Mark works for General Electric Healthcare in Waukesha, Wisconsin and specializes in regulatory affairs. Prior to joining GE, he practiced law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he focused on issues relating to the environment, real estate, businesses and non-profits. Mark is active in environmental education, serving as president of the board of directors for a public environmental charter school in Milwaukee that he helped found, and serves on the Leadership Committee of the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board. Mark has also been active in the Sierra Club, previously serving as the Conservation Chair of Wisconsin's John Muir Chapter. In addition to a law degree, Mark holds degrees in political science and business. In a former life Mark was a non-commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps.
Secretary and Board Member: Nicole LaBissoniere
Nicole is a co-founder of The Natural Burial Project in Minnesota. She holds an Environmental Design degree from the University of Minnesota’s Landscape Architecture department. Nicole is interested in many aspects of sustainable living, including natural burial, ecosystem restoration, and organic agriculture, which she studied in Iceland and Germany. Her major writing about conservation cemeteries is a feasibility study entitled “Earth to Earth, Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Formaldehyde.” Along with serving on TNL’s Board of Directors, she also serves as Vice President for TNL’s Minnesota Chapter. Nicole takes advantage of Minnesota’s short summers by kayaking, jogging, and camping; she spends the other eight months on the slopes.
Board Member: Dave Drapac
Dave
is the Administrative Assistant and Volunteer Coordinator
at the Madison Audubon Society. He has a Bachelors
Degree in Computer Science from the Rose-Hulman Institute
of Technology and brings both enthusiasm for environmental
issues and a wide range of skills. He worked in Norway
in 2002-03 on website and database development for
the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and
is currently an active volunteer in Sustain Dane.
He is excited about his new role as President of
TNL and the opportunity to help put all the pieces
together to make this unique effort succeed and to
further the cause of nature conservation.
Board Member: Math Heinzel
Math has a broad history working with many natural resource related issues. He has a Masters Degree in Land Resources from the UW-Madison and a Bachelor's in Forestry. He has worked in many capacities: as a GIS professional, on research farms, at the UW-Arboretum, and as an assistant land manager overseeing 35 square miles of woods and fields. He has worked on projects involving land use planning, watershed management, citizen involvement, landscape visualization, and permaculture. Math also brings experience in non-profit management, having helped create non-profit educational groups, served on the board of non-profits, written grant proposals, and managed volunteers.
Board Member: Kevin Corrado
Kevin has been an active member of TNL since 2007, before joining the Board in 2009. One of TNL’s favorite presenters because of his warm humor and positive energy, he also is a frequent contributor to Natural Legacy News. Kevin draws upon his professional experience as a medical social worker, where he often works with patients and families dealing with end of life issues. He also brings diverse board experience including: the WI Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the Regent Neighborhood Association, and Quaker Housing. He is committed to the goal of nurturing the birth of multiple conservation/green cemeteries throughout the Midwest for his generation, his sons' generation, and beyond. As the late Quaker and soil scientist Francis Hole used to say, "We are all ‘TNS’—temporarily not soil." Kevin would love to eventually be soil in Wisconsin's first conservation cemetery.
Board Member: Gene Delcourt
Gene’s interest in serving on the TNL board stems from an attraction to the idea of conservation cemeteries and the desire to be involved in their development. He has been a member of the Natural Passings Collective since 2007, and in 2009 built a ‘green casket’. Gene has lived in Wisconsin since 1988, and has worn many hats from being a soldier in the US Army to being a short order cook at a local eatery. He attended the UW-Madison for 8 years, earning two bachelors degrees and a Masters in Fine Arts. Gene is now a Social Studies teacher at Malcolm Shabazz High School in Madison, where he plans to keep teaching students about environmental and social issues until he retires.
