Conservation Corps welcomes new board members

This summer and fall, four new board members were seated on our Board, bringing new energy, expertise and ideas to our organization. We welcome the following new members!

Christine R. Goepfert is the Upper Midwest Program Manager for the Minnesota Field Office of the National Parks Conservation Association. In her prior roles, she was a policy advocate on issues ranging from transportation policy to affordable housing.  Chris has also served as a volunteer board member with HOME Line and was the first board president of the African American Action Committee. 

Jennifer Goepfert teaches English at Stillwater Area High School and has a background in experiential outdoor education. When she is not in the classroom she leads students on camping, canoeing and backpacking expeditions. Jen is a graduate of Hamline University where she studied the impact of experiential outdoor education programming on urban youth.

Richard Leopold serves as Executive Director of the Dickinson County Conservation Board in northwest Iowa, after having served as Dickinson County’s first full-time naturalist in the 1990s. He most recently served as an assistant regional director with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and was director of the Iowa DNR from 2007-2010. Leopold is a past chair of the Iowa Conservation Education Council, a recipient of the Izaak Walton League of America’s National Honor Roll Award and has been recognized as a Henry Toll Fellow by the Council of State Governments.

Shawn R. Murphy is CEO of Tradition Creek, an outdoor recreation retailer in Saint Paul. He is an avid outdoorsman, scouter and volunteer. In 2010, he was appointed to the Department of Natural Resources Citizen Advisory Committee for Lake Vermilion State Park after working with the DNR to help acquire the property for Minnesota.