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staff biographies

Stephanie Buffum Field, FRIENDS Executive Director, holds a Master in Public Administration and a Master in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon. Ms. Buffum also holds a BA in Public Policy and Management and a Minor in Marine Biology. She has worked as a land use planner for the City of Eugene and land use consultant in New Mexico. Ms. Buffum Field has been working in non-profit environmental protection for over 15 years. As Executive Director, she manages all projects, staff, contractors, community outreach, research, fundraising and board development. Prior to her position at FRIENDS in 2001, Ms. Buffum Field worked with the Center for Biological Diversity, focusing on federal endangered species protection, landscape management (forest, mining, and cattle grazing), community development and fundraising.

Tina Whitman, FRIENDS Science Director, received her undergraduate degree in Environmental Design with a minor in Biology from the University of Colorado. She received a Master of Science from the University of Oregon, with graduate work focused on improving the application of biological information to land use planning and policy. Tina has an extensive background in resource management and has served as a biologist and science educator in both the Northeast and the Northwest. She has over ten years of experience in conservation, including positions with a wildlife refuge, watershed council, and natural history museum. Specific areas of field expertise include fisheries habitat assessment, shorebird research and protection, water quality monitoring and watershed analysis. Tina’s professional skills also include the development and evaluation of educational programs, volunteer coordination, grant and report writing and landowner involvement.

Kyle Loring, FRIENDS Staff Attorney, earned his law degree from Boston College Law School, where he also participated actively outside the classroom, through service on the BC Law Review, as president of the Environmental Law Society, as a legal intern at BC's Elder Law Clinic, and teaching environmental law to undergraduate students. After law school, Kyle worked as a legal fellow for Alternatives for Community and Environment, a not-for-profit environmental justice organization in Boston. There, he collaborated with community residents to advocate for the equitable distribution of environmentally-harmful activities across wealthier neighborhoods as well as those less well-to-do. Kyle spent three years with the Seattle office of K&L Gates (formerly Preston Gates Ellis LLP), practicing Environmental, Land Use, and Natural Resources law. In addition to his work with FRIENDS, Kyle serves as a board member for Transportation Choices Coalition, a state-wide mobility advocacy organization. Kyle is a native Washingtonian who is looking forward to returning to island living; he grew up on Anderson Island in the south Puget Sound. Kyle brings many years of land use experience and knowledge of the region to our conservation team.

Shannon Davis, FRIENDS Grants Manager , holds a Master in Urban Planning with an emphasis on natural resource management from the University of Washington. She received her undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Shannon spent five years as the owner and operator of a sailing and kayaking charter boat business in the San Juan Islands. She was the first coordinator for the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee, our local citizen-based advisory body to the Board of County Commissioners. As Development Director, Shannon is in charge of grant writing, fundraising, newsletter production and membership outreach.

Jana Marks, FRIENDS Office Manager, has 25 years of island residency during which time she has seen many changes. She has lived remotely and self-sufficiently on Stuart Island where she raised her two daughters. Jana was a fire commissioner, PTA representative and a volunteer at the local one-room schoolhouse. Since moving to Friday Harbor six years ago she has applied herself as a volunteer office manager at a local private high school, as a landscaper, a chaperone taking twenty high school and college students to Asia for seven weeks and has organized two community Earth Day events. She brings a strong community ethic and organizational skills to her job as office manager.

Scott Boye, FRIENDS Membership Director, is a fourth generation Washingtonian who has lived in the San Juans for the past dozen years. But his connections go much deeper. While growing up in the Seattle area, childhood summers and vacations were spent on Lopez and sailing with family and friends. With a degree in Architecture from the University of Washington, Scott’s career specialized in export of building materials and home packages to Asia. Working with both US and Japanese governmental agencies, Scott was instrumental in gaining governmental certification of western style construction techniques and materials in Japan. After ‘retiring’ to San Juan Island in 1996, Scott built his own house, performing every aspect of the design and construction. Scott also became involved in a number of community activities, including coaching the local High School sailing team. In addition to his duties at FRIENDS of the San Juans, Scott serves on the boards of The San Juan Sailing Foundation and ISSA, the national governing body of high school sailing. His passion for sailing finds him racing on sailboats locally and nationally most weekends.

James Slocomb, GIS Consultant, has over 20 years experience in information management and has served as a consultant to local governments and environmental organizations for planning, project design and implementation of spatial data systems; database design; business practices involved in the use of spatial data systems, and data acquisition. Mr. Slocomb has developed Information Management Plans for the Town of Friday Harbor, and Land Information Systems for San Juan County. Slocomb served as the Project Manager of Geographic Information Systems for the Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources, Oil Spill Project Office based in Anchorage, AK. where he managed AutoCad/GeoSQL based mapping system for mapping impacts to Prince William Sound resulting from the EXXON Valdez oil spill. He was the lead consultant responsible for the design, implementation and management of oil spill restoration efforts. Among other contributions, Mr. Slocomb designed and maintains the nearshore habitat database generated by the Forage Fish and Eelgrass Assessment projects and the Voluntary Salmon Conservation program.

Nick Nash, Marine Refuse Removal Project Manager, has 37 years commercial fishing experience in the inland marine waters of Washington State. Nick is a fifth-generation islander and has owned and operated his own commercial fishing business for over 27 years. He has extensive knowledge of the marine waters of San Juan Islands, Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca, Haro Strait, Rosario Strait, and the Gulf of Georgia. As an operator of a fishing vessel Nick has extensive experience using sonar, chart plotters, video sounders, fish finders, loran, and GPS navigation devices. Nick Nash is also part Native American and is an associate member of the Swinomish Tribe. Nick graduated from Friday Harbor High School in 1969 and received a B.A. Degree from Gonzaga University in Political Science (public administration). Nick has a Merchant Mariner’s Document (that requires a drug test, physical examination, background check on driving automobiles, piloting commercial vessels and criminal records).