Peter Deschler 

Peter is recently retired from his forty-four year career as an attorney with a Milwaukee based law firm. He is a resident of Juddville, near Fish Creek, Door County.

A member of the Land Trust since 2013 and board member since 2017, Peter is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Madison and Marquette University Law School.

 

Barbara Frank

Barbara is a retired journalist residing in Milwaukee, and a Chambers Island resident since 1980.

A member of the Land Trust since 2009, Barbara is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and has a Masters degree from Drew University.

 

Deb Hagman-Shannon - President-Elect

Deborah Hagman-Shannon is retired from senior leadership positions in corporate and nonprofit organizations, most recently as Executive Director of Chicago Child Care Society. Deborah resides in Milwaukee, WI and Ephraim, WI.

Newly appointed to the DCLT Board, Deborah holds a Bachelors degree in English from St. Olaf College, a Masters degree in Adult Education from the University of Nebraska, and a Ph.D. in Higher Education Management from Claremont Graduate University.

 

Donna Hake 

Retired from a career as an organizational development consultant, Donna is a resident of Sturgeon Bay, in Door County.

A member of the Land Trust since 2002 and a board member since 2014, Donna earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in business at Pepperdine University and a Masters degree in organizational psychology at the University of Chicago.

 

Dave Harris

Dave is a Senior Vice-President and Financial Advisor with RBC Wealth Management. Since 1977 he has lived full-time in the Town of Gibraltar and serves as the Chairman of the Fish Creek, WI Harbor Commission. In his free time, Dave manages his wooded acreage for sustainable forestry and finds tranquility at his cabin on Chambers Island.
He serves on both the DCLT Finance & Audit and the Endowment Trust Committees.

 

Mark Holey

A retired fisheries biologist from both the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service working on the Great Lakes and resides in Sturgeon Bay in Door County.

A member of the Door County Land Trust since 2011 and a board member since 2020, Mark received a Bachelors and Masters degree in Fisheries Science and Management from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point.

 

Meredith Coulson-Kanter

Meredith is a Door County native, resident of Baileys Harbor, and owner of the White Gull Inn in Fish Creek. She grew up roaming the woods and beaches of Door County as a student of the Ridges Sanctuary nature classes and later as a Ridges naturalist.

Meredith has a Bachelors degree in Biology from Colby College, a Veterinary Medical degree from Tufts University, and a Masters in Agroecology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. After practicing emergency veterinary medicine for several years in New England and Madison, Meredith returned home to take over the family business and to be surrounded by the spectacular natural beauty Door County offers.

 

Bob Ling - Treasurer

Bob was born and raised in Marquette, Michigan and is a proud Yooper. Bob and family settled in Orange County California, where they lived for over 20 years. Bob and Heidi moved to Egg Harbor, Door County in 2017.<

Bob started his career as a lawyer and is a former partner of the Milwaukee law firm Michael Best & Friedrich. Before retiring he switched to the field of retail groceries and pharmaceuticals, and served as CEO of a large California-based grocery chain for two decades. Bob holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from Tufts University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

 

Mark Martin

Formerly a conservation biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Mark is a resident of Arlington, Wisconsin. He is the long-serving co-manager of the Madison Audubon Society’s Goose Pond Sanctuary, has worked extensively with the DNR’s State Natural Area program in Door County, and has vacationed in Door County for 40 years.

A member of the Land Trust since 2012 and a board member since 2012, Mark earned a Bachelors degree in wildlife management from the University of Wisconsin and is a certified wildlife biologist.

 

Bryan Nelson

Currently a small business owner (innkeeper) in Baileys Harbor, Bryan was formerly a professional pilot and boatyard manager. He is a resident of Baileys Harbor, in Door County.

A member of the Land Trust and a board member since 2000, Bryan holds a Bachelors degree in economics from Ripon College.

 

Jeff Ottum – Secretary

A retired vice-president of human resources in manufacturing, Jeff is a resident of Sturgeon Bay, in Door County.

A member of the Land Trust since 2007 and a board member since 2013, Jeff received a Bachelors degree in psychology from Vanderbilt University and a Masters degree in business from the University of Wisconsin.

 

Anna Pepelnjak

Retired from a 40-year career as a litigator in Milwaukee, Anna has been a part time Door County resident and a proud conservation easement holder in Carlsville, where she moved on a full time basis in 2018.

Anna's educational background includes a Bachelors degree in Political Science from Marquette University and a J.D. from Marquette Law School, together with a graduate certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

 

Bob Ryan

Bob is a painting contractor living in Clay Banks. Bob and his wife, Sue, moved here from Downers Grove, IL in 1992. He holds a B.S. in mathematics from Illinois Benedictine College (now Benedictine University) in Lisle IL. A member of DCLT since around 1994, he was a neighbor to Dan Burke back in the day.

 

Rick Scott

Rick Scott retired from a career as a chief financial officer in both non-profit and corporate organizations in Minnesota. He has a lengthy history of community service and is a long-term member of the Land Trust. His undergraduate and graduate studies were in international economics, supplemented with language studies.

A St. Paul native, Rick now lives in Sturgeon Bay and the Twin Cities with his husband Dale, a native of Door County.

 

Roy Thilly – President

Retired from a career as an attorney and CEO for an electric utility, Roy previously lived in Madison and New York and is a full time resident of Baileys Harbor, in Door County.

A member of the Land Trust since 2006, officer and current chair of the Endowment Trustees Committee, member of the Finance Committee, and board member since 2017, Roy received his Bachelors from Columbia University and Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin.

 

Deneen Wiske

Deneen Wiske joined the Land Trust board in 2025. She is an experienced nonprofit leader currently serving as executive director of Auricle Productions, a nonprofit environmental journalism organization based in Montana. She holds a BS in biology from Old Dominion University, a graduate certificate from the College of William & Mary, and was a research biologist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science before shifting her focus to the nonprofit sector in 1998. She and her family live full-time in Baileys Harbor.