and lives in Duluth, Minn. She joined the Friends’ board in 2005, and has been paddling in the BWCAW since she moved to northeastern Minnesota in 1990. She joined the Friends’ board because she is “strongly interested in helping maintain the BWCAW as a pristine wilderness for all to enjoy.” Lynn earned her B.A. from Colby College and her M.D. from the University of Texas at Houston.

Jon Nelson
Jon Nelson, a resident of Duluth, Minn., first joined the Friends' board in 1990 and became an honorary member in 2004. He is the executive director of Residential Services of Northeastern Minnesota, a non-profit organization which helps people with disabilities live in the community. Jon's volunteer activities include church, coaching basketball, and 4-H. Jon earned his B.S. in Parks, Recreation and Community Education.

Nicole Rom
Nicole Rom is the Executive Director of the Will Steger Foundation where she works to slow global warming. Prior to working for WSF, Nicole managed the education programs for the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes office in Ann Arbor, MI, where she developed and directed educational programming in the Midwest. Nicole also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Kazakhstan, speaks Russian, and has traveled extensivley throughout the BWCAW and the world. She received her MS in Natural Resource Policy and Behavior from the School of Natural Resources & Environment at the University of Michigan and a BA in Environmental Studies and Education from Bates College in Maine. Nicole is also an outdoor enthusiast and grew up canoeing and camping in the BWCAW since, afterall, she is a Rom!

Carolyn Sampson -- Chair
Carolyn Sampson joined the Friends’ board in 2003 and serves as its Chair. She is the Environmental Manager for the Technical Division of General Mills in Golden Valley, Minn. and occasionally serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota. Outside of work, Carolyn is active in fundraising efforts for breast cancer research and the Fridley (Minn.) Sterling Alumni Choir. Carolyn has strong family ties to the Ely area and counts the Hegman Lake chain as her favorite place in the Boundary Waters to go for a quick wilderness “refresher.” Carolyn, who lives in Golden Valley with her partner, earned several degrees from the University of Minnesota, including a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering.

Betsy Schmiesing -- Vice Chair
Betsy Schmiesing is a partner at the Minneapolis law firm of Faegre & Benson LLP, where she practices environmental and regulatory law. Betsy earned her B.S. in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin and her J.D. at the University of Chicago. Betsy lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her family. She has visited the BWCAW throughout her life and looks forward to introducing her children to the BWCAW as soon as they can carry a pack. Betsy returned to the Board in 2007 and serves as Vice Chair and Chair of the Policy Committee.

Kris Wegerson
Kris Wegerson is a family practice physician in Duluth, Minn. She serves on the board of Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness (NMW), and is an advisor to the Outdoor Program at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Kris, who joined the Friends’ board in 2003, is eager to protect wilderness areas and keep them a place to retreat from the activity of everyday life. She lives in Duluth with husband and two children. Kris holds a B.A. and B.S. from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and a M.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Barbara West
Barbara West has been superintendent of Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico since May 2005, but is better known in Minnesota for her previous 10 years as superintendent of Voyageurs National Park. Before that posting she served in the Interior Department as special assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs and to the Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks; she was also director of research for the Navajo Reservation’s Shiprock Research Center in New Mexico. She holds an AB degree in Far Eastern language and civilizations from the University of Chicago, and a master's degree in public affairs from the University of Texas, LBJ School of Public Affairs. Barbara lives at Chaco with her husband, Darrell Knuffke.

Honorary Board Members

Richard Flint
Richard Flint, an attorney at Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett law firm in Minneapolis, served on the Friends’ board from 1992 until 2005, when he became an honorary member. Richard, whose work emphasis is business law, mergers, and acquisitions, lives in Wayzata, Minn. with his wife. In addition to formerly serving as chair of the North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, Richard is one of the founding members of the Friends and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. He holds a B.A. from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and a J.D. from Northwestern University.

Herb Johnson
Herb Johnson served on the Friends’ board from 1985 to 2001, when he became an honorary member. Herb served as the organization’s chair from 1985-1990, and lives in Minneapolis with his wife.

Becky Rom
Becky Rom is a lawyer at the Minneapolis law firm, Faegre & Benson, where she practices commercial real estate law. Becky, who joined the Friends’ board in 1985 and became an honorary member in 2003, lives in Edina, Minn. with her husband. She earned her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and her J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law. Becky is a member of the Executive Committee of the Governing Council at The Wilderness Society, and she serves on the board of Milkweed Editions and the Alaska Coalition of Minnesota.

Advisory Council

Lee Frelich
Lee E. Frelich (Ph.D., Forestry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1986) is Director of the University of Minnesota Center for Hardwood Ecology, St.Paul, and Senior Member of the Graduate Faculty, in the Natural Resources Science and Management, Ecology, and Conservation Biology programs. He teaches a course on the ecology of fires and other disturbances in forests. Frelich is the author of 60 scientific publications on forest ecology, and has been listed among the top 1% of all scientists in the world by the Science Citation Index in the Ecology and Environment category. Frelich and graduate students have appeared more than 100 times in the news media including such venues as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CBS Radio Osgood Files, public radio and TV, Newsweek and National Geographic. Frelich is also Vice President of the Eastern Native Tree Society, and Chair of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Commissioners Advisory Committee on Natural Areas and Nongame Wildlife. Current research interests include: the big blowdown of July 4th, 1999 in the BWCAW, invasion by exotic earthworms in forests, impacts of deer browsing in forests, and regional patterns of tree height in the eastern U.S.

Darrell Knuffke
Darrell Knuffke joined the Friends’ board in 2000. Until his 2004 retirement, he was a senior writer with The Wilderness Society where he had worked since 1985 serving as a regional director in Denver for 10 years and vice president for regional conservation for five years. He temorarily resigned from the Friend's board from October 2006 until November 2007 to be our interim Policy Director. Darrell studied journalism at the University of Denver. He serves on the board of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and is a past board member of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). Darrell, who lives in Nageezi, New Mexico with his wife, describes his favorite get-away in the Quetico-Superior Ecosystem as "just about anywhere with water, pine trees, loons, and the prospect of a seeing a wolf."

Steve Piragis
Steve Piragis and his wife Nancy are owners of Piragis Northwoods Company in Ely. Steve came to Ely in 1975 as a lake ecologist to work for the U.S. EPA on the Shagawa Lake Project. He subsequently worked for the DNR and taught for two years at Vermilion Community College in the Biology Department. Steve opened his business in 1979 specializing in alternative energy products and quickly evolved the business into a canoe retail and outfitting business. Steve has been a board member of Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness and is a current board member of Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. Steve is an avid birder and he guides sea kayak trips for Worldwide Paddling Adventures into diverse ecosystems from Greenland to France and Vietnam. The Quetico Superior country remains his favorite to paddle, photograph, fish and recreate with friends.