John Nuhn (President) is the former photography director of National Wildlife magazine, the flagship award-winning publication of the National Wildlife Federation. After 43 years in the publishing industry, including 34 years selecting and managing the photography at National Wildlife, he left the magazine in 2013 to pursue his own projects. John also served as photo editor of NW‘s sister publication, International Wildlife. Early in his career, he was associate and later managing editor of a small book publishing company. A self-taught photographer, John is one NANPA’s founders and a past president of NANPA and the NANPA Foundation. He is also a charter affiliate member of the International League of Conservation Photographers and a past national board member of the American Society of Picture Professionals.

Sonia S. Wasco (Vice President) is president and CEO of Grant Heilman Photography Stock Photo library – a collection that contains nearly a million high quality images representing the work of more than 100 photographers. Sonia is responsible for contracting all new photographers and reviewing incoming imagery and she has 35 years’ experience in the stock photo business. Prior to joining Grant Heilman Photography, Sonia was an award-winning high school agriculture teacher and has been an active volunteer in the local and state agricultural and conservation community for more than 30 years. Her lifelong volunteerism in the area of conservation and agriculture has earned her an appointment by the county commissioners as a member of the board of directors of the Lancaster County Conservation District. She is a past president of Picture Archive Council of America (PACA), now Digital Media Licensing Association, and has served on their board for over 20 years. Sonia is a frequent speaker at industry events and has been a presenter at past NANPA Summits, PACA International Conferences, ASPP events, and PhotoPlus Expos.

Jane Halperin (Secretary) has served on the NANPA Foundation Board of Trustees since 2016. She has been a member of NANPA since 1996.

Bruce Haley (Treasurer) is a Charleston, WV native and has always felt the need to create. He experimented with writing, music, painting and crafts. While finding all these expressions somewhat satisfying, it wasn’t until he found photography that Bruce knew he had found what he had been searching for all his life. Bruce uses the camera lens as his paint brush. Since November 2002, Bruce’s award-winning photographic works of art have been displayed in more than 80 exhibitions in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Colorado, North Carolina and California. His work is included in many corporate and private collections including six pieces in the State of West Virginia’s permanent art collection.

Cindy Miller Hopkins (Past President) is a full-time travel and wildlife photographer with thousands of publications to her credit. Her images can be seen on the pages of hundreds of text books, travel brochures, calendars, U.S. and international magazines and consumer products. Some of her clients include National Geographic Traveler, Wells Fargo, American Express, Microsoft, AAA & Frommer’s travel guides, BING homepage images and TV’s Food Network. Her career has taken her to seven continents and over 140 countries. When not on the road, she lives at home with her husband in Colorado Springs, CO. Cindy has been a NANPA Foundation member, active volunteer, committee chair or Board trustee since 2002.

Francine Butler (Trustee) is president of Empressa Consulting Ltd. which provides guidance to nonprofit organizations. She was a co-principal of the Resource Center for Associations which supported and guided the founding of NANPA. Francine also served as executive director of NANPA and NANPA Foundation.

Randall Dunn (Trustee) has been a member of NANPA since 1998 and a member of NANPA’s High School Scholarship Committee since 2019. He joined the NANPA Foundation board of trustees in 2021. Randall started photography while in his teens and quickly gravitated towards nature photography during summer vacations to upstate New York and visits to regional parks and the Holden Arboretum. At the end of 2019 he retired from a career in the construction industry and moved back to his hometown ofChagrin
Falls, Ohio. Randall looks forward his continued involvement with NANPA and NANPA Foundation and creating new images
while traveling around the US and Canada in his custom Sprinter RV.

Mary Ann McDonald (Trustee) is a NANPA Fellow and a founding member of the organization. She has emceed several summits and volunteered to contribute to both the high school and college student programs during the summits. Mary Ann is a full-time professional wildlife and nature photographer who, along with her husband Joe, has taught photo workshops and lead photo tours around the world for the past 34 years. She is the author of 29 natural history children’s books and a coffee table book on The Amish. Her images have appeared in all of the major natural history publications and calendars and she recently published the Hoot Hollow Cookbook. She’s a contributor to the couple’s YouTube Channel. Mary Ann has won numerous times in the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, has named a baby mountain gorilla in the Kwita Izina Naming Ceremony in Rwanda, has participated in several conservation conferences and, along with Joe, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from NANPA in 2021.

Marcia M. Mueller joined NANPA in 2012 and served as co-chair of the Summit Trade Show Planning Committee for the first Summit she attended. Marcia has a broad business background in communications, travel, environmental health, and environmental consulting. In addition, she has extensive foundation board experience with nonprofits. She has been enchanted with photography since she was a kid. Most recently, her major focus is on wildlife and landscape photography and her images have been exhibited internationally and in numerous juried shows in the Pacific Northwest, in books, calendars and fine art prints. She is also passionate about her volunteer conservation work. Mueller spent every weekend for 5 summers training federal and state wildlife officials on predator field survey protocol to determine if wolves had returned to Washington State. Conducting “howling surveys” in the North Cascades in the middle of the night in the pitch dark is a rather unique and exhilarating experience. Her travels have taken her to six continents where she enjoys learning about native cultures and wildlife.

Dee Ann Pederson (Trustee) is a native Texan and brings both passion and unique vision to her photography, her photo safaris, her community service and her personal presence. Her distinctive tours explore “special places” such as Tanzania, Alaska, Iceland and India. Dee Ann’s work is published across North America as well as internationally, and includes fine-art prints, clothing, calendars, travel books and commercial products. Dee Ann offers her time, talent and resources to more than a dozen organizations committed to sustainable balance of the earth as a community. She is a long-standing member of NANPA and the NANPA Foundation board of trustees.

Alice L. Robertson (Trustee) joined NANPA in 1996 and attended her first summit the same year while a photography student at Daytona Beach College in Florida. Finding NANPA was a welcome discovery as she turned her studies to wildlife, nature and travel photography after graduating with an AS in Photo Technology. In 2000, Alice joined the NANPA Foundation board of trustees and proposed NANPA Summit College Scholarship Program two years later. Alice was honored by NANPA with its Outstanding Service Award for her work with the college student program.

Larry St Pierre (Trustee) is a hobbyist photographer who shoots a variety of subjects, but currently concentrates on birds and wildlife during his travels to all seven continents. His most favorite locations are Antarctica (South Georgia Island) and Africa (Botswana and Zambia). Larry brings over 50 years of diverse experience and expertise. His career history spans a broad range of employment, including career military Navy service, management, teaching, human resources, recruiting and career consulting. Through his teaching at junior high, high school and college levels, Larry has deep passion for working with and for students. In Seattle, he is actively involved with two youth nonprofits involving photography and poetry writing.  Larry also supports African foundations involving anti-poaching, women empowerment and fistula. Larry was drawn to NANPA Foundation due to its student programs and conservation support.   

Lori Simon (Executive Director of NANPA Foundation) Lori describes her theory of life with an Albert Einstein quote: “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

That passion has taken Lori on a circuitous path from the days of her first Brownie camera to journalism and photography degrees, through publishing and non-profit work and back to landscape and nature photography. And now, back again to part-time work in the non-profit industry at NANPA Foundation.

A native of California, Lori has lived in nine states currently residing in Buffalo, NY. She is an avid bird, portrait, and landscape photographer and enjoys restoring vintage “canned ham” trailers.

Lori would love to hear more about your needs as a nature photographer and hear your ideas as she and the Foundation board create a strategic plan for the Foundation’s continued growth as the charitable arm of NANPA.

Dawn Wilson (NANPA President) is an award-winning, professional nature photographer specializing in photographing the wildlife of high latitudes and high altitudes of the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. Dawn has used her writing and photography skills and her passion for the outdoors to communicate the stories of wildlife to help raise awareness about their lives, their challenges and their beauty.

Recognized as one of the top ten female nature photographers to watch by Wild Planet Photo Magazine, Dawn’s work has been published in numerous regional and national publications, including Wyoming Wildlife, Outdoor Photographer, MotorHome magazine, Colorado Outdoors, Colorado Life and Nature’s Best Photography.

Susan Day (NANPA Executive Director) is an award-winning writer and photographer specializing in backyard wildlife. Her images have been published worldwide in magazines, calendars, ads and as 10′ murals in medical facilities. She’s written hundreds of articles, been a book consultant, editor and proofreader, and wrote “The Wildlife Gardener’s Guide to Hummingbirds & Songbirds From the Tropics.” Susan is a charter NANPA member and joined the communications committee during her first summit in 1995. Since then, she has worked on or chaired nearly every committee in NANPA and served eight years on the board of directors (including treasurer and president).

Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE (Honorary Member) in July 1960 at the age of 26 traveled from England to what is today Tanzania and bravely entered the little-known world of wild chimpanzees. She was equipped with nothing more than a notebook and a pair of binoculars. But with her unyielding patience and characteristic optimism, she won the trust of these initially shy creatures. She managed to open a window into their sometimes strange and often familiar-seeming lives. Today, Jane’s work revolves around inspiring action on behalf of endangered species, particularly chimpanzees, and encouraging people to do their part to make the world a better place for people, animals and the environment we all share. The Jane Goodall Institute is a global nonprofit that empowers people to make a difference for all living things.

Dewitt Jones (Honorary Member) – Twenty years with National Geographic photographing stories around the globe has earned Dewitt a reputation as a world-class photojournalist. As a motion picture director, he had two documentary films nominated for Academy Awards. His column, Basic Jones, has been a mainstay for Outdoor Photographer magazine for over 25 years. Dewitt has authored nine books including The Nature of Leadership with Stephen R. Covey and has produced a library of best-selling training programs. A member of NANPA since its inception, Dewitt has keynoted many national summit meetings. In 2007, NANPA honored him with the Lifetime Achievement award.