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Board
The Grassland Foundation Board of Directors and Advisory Board draws on the insight and creativity of people with different experiences and backgrounds. We hope with this combination of experiences and expertise we can achieve the goal of habitat protection and rural community revitalization.
Board of Directors Biographies
Richard Edwards, Chair
Richard Edwards is Professor of Economics and Fellow in the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he served as Senior Vice Chancellor from 1997 to 2004. He holds a Ph.D. degree in economics from Harvard University. He is the author of ten books and roughly 60 articles on economics, higher education, public policy, and various other topics. His current teaching and research focuses, in part, on the contemporary policy dilemmas facing the people of the Great Plains.
Dr. Russell Semm, Secretary
Dr. Russell Semm has been an ear, nose, and throat surgeon in private practice in Lincoln, Nebraska for the past twenty years. He earned a doctorate degree in Medicine from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 1978. Dr. Semm became a diplomat of the American College of Surgeons in 1984 and the American College of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in 1985. He was the President of the Tutors of Nebraska's Indian Children (TONIC) from 1969 – 1973. He is the founder, past president, and chairman of the board of Nebraska Independent Physicians Association, 1997 – 2001. He was also a past chairman of the Board of Unity Choice Health Plans of Nebraska. Dr. Semm is a member of the board of the Lincoln YMCA.
Tyler J. Sutton, President
Tyler J. Sutton is an attorney and life-long resident of Lincoln, Nebraska. He practiced law with the firm of Woods & Aitken for fourteen years until leaving the private practice of law in 1997. He holds a B.A. degree in University Studies and a J.D. degree (with distinction) from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, a Masters degree in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri- Columbia and a LL.M. (magna cum laude) in environmental law from the Vermont Law School. He is a former consultant to the policy program of the Rural School & Community Trust, a national organization dedicated to improving rural K-12 education. He has served on numerous community and not for profit boards, including Friends of the Center for Great Plains Studies, a system wide program at the University of Nebraska established to foster the study of the Great Plains. He has written numerous op-ed and journal articles on Great Plains conservation. He is the co-author, along with Joel Sartore, of Renewing the Great Plains : Towards a Greater Black Hills Wildlife Protected Area, Volume 5 of the Great Plains Natural Resource Journal, 2001.
Del Lienemann, Jr., Treasurer
Del Lienemann, Jr. is a Certified Public Accountant and a life long resident of Lincoln, Nebraska. Del and his wife Mary have two children, Anne and David, who are currently living in San Francisco, California. Mr. Lienemann is a 1967 graduate of Lincoln Southeast High School and a 1972 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Lienemann received his Certificate of Public Accountancy from the State of Nebraska on August 7, 1974. He is currently a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Lienemann is the President and Managing Partner of D.A. Lienemann C.P.A., P.C. in Lincoln, Nebraska. Del Lienemann, Jr. is President and member of the Board of Directors of the Lincoln Sports Foundation, which operates the Ethel S. Abbot Sports Complex in Lincoln, Nebraska. Del Lienemann, Jr. is the Treasurer and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ethel S. Abbott Charitable Foundation in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Ethel S. Abbot Charitable Foundation is a private foundation that makes charitable grants to Lincoln, Omaha and Western Nebraska. Del Lienemann, Jr. is the Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors of the Sterns Charitable Foundation, United Arts Endowment of Lincoln, Nebraska Tennis Center, Inc. and Nebraska Sports Group, LLC. Mr. Lienemann is the Treasurer of the Christ Lutheran Church Building Fund and on the Board of Directors of the Christensen Charitable Foundation, Erck Charitable Foundation, Lienemann Charitable Foundation, McReynolds Charitable Foundation, Joe Christensen, Inc. and Fall River Estates, Inc.
David Hecker
David Hecker is a native of San Francisco, California. He is a 1989 graduate of the University of Nebraska College of Law. He resides in Omaha and is a former partner in the law firm of Kutak Rock, LLP. Hecker is currently Assistant General Counsel to Peter Kiewit Sons', Inc. in Omaha, Nebraska.
Victor E. Covalt III, Esq.
Victor E. Covalt III, Esq. is a partner in the Nebraska-based law practice of Ballew, Schneider, Covalt, Gaines & Engdahl. He practices in the areas of commercial and business law, and provides legal services to a diverse client base, including clients with ranching and wildlife recreation interests. Mr. Covalt grew up on a Sandhills cattle ranch in northwestern Morrill County and is a 1971 graduate of Alliance High School, a 1976 graduate of the University of Nebraska- College of Arts and Sciences, and a 1981 graduate of the University of Nebraska- College of Law where he received a JD degree (With High Distinction).
Anna Williams Shavers
Anna Shavers is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska- School of Law, where she teaches and writes in the area of Administrative, Education and Immigration Law. She holds a J.D. from the University of Minnesota. Anna was selected as a Nebraska Delegate to the National Summit on Africa and as a participant in Association of American Law Schools Conference of International Legal Educators in Florence, Italy. Anna is chair of the Immigration Committee, Administrative Law Section of the American Bar Association.
Advisory Board Biographies
Please note that the opinions of the Grassland Foundation are not necessarily those of our Advisory Board. Members of the Advisory Board are asked to comment on matters by the Board of Directors from time to time.
Joel Sartore
Joel Sartore was raised in Nebraska, and is a Lincoln resident. He is a contract and freelance photojournalist. He holds a B.A. degree in Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Most of his work is now for National Geographic Magazine, though he has published photos in numerous major photography magazines, including Natural History, Audubon, Life, Time, Newsweek, Photographer, and Sports Illustrated. He began his career as a photographer with the Wichita Eagle newspaper, eventually becoming the editor of photography. He has received a number of awards for his work, including being a finalist for a Pulitzer in 1986. Since associating with National Geographic Magazine, he has covered land use and wildlife issues extensively. Joel's work on the Endangered Species Act was published in the March 1995 issue of the magazine and subsequently in a National Geographic book entitled The Company We Keep, America 's Endangered Species. He has been featured in two National Geographic Television programs.
James Stubbendieck, Ph.D.
Dr. James Stubbendieck is the Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Stubbendieck is a Professor of Agronomy in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture and a Professor at the School of Natural Resources at UNL. He has received various pedagogical honors and has authored more than ten books and more than 100 journal articles from a range of topics including the Great Plains and biodiversity.
Richard Reading, Ph.D.
Dr. Reading is the Director of Conservation Biology of the Denver Zoological Foundation. He serves as an Associate Research Professor in the Biology Department at the University of Denver and is an Affiliate Faculty Member in the Animal Sciences and Biology Departments at Colorado State University. He received his Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology from Yale Graduate School, where he was President of the Yale Chapter of the Wildlife Society.
Barry R. Vickrey
Barry R. Vickrey is dean of the University of South Dakota School of Law. He received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Vanderbilt University and is admitted to the practice of law in South Dakota and Tennessee. Before becoming dean at USD in 1993, he was on the faculty of the University of North Dakota School of Law for eleven years. At USD School of Law, Dean Vickrey regularly teaches the required course on the legal profession. Prior to entering legal education, he was director of the Division of Professional Education at the American Bar Association and served as staff aide in the Policy Planning Office of the Governor of Tennessee. He has held numerous positions in state and national professional associations, including membership on the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyer Competence for nine years.
Curt Freese, Ph.D.
Curt Freese, Ph.D. is the Director of the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Northern Great Plains Program in Bozeman, Montana. Dr. Freese received a B.S. in fish and wildlife biology from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in ecology from The Johns Hopkins University. He is the former head of Latin American Programs for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Vice President for Programs at the World Wildlife Fund-U.S. and an assistant professor at Rhodes College in Memphis. He has conducted research throughout Latin America and in Africa, Asia and the Artic. Among his recent publications is "Wild Species as Commodities: Managing Markets and Ecosystems for Sustainability," one of three books he has published on the linkage between economics and biodiversity conservation.
Robert Hitchcock, Ph.D.
Robert K. Hitchcock is the Chair of the Anthropology Department at Michigan State University. Dr. Hitchcock is a former Vice-Chair of Anthropology and Geography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as well as the past Coordinator of African Studies and Conflict and Conflict Resolution Studies at UNL. Hitchcock received his B.A. at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in Anthropology and History, in 1971, his M.A. in Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1977, and his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology at the University of New Mexico in 1982. Over the past several decades, Hitchcock has served as a cultural anthropologist, archaeologist, and development consultant on issues ranging from indigenous peoples’ rights and land use planning to social impact analysis and community-based natural resource management, particularly in Africa and North America. His focal areas of concern are human ecology, international socioeconomic development, human rights of indigenous peoples, women, refugees, and minorities, and conflict resolution.
Larry Swanson, Ph.D.
Dr. Larry Swanson is an economist and Director of the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West at The University of Montana. Swanson joined the Center in November 1994, moving from UM's Bureau of Business Research where he served as Director of Economic Analysis and Associate Professor of Management for five years. Prior to his work at UM, Swanson was an economic consultant for over ten years, both independently from his office in Lincoln, Nebraska, and with a Washington, D.C., based firm. He co-authored the Nebraska Groundwater Quality Protection Strategy, one of three EPA-designated model state studies in this area, and served on the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment's panel on Groundwater Contamination in America. His studies of rural decline in the agricultural Midwest have been repeatedly cited by national media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He also served for three years as director of the Great Plains Office of Policy Studies; the first applied policy research program at the University of Nebraska. Swanson has a doctoral degree in regional economics, public resource management, and community and regional planning from the University of Nebraska and an undergraduate degree in journalism and business. Swanson grew up on a farm near Edgar, Nebraska and maintains an interest in its current operations.
Francis Moul, Ph.D.
Francis Moul is a fifth generation Nebraskan, born in York to parents who grew up in Fairmont. He lived in Wilber and grew up in Syracuse and Grand Island, then moved to Vermillion, SD for the last two years of high school where he stayed on for two degrees at the University of South Dakota—BA in Journalism and MA in political science. Moul worked as a reporter at the Sioux City Journal and an editorial writer at the Des Moines Register before teaching for three years at Wayne State College in Wayne, NE. In 1971 Moul founded a printing/ publishing firm in Syracuse which he owned for 17 years. Moul was also a founding Director, President, and volunteer Executive Director of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation, and held numerous local, regional, and statewide offices in politics, economic development, and environmental groups. In 1998 he earned a Ph.D. in environmental history from the University of Nebraska and in 2006 published his first book, on the National Grasslands, through the University of Nebraska Press. He is currently an independent researcher, author, and environmental historian.