Board Candidate Statements

2025 board election

The Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance board of directors provide the organization with financial oversight and strategic direction. Our nominating committee also looks to identify talented board candidates who will bring unique expertise, new perspectives, and enthusiasm to our board. Our bylaws allow for members to nominate candidates as well. You may do so by submitting a brief statement from each nominee signed by at least 25 SoWBA members in good standing as of December 1, 2024. Nominations are due by mail or online no later than December 21, 2024.

SoWBA members in good standing as of March 1, 2025 will be able to vote on these candidates—members will receive a ballot via the quarterly print newsletter and email.

JASMINE BANKS

A lifelong Madisonian, Jasmine is a mother of one and grandmother of two, currently working at Operation Fresh Start. In her role, she lives out the mission of empowering emerging adults on a path to self-sufficiency through education, mentoring, and employment training. Jasmine never saw herself as a “bird nerd” until she listened to Dexter Patterson, co-founder of the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin, being interviewed by Angela Russell on an episode of Black Oxygen. This sparked her interest, leading her to join a birding event at Cherokee Marsh. She quickly fell in love—not just with birding but with the community that came along with it. Since then, Jasmine has been hooked. In addition to birding, she enjoys hiking, camping, kayaking, and simply being outdoors.

PAT CLARK (three-year renewal)

Pat has been a financial advisor for 30 years, and active in ecological restoration for about as long. Starting in 1990, he began restoring a prairie on his family’s farm. It became Wisconsin’s first Glacial Habitat Restoration Project, insuring it would never be developed. He finished a book in 2003, Observation from a Wisconsin Prairie, describing the restoration and the culture that surrounds it. He is actively restoring and preserving the Lewiston Bog in Columbia County, a 605-acre wild area with rare orchids, wild rice, uncommon songbirds, and grey wolves. He is an advocate for wetland and prairie restoration, dam removal, and our native flora and fauna. He lives on his prairie, between Randolph and Beaver Dam with his wife Angel, and their two children Ben & Livi.

MATT FORTNEY (three-year renewal)

Matt works as an attorney specializing in commercial real estate law. He currently is the General Counsel for the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). Prior to WHEDA, Matt was an associate at Quarles & Brady, LLP for almost eight years, where he practiced in the firm’s commercial real estate group. He has broad experience in multiple facets of real estate law, including purchase and sales, financing, zoning and land use, and construction law. Prior to his career in law, he was an Environmental Engineer, working on brownfield issues in Chicago. Matt is married and has two young daughters. The family happily ran a monarch nursery this past summer, successfully releasing seven butterflies into the wild. He enjoys hiking, climbing (in younger days), and running.

LISA LEPEAK (three-year renewal)

Lisa grew up an outdoor enthusiast spending summers with her family on the beach on Lake Superior in Northern Michigan. She developed a love for nature, wildlife, conservation and habitat preservation. She moved to Madison in 2006, where she was first introduced to bird watching. After her first experience with spring migration, she was hooked! The experience grew into a passion for bird conservation, sharing the experience of bird watching and promote practices to preserve the experience for future generations. Lisa practices Medical Oncology in Wisconsin and recently obtained a Volunteer Master Naturalist Certification in 2018.

JANET SILBERNAGEL

Janet Silbernagel is the founder and sole proprietor of Silvernail Studio for Geodesign, LLC. Prior to starting this practice in 2020, Janet was a professor (now emerita) of landscape architecture and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Washington State University. During her faculty tenure, Janet conducted landscape conservation research around the world and collaborated with the International Crane Foundation for over 10 years. Janet began her career as a landscape architect and landscape ecologist with the US Forest Service. Today her work at Silvernail applies the power of geospatial analysis through the landscape planning/design process, connecting people to place through maps, stories, and sustainable design.

Cover photo by Drew Harry