Board Members
Tom Hannagan, President, Marana
Tom is a graduate of the University of Illinois with degrees in finance and economics. He spent most of his career in and around the banking industry. After working at a large Chicago bank for twelve years, he formed his own consulting group and later founded a banking software company. His speciality involved financial risk management practices and software to assist banks with profitability strategies for their various lines of business. Tom has written juried articles for financial journals, posted a blog for several years and has spoken at major finance industry conferences. In his Illinois home, he was involved in reforestation and served on his village planning committee and as village tree Commissioner. Along with organizing tree planting efforts, he also battled an invasive Buckthorn shrub that can devastate a native forest. Tom has retired to Tucson and has been an active volunteer in hiking trail maintenance, buffelgrass removal, wilderness clean-up efforts and desert restoration in the IFNM and the Tortolita Preserve.
John Holzemer, Vice-President, Marana
John’s background is in science and technology. After graduating from the University of California with degrees in Nuclear Engineering, and a M.S. in Scientific Instrumentation he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. Centered in Silicon Valley, he worked in research in biomedical instrumentation, and specialized in high speed hardware and software. While living in the Bay Area John developed his love for backpacking and camping in the High Sierra and was active in conservation efforts. John has retired to Marana where he is active in hiking, biking and environmental pursuits.
Mike Doyle, Treasurer, Marana
An avid cyclist and public lands volunteer, Mike is a Vietnam veteran who spent 35 years teaching Criminology in Texas, California and Minnesota. After retirement, he spent a decade volunteering and working in national and state parks, on national and local hiking/biking trails and at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. Ironwood Forest National Monument provides another opportunity to continue important public lands service.
Mike Cardwell, Secretary, Tucson
Mike Cardwell is a Consulting Biologist with the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center and an Adjunct Research Associate at San Diego State University. Mike spent 32 years with the San Bernardino County (CA) Sheriff’s Department before retiring in 2004 as Chief of the Specialized Operations Bureau. He has extensive search and rescue experience in California’s Mohave Desert and in the San Bernardino Mountains. Mike has always been fascinated by wildlife that most people unreasonably fear, and near the end of his law enforcement career, he conducted the first long-term field study of Mohave Rattlesnakes. After law enforcement, Mike earned an MS degree with a thesis examining the behavioral response of rattlesnakes to drought. He has authored or coauthored dozens of scientific and medical publications about rattlesnakes and other venomous creatures and his own non-technical book, The Mohave Rattlesnake and How It Became an Urban Legend, was published in 2020. He now studies variation in rattlesnake venom components and how that may affect human snakebites, and he uses radiotelemetry to study the ecology and behavior of wild rattlesnakes.
Carmen Bria, Tucson
Carmen is originally from Philadelphia where he received a BA in chemistry. His life in Tucson began in 1973 where he started graduate studies at the University of Arizona in the PhD program in organic chemistry. Carmen’s main profession has been as an art conservator, specializing in the conservation and restoration of paintings. He owned a small business in the Denver area for 40 years providing services throughout the West and beyond—Alaska to Oklahoma. Now back in the Tucson area, Carmen has been hiking in the Monument for over 15 years. His experience as an art conservator—conserving, restoring, and preserving our artistic and material
cultural heritage serves him well to support FIF’s mission.
Jackie Craig, Marana
Jackie holds a BA English degree from the University of Idaho and an MS in National Security Strategy from the National War College. She is a Tucson native and spent intermittent years living in the area before returning permanently to Marana upon retirement in 2013, after 25 years in the U.S. Diplomatic Service. In retirement, Jackie became an active hiker and hike leader, a Master Gardener and a community activist. In 2020, she ran for the Marana Town Council and is currently serving out a four year term. Jackie has a strong interest in wildlife connectivity and in preservation of the native Sonoran habitat for humans, animals and plants.
Christine Flanagan, Tucson
A native of Arizona, Chris retired in 2012 from federal service as the Public Programs Manager of the U.S. Botanic Garden. She returned to Tucson after residing for 27 years in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area. She is currently a Trustee and Secretary for the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and a core committee member of the Stinknet team for the Sonoran Desert Cooperative Weed Management Area. She holds a Ph.D.in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona. Her areas of expertise include plant science education and interpretive planning; exhibit design, and education program planning and development. Her hobbies include gardening, garden design, art, and rock collecting .
Holly Griswold, Tucson
Holly grew up exploring the deserts of California with her parents, and the Sierra Club Youth Section. She started college in Natural Resources and Interpretation in northern California, which took her to the Sonoran Desert in the mid 1970’s. Holly joined a hike up Waterman Peak with Friends of Ironwood Forest in 2019. Friends was a great fit for Holly, and her husband Gene, right from the start. Since then she has lent her labor and skills to just about every Friends endeavor, except being on the Board. Like other board members, she is content to work behind the scenes, as the real reward is knowing we “leave it better”.
Harold Maxwell, Tucson
Harold has most recently served as the Land Management Director for BKW Farms, responsible for overall direction of 17,0000 acres of land owned by the City of Tucson. Prior to that Harold held positions of Water Equipment Maintenance Superintendent and Water Property Manager for the City of Tucson, involving over 22,000 acres of land holdings. His breadth of land management related experience included acquisition, budgeting, subcontracting, noxious weed control, flood provisions, security, personnel policy and emergency response. He has also been responsible for overseeing restoration activities and acting as the liaison with neighboring land owners, residents and businesses. Harold has also been very active with the Avra Valley Wildlife Connectivity Coalition, which includes FIF, in removing unnecessary barbed wire in wildlife corridors between the IFNM and other nearby mountain ranges.
Molly Wheelwright, Tucson
Molly Wheelwright is a graduate of Brown University in psychology and women’s health. She became a PA in family medicine through Northeastern University in Boston. Practicing initially in NYC’s lower east side, she decided to shift gears and raise her children in the Sonoran Desert of Tucson. Twenty years ago Molly created the Cushing Street Family Practice which served newborns to elders of all socioeconomic groups. She now works in internal medicine for Sierra Tucson, a residential treatment center. Throughout her life, the natural world has been her salve. Her enchantment with the Ironwood Forest National Monument came early on and she more recently has had the good fortune to live part time within its boundary on a private inholding. She is grateful to be able to give back!
Emeritus Board Members
Royce E. Ballinger, Ph.D.
Royce was Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Royce taught over 35 different college courses in his specialty area of ecology and vertebrate zoology and focused his research in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Royce was an incredible supporter of Friends of Ironwood Forest. Not only did he publish the definitive book on the natural history of the Monument, but he also volunteered on the board for several years. Sadly, Royce passed away in November, 2023.
Gordon Hanson, Tucson
Gordon was an IFNM board member for four years. In addition to helping the efforts of the Friends of Ironwood Forest, Gordon worked as an archaeology preservation volunteer and as a team leader for Saguaro National Park. He has also served as a field photographer for the Arizona State Museum. Gordon has held an assistant hike leadership role and has also been a board member for two local hiking clubs. Gordon also had a leadership role in a local photography club.
Gaile James, Marana
Gaile, a Marana resident, is retired from a 30-year career with Baltimore County Government in Maryland. She annually developed and managed a multi-million dollar capital budget for the Baltimore County Police Department, a metropolitan force of 2,100 uniformed officers. Prior to her decade-plus of service with the police department, Gaile was a manager in the Baltimore County Office of Employment and Training. She is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Baltimore with a degree in Inter-Disciplinary Studies (Management/Sociology/Political Science). She is an experienced birder and travels extensively in pursuit of that interest.
Gene McCormick, Tucson
Gene became a member of the Friends of Ironwood Forest in 2006 and served on the Board from 2013 to 2014. Gene immediately fell in love with the Sonoran Desert after moving to it 1962. His education was in Physics, with a BA from Rice and a PhD from Duke. Most of his career was in systems engineering in the electronics industry. He has assisted the Friends of Ironwood Forest in restoration projects, communications, and events such as Meet the Monument. He also volunteers with other conservation and social organizations and has provided input to government agencies on a number of environmental issues.
Lee Pagni
Lee has been working in the field of conservation biology for 30 years. He has been a wildlife biologist, naturalist, field researcher, conservation educator, and species recovery planner. He is also a private pilot and a UAS pilot. Lee lived in Tucson for 15 years, during and after getting his M.S. in Renewable Natural Resource Studies at the University of Arizona. He fell in love with the Ironwood Forest National Monument over multiple trips camping there with friends and family.
Mike Quigley, Tucson
Mike was a founding Board Member of Friends of Ironwood Forest and served as Secretary and President. Mike was previously on staff at Sky Island Alliance, and currently is the Arizona State Director for The Wilderness Society where he continues to assist the Ironwood Forest National Monument directly and as a partner with Friends of Ironwood Forest.
William W. Shaw, Tucson
William W. Shaw has degrees in Ecology (UC Berkeley), Wildlife Management (Utah State University, and Natural Resources (University of Michigan). Bill is currently Professor Emeritus of Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation Science at the School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Arizona where he worked for 44 years until retiring in 2016. His research and teaching interests have focused on conservation, ecotourism, and sustainable uses of natural resources. He has directed studies in many developing countries as well as in Arizona where he chaired the Science and Technical Advisory Team for Pima County’s Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. As a conservation advocate, Bill works on various conservation and land trust boards in Mexico and the U.S.
Kelsey Yule
Kelsey is a PhD student at the University of Arizona, since the fall of 2012, in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She is passionate about the complexities of interactions between species, especially those native to the Sonoran desert. Her dissertation research focuses on the ecological and evolutionary implications of an important set of relationships commonly occurring in the monument and throughout the region. Her primary research subject is desert mistletoe, which parasitizes a variety of native tree species and provides food for its seed disperser (the Phainopepla), its insect pollinators, and many other local birds and mammals. While you’ll often find her working in the field during the winter and spring, when mistletoe is producing copious flowers and fruits, she also uses mathematical modeling and genetic tools to better understand these interactions. Kelsey lives in Tucson with an archaeologist and a cat.
