Board of Directors
Todd Donnelly
Todd Donnelly has enjoyed a diverse career of helping. Almost 25 years ago, Todd began to focus his energies on conservation and education. He graduated from Ohio University with a degree in Recreation in 1997. He fell in love with the natural world during the many hiking and camping trips that he led. Todd is proud that he never lost one human while trekking into the wilderness with clients. After receiving his Masters in Education as an Intervention Specialist from Kent State University, Todd spent many years in the classrooms of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. His lessons included conservation practices as well as taking his students into nature to learn and explore on their own. He started successful recycling programs in two of the schools where he taught. In his free time he volunteered with the Surfrider Foundation to help protect the world’s oceans in North Carolina and San Clemente, California. While in California, Todd spent time feeding the homeless with a local chapter of Food Not Bombs. Todd also lived at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Boulder Colorado. In Boulder he volunteered at a local co-op grocery store and spent many hours exploring the Flatirons and beyond. Todd has been the CEO of Family Disability Services for the past 10 years. Family Disability Services works with people with developmental disabilities. The agency provides these individuals with everything from direct care in daily living skills to job development and training, opportunities to deepen relationships within their communities, and a successful fine arts gallery in downtown Canton. In his role as CEO, Todd is involved in the direct care of the individuals as well as financial management, strategic planning, educational programming, and human resources. A strong advocate of leaving no trace, Todd enjoys hiking, camping, kayaking, and exploring with his wife and three sons. He envisions a future for his sons where people fully embrace nature and natural processes - where the hubris of conquering land gives way to finding our most balanced, respectful, and helpful way in partnership with the natural world.
Craig “Narada” Wise
Craig “Narada” Wise currently lives in North Canton, Ohio and has been a Professor at the University of Akron since 2008, in the Department of Civil Engineering. Though born in Ethiopia at a military base, he has lived in Ohio for most of his life. He earned his engineering degrees from University of Akron and Georgia Institute of Technology and also holds a BS in Human Ecology from Ohio State University. Though his teaching specialties are geotechnical “soil” engineering, engineering mechanics and sustainable building technologies, his teaching passions extend into volunteer service-learning and mindfulness in education. Through the latter, he serves as a mentor through workshops and publications Craig spent the first 10 years of his career traveling the world for the power industry, designing foundations for power plants, and currently serves as the state-wide lead expert in Pre-Construction Technology for the Ohio Department of Education. He holds a professional engineering ”P.E.”license in Ohio, serves as faculty leader and advisor for The University of Akron’s student chapterof CMAA, serves on the statewide board of directors for CMAA Ohio, and is a geotechnical design consultant and expert witness for local firms and agencies. He prefers to experience his deep sense of interconnection by either walking in the woods with his wife and dog Otto, doing yoga, playing music, or all three at the same time.
Ray Morgenstern
Retired teacher and administrator, 33 years in international education. Former Athletic Director at The Frankfurt International School in Germany. Former Executive Chair of The International Schools’ Sports Tournaments (ISST), the governing body overseeing athletic competitions for international schools throughout Europe. Current volunteer activities include: reading enhancement programs at Minerva Elementary School and Minerva Public Library; volunteering at Stark Parks Wildlife Conservation Center and Stark Parks Trailblazer program; presiding over a US non-profit foundation that supports the mission and goals of The Frankfurt International School. Education: Bachelor of Music Education from Baldwin Wallace University; Master of Music from The University of Michigan; Master of Science in Athletic Administration from Ohio University. Originally from the Minerva, Ohio area, Ray and his wife Sharon and their three rescue golden retrievers currently live at Lake Mohawk on land adjacent to Ohio Forest Sanctuaries.
Michael Curtis
Michael Curtis is currently an adjunct music faculty member at Malone University (and he also greatly enjoyed teaching at the College of Wooster for 20 years). He is an Akron native and studied at the University of Akron, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1985. He received his master of music degree from the University of Arizona in 1988, and earned his doctor of musical arts degree from the joint program of the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University. He has studied flamenco guitar in Seville, Spain, spent one year in Montevideo, Uruguay studying on a Fulbright scholarship, and one year in Quito, Ecuador on a Graduate Rotary scholarship. Mike has also lived in Turkey, Puerto Rico, and, for a few years, outdoors in deciduous woodlands. Mike is the founder of two yoga schools in Stark County: The Yoga Place and Yoga Central. He and his wife, Gloria McAlister, are off-the-chart introverts, readers and nature lovers. Mike believes strongly that more trees, green spaces and protected areas are important ingredients in any recipe for a healthier planet and healthier people. Mike has two human children, and many, many tree children
David Finley
David Finley currently serves as an Azure Cloud Administrator for UPS. During his tenure at UPS he has held various positions in internal package operations and Information Technology. David’s love of the outdoors and forests undoubtedly was fostered by several summers spent roaming the Wayne National Forest as a young child. During his early years, his family always had a menagerie of farm animals, including what was at one time the largest dairy goat herd in Ohio. His hope is that the lands stewarded by Ohio Forest Sanctuaries serve to inspire and educate his fellow humans for generations to come.
Laura McAllister
Laura discovered her deeply rooted love for nature when she began traveling in 2009 through WWOOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, an organization that links visitors (WWOOFers) with organic farmers for an educational exchange. She went on to run a small produce farm in Minerva, OH for two years, where she continued to learn and share knowledge with other like-minded people. Laura earned her degree in photography from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 2006 and completed her training to become a yoga instructor in 2020. A purist and lover of art, she is now the director of Silo Arts Studio, a space serving artists with disabilities, in downtown Canton. Laura lives in North Canton with her partner and son. An introvert and lover of dirt, Laura wants to do her part to preserve the beauty of nature for her family.