Staff

Liz sees conservation as both a tool and ethic to address the needs of current and future generations. Born and raised in rural Elkhart County, Liz’s first job in conservation was as an AmeriCorps VISTA, developing a young adult workforce for Conservation Legacy in southwestern Colorado. She then deepened her experience as Assistant Director for IASWCD before choosing to further broaden her perspective through serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in the eastern Philippines. Upon her return to the US, Liz led workforce and communications departments with HistoriCorps, a national nonprofit. After earning her Masters in Environmental Policy and Management from the University of Denver, Liz was invited to come back to IASWCD to serve as executive director. She lives in Indianapolis with her family. Find her on LinkedIn here.

Amy is passionate about all things Indiana. As Director of Communications and Member Programs, she is dedicated to making a difference in the world by supporting Indiana’s soil and water conservation districts.

Amy co-manages regional trainings, the statewide annual conference for Indiana SWCDs, coordinates the annual conservation award programs, and publications including IASWCD’s biweekly newsletter, annual reports, news releases, and more.

Amy and her husband currently live in Hamilton County, love to travel and frequently visit their two adult sons in Chicago. Find Amy on LinkedIn here.

Whitney has an entrepreneurial spirit. Her career in conservation started with the Spencer County SWCD in 2009. Ultimately she pursued a degree in Wildlife Biology through Purdue. Outside of classroom work, her education included field camps in Michigan and an internship with USFWS in Alaska. She then boomeranged back to the SWCD mission, accepting first a technician role with Warrick County SWCD and later growing her leadership and financial management skills to fund an Executive Director position for the District, a position she served in for three years. She served the District for more than seven years before leaving to establish her own farm and business. She found she couldn’t stay away from SWCDs for long, though, and joined IASWCD as Grants and Finance Manager in 2023. In this role she manages the Association’s many grants as well as provides guidance and training to Districts as they pursue and manage their own grants.

Lisa is passionate about soil health systems and conservation. Raised on a farm in Southwest Indiana, her family continues their commodity crop and beef operation and use no-till and cover crops as part of their cropping system.  Her first paying job was setting melons for neighbors – in third grade. Lisa joined the Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative (CCSI) in 2012 as a Program Manager and the lone full time employee. Officially launched in 2009 as an Indiana Conservation Program under the fiscal umbrella of the IASWCD, CCSI promotes soil health on Indiana cropland, Over the past decade, CCSI has expanded from a single employee and a pair of contractors to a team that includes four Program Managers and three Purdue Extension Agronomists.  In partnership with other ICP organizations, CCSI provides a full soil health training curriculum.  The team also works with partners to promote and execute the partners’ outreach events, reaching 6000-8000 people each year. Learn more about CCSI at www.ccsin.org.

Elli joined the IASWCD as Director of the Urban Soil Health program in 2021 with the launch of the statewide initiative. She worked for four years with Marion County SWCD on urban and small farm soil health outreach via a Clean Water Indiana grant and NACD Urban Conservation grant. She was the Assistant Manager of non-profit farm Indy Urban Acres for three years. Elli has a background in environmental studies and sustainability, and a passion for urban ecology and healthy food systems. Learn more about USH at www.urbansoilhealth.org.

A farm kid from Upstate New York, Meg has lived in Indiana for nearly three decades. Her career while in Indiana has always focused on local conservation efforts to improve our environment. She started by directing conservation programs at a single SWCD and then state-wide as ISDA’s Director of Soil Health. Before returning to direct Resilient Indiana, she was the Director of Conservation Programs with the National Association of Conservation Districts. Find her on LinkedIn here.