OM's Volunteer Board of Directors Vickie Henderson Chair What happens when creativity meets passion? Vickie Henderson would say, “Just about anything!” An artist, writer, and clinical social worker from Tennessee, Vickie comes to the Board with over 30 years of experience as a successful business woman and leader in her professional field. Inspired by the re-introduction project's vision and determination, she met the entire Operation Migration crew in 2001 at a Tennessee stopover site during the first ultralight-led whooping crane migration. Since that time she has enthusiastically followed the project, promoting the Whooping crane with her art, exhibiting at Whooping crane festivals and wildlife exhibits around the country, giving local presentations, and even organizing a crew and rolling up her sleeves to help clean-up one of the project's Whooping crane enclosures prior to migration arrival. She is committed to the reintroduction project and to wildlife conservation and OM is honored to have her as a Director and Board Chair. Robert Rudd Vice Chair Bob Rudd has worked in the field of land use planning for the past 35 years. For the past ten years, Bob has been self-employed as principal of Rudd & Associates, a planning and zoning firm serving small villages and rural towns. A primary focus of the firm has been on sustainable development and rural conservation planning techniques. Putting strategies into practice, Bob, with his wife Nan, have restored their 250-acre former dairy farm into native vegetation and wildlife habitat. The Rudds were recognized by the Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association with the 2001 "Wildlife Habitat Development" award for the State of Wisconsin. Bob and Nan have been involved in the OM Whooping crane reintroduction project since 2001 in a number of ways, from assisting with fundraising and promotion to helping with the production of OM's INformation magazine. David Johnson Secretary-Treasurer David is now retired, having spent nearly 30 years with Amoco in international marketing, and then 10 years as owner of a Wild Bird Center retail nature store. He is active in many local nature organizations. Dave's support of Operation Migration goes back to 2003 when he met Joe Duff at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Dave's primary contribution to the OM team is bringing many groups of visitors to Necedah to see the cranes. By encouraging them to support the program, and tell their friends, he has helped raise thousands of dollars over the years.   Jane Duden Director Jane Duden is a freelance education writer living in Minneapolis. A former teacher in the US and Germany, she has authored 31children’s nonfiction books, including Whoop Dreams: the Historic Migration (chronicling the inaugural journey south of the Whooping Crane Class of 2001). Jane has worked in educational publishing for more than 30 years. She founded and directs SimplySmart, a product development team of educational writers and designers. Jane has covered Whooping Cranes with creative lessons and daily migration updates for the award-winning Journey North website since 1999, enjoying a 'front-row seat' for the reintroduction of the new Eastern flock. As a thoughtful steward of the environment and long-time Craniac, she is committed to the mission and success of Operation Migration-and delighted to bring their story into classrooms across the continent. Joe Duff Director Joe Duff is a co-founder of Operation Migration and has been involved in the migration studies since 1993 when he worked with Bill Lishman to conduct the first human led migration. Joe became the Chief Executive Officer in 1998 and currently leads the training and migration team. Joe wrote the protocol for the Whooping crane reintroduction, is a lead pilot, and serves as co-chair of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership’s Project Direction Team. Jamie Johannsen Director Jamie Johannsen is a former college English professor who has worked in conservation for 12 years. Currently, she is a Director at the Winnebago County Forest Preserve District in northern Illinois. She has served on Boards of Directors for numerous local environmental and conservation organizations. As Coordinator of the Four Rivers Environmental Coalition she works closely with and assists more than 30 non-profit environmental organizations with visibility, membership, volunteer recruitment and fundraising. As a result of attending a presentation by Joe Duff in 2003, she 'fell in love' the work of Operation Migration and has remained a passionate student, supporter and volunteer. Jamie looks forward to helping fine-tune and expand the role Operation Migration plays in whooping crane reintroduction and conservation. Dale Richter Director Dale Richter is a fifty year old married father of two sons. He is a native of the Albany-Leesburg, GA area. A roof contractor by occupation, he is also a licensed Realtor and insurance adjuster. Dale is founder and past president of the Southwest Georgia Beekeepers Association, and has recently ended a six year term as a member of the Board of Directors of the Georgia Beekeepers Association. He has been awarded the Master Beekeeper designation by the University of Georgia-Young Harris College Beekeeping Institute for his knowledge and promotion of the beekeeping industry. Dale is a local media consultant and emergency management responder for beekeeping related news and events. Dale serves on the board of Trustees at his local church where he is also head of Security. He is supported in his endeavors by Karen, his wife of 20 years. Dale’s interests in nature and wildlife began when he started beekeeping at the age of five.  These interests became a life-long passion while working as the head of the beekeeping lab for the University of Georgia Entomology Department as a college student.  His love of nature, wildlife, and habitat is surpassed only by his desire to educate others about the wonderful gifts of Nature.   Dale’s property has been certified as a wildlife habitat for over 15 years. He has followed the successes and disappointments of Operation Migration for over 5 years and tries to be of service to the team when they are on the Georgia portion of migration. During the 2006 migration, Dale was honored to be a “spotter” from top cover for the team during two segments of the trip. He looks forward to working with the entire Operation Migration team to ensure its continued successes. Walter Sturgeon Director Walter Sturgeon has worked with cranes for over 30 years. He has been a trustee of the Whooping Crane Conservation Association for the past 15 years. Over the past 3 years he has been a volunteer Operation Migration Team Member helping with ground support of the ultra-light aircraft leading young whooping cranes from Wisconsin to Florida. Walter was presented with the Jerome Pratt Whooping Crane Conservation Award in 2007, and was recently named a 2007 Conservation Hero by the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund. By profession he spent 38 years as a nuclear engineer but by avocation over that same period he was a field biologist who loves to work with cranes and waterfowl. Most of his waterfowl work was in the Canadian and Alaskan arctic. Six years ago he got an opportunity to change careers when he became Assistant Director of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. He and his wife Gay currently maintain a captive collection of more than 60 cranes for conservation, education and research purposes. Walter has been the president of the International Wild Waterfowl Association for over twenty years and he serves as Chairman of the Board of the Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park and Eco-Center.   Home | Our Work | Get Involved | In the Field Merchandise | Links | Contact Us