2010 -2011 Officers
John Clancy, President
Jean Wells, Treasurer
Margaret Burlingham, Secretary
Kine Torinus, Immediate Past President
Steve Born, Madison, is Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the Urban and Regional Planning Department at the University of Wisconsin. Steve brings experience from service on many boards, including the River Alliance of Wisconsin and Trout Unlimited, where he served as chairman of the National Resources Board. He is passionate about fly fishing and is co-author of “Exploring Wisconsin Trout Streams” (UW Press) and occasionally writes for conservation/angling periodicals. He is the former State Planning Director and former State Energy Director.
Margaret Burlingham is the principal of her consulting firm, LanDesign. She provides park planning and design, land use planning, and rain garden design and installation services to public sector clients. Margaret and her husband Tom operate Langmanor Farm near Palmyra in Jefferson County where they grow 500 acres of hay, corn, soybeans and wheat, and custom bale hay. In addition to the 1000 Friends of Wisconsin board, she serves on the Rock River Coalition Planning the Rock Issue Team and the Jefferson County Easement Commission.
Dave Cieslewicz of Madison will head a new community development corporation charged with guiding revitalization efforts in the Greenbush and Vilas neighborhoods. He is the former Mayor or Madison and executive director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin. He has served on the Dane County Regional Planning Commission and the Dane County Zoning and Natural Resources Committee and on the Governor’s Strategic Growth Task Force.
John Clancy is a shareholder and member of the environmental and energy law practice group in the Milwaukee office of Godfrey & Kahn and he is a leader of the team’s climate change, renewable energy and sustainable development practice. John provides environmental and energy-related services to a wide variety of entities, including industrial, commercial, tribal, municipal and trade association clients.
Sheila Cohen taught English as a Second Language (ESL) in the Madison Metropolitan School District for 20 years. Upon retirement, she has devoted her time to freelance writing and has had two books published by the Wisconsin State Historical Society. Her first book deals with Hmong resettlement in Wisconsin. This past year her children’s book on Gaylord Nelson was published and released on Earth Day. She served on the Board of Directors of United Refugee Services until 2006.
Franc Fennessy of Madison is Director of Land Management and Stakeholder Affairs for American Transmission Company which includes the local relations, real estate and environmental departments. He joined ATC in 2003 after serving for fifteen years in Wisconsin state government. From 1987 to 2003, he held a wide range of senior policy and management positions at the Department of Administration and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), including two years as DNR Deputy Secretary where he oversaw the agency’s environmental policy initiatives and major permitting and remediation cases.
Stan Gruszynski of Porterfield is State Director for Rural Development in Wisconsin. Rural Development administers and manages over 40 housing, business, and community infrastructure and facility programs as laid out by Congress through a network of 6,100 employees located in 500 national, state and local offices. These programs are designed to improve the economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers and ranchers and improve the quality of life in rural America. Prior to this appointment Stan was director of the Global Environmental Management (GEM) Education Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP). He was 71st Assembly District representative from 1984 to 1994. Stan also was director of public affairs for the USDA Rural Development program in Wisconsin and has been a consultant to private sector business and not-for-profit organizations.
Steve Hiniker of Madison is Executive Director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin and a founding board member of the organization.
Lynn Hobbie of Madison is a Senior Vice President at Madison Gas and Electric Company. She oversees the company’s energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, as well as new products and services, corporate communications, economic development and marketing. She is currently on the board of the Wisconsin Public Utilities Institute and was previously on the board of the Energy Center of Wisconsin, as well as the Mayor’s Energy Task Force and the Madison Energy Committee for the City of Madison.
Edward Huck of Sun Prairie was Executive Director of the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities for more than 25 years. The Alliance lobbied for changes in State and Federal Laws as they relate to land use, taxation, the environment and intergovernmental transfers. Prior to his appointment to the Alliance, he was a political advocate and worked in the private sector with contractors and developers.
Tom Lyon of Cambridge is the retired Chief Executive officer of Cooperative Resources International, (CRI) Shawano, Wisconsin. The nation’s first agricultural holding cooperative, CRI specialized in cattle breeding, computerized farm records, and the marketing of livestock. Tom has served on the Boards of American Farmland Trust, the Wisconsin Natural Resources Foundation, and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. He is a member of the National Cooperative Business Hall of Fame, and as Guest of Honor of the National Dairy Shrine.
Kine Icks Torinus grew up in Green Bay, now living in the Town of West Bend, is past President of the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust (OWLT). She served on the City of West Bend 2020 Comprehensive Plan Technical Advisory Committee, is a Trustee of Northland College (an environmental liberal arts college) and served on the City of West Bend Urban Design Committee.
Jean Wells of Middleton grew up on a dairy farm in south central Wisconsin. She has been a licensed CPA since December of 1995. She has over 15 years experience working in public and private accounting organizations in Dane and Jefferson Counties.
Carla Wright consults on environmental sustainability and community outreach, and previously worked with the WI Dept of Natural Resources Green Tier program. She is president of the Natural Heritage Land Trust and is also on the board of MOSES – Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Services; she is past President of the Midwest Organic Services Association - MOSA. Carla makes her home on 76 acres in the Town of Berry (NW Dane County), part of which she permanently protected with a conservation easement.
