PURPOSE: The board of directors of the North Central Florida Renewable RC&D Council must provide oversight and review the decisions of the Steering Committee no later than at its November annual meeting. Board members are encouraged to attend Steering Committee meetings and are given a single vote at such meetings. They are asked to assist in fundraising via signed letters to funding entities.

MEMBERSHIP: Board members are elected from the general membership at the annual meeting in November. Term limits are not in place for these positions in 2010.

MEETINGS: The board meets officially once a year in November. Special meetings may be called by the chairman.

The Council’s 2010 board of directors and affiliations are presented below. The first four individuals are officers of the board.

1. Mark Van Soestbergen has served as a voting member since 2005 and was elected chairman in September, 2010. Mark owns ICBE – International Carbon Bank and Exchange in Gainesville as well as Carbon Solutions. Mark is a nationally recognized lecturer on climate change adaptation strategies, provides carbon footprint training for members of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) and served as a co-chair at EPA’s 16th and 17th Annual International Emissions Inventory Conference. Mark replaced Chris Etherton who served for two ground-breakng years.

2. Dr. John Chamberlain has served as vice chairman since 2006 and was re-elected in September, 2010.  John replaced Don Post as interim treasurer at the March, 2011, meeting. John teaches humanities at Santa Fe College and is chairman of the Alachua County Soil and Water Conservation District Board, an elected position. He is also the Chairman of the Association of Florida Conservation Districts as of 2010.

3. Don Post is a former faculty member in the School of Forest Resouces and Conservation at the UF. Don has grown timber in Alachua County for many years and provides office space for agroforestry activities and the Council on Peggy Road in western Alachua County.

4. Brian Conlin, secretary of the board, is a PhD candidate in Food and Resource Economics at UF. He works as well for Bio-Resource Management in Gainesville. He replaced Dr. Matt Langholtz who accepted a new position in Oak Ridge working on biomass issues. We will miss Matt dearly.

5. Levin Gaston serves on the Steering Committee and is the COO of Wood Resource Recovery of Gainesville, FL. Levin’s company is a major player in the supply of urban tree debris for the future  Gainesville Regional Energy Center (GREC).

6. Phil Parker is the former senior resource manager for the Florida Timberlands of a major forest products company.  Various other duties include:  chairman of the State Environmental Committee for the Florida Forestry Association (current); board of directors of the Florida Forestry Association (current); and board of directors of the Florida Land Council (current).

7.  Bob Siegal, former director of Lakeland Utility and is a registered engineer. Bob has provided the Council with important project development skills in such areas as wood gasification.

8. Larry Watson, owner of Watson Construction, Newberry, Florida. Larry is Alachua County’s leader in LEED for recycling of construction debris. Larry’s construction headquarters are in Newberry and his landfill is in Archer.

9. The ninth board of director’s position was filled at the November annual meeting  with the election of Salatheia Brown, the Bradford County rep for the last two years.