CALT Board of Directors

Becky Ruffner

Board President

Becky Ruffner is part of a family with five generations in central Arizona, beginning in the 1860’s when Marion Ruffner homesteaded near Tavasi Marsh in the Verde Valley. Her deep love of western landscapes brought her to the work of the Central Arizona Land Trust and local conservation efforts of land trusts throughout the country.

Judy Clapp

Vice President

Judy Clapp graduated from Prescott College with a BA in Outdoor Education. After graduating she worked for the US Forest Service, both on kayak patrol on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, and on a number of wilderness lookout towers in the Frank Church Wilderness area of Idaho. She then went from the great outdoors to the great indoors, working as an audio engineer/mixer based in Los Angeles.

After returning to the Prescott area, she bought a mobile home park and eventually partnered with Coalition for Compassion & Justice to provide affordable housing. She has served on the Board of Trustees of Prescott College as well as her neighborhood HOA board.

Diana Kessler

Secretary

Member of family ranching business in Coconino County, Arizona; 100+ years on same piece of ground. BA from UofA, married, 2 children, 5 grandchildren; bookkeeper by trade. Believe it is vitally important to keep working lands producing, or begin again to produce, the wealth from natural resources that made our nation great. Saving these open lands as open is the work of land trusts. Exciting times ahead on this work.

Dave Irvine

Dave Irvine is the Executive Director of the Highlands Center for Natural History in Prescott, AZ. Dave brings in over 30 years of experience working with non–profit, science education organizations.

Locally Dave has served on number of committees involved with stewardship of public lands and Prescott National Forest including: the Prescott Stewardship Forum, Central Arizona Sustainable Recreation Coordinating Team, and the Yavapai County Resource Allocation Committee (RAC). Dave holds a BS degree from Penn State University in Parks & Recreation with emphasis in Environmental Interpretation.

Anna Mary Glaab

Born into the Rigden and Hays families, Anna Mary grew up in Kirkland, AZ, getting her education working on the family ranch and attending the one room schoolhouse where her grandmother had taught in 1905. From there she attended and graduated from Prescott High School. She worked locally at the bank in Yarnell, then in 1983 was hired as a clerk at the Yarnell Justice Court. After the judge retired, she ran for his seat and was elected to serve as Justice of the Peace in Bagdad and Yarnell – a position she held for 26 years.All along, she continued to help her family working on and managing the ranch – something she continues to do. Her lifelong involvement in ranching has taught her that nothing can compare to, or replace, the value of land and the freedom of open spaces.

Ken Jordan

Continuing his family´s legacy as Arizona pioneers, Ken Jordan has been ranching for 40 years, both in the cattle and meat goat production. He also worked for 37 years as a contract responder for major disasters, a job in which he helped people both around the country and abroad recover after natural catastrophes. Ken remains committed to the wise use of natural resources and open space.

Dick Hanna

Born in Denver, Colorado, Dick studied Ecology and Natural History at Prescott College, graduating in 1977. He spent a number of years engaged in field studies on raptors in Arizona and New Mexico; worked as an Interpretive Naturalist, writer, and painter in Wickenburg, Arizona; and worked as an instructor for the Southwest Outward Bound school based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He spent over 25 years as an Art Director and Graphic Designer in Denver, Colorado with clients including the Denver Museum of Natural History and many others.
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Dick returned to Prescott two years ago, where he is happily engaged in, among other things, rehabilitating the riparian woodland and meadow on the acre of Aspen Creek on which he lives.

Patricia Bruneau-Gaber

Patricia grew up in the foothills of the Sierras in Northern California. Her undergraduate studies occurred both at Oregon State University and at the University of Oregon, where she earned her BS and MS, with a focus on science and education.

A career in community college administration led to work in Alaska, Oregon and Arizona. She ended her “working” days as a Financial Advisor in Prescott.
The wide, open spaces of the west have informed Patricia’s life. Her background and experiences, as well as love of wide, open spaces, are a solid foundation for her activity with CALT.