Board of Directors

Keith Gray, Board Chairman

Keith is owner and president of Integrated Lakes Management (ILM), a Waukegan-based environmental management and restoration company that offers a broad range of services encompassing both aquatic and terrestrial environments.  Keith is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys hunting and equestrian sports. He has served as our organization’s president since 2013.

Gary Mitchiner, Board Vice Chairman

With over 35 years of business leadership and 24 years of executive coaching experience, Gary helps individuals and teams increase and sustain high levels of trust and collaboration that directly correlate to higher level of business performance. Gary is currently partners in The Growth Leaders LLC with Bruce Sherman, his long-time coaching associate. The Mitchiners have been residents of the Prairie Crossing conservation community since 1996 and members of Conserve Lake County since its inception.

Paul Karl, Treasurer

A resident of Grayslake, Paul Karl has an extensive background in finance, public accounting, internal audit, and strategic planning.  He has found special satisfaction in working for and with nonprofits and is currently CFO for Casa Central.  He is also EVP and CFO of Earth Paint Collection Systems, a Grayslake company that reduces waste by recycling latex paint.

Sarah Simpson, Secretary

Sarah runs a small gardening business and works part-time at Cook Memorial Public Library. Sarah was born in England and has an undergraduate degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University. She worked in the finance industry in London, before moving to the USA in 1985 to work as an options trader at the Chicago Board of Trade. She has a life-long interest in gardening, and the green roof she developed on her family’s Libertyville home was the first residential green roof in Lake County.

Carol Calabresa

Carol is a senior member of the Lake County Board, serving continuously since 1986. From 1998 to 2000 she was also president of the Lake County Forest Preserve District, during which time, the District passed two bond referenda. Carol still serves on the Forest Preserves Executive Advisory  Committee and is the chair of the Forest Preserves Development, Restoration and Planning Committee.  From 1984 to 1986, Carol was a Libertyville Township trustee and helped found the Libertyville Township Open Space District. Carol has bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Kelly Cartwright

Kelly is a biology instructor at the College of Lake County. She is the CLC Environmental Action Committee chair, and coordinator of CLC Earth Week activities.  Kelly has a bachelor's degree in wildlife science from Purdue University and a master's degree in biology from Kansas State University. Kelly is an avid birder, wildlife watcher, and hiker.

Lawrence W. Falbe

Larry is a partner with the national law firm of Quarles and Brady LLP, where he focuses his practice on environmental transactional support, compliance and litigation matters.  Larry counsels clients in evaluating the environmental risk of transactions, remediation issues, endangered species protection and wetland preservation issues.  While in law school he completed internships with the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Enforcement Division and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5.  Larry also serves as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University School of Law, where he currently teaches Environmental Considerations in Commercial and Real Estate Transactions.  He currently serves on the Lake County Regional Planning Commission, as a trustee with the Village of Mettawa, and on the board of the Mettawa Open Lands Association.

Amy Knutson-Strack

Believing everyone can enjoy the outdoors, Amy Knutson-Strack is owner and president of Northerly Outfitters, Ltd., an independent specialty outdoor and travel shop in Grayslake. She is on the board of directors for the Grayslake Farmers Market.  Amy’s favorite sport is cross-countryskiing, and so her children were on skis as soon as they could walk.

Debbie Maurer

Debbie has been with the Lake County Forest Preserve since 2002and currently serves as Assistant Manager of Natural Resources and Ecologist.  She has spent the last six years developing, implementing, and monitoring large-scale habitat restoration projects such as the Woodland Habitat Restoration Project and the bi-state Chiwaukee Illinois Beach Lake Plain Restoration Project.  She serves on the Illinois Invasive Plant Council and is chair of the Northeast Illinois Invasive Plant Partnership.

Tom Milligan

As a vice president and private banking manager at First American Bank, Tom specializes in providing tailored private banking services to high net worth individuals, families and organizations, including closely-held and family-owned businesses. He earned a BSBA in Finance from the University of Denver in Denver, CO, and also earned an MM in Finance from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago. He makes his home in Lake Bluff with his wife and two children, and he's proud of the native plants he's incorporated into the family's landscape. Tom is interested in land conservation, mountain biking, hockey, landscape painting, and fly fishing.

Lydia Scott

Lydia is the Community Trees Program Manager for the Morton Arboretum.  She previously had been the Director of Environmental Services for the Village of Lincolnshire where she worked with the community to restore and manage public open space and an Illinois Nature Preserve. She has long been committed to working regionally to promote green infrastructure which includes the use of native trees and plants to protect local biological diversity and quality of life for people and wildlife. She has served on the Executive Committee for Chicago Wilderness and with the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County.  She currently co-chairs the Trees and Green Infrastructure Taskforce and is also a member of the Illinois Forestry Council.  She will have her master’s degree in environmental science in September 2013.

Dan Timm

Dan is an experienced real estate professional with a broad range of expertise who has been a top performer for Century 21 Kreuser & Seiler in Libertyville since 1997.  Dan also served as the executive director of MainStreet Libertyville from 1992 and 1997 during which time retail vacancies were eliminated, 22 buildings restored, and 45 new businesses attracted to the downtown district.  In recognition of his service to the community through economic development and historic preservation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded him the Great American Main Street Award in 1997.  A resident of Libertyville, Dan has an MBA in Finance and a B.S. in Finance, both from DePaul University.  He enjoys hiking and biking the natural areas of the county.

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