Officers and Directors
McChesney “Ches” Goodall, co-founder of Virginia Forestry and Wildlife Group, has managed forestlands in Virginia for more than thirty-five years and is guided by an ethic of managing land under a holistic, conservationist ideal. Until recently, Ches was coordinator of the Albemarle County Acquisition of Conservation Easements program, which protected nearly 10,000 acres of farmland in central Virginia. His family owns a large farm in Highland County that is under an easement with the Nature Conservancy. This easement preserves much of the mature forestland, rare and threatened habitats, and riparian zones along Laurel Fork. He received his Bachelor’s degree in plant ecology from Duke University in 1979 and his Master’s degree in forest management and ecology from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke in 1984. He lives in Richmond with his wife of twenty-two years.
Fay Paurillo joined Hantzmon Wiebel in 2008. In addition to being licensed in the United States, she also holds a CPA license in the Philippines, where she worked as a college accounting professor for almost eight years. She enjoys getting to know clients and strives to always give exceptional client service.
Outside of the office, she enjoys taking small weekend trips to Virginia Beach or Cape Charles with her husband and four daughters. Additionally, Fay says, “I love to cook and my husband loves to bake. We both love preparing a spread (or a feast as our girls call it) for any occasion or holiday, even if we don’t have guests. We just love to cook and eat.”
Karin Warren, board secretary, is the Herzog Family Chair of Environmental Studies & Science at Randolph College. She earned a B.S. in Meteorology from Cornell University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Energy and Resources from the University of California at Berkeley, where she held a Department of Energy Global Change Fellowship. At Randolph College, she developed the BA and BS degree programs, and has chaired the Environmental Studies & Science department since 2002. Her areas of interest include energy and sustainable development, climate and global change, community resilience, Environmental Studies & Science pedagogy, and quantitative environmental methods.
Shannon Brennan grew up on a farm in Montgomery County, where she developed a deep appreciation for nature, influenced by her parents’ conservation values. A longtime newspaper reporter, she has focused on environmental issues such as pollution and biodiversity loss, and has written a weekly nature column for the News & Advance. Shannon is actively involved in various conservation organizations, including the Lynchburg Tree Stewards and the Central Virginia Master Naturalists, and has served on several local boards. She also engages with the community through talks on climate change and conservation efforts.
James Easley Edmunds, II is a fourth-generation farmer, raising cattle, grain, hay, and timber on his family’s farm. He is also a member of the Virginia House of Delegates District 60, where he is currently serving his 7th term, and is a member of several committees including the Natural Resources Committee. James has been named a Distinguished Advocate for Virginia Business by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
H.C. Eschenroeder, Jr., MD, is a retired Orthopaedic Surgeon who served as the Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) of OrthoVirginia – a multi-site Orthopaedic specialty practice with locations throughout Virginia. He practiced Orthopaedics with a sub-specialty expertise in Joint Replacement. Outside of his surgical career, he has served on the Board of Directors for Centra Health, the Centra Health Foundation, the Pierce Street Gateway, and now the 500-Year Forest Foundation. “As a young student, my teacher took me to an old-growth, never-logged forest in Missouri. I was stunned by the difference between the forests I knew and this forest. That experience never left me.”
Mary Wickham joined the Board of the 500-Year Forest Foundation in January 2021. Mary has a background in law, education, and nonprofit management. She served as the Head of St. Andrew’s School and Executive Director of the Sacred Heart Center, both in Richmond. An avid hiker and nature enthusiast, Mary is a Virginia Master Naturalist with the Pocahontas Chapter and an active volunteer with the James River Park’s Invasive Plant Task Force. Mary has two grown sons and lives in Richmond with her husband George. She can frequently be found “forest bathing” either in Richmond’s green spaces, on property bordering the Shenandoah National Park near Syria, Va., or in Cedar Mountain, N.C.
Jeffrey L. Smith, a board member of the 500-Year Forest Foundation, previously served as the Foundation’s Program Coordinator for five years and brings valuable institutional history and continuity. He serves on the Finance Committee and consults on fundraising and communications. He is the retired Executive Director of Rush Homes, a Lynchburg-area nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing for families with disabilities and low incomes. He also serves on the advisory board of a land conservation organization and consults with organizations seeking to provide affordable housing.
Tony Rini has been involved with the 500-Year Forest Foundation since 2014. He was inspired by meeting our founder, Ted Harris, at a 500-Year Forest Foundation event at Sweet Briar College in October of that year. Fast forward 10 years and the Foundation held a second event at Sweet Briar College where again both Ted Harris and Tony Rini were in attendance. Tony attended Ohio State University studying natural resources and then received his degree in forest resource management from Hocking College in Southeast Ohio. He then acquired his degree in business from Ohio University. Tony’s first job was managing Woodland property for Liberty University, where he continued his education and horticulture experience by becoming supervisor for landscaping of the University. This evolved into his business Four Seasons Landscape Incorporated which he has run for 38 years. Tony believes that, along with our future generations, we can experience how critically important old growth forests are to the future.
Past Directors
Ted Harris, Durham, NC
Hullihen Moore, Richmond, VA
Alexander Macauley, Richmond, VA
David O. Ledbetter, Richmond, VA
Frank Biasiolli, Charlottesville, VA
Kim Biasiolli, Charlottesville, VA
Lincoln P. Brower, Roseland, VA (1931-2018)
Paul D. Cronin, Rectortown, VA
Peter Dutnell, Albemarle County, VA
Richard “Dickie” Foster, Virginia Beach, VA
Melissa Gildea, Reston, VA
Lewis B. Goode, Jr., Virginia Beach, VA (1929-2014)
Harold H. Kolb, Jr., Covesville, VA
William H. Martin, Lexington, KY
J. James Murray, Jr., Charlottesville, VA
Stephen P. Nash, Richmond, VA
Thomas O’Halloran, Clemson, SC
Carolyn L. Phillips, Batesville, VA
Danielle Racke, Lynchburg, VA (2019-2025)
Paul F. Revell, Weyers Cave, VA (1950-2016)
Ginny Sancilio Cross, Virginia Beach, VA
H.H. Shugart, Charlottesville, VA
Mark Snyder, Eugene, OR
Kay Van Allen, Lynchburg, VA
Nancy L. Weiss, Charlottesville, VA
