Board Bios
Claude Bailey
Claude joined the TN-EPPC Board in November 2008 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Biology at Jackson State Community College in Jackson, TN. Prior to pursuing a teaching career, Claude was the Natural Heritage Botanist for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Natural Areas from 2001-2005. Claude also serves on the Tennessee Rare Plant Scientific Advisory Committee and maintains an interest in Tennessee and southeastern U.S. flora.
Mike Berkley
Mike Berkley is vice-president of GroWild, Inc, a native plant nursery and landscape company. He joined the Board of TN-EPPC in 2009 as a representative of the nursery industry. His goal is to bring awareness to his fellow nurserymen of the problems invasive plants bring to our environment. He is a lifetime member of the TN Native Plant Society, as well as member of the Southern Nurseryman’s Association (SNA), Middle-TN Nurseryman Association (MTNA), TN Nurseryman and Landscape Association (TNLA) among others. He has been the Fairview, TN City Arborist since 2000 and member of the Cheekwood Botanical Garden Committee in Nashville, TN. As a result of Mike’s passion, he is dedicated to educating the public on the use of native plants in the landscape. He has been involved in the installation of numerous sustainable projects including vegetative roofs, commercial and residential rain gardens and stream bank restoration.
Andrea Bishop
Andrea Bishop is a biologist/botanist with the Natural Heritage Program in the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Her work includes the protection and management of federal listed plant species in Tennessee. She began her career with the Heritage Program in 1990 through 2001 and moved to Florida and worked with Florida State Parks. She returned to the Heritage Program in 2005. She was very involved in the initial development of TNEPPC and served on the first board of directors for several years.
Belinda Esham
Belinda Esham is an ecologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS). Her current work involves developing ecological site descriptions for East Tennessee, Northwest Georgia, and Northeast Alabama to inform conservation planning on privately owned land. Previously, her graduate work at the University of Tennessee focused on exotic, invasive plants and pathogens. Native plant conservation has been a life-long interest.
Margie Hunter
Margie is the author of Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee: The Spirit of Place. She shares her love of natives with plant and gardening groups in Tennessee and the Southeast and writes articles for Tennessee Conservationist magazine. A member of the Tennessee Native Plant Society, Southern Appalachian Botanical Society, and Perennial Plant Society of Middle Tennessee, Margie leads hikes at the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in Gatlinburg each April and is assisting development of the Tennessee Naturalist program. She has a blog on hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains. (Photo by J. Paul Moore)
Kristine Johnson
Kris is Supervisory Forester for the National Park Service at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina, involving exotic plant management, forest health and native plant restoration in the park. A member of TN-EPPC’s original board of directors, she has served continuously since, including a term as president.
Marie Kerr
Marie has been a botanist for the National Park Service in Resource Management at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in Tennessee and Kentucky, since Feb. 2008. She moved to the Southeast from Boise, Idaho, where she served as president of the Southwest Idaho Weed Control Association, from 2006-2007, and as a technical adviser to the Noxious Weed Advisory Boards in Adams and Washington counties in Idaho, from 2001-2006. She is an avid hiker, as are her two canine hiking companions, Hooch and Emma.
Sara Kuebbing
Sara Kuebbing is a graduate student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Tennessee. She is currently studying the impacts of co-occurring invasive plant, specifically looking at two ubiquitous Tennessee invaders, Chinese privet ( Ligustrum sinense ) and bush honeysuckle ( Lonicera maackii ). Before entering graduate school, Sara worked with the Vermont chapter of The Nature Conservancy as their Invasive Species Outreach Coordinator where she managed the Champlain Basin Weed Management Area and the Wise on Weeds! Invasive Education Program.
Pat D. Parr
Pat is the Natural Resources Manager for Oak Ridge National Laboratory where her responsibilities include natural resource management, integrated land use planning, and management of the Oak Ridge National Environmental Research Park (also a Biosphere Reserve). She is Past President of the Association of Southeastern Biologists and TN-EPPC, Chair-elect of the Executive Committee of the Southern Appalachian Man and Biosphere Cooperative, and board member of the East Tennessee Regional Leadership Association and Discover Life in America.
Bob Parrish
Bob serves as Superintendent of Warner Parks for Metropolitan Parks and Recreation in Nashville, TN.
Anni Self
As the plant pathologist for the Regulatory Services Division at the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Anni has worked closely with the nursery and greenhouse industry in Tennessee for the last thirteen years.
American Phytopathological Society.
LinnAnn Welch
LinnAnn is the director of Bells Bend Nature Center for Metropolitan Parks and Recreation in Nashville, TN. She serves as the state coordinator for Project Archaeology and is a founder of Tennessee Ancient Sites Conservancy. She is also a member of the Tennessee Academy of Sciences.