HARFORD LAND TRUST - Key Persons
Ann Helton first joined HLT's Board in 2000 and served as the President from 2004-2006. Now retired, her career included teaching, public office, and civil service. Over the years, Ann has served her community in numerous ways including roles with the Webster Congregation Church, League of Women Voters, Harford County Environmental Land Preservation Commission, and Harford County Library Foundation. A Harford County resident since 1980, she lives in Darlington at Millbrook Farm.
A ninth-generation Harford Countian, Ben Lloyd grew up in Churchville where he worked on local farms from a young age. Currently, he works as a Senior Budget Analyst for Harford County Government, where he has been employed since 2007, having previously served as Director of Administration, Chief of Citizens' Affairs, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Intergovernmental Relations among other roles. He is an Elder at Slate Ridge Presbyterian Church in Cardiff and is a member of the Harford Farm Bureau and North Bay Rugby Club. He is a 1998 graduate of C. Milton Wright High School and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Towson University (2002) and a Master of Public Policy degree from UMBC (2005). Ben lives in Norrisville near Deer Creek with his wife Calla, a public school teacher, and their son Evan.
Deb Bowers has been an advocate for land preservation for decades. Deb founded the Farmland Preservation Report, a nationally recognized periodical, and co-authored the book "Holding Our Ground: Protecting America's Farms and Farmland" in 1997, which remains a leading resource for farmland preservation practitioners. She played an essential role in the creation of Harford County's agricultural land preservation program and was also a founding member of the Save the Rocks campaign. Deb has years of experience as a land preservation manager with several land trusts in Baltimore County as well as the Agricultural Land Preservation Manager for Carroll County. In 2019, Harford Land Trust recognized her many contributions to conservation by awarding her with the organization's Conservation Award.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Havre
Diane Jones is the Executive Director of the Havre de Grace Chamber of Commerce. The bulk of her career was spent as a programmer/analyst with the Social Security Administration. She lives on her family farm near Darlington and has enjoyed the preserved land of Harford County her entire life. She is an avid equestrian, birdwatcher, and traveler.
Job Titles:
- Is Firmly Rooted in the Community.
Bill Carr retired in 2017 after 33 years of service as a judge on the Circuit Court of Harford County; he is one of the longest-serving such judges in Maryland. He is a native of Havre de Grace, and a graduate of Havre de Grace High School, Towson University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Maryland School of Law. He served for many years as the Court's Administrative Judge, and he continues to hear cases on a fill-in basis. Bill and his family reside in Bel Air. He is a former member of the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners and in that capacity also served as town mayor. He co-founded the Harford County Bar Foundation in 1992 and currently serves on the organization's Board of Directors. A celebrated local historian, Bill also serves on the Board of the Harford County Historical Society.
Jackie Koehn joined Harford Land Trust in 2021 and currently serves as the Chair of Harford County's Environmental Advisory Board. She previously worked as an ecological restoration professional with positions at Ecotone Inc. and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Jackie grew up nearby in Hereford and volunteers monthly at the Hereford Food Bank.
She holds a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Elon University and a M.S. in Earth and Environmental Resource Management from the University of South Carolina.
Jeanne Sisk grew up in Bel Air and attended C. Milton Wright H.S. She is a graduate of Goucher College and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Jeanne spent the past 10 years researching viruses, including those that caused the outbreaks of SARS and MERS. She currently works as a biologist at the FDA in the Center for Veterinary Medicine. Jeanne lives on Windmill Hill Farm in Havre de Grace with Sarah Jay where she is enjoying learning the fundamentals of horse care and trail riding.
Kristin Kirkwood is the eighth generation to operate her family farm, Newark Farms, in White Hall where she lives with her husband, Chet, and two children, Forest and Sage. Kristin joined Harford Land Trust in 2017 after many years with a global consulting firm managing projects ranging from timber traceability to combating wildlife trafficking.
She is the Chair of Harford County's Planning Advisory Board and the Economic Development Advisory Board's Land Use Committee. Kristin also serves as the Vice Chair of Forever Maryland and is a member of the Maryland Natural Capital Task Force.
Kristin was selected by the Baltimore Business Journal as a 2023 40 Under 40 honoree. In 2022, she was honored with the 2022 Aileen Hughes award, given to an individual representing a Maryland land trust who demonstrates outstanding leadership, partnership and innovation in land conservation.
She holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Maryland, College Park and a M.A. in Sustainability and Natural Resource Management from Harvard University.
Nancy Ann Sayre grew up on her family's Waffle Hill Farm near Churchville, raising Angus cattle and riding ponies across neighboring farms in the Deer Creek Valley. Nancy Ann's work in the Angus cattle and beef industries took her across the country and around the world, then back to Harford County. While raising a family here, Nancy Ann worked part-time in consulting and graphic design and helped Deer Creek Beef market locally raised beef. Now happily retired, Nancy Ann has more time to ride, travel and help manage Waffle Hill Properties.
Job Titles:
- Outreach & Development Manager
Nina Depkin joined Harford Land Trust in 2021 after having been a member and volunteer for many years. She is a Fallston native and now lives in Forest Hill with her husband Lee and two daughters, Parisa and Keira. She brings over a decade of communications and fundraising experience from Harford County Public Library.
Nina is a 2022 graduate of the Harford Leadership Academy and serves on the board of the Harford County Farm Fair.
Scott Kearby was an engineer before joining the Air National Guard as a base civil engineer at Martin State Airport. Scott went on to join the Harford County Department of Public Works where he managed numerous road and bridge building projects as well as watershed protection and restoration initiatives. Scott lives in Churchville and enjoys hiking, kayaking, and being on the water at Eden Mill or along the Ma and Pa Trail.
Turney McKnight is a retired attorney and active beef cattle farmer in White Hall (Harford County). He is President of the Sumner T. McKnight Foundation, which has long been active in land preservation and water quality issues. Turney also competed for many years as an amateur steeplechase jockey. He self-published "Tracks in the Sand," a collection of his essays, many about his adventures and misadventures on land and water. Turney holds a B.A. from Cornell University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.