Since 1999, Richard has served as the President of the Biophilia Foundation, a private foundation that supports efforts to create, restore, and protect wildlife habitat and biodiversity, with a particular emphasis on private lands management. Prior to creating the Biophilia Foundation, Richard raised funds and managed many wildlife habitat restoration and conservation projects while working for Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage and the Trust for Public Land. He holds a M.S. degree in Environmental Sciences and Policy from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in Engineering Science from Vanderbilt University. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Sustainability Education from Prescott College.
Richard is the Past Chair and a current member of the Board of Directors of the Institute For Shipboard Education which runs the Semester at Sea program in cooperation with the University of Virginia as the Academic Sponsoring Institution. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the University of Maryland’s Harry Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology, the Ploughshares Fund, Water Stewardship Inc., and is the Vice Chair of the Defenders of Wildlife Board of Directors. Richard is a member of the Bay Bank Advisory Board, and chairs the Organization and Management Workgroup. The Bay Bank is a multi-partner collaborative working to bring about an Ecosystem Services Marketplace for the Chesapeake Bay region.
John E. (Ned) Gerber
Wildlife Habitat Ecologist/Director
Email: nedgerber@verizon.net
Ned received his B.S. in Biology from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and an Sc.M. in Ecology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. His Master's thesis is entitled "Lead Poisoning and Wintering Ecology of the Black Duck in Chesapeake Bay.” Gerber specializes in habitat creation for both wetland and upland wildlife. He particularly enjoys turning cropland into wetlands of various types to provide habitat for a diversity of critters including shorebirds, warblers, fox squirrels, bobwhite quail, dragonflies, amphibians, and wild waterfowl. He notes that building new habitat is important and that maintaining that habitat in good condition for wildlife is equally as valuable. Ned enjoys gardening, bee/butterfly/bird watching, bird hunting (ruffed grouse and waterfowl), fishing, and dog training/spoiling in his spare time.
Chris coordinates Biophilia’s grants program and assists with the habitat conservation program. As a staff member of Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage since 1998, he has many years of project management and development work. He has additional experience including habitat protection in partnership with landowners, drafting conservation easements and analyzing land conservation transactions. He was previously the Outdoor Education Coordinator at Pickering Creek Audubon Center. Mr. Pupke graduated from Drew University in Madison, NJ. He currently serves as President of the Board of Directors for Queen Anne’s Conservation Association, is a member of the Board of Trustees of Camp Wright, and is active in his local parish.
Prior to joining Biophilia, Nick Williams served as Director of the Maryland Environmental Trust (MET), Maryland’s quasi-public land trust, from 2004 to 2008. Previously he had worked for several years as coordinator for MET’s Local Land Trust Assistance Program. In this capacity he provided start-up, organizational, conservation strategy, technical and financial assistance to local land trusts in Maryland, with a focus on the coastal counties. His academic background includes an MS degree in agricultural economics from Cornell University. Nick and his wife Ligia live in Mt. Rainier, in Prince George’s County.
Manuel Jauregui
Ranch Manager
Manuel has worked at Pritzlaff Ranch for over twenty five years. In this capacity he has gained extensive first hand knowledge of its forest, pasture, riparian, and stream ecosystems. Manuel is responsible for the day-to-day planning, logistics, mechanical and human labor needed to accomplish ecosystem restoration and ongoing management of Pritzlaff Ranch lands. He is assisted in this work by Joe Montoya, Ranch Hand, and local seasonal contract labor.
Katie joined the Biophilia Foundation in an organizational capacity, working to streamline the operations of the Foundation and the newly begun Chesapeake Eco-finance Company. This is her first job after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in Public Policy, focusing on Environmental and Natural Resource Policy. She hopes her experience with Biophilia will be the beginning of an impactful career.
Rob Hunt has been working as a field naturalist for nearly twenty years in the American Southwest and northern Mexico. He has taught ecology-related field courses at Prescott College from remote canyons in the Mojave Desert to the barrancas of the Sierra Madre south of the border. He has also worked for federal agencies, non-profit conservation organizations, and private consulting firms as a field ornithologist, field biologist, field ecologist, and field botanist. He has specialized in sky islands biogeography and rapid ecological inventory and assessment methods. Rob has his greatest fun in exploring the sky islands of Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. He holds degrees in Natural History (B.A.) and Field Natural History (M.A.) from Prescott College, where he is currently enrolled in the PhD program for Sustainability Education specializing in combining sustainable economic development with biodiversity restoration and protection. Rob is currently programs director for New Mexico projects at Pritzlaff Ranch.
Melissa Gerber has been a landscape designer for over 20 years and in that time has developed a strong interest in the benefits of horticultural therapy, employing the use of plants and a focus on nature to support the well-being of participants. Studies have shown that interacting with the natural world helps to alleviate depression and anxiety, while promoting a more positive outlook on the future.
In the past 10 years, with the help of local community grants and the Biophilia Foundation, Melissa has had the opportunity to work with at-risk children, learning disabled students, disadvantaged adults, substance abusers, and seniors. Her “Nature's Lessons” program is solely funded by the Biophilia Foundation.
She holds a B.S. in Sociology from Washington College in Chestertown, MD and has studied horticulture and landscape design at Anne Arundel Community College and George Washington University.
Officers and Directors
Richard Pritzlaff, President
Sarah Page Pritzlaff, J.D., Vice President
John Edward “Ned” Gerber, Treasurer
Christopher Pupke
