Patrick currently is the Chief Financial Officer for the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board of Franklin County in Columbus, Ohio.  Prior to his current position, Patrick was the Director of Gerald Ford Institute for Leadership in Public Service at Albion College in Michigan for eight years.

Patrick has spent more than 20 years working in various state and local government positions including several years as Minority Chief of Staff in the Ohio Senate. For four years from 2010-2013, he was Finance Director for the City of Toledo, Ohio, where he guided the team that brought the city back from a $48 million deficit to finish in the black for the final two years of his tenure.

Patrick has extensive experience with non-profits and community service groups, serving as board member, consultant, grant writer and/or executive director for organizations including Washtenaw Community College, the Ecology Center (Ann Arbor), Community Refugee and Immigration Services (Columbus) and several others.

He received his BA in Political Science from the University of Dayton, an MA in Political Science from Miami University and a second MA in International Relations from the Freie Universitaet Berlin. He also has a certificate in Not-for-Profit Management and Fundraising from New York University.

Patrick’s love for Lake Superior has taken him nearly around the entire lake.  His most memorable camping trips on the lake include a visit to Isle Royale in 1984, a New Year’s Eve night at -35C and several days and nights in the Porcupine Mountains State Park.

Brian's career has spanned over 40 years providing financial and management leadership to local and national Indigenous and other non-profit organizations. Born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, he left after high school to learn everything he could about business and accounting at Carleton University in Ottawa.

After a brief stint in public accounting, he went on to work with various organizations in senior positions including the National Association of Friendship Centres, The Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations, and numerous other local, regional, and national organizations.

Brian has recently moved back home to Sault Ste. Marie to be closer to his childhood backyard, the north shore of Lake Superior. Lake Superior holds a special place for Brian as his youth was spent jumping waves, fishing and camping on Batchewana Bay.  Over the years, with his children and family, he has camped extensively along this freshwater coast, and explored many remote places in the watershed.

Brian is enthusiastic to serve on the Board of the Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy as it aligns with his belief that the largest freshwater lake in the world needs to be protected.

As a conservation photographer and wilderness explorer, Gary knows the northern Ontario and Great Lakes landscape intimately.  He has spent more than 30 years with his wife Joanie travelling in all seasons and sharing their stories through digital media, newsprint, magazines, television, and radio advocating for careful stewardship of our land and waters.

For 15 years, Gary has been championing the watershed of Lake Superior and is a founder of the Conservancy.  His most recent photography and research project tracking where the Group of Seven made their famous sketches in northern Ontario, culminated in the production of the film Painted Land: In Search of the Group of Seven.  The film highlights one of the Group’s most famous painting regions; the North Shore of Lake Superior.

Gary and Joanie developed the strategy for Trans Canada Trail’s 1000 km/600 mile Lake Superior Water Trail—a project that is being implemented by the Conservancy. Recently Trans Canada Trail officially made the McGuffins National Champions of The Great Trail.

Phil Bellfy is a member of the White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa. His research and activism are concerned with the comparative experience of Indigenous Peoples in both the United States and Canada, especially those whose communities are split by the border. Phil is the Founder and Co-director of the Center for the Study of Indigenous Border Issues, and Editor and Publisher of CSIBI’s education imprint, the Ziibi Press.

Phil is the author and editor of a number of books, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, free-lance articles, etc. His book Three Fires Unity: The Anishnaabeg of the Lake Huron Borderlands was the winner of the 2011 North American Indian Prose Award given by the University of Nebraska Press. Three Fires Unity was selected as an Upper Peninsula Notable Book in 2021. His book UP Colony: the Story of Resource Exploitation in Upper Michigan – Focus on Sault Ste. Marie Industries was selected as a UP Notable Book in 2022. His most recent book Indians and Other Misnomers of the Upper Great Lakes was published in 2023.

During his academic career, Phil taught at Lake Superior State University, Bay Mills Community College, and Wayne State University. He finished his teaching career in Lansing at Michigan State University: retiring in 2012. Currently, he is MSU’s Professor Emeritus of American Indian Studies.

Phil has been active in international, state, and local environmental and Indigenous issues for over 50 years. His serving on the LSWC Board is an important extension of that activism.

In his spare time, Phil dabbles in photography, letterpress book arts, weaving, woodworking, and block-printing.

For over 40 years, Kime has lived in Goulais River, eastern Lake Superior. “My heart has always been drawn to the northern shore and I never take for granted the wonder and beauty of the diverse landscape, waterscape and wild life.”

Kime’s desire to be a part of the LSWC Board comes from her love of learning and teaching.  She has recently retired from the position of Superintendent of the Algoma District School Board.  Her experience as a classroom teacher, school administrator, superintendent and community member working and learning with students, parents, staff, Indigenous educators and Elders, and community partners is a great asset to the Conservancy.

“I see my role as an LSWC director providing guidance, advice and direction to engage school boards, schools, educational institutions, students and staff in the majestic wonderland of our area and our great lake. We are so fortunate to live in this area and, with partnerships, we can expand understanding and knowledge.”

With a BA in Chemistry from Albion College and a MA in chemistry from Wayne State University, Richard Wells’ entrepreneurial spirit led him to run the family business, Bulldog Boilers, which has now been in operation for over 100 years. The company’s main service is the rental of mobile commercial-sized boilers to business and industry.

Richard is an avid outdoorsman, with a passion for Cross Country skiing, sailing and driving carriages pulled by his horse on his northern Michigan hobby farm.  He and his wife Linda are residents of Birmingham, Michigan.

“Why would a Detroit-area resident be on the Lake Superior Conservancy Board for eight years? I have been involved in sailboat racing on Lake Huron and Lake Michigan for 20 years, and I have been cross-country skiing in Ontario at Stokely Creek Lodge on Lake Superior for 35 years. I know all of the Great Lakes are interdependent on one another but Lake Superior, being the international Great Lake at the top of the system, is critical to the health of all the others below.  As Lake Superior water quality goes, so goes the lower lakes.”