Board of Directors
Shayna Howell, Board Chair
Shayna is a lifelong resident of the Lowcountry of South Carolina. She grew up in Hampton County and has spent the past few decades in Charleston. She has a B.S. in Anthropology (College of Charleston) and a joint M.P.A (College of Charleston, University of South Carolina). Following the birth of her children, she committed to volunteerism as a way to connect with and serve her community, and especially appreciates opportunities to combine her love of SC’s environment with civic engagement and policy education. She currently serves as the VP of Issues and Action for the League of Women Voters of the Charleston Area, and volunteers as a Natural History Interpreter for the Charleston County Parks. She is a 2019 Riley Fellow (Diversity Leaders Initiative.) Shayna lives on Folly Beach with her husband Travis (Groundswell Capital, Groundswell Foundation), two very busy high-schoolers, and a mischievous hound rescue.
Carol Ervin, Vice Chair
Carol first served on the Conservation League board from 1993-2002 and was chair from 1995-2001. She attended University of the South (Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, 1978), Phi Beta Kappa, and Duke University (Juris Doctor, 1982). She worked at Young, Clement, Rivers & Tisdale in Charleston, specializing in Insurance and Commercial Litigation, Administrative, Admiralty, Appeals, Banking, Bankruptcy, Corporate, Creditor’s Rights, Employment, Environmental, Estate Planning and Probate, Health Care, Products Liability, Professional Liability, Real Estate, Tax, and Workers’ Compensation Law.
Carol and her husband, Bailey Bolen, live on Wadmalaw Island.
George Gephart, Secretary
George is a Baltimore native and a graduate of Yale University (BA) and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (MBA). He spent 25 years in the investment management business, primarily in Philadelphia with 1838 Investment Advisors, focusing on large endowment and foundation management. In 2010, he was named President and CEO of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and he led that organization until his retirement in 2017. George was also engaged in a number of non-profit efforts in the region, including Main Line Health System where he served as Trustee and Board Chair. He also served on the boards of Natural Lands Trust, the Nature Conservancy (PA), and the Curtis Institute of Music. George and his wife, Pooh, moved to Charleston in 2017 and live on lower King Street.
Bill Brenizer, Treasurer
Bill was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and moved to Concord, Massachusetts at age ten. He returned south for college at UNC where he earned a BA degree in English, followed by an MBA in Finance at UPenn’s Wharton School. Bill spent the next forty years in New York, working as an investment banker, primarily at Dillon Read and its successor firms. Coincident with retirement, Bill and his wife, Margi, moved to Charleston early in 2018. They have three sons in North Carolina and California. Bill’s interest in the Conservation League was sparked by his 20-year tenure on the Board of the Nantucket Land Council, an environmental organization whose mission and activities are very similar to those of the Conservation League.
Dana Beach
Dana is a world-renowned conservation leader; a visionary, writer and leading advocate who has helped protect our coastline and profoundly shaped conservation for more than 30 years, having founded the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League in 1989. Beach serves in leadership roles across multiple conservation and planning organizations and has been widely recognized for his leadership in conservation, including receiving the Order of the Palmetto in 2000, South Carolina’s highest honor, awarded by the Governor for outstanding contributions to the state.
Francie Downing
Francie received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a MA from Parsons School of Design in the History of the Decorative Arts. For over 10 years, she served in curatorial positions at The New-York Historical Society and at The V & A Museum in London. After London, Francie, her husband, John, and their three daughters lived in NJ. For the next 25 years, she served as a Trustee on several school and museum boards. She is a Founding Trustee of the Stony Point Foundation of which has supported land conservation and food insecurity for over 30 years. Fifteen years ago, Francie and John moved to the Low Country and bought a farm on the Combahee River. In addition, her early involvement with Grow Food Carolina and receiving her SC Master Naturalist Certificate from Clemson has brought Francie to more broadly supporting the Conservation League’s mission.
Lee Edwards
Lee grew up on Hilton Head Island and worked at his family’s landscaping business off and on for many years. He graduated from Tulane University with a BA in History and minor in English. He lived for several years out west, in The Caribbean and in Central America teaching English, working on sailboats and landscaping. Lee is now president of The Greenery Inc., an employee owned landscape company with over 650 employees working in nine different branches along the coast of SC and GA. Lee was elected to and served for five years on the Hilton Head Town Council. He served on the Board of Hilton Head Preparatory School, and was a board member for The Beaufort County Open Land Trust. He is also on the Board of Neighborhood Outreach Connection. Whether he is surfing, kayaking, paddle boarding, fishing, duck hunting or sailing on his wooden schooner, Lee is passionate about being on the water in the South Carolina Lowcountry. He and his wife Becca are trying to teach their three daughters that same appreciation for the outdoors as they grow up on Calibogue Sound on Hilton Head Island. Lee has been a member of the SC Coastal Conservation League off and on since the late nineties.
Arlene Flick
Arlene was always a low country girl at heart and always wanted to live in the southeast. She received a BS in Textile Technology and started her career in Atlanta, GA with a fiber manufacturer. After a few years in manufacturing, she and her husband, Bob, moved to the SF Bay Area where they owned retail flooring stores for twenty years. Her passion for the sustainable movement continued after the sale of the company and she obtained a MS in Sustainable Design specializing in the “green” built environment along with obtaining her LEED certification
With an emphasis on sustainable building/remodeling, Arlene and Bob started a design and real estate development business in Philadelphia and Bluffton, SC. It seemed natural to transition into short-term rentals where client interaction was the main priority. Recognizing the need to impart the importance of the Low Country environment as well as its rich history to visitors, the concierge arm of the business was established. In 2021, the company was dissolved and the focus was on “giving back”.
Currently, Arlene participates in volunteer opportunities supporting no-kill shelters, Hilton Head’s sea turtle population, and the Red Cross. After obtaining her SC Master Naturalist certification, the desire to become involved with sustaining the SC coast is of the utmost importance, which is why the Coastal Conservation League’s mission is an ideal fit.
Laura Gates
Laura brings deep expertise in strategy, governance, and institutional leadership after serving fourteen years at McKinsey & Company and then in senior leadership at the Field Museum of Natural History. In addition to previously serving as Board Chair for the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, her board leadership experience spans an exceptional range of institutions — including the Southern Environmental Law Center (Immediate Past Board Chair), the Preservation Society of Charleston, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the National Archives Foundation, the Gibbes Museum of Art (Past Chair), and Wellesley College (Past Chair).
Angela Geiger
Angela is the Founder and Principal of BrainsOn Counsel, where she provides executive counsel to nonprofit C-suite leadership. Geiger previously served as President and CEO of Autism Speaks, the largest autism research and advocacy organization in the world with operations in 70 countries. A seasoned nonprofit executive whose career includes service with the American Cancer Society and the Alzheimer’s Association, Geiger has served as a Congressional witness and global spokesperson. She brings an exceptional ability to translate complex issues into messages that move people to action to further mission goals.
Kent Griffin
Kent Griffin is the Managing Director of PHICAS Investors, which provides investment and strategy services. Kent previously served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of BioMed Realty, a San Diego-based real estate investment trust focused on life science real estate in the United States and the United Kingdom, which was acquired by Blackstone in 2016. Previously he worked as an investment banker for JP Morgan in New York and San Francisco and Raymond James in St. Petersburg. Kent began his career with Arthur Andersen as a C.P.A. A native Floridian, Kent received a B.S. from Wake Forest University and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Kent currently serves on the Board of Directors of Healthpeak Properties (NYSE: DOC) a Denver-based real estate investment trust focused on lab space and outpatient medical facilities properties and on the Board of Directors of Cousins Properties (NYSE: CUZ) an Atlanta-based real estate investment trust focused on trophy office properties in the Sunbelt. He also serves on the Charleston County School District’s Audit and Finance Committee and on various boards for the Wake Forest University School of Business, the Wood Center for Real Estate Studies at Chapel Hill and Charleston Waterkeeper. Kent lives in Mount Pleasant with his wife and two children.
Chris Jaros
Chris lives in Charleston and is a partner at Quinlan Partners, LLC, a boutique, global investigations and intelligence firm with offices in Charleston, Washington, DC, and New York City. Prior to joining Quinlan, Chris practiced environmental law for more than a decade at K&L Gates LLP and Arnold & Porter LLP. Chris is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Virginia School of Law, and is an avid outdoorsman. Chris has guided dozens of flat-water and white-water wilderness canoe trips, including some as long as twenty-days in length, and enjoys spending time with his wife and two children exploring South Carolina’s waterways.
Whit Johnson
Whit Johnson is the former co-founder and Principal of PlumRiver LLC (now ElasticSuite), a leading B2B commerce platform in the consumer goods sector, where he oversaw major acquisitions that helped establish the company as an industry leader prior to its 2020 sale. He previously founded Lion Rock International, a global sourcing and manufacturing firm, and has held senior roles in the outdoor and sporting goods industries. Whit also served as Chairman of the Board of Earthwatch, an international environmental organization advancing citizen science and community-based conservation. As a longtime advocate for the environmental, he is passionate about supporting the mission of the Coastal Conservation League. He grew up in Europe and now resides in Charleston with his family.
Charles Lane
Charles is the managing member of Holcombe, Fair & Lane and has been a preeminent leader in South Carolina land conservation for more than three decades. Chairman of the ACE Basin Task Force since its inception in 1989, Lane has been instrumental in protecting one of the largest undeveloped estuaries on the East Coast. His conservation leadership includes board service with the South Carolina Conservation Bank, The Nature Conservancy, Delta Waterfowl, and Ducks Unlimited, earning him national recognition as a Hero of Conservation from Field & Stream Magazine in 2008.
Tim Maloney
Tim and his wife Sharie moved to Spring Island from Chicago after he retired in 2017. A former financial services executive, Tim served on several non-profit boards in Chicago, including the United Way of Metro Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago, and was a member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club. In addition to his participation on the Coastal Conservation League board, Tim is the Treasurer of Roaring Brook Family Foundation.
Duncan Mégroz
Duncan Mégroz, originally from New England, currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina. He is a Managing Director at Ares Management, a global alternative investment manager, where he focuses his efforts on real estate secondaries. Prior to joining Ares, Duncan was a member of the Park Hill Group at PJT Partners and Blackstone. Duncan is a graduate of Colorado College, and he enjoys spending time on the water, whether sailing, fly fishing or cruising the coastal waters with his family.
Darcy Mauro
Darcy Mauro has lived on Sullivan’s Island for 20 years, where she recently retired as the President of Sawgrass Technologies. Prior to Sawgrass, she lived in the upstate of South Carolina, as well as New York, San Francisco, and Baltimore. Darcy is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a degree in economics and attended Miss Porter’s School, where she served on the Board of Trustees for 12 years and as President of the Alumni Board. She has also served on various boards for the University of Virginia. Darcy is also the South Carolina Chair for the Society of International Business Fellow. Darcy loves living on Sullivan’s Island and enjoys the beach and the beautiful coastal environment and hopes to help maintain what she has come to love.
Claire Theobald
After growing up in Connecticut and several decades spent in New York City, Claire fell in love with the natural wonders of South Carolina and moved full-time to Charleston in 2019. She is co-owner and co-founder of Beatrix New York, a boutique global children’s accessories manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer established in 2007. She worked for several design and advertising firms, including Tigerman McCurry Architects, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, and Ogilvy & Mather, before founding Beatrix upon encountering the dearth of well-designed backpack options for her twin kindergarteners. In 2018 she granted licensing, distribution, and sales rights to Beatrix and continues to consult for the company today. Claire has been on the Board of Trustees at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, CT since 2017. She has a B.A. in architecture from Columbia and M.Arch. and M.F.A. in graphic design from Yale.
Ascanio Serena di Lapigio
Ascanio grew up in New York City with family ties to Italy and South Carolina. He attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges where he graduated in 2010 with a BA in Architecture and a Masters of Sustainable Real Estate Development from Tulane University in 2014. He started his career in Charleston working for an architecture firm with a focus on historic preservation and eventually transitioned to real estate investment when he moved back to New York in 2014. Ascanio is an avid outdoorsman and has a family hunting property/farm in Williamsburg County, SC which he is actively involved in managing. Through this, Ascanio has always had an interest in environmental conservation, farming and providing healthy wildlife habitat. Ascanio moved back to Charleston in 2020 with his wife and two daughters and serves on the board of Middleton Place Foundation.
Rob Woodul
Rob Woodul is a Louisiana native and proud South Carolinian with more than 25 years of leadership in the real estate industry. He currently serves as Broker-in-Charge of Carolina One Real Estate’s Grand Strand Myrtle Beach office and previously led the West Ashley Charleston Central office for 14 years, consistently driving top performance while prioritizing professional development. A dedicated industry leader, Rob has served Realtor® associations at the local, state, and national levels for over two decades, including as President of South Carolina Realtors (2023), CTAR (2011), and CHS Regional MLS (2015). He has been recognized as CTAR Realtor of the Year (2014) and South Carolina Realtor of the Year (2023), and served 19 years on the Charleston County Board of Zoning Appeals. Outside of real estate, Rob is passionate about giving back to the community, spending time with his two daughters and enjoying the outdoors.