Staff and Board

Our Leadership Team

Meet our founders, board of directors, staff, and advisors — team players who spend every day working towards climate solutions. We empower, energize, and engage Ashland and work to protect future generations.

Board of Directors

Lorrie Kaplan

Co-Founder, President

Lorrie has 20+ years of nonprofit leadership experience in the Washington, D.C., area, including 10 years as CEO of the National Home Infusion Association and 8 years as CEO of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Her expertise includes communications, organizational development, advocacy, and community organizing.

Since 2016, Lorrie has focused her energies and personal development on accelerating adoption of climate solutions at the local level. She’s delighted to be living in Ashland with her husband Bob Kaplan since 2019.

Chris Byrne

Treasurer

Chris is the Sustainability Manager at the Ashland Food Co-op. In 2005, Chris completed a GreenMBA and became a certified Permaculture Instructor in 2006. Since then, he has used these frameworks as a Green Business Development and Integrated Site and Systems Design Consultant. He is also on the Rogue to Go advisory team.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Chris left shortly after college and has lived in Vail, CO, San Francisco, Sonoma County, CA, and Tokyo Japan, among other places. He originally came to call Ashland home in 2005, developing a deep love for the Rogue Valley biome and its people.

Sharon Dohrmann

Secretary

Sharon is a dedicated volunteer for Streets4Everyone and a member of Ashland’s Climate and Environment Policy Advisory Committee (CEPAC). In the past, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, West Africa, and as an organizer for the Women’s March Southern Oregon.

Sharon’s professional background is in IT and web development. She was the co-owner of Cypress Technology, an IT consulting company in San Francisco, before she moved to Ashland with her husband and two children in 2014. She currently works as the IS Coordinator for American Promise.

Candace Turtle

Co-Founder, Board Member

Candace has a background in communications and development. She served as a reporter and an award-winning editor for The Miami Herald and San Jose Mercury News, as well as in management positions. She later managed communications and marketing for Trend Micro, Inc. in its start-up phase. Locally, Candace has served as executive director of Ballet Folklorico Ritmo Alegre and managed communications and development for the Ashland Independent Film Festival. She currently heads Rotary of Ashland’s Environment & Sustainability Committee and sits on the board of the J.F. Kapnek Trust.

Sara Dinari

Board Member

Sara is a strategist, writer, and advocate whose work sits at the intersection of marketing, movement-building, and community storytelling. She is a Project Manager with Workshop, where she supports campaigns advocating for workers’ rights and clean energy initiatives that advance sustainable jobs of the future. Sara has also held marketing, writing and project management roles at Google and Avid Technologies, and locally she serves as the writer for Ashland Living Magazine, where she has highlighted the impact of the Ashland Climate Collaborative. A member of the Ashland Rotary Club, Sara was introduced to ACC through fellow ACC members supporting community service projects and has since deepened her personal commitment to sustainability—gardening, composting, reducing waste and electrifying her home since moving to Ashland.

Rick Barth

Co-Founder, Emeritus Treasurer and Board Member

Rick is a 20+ year Ashland resident. Prior to moving to Ashland with his wife and young daughters, he spent 20+ years in Silicon Valley working in research, development, and leadership positions. While living in Ashland, Rick has served in leadership and advisory capacities with multiple local nonprofit and government organizations. He has served in a variety of advisory roles for the City of Ashland, including as chair of the Climate Policy Commission and member of the  Climate and Environment Policy Advisory Committee (CEPAC). Rick is an active member of our Electrify Ashland Now action team.

Our Staff

Erin O’Kelley Muck

Executive Director

Erin spent 22+ years as the owner of Ruby Slipper Designs, an award-winning web and marketing firm specializing in nonprofits. In July 2024, good fortune opened the door at the Ashland Climate Collaborative, where she joined as their first Executive Director. Her optimistic outlook, creative brainpower, and belief in the power of community engagement are the perfect ingredients for this role. She’s thrilled to energize her beloved community of Ashland to work together on climate solutions. Since 2019, Erin has focused on climate work, amassing strategies for communicating the power of community action. Special thanks to SOCAN and their Master Climate Protector course. She loves living in beautiful Ashland with her husband Chris Muck.

Isobel Whitcomb

Communications Assistant

Isobel has 5+ years of professional experience as a magazine journalist and science communicator, with writing published in The New York Times, Sierra Magazine, High Country News, Scientific American, Canary Media, and more. Their award-winning work covering conservation, the climate crisis, and land-use has appeared in two editions of the Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology. Born and raised in Ashland, Isobel joined ACC in 2022. They’re passionate about the importance of change at a local level to advance global climate solutions and believe that by responding to climate change, we have the opportunity to build overall more resilient, equitable communities.

Jay Preskenis

Community Outreach Specialist

Jay Preskenis is an educator and leader with over 30 years of experience in environmental stewardship and education. He has designed and implemented programs like the Social Action Environmental Justice (SAEJ) program at Ashland High School and taught Wilderness Charter School. During his tenure, he integrated sustainability and social action into student learning. As Coordinator of Student Services in Ashland and Principal in Medford, Jay led efforts that prioritized environmental consciousness alongside academic achievement, shaping students into responsible, eco-aware citizens.

A passionate advocate for conservation, Jay has championed initiatives like the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and led backpacking clubs for middle and high school students. His personal commitment to the environment is reflected in his love for backpacking, fly-fishing, and trail running. His leadership combines environmental advocacy with education, making him a driving force for positive change in both the Ashland community and beyond.

Collette Streight

Administrative Assistant

Collette has 30+ years of experience in environmental conservation, education, and community engagement. Rooted in a lifelong love of the more-than-human world, her career has included serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras, doing waste reduction, pollution prevention, and climate change mitigation work in Santa Cruz and Redding, CA, and locally acting as Executive Director of Friends of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

Through her private practice, Awakening Wild, she supports women in cultivating a deep, daily relationship with the natural world as a source of joy, peace, and well-being.

Collette is thrilled to support the Ashland Climate Collaborative and be part of a community taking meaningful action for future generations.

Peter Lagemann

Home Energy Navigator

Peter has 5+ years of experience volunteering and teaching at various non-profits, including natural history museums and aquariums, and is a firm believer in environmental education as a driver of local change. In his biology-focused undergraduate studies, he researched moss community ecology at various heights and positions on bigleaf maples in the Hoh Rainforest. Since then, he has begun volunteering with Ashland’s local Trout Unlimited chapter to support conservation efforts on the largely undammed Klamath River.

Now, he is excited to begin his journey at the Ashland Climate Collaborative as a Home Energy Navigator, with the hope of bridging the gap between everyday conservation and saving money on your home.

In his spare time, Peter is an avid backpacker and fly fisher, excited to learn more about and explore Southern Oregon.

Meet our Advisors