Cheryl Hart, President, Store Chair

Cheryl has been working with nonprofit organizations for over 30 years serving in both staff and Board positions with various groups. She joined Friends when she moved to Portland in 2005 and has served on the Board since 2006. She is Chair of the Store Committee and serves on several other Friends Committees. She served as President of the Board from 2011- 2015.

Sharon Miller, Parliamentarian, Store Business Manager

Sharon has been volunteering at the Refuge for over ten years, and has been on the Board since 2011.  She is the Business Manager for the Nature’s Overlook retail store and, along with the FWS, supervises the Friends Interpretive Program Coordinator.  She is retired from managing staff and programs for seniors and people with disabilities at the state and local level in Oregon and continues to volunteer as a personal advocate for seniors experiencing financial, health or legal issues.  She serves on two other non-profit boards and is a Certified Master Recycler

Dawn Carovano, Treasurer,  Membership Coordinator

Irene Vlach, Secretary

Irene has been involved with non-profits her whole life, starting with the University of Waterloo PERG board (Ontario, Canada). For 25 years she was an active member of the Oregon Chapter Sierra Club High Desert Committee. She served on the Columbia Group executive committee and earned several awards from the Club.

Irene was the grassroots organizer of the newly formed Oregon Conservation Network in 1995, and from 1995 to 2009 was program assistant for The Lazar Foundation. After moving temporarily back to her native Switzerland she returned to Portland to work for 2 years for The Intertwine Alliance as office manager.

Upon retirement in 2014, she started volunteering for the Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. Her primary contribution to the Friends has been staffing the Visitor Center. She took the Naturalists’ training, spent a season doing an early morning kestrel nesting survey and helped collect and prepare for preservation plant specimens under the guidance of Ginny at the Wapato unit. In the spring of 2018 she joined the Membership Strategy Committee.

Michael Boreing

Alan Christensen,  President Emeritus,  Restoration Committee Chair

Alan is a retired wildlife biologist who has worked for Federal, State and non-profit conservation organizations for over 40 years. His work took him to most western States, several Canadian provinces, Far Eastern Russia, and Lebanon. He received his BS and MS degrees in wildlife science from Oregon State University, served in the US Navy, and then resided and worked predominantly in Montana, Idaho and Oregon, where he is retired and residing in Portland. He was lucky to work with big game, bears, forest raptors, neotropical songbirds and their habitat. He and his wife Judy enjoy hiking, gardening, floating rivers and camping. 

Tom Hartz, President Emeritus, Environmental Education Committee Chair 

Tom Hartz, PhD, is a retired scientist with 6 years university teaching experience and over 35 years in medical device and diagnostics research, development and product support. He has served for over 10 years on the boards of non-profits devoted to education and child development. He joined the Friends Board in 2014. Tom is a Volunteer Naturalist, the 2015 Youth Camp Committee Chair, and is a member of the Governance Committee, the Education Committee and the Photography Society. The Refuge fuels Tom's passions for sharing the wonders of nature with others, particularly with kids, and continuing to learn about wildlife and habitats with the Friends and FWS.

Keith Mays, President Emeritus

In addition to his service on the Board of Friends of TRNWR, Keith is also the  current Mayor of Sherwood, Oregon.  He was re-elected in March and November of 2018.  He previously served four years as council president (2001-05) and eight years as mayor of Sherwood from 2005-13.  Over the past 20-plus years, Mayor Mays has served as president of the Oregon Mayors Association, the Sherwood Chamber of Commerce, the Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge and the Willamette River Water Coalition.  He has also served as a member of Metro’s MPAC and on several League of Oregon Cities committees (is currently their Treasurer). 

Keith is a third generation Oregonian, a graduate of North Eugene H.S. and Linfield College, local trade sector business owner, and resident of Sherwood for more than 20 years.  Mayor Mays is a Sherwood Rotarian and currently sits on boards and committees for several local and regional non-profit and government organizations advocating for and serving Sherwood families.

Tom Stibolt, IT Chair 

Tom is a retired physician who has been involved with the refuge since before its creation. He and his wife Lisa donated the initial 12 acre parcel that made the refuge a reality. Since then, he has volunteered at Saturday work parties. He is the website editor and looks forward to more involvement with the Friends.