Susan Caperton (President)

Originally from Rockford, Illinois, Susan Caperton graduated from Northwestern University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences and Political Science. She worked as a Legal Intern at the Northern Trust Company in Chicago, Illinois for two years before attending law school. She received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1996. After graduation, she and her husband Gat moved to West Virginia, where she practiced law in the Martinsburg office of Bowles, Rice, McDavid, Graff and Love, PLLC. She left the practice of law in 1998 to stay home and raise their now three daughters. She has been involved in many community activities and organizations, and helped start the Friends of the National Conservation Training Center.

Steve Chase (NCTC Liasion)

Steve Chase is a native of New England who grew up outdoors amongst the wild lands of the Northern Forest. He is starting his tenth year working at the National Conservation Training Center, where he is the Chief of Facility Operations and Administration. He also oversees the NCTC Conservation Heritage Program and works on community-related projects. Steve graduated in 1983 from the University of Hartford, with a BA in Mass Communications and Earth Science. He received a Master of Public Administration from the Barney School of Business and Public Administration in 1990. He has served as a Legislative Fellow for the Connecticut State Legislature and was awarded a Presidential Management Internship in 1990. In the past 20 years he has also worked as a backcountry caretaker, river guide, public works administrator, planning commissioner, and environmental education video-maker. Along with his involvement in the American Conservation Film Festival, he serves as a board member of The Murie Center in Moose, Wyoming.

John Grabowska
FilmmakerNational Park Service

John Grabowska has been a radio and television reporter, a legislative analyst on Capitol Hill and a rural development worker in Central America where he taught subsistence farmers how to manage the killer bee for fun and profit. He has produced films in diverse and remote locales from the sub-arctic to the subtropics. Grabowska's films have been official selections of festivals around the world, broadcast nationally on PBS and received numerous awards. He has been a guest lecturer at the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Conservation Training Center, and has led environmental media workshops in Argentina and Panama. Since 1991 Grabowska has been writing, producing and directing documentary films with the Interpretive Design Center of the National Park Service, specializing in the environment and American History.

Don Henry
Professor of PhysicsShepherd College, WV

Don Henry received a B.S. degree in physics at Ohio University and a Ph.D. degree in physics at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He is Professor of Physics at Shepherd College and until recently was Dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Since coming to Shepherd College he has been Principle Investigator or Director for $570,000 in grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation, and he has assisted faculty in obtaining numerous other grants. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Proteus, a scholarly journal published by Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, and a member of the Board of Directors of Friends of the National Conservation Training Center.

Mark Madison
National HistorianUS Fish and Wildlife Service (NCTC)

Mark Madison is the historian for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He teaches environmental history to professional conservationists at the National Conservation Training Center. He has previously taught environmental history at Harvard University and the University of Melbourne (Australia). He has degrees in history, biology, and the history of science. For almost three years he did tropical reforestation in the rain forests of the Philippines as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Farzad Mahootian, Ph.D. (Secretary)
University of Alaska Fairbanks

Farzad Mahootian, Ph.D. works with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Vice Provost for Research and the College of Science Engineering and Mathematics to create and foster research opportunities for undergraduates and graduate students, and for pre-college students and teachers. He is also Director of the Alaska Summer Research Academy, a science & engineering "summer camp" for middle and high school students. A former director of the NASA Student Involvement Program, Farzad has worked on numerous NASA Earth and space science education projects for over ten years. Farzad holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Fordham, and an M.S. in Chemistry from Georgetown University. He enjoys coaxing the dialogue between science and society through art and reflection.

Topper Sherwood (Treasurer)
Grants ManagerWestern Maryland Resource Conservation & Development Council, MD

Topper Sherwood is grants manager for the Western Maryland Resource Conservation & Development Council, whose projects include stream restoration, solar photovoltaics, and treatment of acid drainage from abandoned mines. A veteran reporter for The Associated Press, he began a 14-year-long freelance writing career in 1987. His clients include The Smithsonian Institution, Time magazine, Business Week, the Boston Globe, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Education, Verizon, and the National Park Service.

Susan Walter
Board Member

For over 35 years, Ms. Walter has served as a community activist acting as leader, organizer, system & social policy developer, advocate, lobbyist, and board member for health, social concerns, and environmental issues.

With a Masters in Social Work, Susan's employment has focused on private and public healthcare practice, policy, advocacy, education, and research at national, state, and local levels. Presently, she is Director of the Regional Health Resource Center in Martinsburg, WV.

Casandrè R. Cohn

Ms. Cohn joined the ACFF as Festival Director in May 2003. Driven by a passion for stories, Cassie got involved with film festivals after working with the Contemporary American Theater Festival for over five years, bouncing between production and management. In 2001, she co-founded and produced the High Street Film Festival for its first two years. Today HSFF remains the only festival dedicated to amateur filmmaking in the region. With countless art shows and music concerts under her production belt, Cassie is interested in promoting and cultivating local artistic talent. Also, she experiments with video art as well as documentary filmmaking. Ms. Cohn graduated from Shepherd College with a BA in Mass Communications, a minor in Theater, and an AA in Graphic Design.