Barb Phillips

As Past-President of AZNPS I welcome the opportunity to further conservation of Arizona’s rare species and  to promote healthy conditions for all native plants throughout the state. Since 1990 I have administered the Botany Program on three national forests (Coconino, Kaibab and Prescott). We conduct botanical research and monitoring on rare and invasive plants and look after the well-being of all the understory species on these forests. I received my Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona in 1976. My undergraduate work was at Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, and Cornell University where I received my B. S. in 1967. For 15 years (1976-1990), I was a research botanist at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.

Andy Laurenzi

Andy Laurenzi is currently employed with the Center for Desert Archaeology as their Southwest Field Representative. Andy manages the Center’s land protection efforts in AZ and NM to promote an Archaeology Preservation Network across the Southwest. Andy’s prior experience includes five years with the Sonoran Institute where he was the Land and Water Policy Program Director managing the Sonoran Institute’s research and training activities. With The Nature Conservancy of Arizona, he oversaw the Conservancy's land and water protection activities.  He has served as the Environmental Director of the Town of Marana  and on the boards of ANPS, Southern Arizona Water Resources Association, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and the Arizona Water Protection Fund. Andy has a B.S. of Biology from Fairfield University and M.S. in Ecology from Arizona State University.

State Secretary

(February 2009)

Suzanne Cash

Suzanne Pratt Cash was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, brought up in Belleville, Illinois and has lived in Phoenix since 1965.  She received her BS from University of Arizona and MS from Arizona State University, both on Paleontology. Her career was teaching Biology and Earth Science at Cortez High School, and has been retired since 1992.  A widow, she is the mother of three grown children and grandmother of eight.  Always interested in nature, she has hiked and studied rocks and vegetation in all ecological areas of Arizona.  Other organization memberships include: Friends of the Desert Outdoor Center at Lake Pleasant, Arizona Science Center, Audubon, and The Nature Conservancy.

Director

(2005)

Education, Outreach and Conservation Committee Chair

Wendy Hodgson

Wendy Hodgson has been with the Desert Botanical Garden for 35 years, currently as the Curator of the Herbarium and a Research Botanist. She has lived in the desert for 40 years, having come to Arizona from upstate New York in 1969.  Her areas of interest include southwest US and northern Mexico floristics and taxonomy of Southwest plants. Current projects include Agave and Yucca work, including the study of pre-Columbian agave cultivars and studying and documenting plants within Grand Canyon National Park. She is also helping coordinate the Cactus family treatment for Intermountain Flora and Arizona Cactaceae publications. She is an avid plant collector, having collected nearly 25,000 herbarium specimens and over 1000 living collections.

Director

Yuma Chapter President

(February 2011)

Valerie Morill

Director

Prescott Chapter President

Carl Tomoff

Director

Cochise Chapter President

(Jan 2008)

Doug Ripley

Doug Ripley studied botany and plant ecology at San Francisco and Oregon State Universities. Doug continued his interest in biology and natural resources conservation during a 35 year career with the U.S. Air Force where he taught biology and botany at the Air Force Academy before spending 19 years at Air Force Headquarters in the Pentagon managing the natural resources programs on Air Force lands. Shortly after retiring to Tucson with his wife Arlene, Doug joined AZNPS, becoming President of the Tucson Chapter (2008) and then the Cochise Chapter (2011). He now works part-time as an environmental consultant.

Director

Phoenix Chapter Co-President

(February 2011)

Cass Blodgett

Cass grew up in Oregon but has been in Arizona since 1985. He graduated ASU in 1988 with an EE degree and has been a computer design engineer in Phoenix for the last 24 years. His interest in plants began after his first hike into the Superstitions in about 1991 after a wet winter. The bloom was spectacular and he was hooked since. Cass is an avid gardener (natives only). Besides AZNPS, Cass volunteers with the Boyce Thompson Arboretum where he leads botany walks and occasional native plant talks. He works with the Grand Canyon Trust and with PAPAZ on various projects.

Director

Phoenix Chapter Co-President

(February 2011)

Mike Plagens

Director

(February 2009)

Membership Chair

Kendall Kroesen 

Kendall Kroesen has worked for Tucson Audubon since 2002. Starting in fall 2006 he has been Habitat Restoration Program Manager. His responsibilities include grant writing, planning and implementing habitat restoration projects, managing a small staff, overseeing a 300-acre conservation easement and helping Tucson Audubon track conservation issues. He has a BS in anthropology from the UC-Riverside and a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the UC-San Diego. He currently is helping Tucson Audubon refocus its efforts on urban sustainability with an initial emphasis on landscaping. He is leading the effort to develop a recognition program for landscapes that support wildlife and achieve these other goals.

Director-at-Large

(February 2009)

Andrew Salywon    

Andrew Salywon is Assistant Herbarium Curator at the Desert Botanical Garden. His research interests are in endemic, rare and endangered plants in Arizona and the Sonoran Desert, floristics, ethnobotany, plant natural products and systematics using both traditional and molecular data. He received his BS degree from the UA in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and his Ph.D. from Arizona State University in Plant Biology in 2003.
He has contributed family taxonomic treatments for the Vascular Plants of Arizona Project and has been a co-organizer of the Arizona Botany Meetings since its inception.

Director-At-Large

(February 2011)

Sue Smith

Sue Smith was introduced to the natural world as a child along a wooded creek on a farm in Nebraska.   Her interest in plants has been a lifelong hobby.   She has retired from her career in computer science and is pursuing her passion for plants in her retirement.  She loves gardening, hiking, and the photography and study of plants. She was a member of the CA Native Plant Society for over 10 years and is currently a member of AZNPS, a master gardener, and a volunteer at the Highlands Center for Natural History.  She is working on two plant projects, the Plant Atlas Project of Arizona (PAPAZ) and the development of the Yavapai County Native and Naturalized Plant website.

The Plant Press Layout Editor

(August 2005)

Julie St. John

Although Julie St. John's interest in plants began in her childhood backyard in Ohio, she fully adopted the plants of the Sky Islands as her native flora when she transplanted herself to Tucson in 1990. Inspired by the landscape of her adopted home, she soon began contributing her communication skills to protect wildlife, conserve habitat and restore ecological health to the landscape. She now serves as a freelance designer/editor for some of the finest nonprofit conservation organizations in the Desert Southwest, including the Arizona Native Plant Society.

Administrative Assistant

(January 2011)

Anna Van Devender

Anna Van Devender is an Arizona native who currently is a full-time mom in Tucson.  She has a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and an M.Ed. in Teaching and Teacher Education, both from the University of Arizona.  Her interest in environmental education has taken the form of 6 years teaching middle and high school science, as well as contract work writing for the UA School of Natural Resources and the UA Cooperative Extension.  She likes to get her hands dirty volunteering with Sky Island Alliance and gardening at home and with students.

Web Editor

(August 2008)

Marilyn Hanson

Marilyn Hanson moved to Tucson in 1999 after 33 years of high school biology teaching in Madison, WI. She joined AZNPS as a way to learn the AZ flora. She was the group’s Recording Secretary from 2001-2004. And she is now an active member of the Tucson Chapter. She is passionate about preserving the native flora by using Sonoran Desert natives in the landscaping around her home. She also is the Volunteer Coordinator of the Sonoran Desert Weedwackers.