BOARD MEMBERS

Philippa has experience in business, as an environmental attorney, and as General Counsel at the Indiana University Foundation. In 2016, she joined the City of Bloomington as Corporation Counsel. Philippa has served on the Bloomington Growth Policies Plan Steering Committee and the Environmental Commission, Volunteers in Medicine of Monroe and Owen Counties (now HealthNet), and Centerstone, Inc., and is currently a board member of Cardinal Stage Company. She was born and raised in Green Bay, WI where she was a girl scout and first developed her love for the outdoors, particularly trees.  She has an A.B. in History from Dartmouth College, a JD from the IU Maurer School of Law and an MPA in Environmental Policy from the O’Neill School at Indiana University-Bloomington.

Sarah Mincey is a social-ecological systems scientist who studies community-based natural resource management and environmental governance, with particular emphasis on urban forest management. In her current role as faculty at the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University (IU), she serves as the director for the Integrated Program in the Environment, administrative director for the IU Research and Teaching Preserve, and managing director of the Environmental Resilience Institute. She maintains much of her research activity through her affiliation as research associate with the Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis.

Rob Kendall is a 2018 IU graduate currently working in the ecological restoration field. As an ecological restorationist at Eco Logic LLC, he removes invasive species within urban and rural settings as well as creates areas for native plants, including trees. Robert aims to positively increase his impact on the environment by contributing his experience within the environmental field and urban forestry to CanopyBloomington.

Julie Roberts believes Nature is the ultimate tech genius and that we are lost as a species unless we harness the Power of Trees. She sees a peoples’ movement of Suburban & Urban Victory Forests to cool our cities and homes, channel and harness our massive rainfalls, and surround ourselves with the beauty of Nature that everyone deserves. 

Julie served 16 years on the Utilities Service Board overseeing Bloomington’s stormwater, drinking water and sewer systems. She had a brief career in advertising followed by 20 years as an educator and 10 years running the Ivy Tech Waldron art galleries.

Marcella is a tree-hugging artist who makes books, folds paper, paints, and practices slow-stitching. She worked at IU for 15 years in the School of Art, Architecture + Design, but since the pandemic, she has been enjoying homeschooling her eight-year-old daughter. A lifelong love of trees, forests, hiking, and camping has motivated her to work with CanopyBloomington so that others might learn how much richer and healthier trees make our lives here in Bloomington.

After leaving a career in Public Service, Jerad spent 2 years working in the western mountain states. He has experience in woodland fire, forest management and tree planting after fire and logging operations. Upon returning to Indiana he brought what he learned to start a tree business with an effort to do things differently. He enjoys working with others who are passionate about our relationship with trees within our community.  

Clinical Professor Emeritus at IUB O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA).  Senior Research Fellow at The Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop where he was the former Co-Director and Interim Director (2012-14).  He continues to lead the Bloomington Urban Forestry Research Group (BUFRG) (https://urbanforestry.indiana.edu/). He was the State Forester/Director of the Indiana Division of Forestry (1990-2005) and formerly a Professor of Forestry at both Purdue University and University of Massachusetts-Amherst.  He has received numerous awards and honors including the 2013 Frederick Law Olmsted Award by the Arbor Day Foundation.   Burney received BSF, MSF and PhD degrees from Purdue University (1969, 71, 74).  While at O’Neill Dr. Fischer developed courses in Urban Forest Management and Urban Ecology. Burney’s interest in Bloomington’s urban forest began in earnest in 2006-07 when is assembled a SPEA student team to conduct a re-inventory of the city’s pubic street trees for the City Forester.  Subsequent BUFRG projects updated portions of the inventory.  The city’s urban forestry program became a regular component of the Urban Forest Management course with class field trips, student team projects evaluating specific neighborhoods, etc.  A current on-going research project led by BUFRG researcher and PhD student Stephanie Freeman-Day is examining Bloomington’s urban forest patches over time as a social-ecological system. 

Matt has been practicing arboriculture for over 20 years as an ISA Certified Arborist. He is passionate about learning and educating others about trees. He is also dedicated to working with other professionals to change the way we care for trees. While Matt enjoys planting and training young trees, he especially loves working to preserve mature or heritage trees. Matt lives out in the middle of no where with his wife and six children where they get to enjoy all the beauty and benefits of being surrounded by the forest.

Jodi Baker is the digital content manager at The Media School at Indiana University. Prior to joining IU, she spent five years at the Monroe County YMCA as the marketing and communications director and held various roles on the marketing team at Author Solutions for eight years. She brings extensive experience creating marketing strategies to help inform the community about CanopyBloomington’s initiatives. She moved to the Bloomington area in 2004 and earned a B.A. in Journalism from Indiana University. During the weekends, you’ll probably find her hiking with her husband and dog in one of the forests surrounding Bloomington.

Douglas Sanders has spent his career as a Paper Conservator, preserving our collective written and documentary heritage for future generations. He sees similar contemporary themes with the preservation and restoration of our natural world.

Doug is a certified Indiana Master Naturalist and actively takes part in citizen scientist and volunteer opportunities around Bloomington and Monroe County, to invest in the wealth of our natural world. He enjoys nothing more than spending free time working outside in his garden, hiking and camping in local parks with a field guide in hand, and bicycling throughout southern Indiana.

David has been an active member of the Bloomington community for over 30 years. He has served numerous organizations in a volunteer capacity including the Boys & Girls Club of Bloomington, the YMCA of Monroe County, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Hoosiers Outrun Cancer, and Habitat for Humanity.  He was appointed by the Governor to Chair the Region 8 Workforce Board to partner with for-profit, non-profit, and educational organizations to develop training pipelines preparing area Hoosiers for high-demand jobs.  In 2017 he received the Workforce Development Award from the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. David has worked at Cook Medical in Bloomington for over 30 years in Leadership roles in Product Development, HR, and IT. He has a BS in engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from UCLA. He has enjoyed replacing and maintaining over a dozen aged-out trees in his yard, including a Kentucky Coffeetree planted by Canopy at their first neighborhood planting.