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Executive Board

Honorary Board Member

David Allen Newton
(March 19, 1941–August 11, 2003)

The 18th child of the 20 Newton children, Dave was born to James Elmer and Laura Drier Newton in Mead, Colorado. Throughout his life, Dave Newton exuded quiet wisdom, extraordinary generosity, and a sense of fairness. He lived his life clear, purposeful and with love.

Board Members

Craig Cheney

Mr. Cheney is a Senior Vice President/Director with Project Performance Corporation (PPC) and has been with PPC since 1993. From 1987 to 1993, he was with ICF Incorporated, for the last two years as a Project Manager. At PPC, Mr. Cheney has managed divisions that have a primary emphasis on environmental and energy policy, management consulting of voluntary environmental and energy programs, and improving the performance of data and information systems. For two years, he managed PPC’s Project Management Center of Excellence. He has consistently demonstrated growth in his division’s revenues and returned double-digit profit margins.

Mr. Cheney is also leading a team to put in place a comprehensive program plan for the High Level Waste Licensing Support Project for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Yucca Mountain Facility. He also managed a project to design and deploy an enterprise project management system for the NRC’s Office of New Reactors in preparation for the safety and environmental reviews of more than 30 new reactor applications.

Mr. Cheney holds a bachelors degree in History and Classics from Bowdoin College and a Masters degree in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota.

Molly Finn

Molly Finn is a McLean, Virginia-based Senior Vice President who leads Booz Allen Hamilton’s environment business. Ms. Finn leads more than 600 staff serving the civil, defense, and transportation sectors worldwide on environment issues.

In her 21 years at Booz Allen, Ms. Finn has supported the emerging environmental agendas of many of the firm’s clients. Serving as the Client Service Officer for the firm’s environmental business, Ms. Finn and her team develop and deliver solutions on: Environmental green strategy and long-term sustainability of operations; Environmental management, safety and occupational health; Water resources management; Physical asset life cycle support; Business case development for environmental and energy efficiency improvements and; Use of information technology to support environmental objectives. Current signature clients include: U.S. Environment Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Defense, UK Ministry of Defense, and the environmental programs of organizations such as the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Aviation Administration, and U.S. Agency for International Development.

Ms. Finn has also served as an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania for eight years, where she taught “Organizational Problem Solving” at the graduate level in government administration.

Ms. Finn is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Haverford College, with honors in Philosophy. She also holds a Master’s degree in government administration from the University of Pennsylvania.

Bill Gehron

Bill Gehron serves on NMF’s Executive Board with a focus on communications and marketing. He is a retired executive from the hotel industry, held sales and marketing positions for both Sheraton and Omni Hotels for over 20 years. His most recent position was National Director of Marketing for Omni Hotels Northeast region. Throughout his career, Mr. Gehron was active in numerous professional organizations and served as Chairman of the National Hotel Sales and Marketing Association’s Educational Foundation. Mr. Gehron designed and ran the Omni Hotels Advisory Board that began a forum for Omni corporate executives and hotel customers to create quality initiatives several times a year.

Mr. Gehron now serves in a variety of volunteer capacities. He oversees grants made to community based service organizations for the national and regional Grant Advisory Committee of Catholic Charities NY. He has been a member of the New York State grant review committee for Ryan White hospital recipients and a college mentor for the New York Public School system, where he was voted “Outstanding Learning Leader Volunteer” in 2001 for securing a technology grant from Oracle for a struggling New York public high school.

Mr. Gehron holds a Political Science and History degree from American University.

Max Hall

Max Hall is a Senior Vice President at SRA International, where he manages all programs for its Health and Civil Services (HCS) sector. Under Hall’s leadership, HCS clients include the Departments of Health and Human Services (and all sub agencies), State, Energy, Education, Interior, and Labor; The Environmental Protection Agency; the U.S. Agency for International Development; Federal Aviation Administration; Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Government Accountability Office; Internal Revenue Service; National Archives and Records Administration; U.S. Mint; Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts; Small Business Administration; and the Office of Personnel Management. His team also provides cyber security, management consulting, program management and information technology solutions that assist clients in achieving their missions

Since joining SRA in 1992, Mr. Hall has supported a number of clients that serve the civil, national security and global health markets, including the Pentagon Renovation Program, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Aviation Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other classified programs. He has held numerous other leadership roles at SRA, including technical director, business unit director, and deputy sector director.

Prior to joining SRA, Hall served as an officer in the U.S. Army in a number of command and staff positions. Hall is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, at West Point, N.Y.

Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson is a Senior Vice President for Tetra Tech in Washington D.C. He is responsible for strategic and business planning and development for Tetra Tech EM Inc. Mr. Johnson also provides senior management leadership support for the strategic and business planning efforts of the Tetra Tech Technical Environmental Services (TES Group) business unit. The TES Group is a $350 million business unit of Tetra Tech consisting of three Tetra Tech companies—Tt EM Inc., Tt NUS and Tt ARD. Mr. Johnson also leads the TES Group’s mergers and acquisition program and has led and participated in numerous Tetra Tech acquisitions and tuck-ins. Mr. Johnson is responsible for providing home office management leadership and support for several of Tetra Tech’s international offices including the Philippines, India, Japan and Argentina.

Mr. Johnson has 25 years of experience specializing in strategic and business planning, environmental risk management, finance analysis, international capacity building, mergers and acquisitions, market analysis, and capacity building and training. Mr. Johnson has provided management consulting support for a variety of clients including EPA, DoD, FEMA, NOAA, ADB, the World Bank, USAID, international governments and the private sector on a variety of environmental risk management, financial, training and policy, regulatory and program implementation areas. He is also widely published in the field of environmental risk management.

Over the last 15 years, Mr. Johnson has served as a senior consultant to USAID, EPA and DoD on international cooperation projects with the Czech Republic, India, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, South Korea, and the Philippines.
Mr. Johnson graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in Occupational Health and from University of Wisconsin-Madison with an M.B.A. in Corporate Risk Management and Insurance.

Ian Kline

Ian Kline is President and CEO of The Cadmus Group, Inc. During his first year as president, he developed and has since led an aggressive growth strategy aimed at doubling the size of the firm in five years while improving profitability. In May 2008, he led the acquisition of energy services firm Quantec LLC, the largest acquisition in Cadmus’s history. Mr. Kline is a leader in providing strategic and technical advice to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state governments, and commercial clients. Much of his consulting work concerns developing and implementing innovative solutions that help governments and the private sector better address public health and environmental issues. Mr. Kline joined Cadmus 1995, was named a principal in 1999 and a vice president in 2000. As a vice president, he led two of Cadmus’s technical operating groups. He became president in 2005 and chief executive officer in 2007.

Mr. Kline holds an M.P.P. in environmental policy and management from the University of Southern California and an A.B. from Cornell University. He also is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s program for management development, a comprehensive executive leadership program. Mr. Kline serves on the advisory committee of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Debi McGhee

Debi McGhee is serving on NMF’s Executive Board with a focus on grants. She is currently a member of the senior management team at Project Performance Corporation. She has nearly 20 years of experience specializing in helping organizations communicate their priorities and programs through meetings, conferences and events. She is a conference logistician and meeting facilitator, with experience in coordinating and managing all aspects of conferences, seminars, symposiums and meetings. Her expertise includes: marketing and public relations, project management, business development, direct mail package creation, trade show booth development, media kit creation, event management and Web promotion.

Before her tenure with Project Performance Corporation, Ms. McGhee served as a Senior Principal at SRA International and Principal at the Marasco Newton Group. She directed multi-disciplinary teams in many aspects of government consulting. She also led the fundraising efforts for the firm’s commitment to Habitat for Humanity to become the first corporate house sponsor in Northern Virginia. She also served on the board for Habitat for Humanity of Loudoun County, Virginia.

Ms. McGhee holds a Bachelors degree in Journalism from the University of Maryland. She is also a member and 2002 graduate of the Leadership Arlington Program.

Ronald Newton

Ronald James Newton, Ph.D. is currently serving as the Executive Board’s liaison with universities. An international expert of plant physiology, he is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology at East Carolina University. He conducts genetic research with timber and Christmas trees and develops biotechnology techniques for the genetic improvement of trees. Dr. Newton is author/co-author of more than 70 refereed journal publications in the research arena relating plant physiological and genetic responses to stresses of the environment.

He is a Member of the editorial board: In Vitro Plant and Interim Director of the Center for Integrative Coastal Studies. Dr. Newton has been associated with research grants and contracts from federal, state, private and industrial sources amounting to 3.2 million dollars.

Dr. Newton received a Bachelors degree from the University of Northern Colorado; a Masters degree from the University of Utah; and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.

Peter Trick

Peter Trick is currently an Executive Board member focusing on the technical aspects of NMF’s environmental programs. He is a Vice President of SRA International, as well as an environmental lawyer and senior policy analyst. For over 25 years, Mr. Trick supported the development, implementation and enforcement of major environmental protection initiatives in water and air pollution control, surface mining reclamation and marine and coastal protection for federal, state and municipal governments.

Mr. Trick worked internationally for a combined 15 years in the Middle East, Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and Africa, building capacity and drafting environmental laws and policies. He was formerly a Group Vice President at Development Alternatives, Inc., of Bethesda, Maryland, and a Corporate Vice President at Science Applications International Corporation in McLean, Virginia.

Born in Lancaster, PA, Mr. Trick was raised in five states and five countries. He is a graduate from St. Stephen’s School in Rome, Italy; holds a Bachelors degree in Political Science and German from Rice University; and a Juris Doctor from George Mason University.

Mark Vogel

Mark Vogel is currently an Executive Board member focusing on investments and audits. He worked in accounting and finance in various positions with Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) and in public accounting since 1983. This work included many engagements involving mergers & acquisitions, multimillion dollar contract negotiations support, and due diligence work, as well as providing accounting, tax and consulting services to individuals and small businesses. Mr. Vogel performed valuation studies in support of gifting, business interruption, divorce, estate planning, partner/shareholder disputes, ESOPs, stock option plans and mergers and acquisitions. Industry experience includes technology, healthcare, construction, Internet services, funeral home, architectural woodworking, hotel/motel, printing, government contracting, security services, real estate, restaurant, snack foods and golf. Mr. Vogel also performs forensic accounting.

Mr. Vogel is licensed to practice public accounting in Maryland and Virginia. He is a member of the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts, The Institute of Business Appraisers, Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants, Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and The Institute of Management Accountants. Mr. Vogel has also taught at the CPA School of Washington.

Mr. Vogel has a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of Kansas. Mr. Vogel has been admitted to the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society in recognition of his graduate academic record. He is a Certified Public Accountant/Accredited in Business Valuation, a Certified Management Accountant, and a Certified Valuation Analyst.