Staff and Board Members
Meet our staff
Sunrise began working for Watershed Alliance of SW WA in 2010 and has been the Executive Director since 2012. She has a BA in Public Affairs from WSU Vancouver. She is passionate about the environment and bringing people together to build awareness around the benefits of having a healthy natural environment. Sunrise brings her dedication and commitment of increasing community involvement and the environment to the Watershed Alliance. One of her favorite moments is when she sees people of all ages outdoors working together in the community with people they did not know prior – planting trees, removing Ivy, painting environmental storm drain murals and more.
Anna has been working and volunteering for environmental organizations in Clark County since 2016. Originally from Manitoba, Canada, she has a Masters in Public Administration from Portland State University, specializing in Natural Resources Management, and a degree in English from the University of Manitoba.
She is dedicated to the health of people, places, and the organizations that support them, and she is excited to support the great work of the Watershed Alliance. She enjoys playing piano and hammered dulcimer and exploring Clark County with her two daughters.
Bethany has lived in the Portland/Vancouver area since 2010 and began working for the Watershed Alliance in the fall of 2016. She enjoys connecting people to their natural world through stewardship activities like invasive species removal, tree planting, and environmental education. She graduated from Oregon State University with a B.S. Natural Resources and B.S. Education. Since then, she has had a variety of work experience from educating homeowners about sustainable stormwater management and habitat restoration to leading a Youth Conservation Corps workforce readiness program for youth in Clackamas County, Oregon. She is excited to be using her skills and experiences together in this position.
Micayla is a nature nerd at heart. One of her true passions is connecting people to nature to foster a lasting appreciation for the environment. Micayla comes to the Watershed Alliance from the Midwest where she earned a B.S. in Biology from Ball State University and worked as the Stewardship Director for a non-profit land trust. She is excited to become acquainted with the community and work alongside volunteers to continue to enhance the waterways of SW Washington.
When she’s not wrangling volunteers, Micayla can be found cultivating her garden, dipping in a natural hot spring, honing her amateur taxidermy skills, and exploring the natural wonderland of the Pacific Northwest.
If you have a favorite nearby trail or natural area, Micayla would love to hear about it!
Caroline joins us as the new Steward Program Assistant and has relocated from the Midwest to enjoy the diverse ecosystems of Oregon and Washington. They received their Bachelor of Science in Forestry with a Plant Science minor from The University of Missouri. Previously they assisted in St. Louis, Missouri in the local Audubon organization and other regional nonprofits in habitat landscaping, community forestry, and native stewardship.
Caroline is passionate about all aspects of ecology and enjoys connecting others with nature. When not working they can be found hiking with their dog Aspen, in the library with science fiction and board games, enjoying stand-up comedy, or embarking on a new recipe in the kitchen.
Makyla has worked as a design contractor for the Watershed Alliance since 2021. She is finishing up her last year studying Communication Design in Berlin, Germany.
Her love for the outdoors came from an early age growing up in the Pacific Northwest. She loves the mountains, forests, and rivers, and always feels at home exploring nature. She is passionate about using design to tell a story, bring people together, and support climate activism. In her spare time, Makyla loves to garden on her balcony with her cat or explore the lakes in and surrounding Berlin.
Volunteer
Jean Avery brings her research and writing skills to the Watershed Alliance as a grant-writing volunteer, combining her background in communications with her passion for the environment. As an active volunteer in Vancouver, Jean works to promote environmental causes as part of the Northwest’s “thin green line.” And, whenever possible, she is outdoors: hiking, birdwatching, and, of course, tree planting!
Board of Directors
Brian is a relative newcomer to the Pacific Northwest after moving here with his wife and dogs during the height of the Covid pandemic. While always being stumped when asked where he’s from after having moved 19 times all over the world before arriving here, he’s a former Army Ranger turned professional tree-hugger as the Sustainability Programs Manager with PeaceHealth in Vancouver. With experience across the healthcare, federal government, aerospace, telecommunications, e-learning, and non-profit sectors, Brian’s focus at PeaceHealth is to guide the ongoing development of the hospital’s environmental programs as they work to provide excellent healthcare to our community. With passports from both the USA and New Zealand, he and his wife are avid world travelers and can generally be found out on a trail or a mountaintop with their pups.
Charlene, who joined the Watershed Alliance board in 2021, moved to Vancouver in 1996 to become a faculty member at Clark College, where she taught geology and environmental science courses until her retirement in 2016. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her Ph.D. in Physical Volcanology from the University of Oregon. She is passionate about environmental education and social justice and loves birding, photography, travel, outdoor recreation, and gardening (her garden is undergoing Backyard Habitat certification). She lives in Brush Prairie with her wife of 25 years and their two dogs.
With a last name like Waters, it was only natural that Emily ended up at the Watershed Alliance! Growing up near the East Fork Lewis River instilled Emily with a love and respect for watershed protection. She earned her BS in Geography from Portland State University and has a Masters in Natural, Environmental, and Energy Law from Lewis and Clark Law School. Emily has worked in the water resources field since 2015. Outside of work, and volunteering, Emily loves to hike, garden, read, and bake. Emily has served as the Fundraising Committee Chair since 2021.
Gregg Herrington, was raised in Vancouver not far from Leverich Park, where in the 1950s his family picnicked, and he participated in fishing derbies and captured crawdads in Burnt Bridge Creek. About the same time, he launched a neighborhood bi-weekly newspaper, cranked out on an inky mimeograph machine while a student at Arnada Elementary School, now the site of the southbound I-5 interchange at Fourth Plain Boulevard. Gregg attended Clark College and the University of Washington. He was editor of the UW Daily and graduated in journalism. His professional journey included reporting jobs at The Oregonian and The Associated Press in Washington, D.C., where a highlight of his career was covering George McGovern’s presidential campaign in 1972 against President Richard Nixon. In 1973 he moved back to Washington state as assistant AP bureau chief in Seattle. He was lured back to his hometown in 1975 by The Columbian where he was an editor, political reporter, and columnist for 33 years. He rounded out his career with five years as public information officer for Battle Ground Public Schools. Gregg still does occasional free-lance stories for Northwest travel magazines and has acquired an interest in Northwest geology, especially the ice-age Missoula Floods, which rearranged the landscapes of Eastern Washington, The Columbia River Gorge, and the Vancouver-Portland area.
Mark is a native of the Northwest and enjoys its scenic beauty. He has worked for Well Fargo for over 23 years and has been involved with the Watershed Alliance for the last eight as a volunteer. He serves on several boards in Clark County and enjoys investing in the community through his volunteer efforts. He is a resident of Camas. When he is not at work or volunteering the community, he is spending time with his wife Jen and their two children Taylor and Jake.
Sharif is a VP, Commercial Relationship Manager, at Lewis & Clark Bank. Prior to 2020, he was a VP at Riverview Community Bank for almost ten years. Having worked for two banks with nationwide footprints, he found his passion for local community banking in the early 2000s after moving to the Pacific Northwest from his home state of Kansas. Sharif currently serves as a director on multiple boards, as well as others in the past. For most of these, he has served at least one term as board chair, including Partners in Careers, the Clark College Veterans Advisory Board, Leadership Clark County, the Hazel Dell Salmon Creek Business Association, Cascadia Technical Academy Foundation, the New Day Community Dental Clinic, the Fourth Plain Business Coalition, and the Salvation Army Advisory Board. Sharif was also one of the founders of the original International Festival on Fourth Plain, and currently serves on the WSU Diversity Advisory Board, and is a director for the Clark College Foundation and the Friends of the Elder Justice Center. An active member of the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, Sharif has also served the City of Vancouver on both the Fire Service Delivery Committee and the Police Department Community Task Force, and currently serves on the annual evaluation committees for the City’s CDBG, HOME and Affordable Housing Fund grant programs. A graduate of the University of Kansas and Pacific Coast Banking School, Sharif enjoys skiing, hiking, reading, and especially spending time with his son Alex, currently a senior at Oregon State University.
Ted is currently working on low-income housing and regional transportation projects. He is an avid kayaker, hiker and skier and loves the outdoors. Ted served as Chief Assistant and City Attorney for the City of Vancouver for 25 years. Prior to that, he was in private practice in Seattle and Portland specializing in the areas of real estate and land use. He currently serves, or has served, on a number of non-profit boards in the Vancouver community including the Hough Foundation where he was chair from 2010-12, the Clark County Historical Society and the Council of Stewards for the Columbia Land Trust.