Board of Directors
Our Mission
To provide all people with educational, recreational and interpretive opportunities about natural resources and cultural history.
Interested in making a difference at FIND Outdoors?
Reach out and apply to be a Board Member!
Chad Leatherwood
Chair
Chad is the Senior Sustainability Transformation Manager for Weyerhaeuser Company. In this role, he serves on the Raw Materials Leadership team to ensure responsible sourcing of wood into manufacturing operations and maximize the value of mill by-products to the Company’s financial performance. He also serves on the company’s Energy Strategy Leadership team to reduce both the cost and greenhouse gas impact of mill energy systems. He is a North Carolina native, registered Professional Engineer, and loves the outdoors, cooking and playing music.
Russell (Rusty) L. Garrison
Vice Chair
“Rusty” comes to FIND with 33 years’ experience in the environmental education and natural resource fields, many of those years with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. An avid outdoorsman, Rusty is excited about having a voice that resonates with FIND’s mission of education on our public lands.
Wendell (WC) Godfrey
Finance Chair
WC is an engineer/teacher who has a passion for education and the outdoors. He loves playing pickleball or hiking around western NC and surrounding forests. When approached about a Board position, WC was excited about FIND’s mission and the actions of the organization and teamwork of the staff.
Ashley Hoffman
Governance Chair
Ashley Hoffman is the Executive Director of the Kentucky Association for Environmental Education and the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance. Her background is in wildlife ecology, environmental education and nonprofit management. In her free time, she enjoys traveling to new places and enjoying time in the outdoors with her husband and their four children.
Larry O. Ascher, Ed.D
Board Member
Larry became aware of the Cradle of Forestry Interpretive Association in American (CFAIA), now FIND Outdoors, during the summer in 1984 while camping at Davidson River. That began a relationship with the US Forest Service, Pisgah National Forest and the Cradle of Forestry Historic site. Larry and his spouse, Hope were educators in Florida and able to spend the summers volunteering both for FIND and USFS as campground hosts, interpreters and other roles. After retiring from full-time employment as a mental health counselor in 2008, Larry has been able to spend more time supporting historic place-based education at the Cradle of Forestry and supporting FIND’s mission.
Eric Caldwell
Board Member
On the Board since 2017, Eric has a long career adopting watershed management policies and best practices and technologies for land stewardship. He currently holds a position as Watershed Project Manager for Jennings Environmental, PLLC.
Renee Strnad
Board Member
Renee is the Environmental Educator for Extension Forestry, housed in the College of Natural Resources at NC State University. In this role, she serves as the state coordinator for the environmental education curriculum, Project Learning Tree, and is a North Carolina certified environmental educator. Along with over 25 years of environmental education experience, Renee also brings experience on numerous nonprofit boards with her to FIND.
Garry Whisnant
Board Member
Garry is a retired engineer with 38 years in the utility industry. He spends his time consulting with utilities as well as sporting travel, fly fishing and bird hunting. In addition, Garry is engaged with a number of non-profit boards in the WNC area.
Jocelyn Wilson
Board Member
Jocelyn joins the family from the Weyerhaeuser’s Giving Fund, where she learned more about how local and regional nonprofits were using their resources to give back to local communities. She spends any available time with her family exploring the Croatan National Forest, across from her home in the eastern coastal plan town of Newport, NC.
