National
Invasive Species Council: Staff and Liaison Profiles
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National Invasive Species
Council (NISC)
Department of the Interior
Office of the Secretary (OS/SIO/NISC)
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: (202) 513-7243
FAX: (202) 371-1751
E-mail: invasivespecies@ios.doi.gov
Lori Williams,
Executive Director - Lori_Williams@ios.doi.gov
Lori provides overall direction on national and international
invasive species policy development and serves as the principle
Council contact at the national level with other Federal agencies,
non-governmental organizations, States and local governments,
and tribes. She supervises the Council staff, reviews and recommends
legislative proposals, and briefs top Federal officials regarding
invasive species issues. Lori is particularly interested in improving
coordination and building partnerships with State and local governments.
Lori graduated from the University
of Georgetown's Foreign Service and School of Law. She has been
the legislative counsel to both House Senate committees, directed
the congressional relations office and been Special Assistant
to the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within
the Department of the Interior, and served as Vice President
for ocean programs at the Center for Marine Conservation.
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Christopher
Dionigi, Assistant Director for National Policy and Programs
- Chris_Dionigi@ios.doi.gov
Chris's primary responsibility is for domestic policy development.
He works with a wide variety of stakeholders and representatives
of state governments in the U.S. to develop and coordinate invasive
species policies, programs, and information networks. Chris is
especially interested in ensuring that resource managers have
the tools and support they need to effectively address invasive
species issues.
Chris received a Ph.D. in Crop
Science (emphasis in Weed Science) from Iowa State University,
and B. A. and M. S. degrees in Biology from the University of
Northern Colorado and the University of Louisiana, respectively.
He conducted research from 1989 to 2000 and served as the Lead
Scientist of Aquaculture Research Program at the USDA's Agricultural
Research Service, Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans,
Louisiana. Additionally, he was detailed to ARS's Weed Science
National Program Staff in 1999, and he served a 10-month USDA
Graduate School legislative fellowship on the U.S. Senate Committee
for Agriculture in 2000. He has authored over 30 peer-reviewed
manuscripts.
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Phil Andreozzi,
Program Specialist -
Phillip_Andreozzi@ios.doi.gov
Phil provides coordination and policy guidance for the Invasive
Species crosscut budget and organizes information from Council
members and stakeholders for use in reports and reviews, as called
for by the Council, ISAC, and other requestors. He assists in
outreach coordination and international and domestic Invasive
Species initiatives. Phil is particularly interested in promoting
collaboration on invasive species issues among various levels
of government both domestically and abroad.
Phil grew up near Buffalo, New
York (Go Bills!) on the shores of Lake Erie and has seen the
negative impacts of invasive species his whole life. He received
a BS in Environmental Studies from SUNY at Buffalo, and an MPA
(concentration in International Environmental Policy) and MSES
(concentration in Conservation Biology and Wetlands Ecology)
from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental
Affairs. In between undergrad and grad school he served as a
Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali, West Africa, where he worked as
a Forestry/ Natural Resources Management Skills Extension Agent.
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A.
Gordon Brown, Department of Interior Invasive Species Coordinator
- A_Gordon_Brown@ios.doi.gov
Gordon provides overall departmental leadership and serves as
a liaison among Interior Bureaus, other Agencies, and the Invasive
Species Council. He works with international, State and private
partners to build strong support and leverage resources for local
action. Gordon is particularly interested in building bridges
between agriculture and conservation - information sharing and
enhancing on-the-ground cooperation with government, non-governmental
organizations, and private landowners.
Gordon graduated from Harvard
College with a degree in Biology (Ecology and Animal Behavior).
He conducted field studies of terns, mountain gorillas, and Argentine
desert plants before joining Interior to automate international
wildlife trade analysis for CITES. He has also served as private
lands coordinator for the National Wildlife Refuge System.
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Dean Wilkinson,
Department of Commerce Liaison and Coordinator - Dean_Wilkinson@ios.doi.gov
Dean is the Invasive Species Coordinator for the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the bridge between
the Department of Commerce and the NISC staff.
Dean has worked in the Marine
Mammal Division of the National Marine Fisheries Services' Office
of Protected Resources as the National Marine Mammal Stranding
Coordinator. He has been the Legislative Director for a member
of Congress, lobbyist for Greenpeace, Director of the Census
Bureau's Survey of Public Employment, and a Peace Corps volunteer.
For the last decade, Dean has been actively involved with the
Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force. He represented the Department
of Commerce on the first interagency working group to make recommendations
on invasive species.
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Richard
Orr, Assistant Director For International Policy and Prevention
- Richard_Orr@ios.doi.gov
Richard's responsibilities are to coordinate, develop, and implement
international policies that pertain to invasive species. He is
also responsible for coordinating, developing, and implementing
prevention strategies to protect the Nation's plant, animal,
and environmental resources.
Richard received his bachelors
in biology at Southern Oregon University in 1973 and his masters
in entomology with a minor in biochemistry from Brigham Young
University in 1976. Before starting his federal career, he conducted
both international and domestic entomological research; including
a two-year natural history study in West Africa on tropical timber
pests for the Smithsonian Institute/Peace Corps.
Richard was employed with the
USDA before coming to the NISC staff. He started his USDA career
working as a Plant Protection and Quarantine Officer in Miami,
Florida and later transferred to Houston, Texas to run the Plant
Inspection Station as an Area Identifier. He completed his stay
with the USDA, while working in the Risk Analysis Systems Staff
of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) as
a Senior Entomologist. His main responsibility in this position
was to develop and test risk processes and methodologies for
use in evaluating invasive species.
Richard has been involved in
numerous risk assessments and risk management projects covering
a wide variety of different species including insects, mites,
plant and animal pathogens, plants, vertebrate animals, and genetically
modified organisms and their by-products. While under APHIS,
Richard was also involved in a number of international projects
dealing with risk analysis and invasive species; including the
development of international standards and international invasive
species strategies.
Richard is also actively involved
with ecological, taxonomic, and distributional research involving
dragonflies and damselflies. He has conducted studies on odonata
for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service,
The Nature Conservancy, and many others over the past 20 years
and is currently considered the leading expert on this group
of insects in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
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Hilda
Diaz-Soltero, USDA Invasive Species Liaison and Coordinator -
hdiazsoltero@fs.fed.us
List of USDA Invasive Species Coordinators (January 2006; DOC | 37 KB)
Hilda has worked in conservation and management of natural resources
for over 20 years. With experience at the local, regional, national
and international levels, she has held senior executive leadership
positions in three United States Federal agencies, at the State
level as a Cabinet member, and at two private international conservation
organizations. She has worked in the United States, 11 Latin
American countries, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and the Pacific
Islands on significant issues, such as forest conservation and
sustainable management; habitat conservation and restoration;
invasive species management, policy, and coordination; identification
and protection of natural areas; biodiversity and recovery of
endangered species; protected marine species and sustainable
fisheries management; national and state environmental legislation
and regulations; research and conservation education. The integration
of science into natural resources management decisions has been
a guiding principle. Hilda's most significant positions have
been Associate Chief for Natural Resources in the U.S. Forest
Service and Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural
Resources.
Hilda holds a Master's of Science
in Biology (Wildlife Management) from the University of Puerto
Rico, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1991. She has extensive
graduate courses in tropical botany. She also holds a Bachelor's
degree in Geology from Vassar College, where she graduated Summa
Cum Laude in 1969.
As the senior Invasive Species
Coordinator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Hilda
is responsible for the leadership, technical expertise, coordination
and direction of the USDA nationwide invasive species program
and policy development, execution and oversight as carried out
under the authority of Executive Order 13112.
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Kelsey
Brantley, Program Analyst - Kelsey_Brantley@ios.doi.gov
Kelsey is the Logistics Coordinator for the Invasive Species
Advisory Committee (ISAC); as well as the Assistant to the NISC
Executive Director. She coordinates travel for all 32 ISAC members,
organizes all ISAC meetings, maintains the ISAC listserve, and
handles all other ISAC program-related issues. She assists in
maintaining the NISC website, and provides graphics support to
the NISC Staff, in addition to managing all procurement, communications
and budget issues.
Before joining the NISC staff,
Kelsey was the lead secretary for the Permits and Risk Assessments
section of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service; and a staff assistant in the Office
of the Undersecretary of for Economic, Business and Agricultural
Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Prior to working in
the civil service, Kelsey served for 10 years as a member of
the U.S. Air Force, specializing in both communications intelligence
and administration; stationed in Iraklion, Crete, Greece and
at the National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort George G. Meade,
Maryland.
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Mary Josiah,
Staff Assistant - Mary_Josiah@ios.doi.gov
Mary Josiah serves as the primary administrative support for
the Staff of the National Invasive Species Council. She provides
administrative and logistical support in many areas, which include
procurement, personnel issues, along with a wide variety of other
administrative functions.
Mary previously worked at Peace
Corps Headquarters in Washington, DC, where she served as a Staff
Assistant in the Office of Finance for three years. Mary has
a B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University in International Studies,
and a Master's in Sociology (International Training and Education)
from American University.
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