Board of Directors

President: Jerry Shinn, Weare

Jerry graduated from Oberlin College with a BS in Biology and later earned an MS in Accounting from New Hampshire College. A  native of Rhode Island, he moved  to New Hampshire in 1974 to work on a dairy farm in Charlestown. He then moved to Weare in 1981 when he purchased Country 3 Corners, a hardware and lumber business where he continues as an owner. He has over 25 years experience in sales and management, as a CPA and in various high technology companies. He has served as Chairman of the Weare School Board, President of the Board of the Concord Community Music School, and has been on numerous other municipal and non-profit boards. He and his wife Carolynne live in a restored 1823 farmhouse that sits on a bend of the North Branch of the Piscataquog River.

Vice-President: Mica Stark, New Boston

Mica is a ninth-generation New Hampshire native and lives in New Boston with his family.  Mica's professional experience is in political and civic engagement.  He currently serves as the Outreach & Engagement Director for The Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.  For the past several years, he led numerous civic initiatives at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. Mica was also the founding Board Chair for City Year New Hampshire.  He earned his M.A. in political theory from Michigan State University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of New Hampshire.  Mica serves on the Town of New Boston's Open Space Committee.  He is an avid golfer and can often be found on the course at Crotched Mountain Golf Club.

Treasurer: Gail Parker, New Boston

Born in Boston, Gail Parker met her engineer husband Randy at Cornell University.  In 1963 they renovated and moved into an old grist mill located on the Piscataquog in New Boston center.  Gail's early career as an editor with Sky & Telescope magazine shifted into motherhood, property manager and volunteer work including many years on the School Board.  She helped form the PLC in order to save the vital B&M railroad right-of-way along the river. In the mid-1980's, the Parkers moved to Ohio where Gail earned her CPA and worked with various businesses.  They "retired" to the Mill in 1999. Family is Gail's priority and outdoors is a favorite place to be, so exploring the PLC trails with the grandchildren is an ideal combination.

Secretary:  Amy Doherty, New Boston

Amy, her husband Tim and daughters Sarah and Emily have been New Boston residents since 2003. She is employed by GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc, an environmental engineering company, as a project manager specializing in the investigation of and clean-up of contaminated properties. Her educational background includes hydrogeology, hydrology and land-use planning.  Deeply committed to land conservation, Amy has attended numerous conferences and workshops to further her understanding of the issues facing land trusts locally, regionally and nationally.

Leonard Allen, Francestown

Len received his BS from Yale and MS from Stevens Institute.  After three years service in the Navy he started a 45 year career in manufacturing.  As job opportunities moved away from NJ, he stayed, finding other companies close to home from General Dynamics to Revlon!  His interest in conservation began early as he and his wife Meredeth restored their first house, built in 1688. After retiring, they found the perfect old house in New Hampshire to 'bring up to their standards'. He was on the board of the Old Meeting House of Francestown for 4 years, 2 years as President, helping in its restoration. His interest in land conservation started with the PLC, where he served first as a member of the Development Committee, then as a member of the Board as well as the Finance and Open Space Committees. Len and Meredeth have placed a conservation easement on 12 of their 15 acres, and love to garden on the three acres remaining. Two married daughters and four grandkids are frequent visitors.

Diane Beland, Weare

Sherry Heiber, Goffstown

Sherry Hieber lives in Goffstown and is lucky enough to be able to walk her dog Eamonn in the woods behind her house on Gorham Pond Road, where she appreciates daily the diverse plants and animals that make their homes there. Her love of nature was nurtured by 25 years of living with a spider biologist, her husband Craig, who passed away in 2002. She spends most of her mental energy helping her two wonderful kids, Eddie and Jana, survive adolescence. She works as an attorney at the Law Office of Rodney L. Stark, PA in Manchester.  She is a former board member of the Goffstown Main Street Program.

Carol Hess. New Boston

Carol Hess has lived in New Boston since 1979. She has been active in the PLC since that time, and previously served on the board in the early 1980's. Carol is a lawyer by training and currently works as a mediator, arbitrator and consultant. Her passion for protecting the watershed stems from her strong belief that it is a privilege to live in such a beautiful place and that we have an obligation to care for it.  Carol has raised two daughters in the watershed, Holen and Julie  Katz and is married to Jed Callen, a former PLC president.

John McCausland, Weare

John McCausland is the out-going president of the PLC, and is going into his sixth year on the board. He is the vicar of Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Weare, married to Anne, a child and family therapist, with two grown daughters and two grandchildren. John has a lifelong interest in conservation and environmentalism, kindled by summers as a teenager in the wilderness of western Montana and long association with a family cottage in northern Wisconsin. He and his wife nurture the acres around their Revolutionary-era home above Horace Lake, where they have established a series of gardens among the old stone walls. John is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Nashotah House seminary. He currently serves as a Trustee of Trust Funds for the Town of Weare, and has been active in the Weare Historical Society and various committees of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. He and Anne are members of the PLC's Legacy Society.

Barbara Russell, New Boston

Formerly from the Boston area, Barbara attended Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She taught sixth grade for 4 years when she met and married Gordon Russell and became a NH resident, now for more than 33 years. In 1974, Barbara joined a start-up educational publisher based in Billerica, MA. For the next 19 years, she worked with the owners to build a successful business. In 1993 she formed her own publishing venture, Options Publishing, Inc. She and Gordon successfully nurtured Options into a substantial, successful business and sold it in late 2004. Today, Barbara spends her time focused on her passion for education, publishing and conservation by assisting various organizations and companies. In addition to her work with PLC Barbara also sits on the Board of Trustees, Lesley University, Cambridge MA, Board of Directors, Crittenton/Women’s Union Boston, MA, and the Board of Advisors, Teacher Created Materials, Huntington Beach, CA.  Barbara was recently given the Honor of admission into the Educational Publishing Hall of Fame by the Association of Educational Publishers.

Arthur Walmsley, Deering

Arthur graduated from Trinity College, Connecticut in history, and has a Master of Divinity degree from the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, MA.  His career spans service as an Episcopal priest in a number of inner-city parishes. For ten years during the tumultuous civil rights era he was the Church's national public affairs officer, with offices in New York near the UN, and in Washington.  From 1979 to 1993, he served as bishop of the diverse Diocese of Connecticut, prior to retiring to an 1800 farmhouse in Deering.  His career has involved him as board member and chair of a variety of educational and civic organizations, and advocate for interracial and inter-religious justice. He and his wife Roberta, a social worker and musician, serve on a variety of community bodies in the region.