Michael C. Collins
Executive Director
mike@americanclimatepartners.org
540-672-2542
Michael Collins has been the Executive Director of The American Climate Partners since 2012, when he led the merger of Conserv with Public Policy Virginia, Inc. (PPV), a non-profit organization focused on the use of biomass for combined heat and power.
ACP’s StreamSweepers program was the recipient of the 2014 Sanctioned Event of the Year from the American Canoe Association and recipient of a Commendation from the Virginia General Assembly, sponsored by Virginia Delegate Ed Scott and State Senator Emmett Hanger in 2015.
With four colleagues Michael founded the forerunner of ACP, The Association of Conservation Real Estate – Conserv, in 2006. From 2004-2009, he led the creation of a new planning department for the Town of Orange, Virginia. As the Town’s first Community Development Director working with a great group of citizens, the Town of Orange completed its first Capital Improvements Plan, Proffer Policy, Joint Proffer Policy, and an American Planning Association (APA) award winning Comprehensive Plan leading to later adoption of a new Form-based Zoning Ordinance. For his conservation work with the Town, in 2005, Mike received the Chairman’s Award from the Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District. In 2009 Conserv partnered with the Rappahannock River Basin Commission and the Virginia Department of Forestry on several market-based conservation programs and projects.
In 2002, Mike and Dr. Nick Evans formed Virginia Groundwater, LLC, a science-based well drilling firm that continues today as ACP for Sustainable Groundwater (CSG). In 2000, he began working as a water resources consultant and led several hydrogeologic and EPA award winning source water protection studies. In 1998, he and his family opened Healthy Home, LLC, a sustainable goods general store in Charlottesville, to provide environmentally friendly construction supplies to the Charlottesville region. From 1990-1998, Mike worked as an Environmental Planner for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission in Charlottesville and led several groundwater, surface water, and sustainability projects and programs including the Rivanna River Basin Roundtable and the State of the Basin Report, the Interfaith Roundtable on Sustainability, and the Thomas Jefferson Sustainability Council and the Sustainability Accords of 1998. The Sustainability Council was selected as a Case Study of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development. He began his career as a tenured science teacher with Culpeper County Public Schools.
Mike is a former member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and a Class C contractor.
Jeff Waldon
Director, Rapidan Institute
Mr. Waldon began working with the American Climate Partners as the new Director of the Rapidan Institute in February of 2020. This new role encompasses development and strategic planning for this new component of the American Climate Partners. The Rapidan Institute will focus on watershed restoration through the Rapidan river valley.
Mr. Waldon also serves as managing partner for a new company focused on bioenergy and carbon capture and sequestration utilizing purpose-grown biomass and pyrolysis to produce bio-oil and biochar. Mr. Waldon serves as an advisor regarding land management, carbon, biomass energy, timber, and wildlife for clients throughout North America. Mr. Waldon has extensive experience in international forestry, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and the international carbon markets working on land conservation and climate change.
Mr. Waldon recently served as the Chief Technical Officer for Forest Carbon Offsets LLC a company devoted to the development of forest carbon offset projects in tropical forests and the United States. FCO developed the first Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) project in the tropical western hemisphere certified by both the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance and the Verified Carbon Standard. He also served as the first project manager for the Natural Bridge (Virginia) State Park conversion winning a project team award for Deal of the Year from The Land Report.
Mr. Waldon was formerly the founder and Executive Director of the Conservation Management Institute, a center within the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech and managed research centers at Virginia Tech for 23 years.
Mary Dennis
Administrative Manager
Mary Dennis lives Orange County, Virginia, where she and her husband have a small farm growing produce for market and seed stock for organic seed catalogs. For the previous 15 years, she worked in the nonprofit sector, most recently in administrative operations at the Pew Charitable Trusts and The Wilderness Society, both in Washington DC. In past lives, she also worked in client services for small technology companies in Northern Virginia and Ohio and, at the beginning of her career, managed an independent bookstore in Columbus, Ohio. She has a BA in English literature and creative writing from the Ohio State University, an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, and has visited all 50 states.
Kara Nichols
Program Director, Southern Climate Restoration Solutions
As American Climate Partners expands its work catalyzing climate-smart practices across the Southeastern United States, Kara collaborates with the leadership team to architect the organization’s new Southern Climate Restoration Solutions program, starting with the orchestration of a multi-year, $2m grant-funded initiative in collaboration with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) across 12 states. This project supports NRCS’s nationwide implementation of a new Conservation Evaluation and Monitoring Activity (CEMA), encouraging widespread adoption of conservation practices by providing financial assistance to producers for measuring soil organic carbon stocks before and after.
With a broad skill set cultivated from cross-sector leadership roles and diverse programs for social impact, Kara is drawn to visionary public/private partnerships aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and pioneering teams driving positive change. Her experience spans major international cities, including Washington, DC, New York, San Francisco, London, Tel Aviv, and Hong Kong. Despite her global reach, Kara remains rooted in her Southern Missouri origins and has thrived living on farms from her home state to Kenya and Colorado. Collaborating with teams in rural communities across 12 African countries, Colombia, and multiple counties in Colorado, she brings a unique perspective to her work at ACP.
Following an early career in corporate communications, brand strategy, and information technology design, Kara has dedicated the last 15 years exclusively to social impact initiatives. Notably, she led a global partnership at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, establishing and scaling a program for girls’ education and broadband technology implementation in rural high schools across East and West Africa.
She enjoys hiking, cycling, growing produce and flowers, and spending time outdoors, in the mountains and on rivers whenever possible, and she’s continually involved in design/transformation projects for home and office interior spaces.
Caleb Pellmann
Agriculture and Wildlife Habitat Services Manager, SoilKeepers
Virginia born and raised, Caleb joined ACP in Spring 2022. In his time at ACP, Caleb hopes to improve the resiliency of his home of Orange County by connecting residents with the local systems that maintain and improve the health of our area. Since graduating from William and Mary with a B.S. in Biology, Caleb has pursued fine woodworking, architectural salvage, and green design. At home Caleb and family cultivate a ¼ acre no-till vegetable and seed garden where they focus on soil health as the basis of nutrition. In his free time Caleb can be found canoeing on Mine Run, juggling or skateboarding.
Paul Hepler
Estate and Residential Lawn Services Manager, SoilKeepers
Paul joins us this year with experience in landscaping, lawn management, and a focus in organic gardening techniques. During his time working in this industry, he has owned and maintained his own business operation working with many residential homeowners and estate owners throughout Virginia. He is excited to join our ranks and learn more about using organic and regenerative techniques to restore our soils and maintain our climate.
Kyle Adams
Team Leader, SoilKeepers and Program Coordinator
Kyle joined ACP in September 2023. His career until that point honed his skills in landscape management, cultivation of plants, both edible and ornamental, soil and compost sciences, and operation of heavy machinery. He has worked with soil and plants from farm to table and back again. As a Virginia native, Kyle has a great appreciation for the beauty and symphony of our own ecosystem. As a road-trip enthusiast, he has gained appreciation of other ecosystems across the country, too. Out of great respect for the natural systems and cycles that have kept our ecosystem in balance for many years, Kyle is committed to a low-impact approach in landscape management and beyond. When he is not digging in the dirt or on the road, Kyle may be playing music, gardening, or enjoying time with his partner and their dogs at their Gordonsville home.
Justin Agee
Field Technician, SoilKeepers
Born and raised in a small town in Missouri, Justin has always had a love for the outdoors and adventure. This love turned into a passion for worldwide experience and knowledge, which led Justin on a journey of military service for nine years, during which he worked as a military intelligence electronic warfare specialist (electronics geek), providing him the opportunity to travel to many of the 50 states, as well as internationally to South Korea, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, and other undisclosed locations. Upon completion of service, Justin pursued his dream of becoming a fisheries biologist. He earned a BS in Biology with an emphasis in Fish and Wildlife Management from Augusta State University in Georgia in 2011, then found himself on many fishing boats in and around Alaska working for the National Marine Fisheries Service. After that experience, Justin’s persistent endeavor for knowledge, education, and adventure led him to Virginia, where he wants to spread the love, knowledge, and appreciation of the outdoors.
Pete Angersbach
Field Technician, SoilKeepers
Pete is a former Marine, hails from Michigan, and provides unbridled positive energy to SoilKeepers through his fieldwork. Though he’s old enough for a free National Park Pass, he keeps up with folks half his age. Pete brings a level of attention to his work born out of his concern for the wildlife, specifically the homes and places to roam animals need to thrive.
Wilder Meade
Project Manager, StreamSweepers
Wilder joined the StreamSweepers crew in 2019, first as a Sweeper, then as an On-Water Manager. In 2023, he is now the Project Manager, overseeing our clean-up program in Southwest Virginia. While at Eastside High School in Wise County, he volunteered in many extracurricular clean-up projects in Southwest Virginia. This year, he is responsible for a maintenance sweep of the Clinch River in Russell County and the assessment and clean-up of the river in Tazewell County.
Andy Satterwhite
On-Water Manager, StreamSweepers
Andy joined the crew in 2021. He is a graduate of Rappahannock Community College and is currently pursuing a degree in Biology from the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. He strives to promote good stewardship of our natural resources through community involvement and hard work.
Clinch River StreamSweepers 2023 Crew
Mary “Maddie” Gordon
Special Advisor, StreamSweepers
Maddie is the former project manager for our Clinch River Clean-up. Her passion for the Clinch River comes from growing up fishing the river with her granddad who grew up along the Clinch. Her granddad and his family depended on the river for many things including water and food. He shared with her his passion of being on the river from the time she was able to walk, and she still remembers the times they had together. Maddie says that having the opportunity to help clean and preserve the river her grandfather loved so much was an amazing opportunity.
Maddie worked for StreamSweepers from 2017 through 2022, leaving to devote more time to her family’s business ventures: Greystone Manor, an assisted living facility located in Castlewood, and Clinch Life Outfitters in St. Paul.
Richard “Buzz” Van Santvoord
Special Advisor, Virginia Wildlife Habitat Cooperative
Buzz has extensive experience in designing fulfillment systems and processes for direct to consumer as well as business to business programs. He has been a Vice-President of a multi-title $185mm catalog company and has more than 30 years of professional work experience in the land management, construction, civil engineering, retail management, and distribution and business operations industries.
He has also been a surveyor, a draftsman, a firefighter, a district retail store manager, a call center manager, and a fulfillment executive. He has supervised a 200 seat customer service center, managed 650,000 square feet of warehouses, stocked, sold, and inventoried every classical record in print, been airlifted by helicopter to fight a 300,000 acre forest fire along side a crew of Eskimos, drawn a property map of the summer home of Dan Fogelberg, and survived three days at the original Woodstock festival. He is an Eagle Scout and spent 15 years as a volunteer youth sports coach. He enjoys woodworking and golf and birding in his spare time.
Buzz is most effective at strategic planning, process analysis and improvement, as well as team building and motivation.
Myron Neuhauser
Special Advisor, Farm Fields and Grasslands
Myron Neuhaser has significant experience in farm management consulting, operations, agronomy, and urgent-operations management including animal care, maintenance and repair. Born and raised in South Dakota, he has worked throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern US regions.
Dan Paparella
Program Manager Emeritus, SoilKeepers
Dan joined ACP in early 2021 and spent two years developing and growing our SoilKeepers program into an innovative regenerative landscaping service. Following his dream to live near mountains and water, where there is also enough snow for skiing, he moved to Alaska in 2023, where he works on an organic farm and is pursuing an online graduate degree in Wildlife Management from Oregon State University.
Staff photos atop the Rapidan Mill courtesy of Evan Clinthorne.