Utah Rivers Council is guided by a volunteer board of directors, each of whom brings expertise and passion to the cause of protecting our rivers and streams.
Sarah Bennett grew up in Salt Lake City and has been running rivers in the West since her first trip down the Grand Canyon at the age of nine. She has a BS in English Literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and an MS in American Studies and a policy degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Policy from Utah State University. Sarah led the grass-roots effort to establish a trails plan for Emigration Canyon and continues her efforts to provide for quality recreational opportunities at the wild-urban interface while protecting our remaining open space. She is on the board of the Utah Museum of Natural History and has taught natural history courses through continuing education at the University. She is currently working as a fitness trainer and raising her daughter, Blair.
Rob Bero is an executive in the Great Salt Lake commercial brine shrimping industry and owner of Red Rock River Company. He’s been an active conservationist for more than twenty years in Utah and seeks to raise awareness and funds to help protect the Great Salt Lake. Rob serves as our Vice Chair.
Mike Elggren is a Utah native who’s passionate about preserving the state’s natural wonders, especially its rivers. He is an avid paddler and taught kayaking for many years throughout the U.S. Mike has recently started his own business designing and installing native and water-wise landscapes.
Libby Ellis grew up in Wisconsin, near the shores of Lake Michigan. Her passion for rivers and water was founded in that landscape and further developed when, after graduating with a degree in Textiles and Business from the U of Wisconsin-Stout, she worked for three years as back country ranger at Grand Canyon National Park. She has been involved in the conservation movement for twenty plus years, as the Director of Environmental Programs for Patagonia, Inc., as the Director of Marketing and Philanthropy for the Nature Conservancy in Utah, and via her volunteer service. She, her husband – Stuart Ruckman, and son, Ellis Ruckman spend as much time as possible in the outdoors. ”Utah Rivers Council’s efforts in water conservation are bold and yet grounded in the necessity of bringing all players to the table to protect and conserve Utah’s most fragile resource – water.”
Dave Mock
Mike Olsen grew up in Salt Lake City, received his Bachelors degree and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Utah. He has run twice for the Utah House of Representatives and takes a special interest in conservation and river protection.
Ron Penner is a CPA licensed in Utah since 2000 and has been a member of the Utah Rivers Council since 1996. He is an avid back country skier, river runner and canyon country explorer. His interest in conservation stems from a desire to protect the environment for future generations, especially riparian ecosystems. He and his wife, Marta Heilbrun, are the proud parents of two adventurous daughters, Anna (10) and Sophie (6).
Chris Peterson is a native Utahan with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from BYU and two master’s degrees from the University of Utah – in Public Administration and Environmental Humanities. During his twenties he worked as a studio artist while honing his skills as a desert rat and river enthusiast. In the last decade, Chris has led and directed programs for a variety of nonprofit advocacy, education and philanthropic organizations, ranging from water policy reform to charter school start-up to rural development in Asia and Africa. In his spare time, he moonlights as a fly-fishing guide and plays outside with his daughters, Hazel and Shiloh.
Deeda Seed has worked with a wide variety of non-profit and government organizations for the last 27 years. These have included organizations working to alleviate poverty, promote social justice, and protect the environment. She is a former Salt Lake City Councilmember, and served as Chief of Staff, and Communications Director for Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson. For the last five years she has been the Grassroots Outreach Director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Utah and a Master’s Degree from the University of Chicago. She’s the proud mother of two sons and in her non-existent spare time likes to read, garden and hike.
Charlie Vincent has lived in the Salt Lake area for over 20 years. He has a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from Michigan Technological University and until recently has spent much of his career doing primarily environmental projects in the oil and gas industry. During the 90’s he was a part owner of an outfitting company and guided mountain bike and multi-day river trips on the Green and Colorado rivers. Since 1996, he has been involved in the Bear River hydropower dam FERC Re-licensing process in SE Idaho, and currently is a member of the adaptive management ECC (Environmental Coordination Committee) representing American Whitewater. He is an avid conservationist, ultra runner, kayaker, rafter, and father of his young daughter Addie.
Mark White is a Salt Lake native who received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah and MBA from Utah State. During his academic years, he was a member of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team. He is the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau’s VP of Sales, overseeing efforts to attract groups of visitors ranging in size from 20 to 20,000 people. Since joining the organization seventeen years ago, he’s been involved in securing hundreds of meeting and conventions that contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy. Mark was considered one of the nation’s premiere whitewater kayakers in the eighties and nineties. He’s made numerous first descents, written articles for national publications, introduced hundreds to whitewater paddling, and been instrumental in protecting Utah’s rives and riparian habitat.