Board
Board of Directors
Dr. Thomas Fisher is widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on the ecology and water-quality of the Choptank River, as well as on all of our local tributaries including the Miles and Wye Rivers. Tom received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 and his doctorate from Duke University in 1975 in Biological Oceanography. After two post-doctoral appointments, he joined the faculty of the Horn Point Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in 1978, where he is now a full professor. Dr. Fisher specializes in terrestrial and atmospheric nutrients and how they affect aquatic systems, nutrient recycling, and primary production of aquatic systems. He has been studying the Choptank River since 1979 and has authored dozens of peer reviewed scientific publications.
Nick Carter spent three decades as a biologist and aquatic scientist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and has an intimate familiarity with the Choptank River. His writings have been influential on a number of significant projects including the restoration of Poplar Island. He lives in Denton, actively patrols the upper Choptank, and is a member of the Caroline County Critical Areas Commission.
Brice Gamber is a graduate of Washington & Lee University, retired as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of The Chubb Insurance Group. He lives on Irish Creek where he has been active in the Choptank River watershed as a member of the Talbot County Creekwatchers and served as President during 2009 and 2010. Brice is also Vice Chair of the Coastal and Watershed Resources Advisory Committee (CWRAC) to the Department of Natural Resources.
Alice Bower is a graduate of Bridgewater College and a noted philanthropist in the mid shore area. In 2002 she founded and began serving as President of The Women & Girls Fund. Alice has served on the Board of Directors of and is currently actively involved in the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. She is the recipient of the distinguished Clara Barton Award for 2010, bestowed by the American Red Cross on women of distinction on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Alice serves as Co-Director of Development for Midshore RIVERKEEPER® Conservancy.
Jeff Horstman is a graduate of Washington College in Chestertown where his mother, Nina Houghton, remains an active member of the college’s Board of Directors. Jeff spent much of his boyhood growing up on the Wye River on the 1500 acres of land that his family later donated to the Aspen Institute and the University of Maryland’s Wye Research Center. He is an entrepreneur and recently sold a pension financial management company. Jeff has significant environmental and philanthropic experience and has served on a number of boards. For decades his family has provided leadership as stewards for Wye River conservation efforts. Jeff serves also as Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy’s Co-Director of Development.
Tim Junkin is the founder and Executive Director of CREB Conservancy, now Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy. He is an attorney with thirty years of experience as a trial lawyer and advocate of civil rights, an award winning writer with three books under publication (all centered around the Choptank River-Eastern Bay area), and a teacher. His books, in chronological order, are The Waterman, Good Counsel, and Bloodsworth. He has also published numerous magazine and newspaper articles. He co-founded and for two decades served as the managing partner of a private law firm in Washington D.C. Tim spent much of his boyhood in Talbot County, graduating from Easton High School in 1969. He obtained a B.A. degree, cum laude, from the University of Maryland in 1973, and completed his law studies at Georgetown University Law Center in 1977, where he graduated as a Law Fellow. He has taught at American University, Georgetown University Law Center, Harvard University Law School, and the Bethesda Writer’s Center. He was recognized by American University in 1984 as the year’s outstanding adjunct professor. Tim established the Conservancy in the autumn of 2008 and has served as its direction since that time.
John Kelly is a graduate of Washington College in Chestertown, President of Kelly Benefit Strategies (KBS), and Chief Innovation & Strategic Planning Officer of Kelly & Associates Insurance Group, Inc., the parent company of KBS. John is also a cycling enthusiast, and promotes cycling by sponsoring a regional club and a men’s professional team, all in an effort to bring awareness to health and wellness as the primary solution to America’s healthcare challenges. He is an active board member of the Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital, a member of the University of Maryland School of Medicine Board of Visitors, and serves as an elder and Bible teacher at Grace Fellowship Church. John is the son of former Maryland State Senator Francis X. Kelly.
Sherrie Petermann is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a successful businesswoman in Easton, Maryland where she is the principal of an interior design firm. She has been active on school boards and committees in the area for two decades. She served as a trustee on the Academy of the Arts Board of Directors in Easton and for many years was actively involved with The Country School.
Al Sikes’ career has spanned law, business, and government. Prior to joining the federal government in 1986, he sold a broadcast company that he began in 1978. On the federal government level, Mr. Sikes held the post of Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in President George H. W. Bush’s administration. From 1986 to 1989 he served in President Reagan’s administration as the head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the Commerce Department. Mr. Sikes’ career began in his home state of Missouri where he served in state government as an Assistant Attorney General and later headed the Missouri Department of Consumer Affairs, Regulation, and Licensing. He is the founder of the Reading Excellence and Discovery Foundation (REA D), which uses a distinctive combination of personal and direct instruction in teaching at-risk children to read at grade level. Mr. Sikes, who chaired REA D and remains on its board, was recognized for this work by the Manhattan Institute in 2004 as one of the nation’s foremost social entrepreneurs. Al presently divides his time between business consulting and board work. He chairs the Board of Trustees of The Trinity Forum and serves on the Board of Directors of the Easton YMCA and the Academy of the Arts.
John Thomas (J.T.) Smith is retired from a distinguished law career in which he worked in both the public and private sectors, and for several decades was a partner with the firm of Covington & Burling LLP , specializing in U.S. and international environmental law. His public service included working as Executive Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General and to the U.S. Secretary of Defense. He is a Yale University and Law School graduate, has taught as an adjunct professor, and has authored many legal treatises.
