Staff

The Leelanau Conservancy staff and board is committed to protecting and preserving fragile and sensitive lands in Leelanau County.

The Leelanau Conservancy members, staff, board, and volunteers have worked tirelessly to protect the places you love and the character that makes the Leelanau Peninsula so unique. Our organization has earned a reputation as one of the premier land trusts in the country, with projects touching lives and saving land in each of Leelanau’s 11 townships. As of 2011, over 8,000 acres and 22 miles of shoreline/stream and river frontage have been protected. We have created 20 natural areas and preserves, including a spectacular bluff at Whaleback, fragile wetlands at the Narrows, and the 145-acre DeYoung Farm on Cedar Lake. We have worked with over 130 landowners to protect their family lands through conservation easements.

Brian Price

Executive Director

bprice@leelanauconservancy.org

Brian Price, Executive Director, has been the Leelanau Conservancy’s executive director since our inception in 1988. “Since the day he walked through the door when we were trying to get this off the ground, we knew he was the one who could execute our vision of protecting this beautiful peninsula” says Bobbie Collins, who founded [...]
Susan Price

Director of Finance and Administration

sprice@leelanauconservancy.org

Susan Price, Director of Finance and Administration, joined the organization soon after husband Brian came on board. She is known around the office as the one who keeps it all together. She handles all the financial reporting and forecasting and keeps everyone focused on what it will take financially to make our dreams a reality. [...]
Matt Heiman

Director of Land Programs

mheiman@leelanauconservancy.org

Matt Heiman, Director of Land Programs, has a passion for fishing that drives his desire to protect Leelanau’s most critical habitat and ecologically sensitive areas. His educational and professional experience in aquatic ecology helps him convey to landowners the value of their land from more than just a financial perspective. Matt joined the Conservancy in [...]
Tom Nelson

Director of Farm Programs

tnelson@leelanauconservancy.org

Tom Nelson, Director of Farm Programs, focuses on conserving farmland, in addition to working to protect other important landscapes. He understands that farmland preservation is an extraordinary tool for farm families today and to protect Leelanau County’s agricultural resource for future generations of farmers and all of us who will depend upon them. Tom spent [...]
Anne Shoup

Director of Charitable Giving

ashoup@leelanauconservancy.org

Anne Shoup joined our staff as the Director of Charitable Giving in February 2006. In this role, she helps steward the Conservancy’s many friendships and works to expand the organization’s ability to conserve the land, water and scenic character of Leelanau County. Anne grew up in Alaska, flying around the Last Frontier with her bush pilot [...]
Jenée Rowe

Director of Consevancy Owned Lands

jrowe@leelanauconservancy.org

Jenée Rowe, Director of Conservancy Owned Lands, joined our staff to grow and nurture the Volunteer Stewardship Network, manage Conservancy properties and assist Land Protection efforts. She worked for two years at Columbia University’s Biosphere 2 Center as an earth system science teaching assistant before returning to the Great Lakes bioregion to work with Inland [...]
Yarrow Wolfe

Conservation Easement Program Manager

ywolfe@leelanauconservancy.org

Yarrow Wolfe, Conservation Easement Program Manager is a native of Menominee, MI in the Upper Peninsula and joined our land protection staff in July 2008 as a land protection specialist. She worked previously in the Black Hills of Wyoming, where she managed a conservation district office for two and a half years and worked to [...]
Carolyn Faught

Communications Director

cfaught@leelanauconservancy.org

Carolyn Faught, Communications Director, lives in Omena with her husband, Dave, and two sons. In addition to working four days a week at the Conservancy, she also owns and runs Omena Cut Flowers, a U-Pick flower farm. Prior to joining the Conservancy in 2002, Carolyn spent 10 years at Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine, where she [...]
Leslee Spraggins

Leadership Giving Officer

231-256-9665 / lspraggins@leelanauconservancy.org

Leslee Spraggins joined the Leelanau Conservancy in January 2013 as Leadership Giving Officer, helping support all aspects of the Conservancy’s work. Leslee and her husband John recently moved to the Northport area after falling in love with the “land, water and scenic character” of the Leelanau Peninsula. She is ecstatic that she can work with [...]
Gayle Egeler

Membership and Outreach Coordinator

gayle@leelanauconservancy.org

Gayle Egeler has been a part of our staff since 1990. As our Membership and Outreach Coordinator, Gayle’s range of duties is extensive. As a Leelanau native, and a veteran of our staff, her knowledge is vast. She is the keeper of our database, the point person for membership questions, and the one who sees [...]
Sarah Cook

Assistant Land Steward

231-256-9665 / scook@leelanauconservancy.org

Sarah Cook joined our staff in the fall of 2012 to cultivate Conservancy volunteers and steward Natural Areas and Preserves. Sarah spent her formative years in Cedar exploring the woods and water of Leelanau County. She attended the University of Michigan where she received a B.A. in Program in the Environment, a minor in Geology, [...]
Nancy Thomas

Accounting and Administrative Assistant

nthomas@leelanauconservancy.org

Nancy Thomas joined the Conservancy as Accounting and Administrative Assistant in 2007. Nancy lives in Northport with her husband, Jim. She and her family have been coming to Leelanau County for years on vacation from Minnesota, and moved permanently to the area in 2007. They have two grown children who still reside in Minneapolis. Nancy [...]
Sara Michael

Charitable Giving Assistant

smichael@leelanauconservancy.org

Sara Michael joined the Conservancy in 2010 as Charitable Giving Assistant. She grew up in Traverse City and developed her love of Leelanau County by fishing with her father and exploring with her grandparents who live near Suttons Bay. Sara attended the University of Michigan where she earned a BS in Environmental Policy and Behavior [...]
Zane Schwaiger

Zane Schwaiger, Winter Communication Assistant, is working with Carolyn Faught and coordinating special 25th anniversary events. Zane grew up on land overlooking Good Harbor Bay, exploring the forests, meadows, and beaches around her childhood home. Thanks to generous neighbors, much of the land she loved as a child is now preserved by a Conservation Easement through [...]