Bonnie Zehler is the Executive Director of Luminest Community Development in Pennsylvania, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to building affordable housing for working families and seniors. She previously served as the Executive Director of the Franklin County Housing Authority. Bonnie has an M.B.A. from Mount Saint Mary’s University.

Kristin Cypher has over 20 years of experience in urban design, signage and wayfinding, planning, historic cultural landscape documentation, and municipal redevelopment, with a focus on storytelling and placemaking for communities, districts, and downtown associations. Based in Colorado, Kristin has worked extensively within western landscapes on initiatives like Colorado Creative Districts and Colorado Healthy Places, but she has also had the opportunity to work overseas in India on an award-winning Smart Cities improvement project in Kashmir. Kristin has the privilege of regularly talking to groups and communities about their planning and design needs, where her natural enthusiasm and expertise helps inspire them to see the value of telling their story and improving their place. Kristin is respected for her comprehensive and creative approach to project development, including scoping projects, leading/ facilitating public outreach efforts, researching and writing planning and design documents, creating design solutions, and developing responsive and collaborative approaches to place improvements. She is currently serving as a Senior Planner at Michael Baker International.

In his 25th year at Skelly and Loy, A Terracon Company, Ben Berra has been providing environmental and biological consulting services throughout Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic region since completing his studies at Shippensburg University in 1998. Today he serves as a Principal and Department Manager for Natural Resources in Skelly and Loy’s Harrisburg Office where his practice focuses on environmental investigations, analysis, permitting, and liability management; threatened and endangered species studies and consultations; and aquatic and terrestrial biological evaluations.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geoenvironmental Studies from Shippensburg University in 1996 and went on to receive his Master of Science degree, also in Geoenvironmental Studies, from Ship in 1998. He was raised in Cumberland County, and continues to live in the county with his wife, Laura, and their two children.

Carol Stauffer, AICP, Assistant Director, Chester County Planning Commission has over 30 years of professional planning experience, with a focus on municipal planning assistance and environmental resource protection at the local level. Carol played a key role in the development and subsequent updates to the county’s award winning comprehensive plan, Landscapes. In her current capacity as the Assistant Director, she served as project lead on the Chester County Climate Action Plan, adopted in 2021, working closely with the Commissioners’ Environmental and Energy Advisory Board. Carol holds a Master’s in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Geoenvironmental Studies from Shippensburg University.

Governor Tom Wolf appointed Cindy Adams Dunn to be the sixth secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, returning to the agency where she worked under three governors in multiple positions over the last two decades. The Pennsylvania Senate unanimously confirmed Ms. Dunn as secretary of DCNR on June 2, 2015 and reconfirmed on April 30, 2022.

During her tenure, Ms. Dunn has helped position Pennsylvania as a leader in land conservation, outdoor recreation, green practices and public land management. Under her leadership, the department created the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps to connect youth and young adults with job opportunities relating to the outdoors and the environment; advanced water quality initiatives within the Chesapeake Bay and across the Commonwealth through investments in conservation, buffer plantings, and restoration; advanced mitigation and adaptation best practices related to climate change; managed the highest visitations at state parks and forests; and received historical levels of funding to address the growing conservation and recreation needs of the Commonwealth.

Ms. Dunn’s non-profit conservation and advocacy roles include serving as the president and chief executive officer of PennFuture, State Director of Audubon Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Coordinator for Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and as an environmental educator for Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Past DCNR roles included serving as DCNR’s Deputy Secretary of Conservation and Technical Services from 2007-2013, where she led DCNR’s conservation landscape program and oversaw the community conservation partnerships grant program, which provides $30-$60 million annually for conservation and recreation throughout the commonwealth. Ms. Dunn’s other leadership posts at DCNR include director of the Bureau of Recreation and Conservation as well as director of the Office of Education, Communications and Partnerships. Ms. Dunn first joined DCNR in the mid ‘90s as director of community relations and environmental education.

Over the years Ms. Dunn has been recognized with numerous awards for her leadership in conservation including: Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s Frances E. Flanigan Environmental Leadership Award; Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs and Pennsylvania Wildlife Federation Conservationist of the Year; Cumberland County Conservation District Conservationist of the Year; the PA Recreation and Park Society Local Government Award; PA Association of Environmental Professionals Karl Mason Award; the National Wildlife Federation Women in History award; and the Schuylkill River National Heritage Area Legacy Award.

Ms. Dunn holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in biology from Shippensburg University. She and her husband, Craig, reside in Cumberland County. When not championing the efforts of DCNR, Ms. Dunn enjoys the natural and recreation resources DCNR works hard to protect and promote through hobbies that include birding, canoeing, fishing and hiking.