Joseph Cohen
More about Joseph
Kas Guillozet
More about Kas
Matt Krogh
More about Matt
Bob McPherson
More about Bob
Chris Wolfe
More about Chris
strategic advisors
Ken Carrasco
President
Ken is a retired biologist and resides on Orcas Island where he lives with his wife Mariann, a retired wildlife biologist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology with an emphasis on marine invertebrates and also has a master’s degree in Dungeness crab ecology from the University of Washington, although during his career he also worked with salmon.
He worked for various organizations including the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (Cordova and Kodiak) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and participated in research on the Exxon Valdez disaster for two years.
Ken served in the US Coast Guard before college; he was stationed aboard a polar icebreaker for three deployments including two to the South Pole and one to the North. He is convinced of climate change because of the rapid, dramatic changes to the Arctic since his service there. Ken now enjoys boating in the Salish Sea and is a proponent of electric transportation technology, both for cars on land and to provide propulsion for boats on the water.
Ron Zee
Vice President
Ron and his wife, Elaine, moved to San Juan Island from New Mexico 25 years ago. With their daughters, they operate a twenty-acre regenerative farm. Stewardship has been a major focus of his work, along with attention to climate change and the impacts that the San Juans are and will be facing. As a long-time member of Friends, he hopes to foster more action on climate resilience. Ron is President of The Madrona Institute.
Carol Kibble
Secretary
Carol states that a central guiding principle in her life has been a love of nature. The Friends of San Juans mission: “Protect what you love” is a good fit for her. She has been active in various environmental organizations most of her life – the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, Cener for Biological Diversity, NRDC, Washington Environmental Council, 350.org and others, and helped found Sustainable NE Seattle, a successful non-profit that provides educational and activist opportunities for the local community. She was a teacher for 30 years in the Seattle School District, as well as a wife to Jim, a now retired attorney, and mother of their two daughters, Robin and Emily.
In 2010 she found her island home on San Juan Island where she got serious about gardening. She is glad to be a board member for the Friends of San Juans because she firmly believes in the notion “You have to be more careful with an island.”
Bruce Rylander
Treasurer
Bruce joined the Friends board in 2015 because it was an opportunity to apply his skill set to an organization, with a mission that resonated with Bruce’s commitment to preserving the environment and the character of the San Juan Islands.
Bruce provides crucial expert insight into the decision process as it pertains to the financial and organizational health of Friends. His dedication to financial forecasts and logical decisions based upon process design and operations analysis, provide the board with valuable guidance in planning and prioritization.
Bruce’s highly intelligent and analytical professional skills help Friends tackle difficult business challenges and forecast change initiatives to retain strong financial organizational stability.
Bruce is especially motivated by his firm belief in the importance of the FSJ’s mission and in the strength of the staff and board to ensure the organization’s ability to deliver on that mission. Bruce holds a high degree of respect and awe, for the continued capacity of Friends, through staff and members, to be passionately engaged.
Bruce holds a BA in English, MBA in Finance and operations and a Masters Certificate in Program Management. He has served as a business consulting Director with Teradata, Executive Director, Business Analysis at T-Mobile and Principal at Peak Consulting.
Bruce has lived full time on Orcas Island since 2013 with two, highly energetic rat Terriers, Dexter and Bandit. They make him laugh every day.
“I am engaged with the Friends, because I love the work of the organization. The mission itself is so important to preserving the beauty, character, and the health of the San Juan Islands and all its inhabitants.”
Joseph Cohen
Kas Guillozet
Kas joined the Friends’ Board in late 2021 and is excited to bring her experience and passion for collaborative conservation to the organization. She admires the Friends because their work addresses so many critical issues central to the quality of life in the San Juans.
Kas holds a PhD in Forest Resources and Social Science from Oregon State University’s College of Forestry and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from The Evergreen State College. She has worked at numerous nonprofits over the course of her career, and will leverage that experience in her role as board member. Kas currently works as a Watershed Program Senior Director at the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, where she helps lead a public-private partnership called “Floodplains by Design” which supports diverse partners in advancing integrated floodplain management throughout Washington. She also supports projects relating to climate adaptation, native plants, and coastal resilience/blue carbon.
Kas and her husband have nearly finished building their home on Orcas Island and look forward to exploring the islands and deepening connections to people, lands, and waters here in the years to come.
Matt Krogh
Matt Krogh is a professional change-maker focused on issues of climate change, fossil fuels, and policy. Mostly based in Bellingham, Washington, he has spent his career in nonprofit activism at various organizations, including RE Sources for Sustainable Communities as the North Sound Baykeeper, and at Stand.earth as the US Oil & Gas Campaign Director. He has worked as a freelance writer, ranger, and geographic analyst, and is the co-author with his dad Bud Krogh of The White House Plumbers, along with its earlier iteration Integrity. He currently co-owns Warthog Information Systems, a company focused on using geographic information to make the world a better place. Matt first came to Bellingham in 1991 as a transfer student to Huxley College of the Environment, where he earned an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Education, and a graduate degree in Geography. On weekends, you can find him in the water, on the water, and on mountain trails.
Bob McPherson
With a BS in Nuclear Engineering and an ME in Environmental Engineering, Bob began his career in the areas of radiation protection, nuclear criticality safety, and the fate and transport of radionuclides. For several years, he worked as a research scientist in the field of Health Physics. He later received his Juris Doctor and his interests evolved to the ethical and legal aspects of environmental restoration and worker safety.
As an attorney, he practiced environmental and contracts law, serving for 15 years as General Counsel for two hazardous and nuclear waste cleanup organizations at the Hanford Superfund site. There, he helped ensure environmental restoration of more than 200 square miles of the Columbia River Corridor to its pre-toxic, natural habitat, helping to achieve millions of safe work hours.
Bob and his wife, Jeanne, have lived part time on Orcas Island for 9 years, moving here full time in early 2020. They chose the islands for their pristine beauty and quality of life, the reasons Bob strongly supports Friends of the San Juans. Bob, Jeanne, and their three grown sons enjoy kayaking, bicycling, and hiking around the islands.
Chris Wolfe
Chris joined the Friends’ Board in 2019 because of the work that FSJ was doing to protect the Salish Sea from shipping impacts. Her previous work with Environmental Defense Fund had focused on improving air quality at ports and in the shipping sector, and she brings that experience to support the Friends’ efforts to protect the Salish Sea. A lifelong environmental advocate, Chris has long recognized the special nature of the San Juans and surrounding areas. In addition to previous work with ship emissions and transportation, Chris has a strong science background, having worked in the field with birds, reptiles, and amphibians. She and her husband currently own and manage a local solar installation business to help provide county residents with an alternative for energy produced from hydropower.
Chris holds a master’s degree in Ecology/Evolution from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, as well as bachelor degrees in both Biology and Business Administration from the University of Washington. Her professional career has included working at a natural history museum at a major public university, with a large environmental non-profit organization, and in the private sector where she consulted in a variety of environmental areas.
Chris lives on Orcas Island with her husband and dogs. She is an avid sailor, loves to watch wildlife, and spends many hours wandering with her dogs and looking for mushrooms on her wooded property.
“The mission of Friends—protecting and restoring the San Juan Islands and the Salish Sea for people and nature—is what inspires and motivates me to support and work with Friends. The work includes on-the-ground science, as well as the nuances of policy, to help ensure the Salish Sea remains intact for future generations,” says Chris.
