EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
David Klemp
Executive Director
Born and raised in the Triangle, Dave obatined his Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Management from North Carolina State University. Before starting Trees for the Triangle, he worked in the City of Raleigh's Urban Forestry Division. He is a Certified Arborist recognized by the International Society of Arboriculture, as well as an Eagle Scout.
Dave@TreesForTheTriangle.org
Megan Pendell
Chair
Megan is the first Sustainability Coordinator for her hometown, the Town of Apex, where she's building the Apex Sustainability Program from the ground up. Megan graduated from NC State University with a B.S. in Environmental Sciences, Minor in Applied Ecology, Focal Area in Climate Change and Water Resources, and Global Perspectives Certificate. She applies her multidisciplinary experience, from scientific research in South Africa to grassroots environmental leadership, and is a proud supporter of several community groups, including Trees for the Triangle.
Katie Rose Levin
Vice Chair
Growing up in woods in the country of North Carolina, she spent her life bringing the woods back into the cities of the Triangle. She is a certified arborist with a double masters in Forestry and Environmental Management. In her professional life she is the Director of Consulting at Leaf & Limb, working to create healthy trees and happy people. She will use her science, policy and advocacy knowledge and experience to further the mission of TftT.
Jean-Luc Duval
Secretary/Volunteer Coordinator
Current field organizer for Climate Action NC and NC League of Conservation Voters in Raleigh. Before joining the board, Jean-Luc has worked in the nonprofit sector for environmental groups advocating for climate resilience and reforestation policies. With a strong background in volunteer management and event planning, he is excited to recruit a strong roster of tree planters and site evaluators for TftT. He is also a former candidate for Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor in the 2020 election. Outside of tree plantings, you can find Jean-Luc working in his garden, hiking with his dog Laila, or playing his guitar for anyone unfortunate enough to hear.
Dr. Richard W. Carroll
Grant Coordinator
Known as the ‘Old Silverback’ to many and as Kombete (old man of the forest) to his BaAka friends in the forest of Central Africa, Dr. Richard Carroll completed his Doctor of Forestry degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies on the ‘Feeding Ecology of lowland gorillas in southwest Central African Republic (CAR)’. After hiking the Appalachian Trail in 1975, Richard went to CAR in 1976 as a Peace Corps Volunteer and worked as a fisheries extension agent for two years, then three years as a wildlife biologist in the far north of CAR studying the status of black rhinos and elephant ecology, funded partially by WWF. While still in the Peace Corps, Richard completed a master’s in biology thesis of the Birds of CAR, including a species list and habitat associations. After PC, Richard joined WWF as Senior Program Officer for Central and West Africa and became the WWF Vice President for Africa and Madagascar. Richard was instrumental in developing the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas Program in CAR, one of the first Integrated Conservation and Development Programs (ICDP), founded on the principal of bringing together indigenous peoples needs and rights into a conservation program. Dzanga-Sangha helped inform the creation USAID CARPE (Central African Regional Program for the Environment) and following successful central Africa heads of state summits, the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) which resulted in 12 large conservation landscape covering 40% of the Congo Basin. DRC was a significant part of Dr. Carroll’s portfolio at WWF and he has visited Lac Tumba and many areas in the country, working with local people, NGOs, and government officials. In addition, Richard helped support Community Based Conservation Programs in Namibia, Tanzania, Madagascar, Cameroon, and others. After a 35-year career in conservation in Africa, Richard retired from WWF in 2014, and turned his attention to his own backyard. Dr. Carroll serves on boards of local and regional environmental groups such as the Eno River Association and the Cary Tree Archive (CTA) and has converted his literal backyard into food production and his home environment to a native plant and pollinator garden habitat.
Richard helped the create the Lillian Mae Wolcott Carroll Memorial Pollinator Garden at the Cary Tree Archive and serves as an advisor the CTA Program.
George McDowell
Treasurer/Donation Liaison
George is a former Army officer and retired lawyer. He serves on the Board because he agrees with author Jim Robbins, that “planting trees may be the single most important ecotechnology that we have to put the broken pieces of our planet back together,” and he is moved by U.N. Secretary General António Guterres’s warning that “we are in an environmental crisis and have little time to act before its effects become irreversible.”
Ray Mann
Special Projects Coordinator
A North Carolina native. Ray began his horticulture career in the golf course industry, where he got an Associates in Turfgrass Management from North Carolina State University. At the time, he took Plant ID class that opened his eyes to the coolness of trees and shrubs. For the past 10yrs he has worked as a landscaper for the Town of Cary and Holly Springs. He has been a ISA certified arborist for 10 yrs and this past year earned his Board Certified Master Arborist designation. This past May, he took the leap of faith and started his own landscape company, Greenleaf Horticulture Solutions, specializing in creating and maintaining healthy balanced landscapes for customers in the Triangle.
