Board Members and Staff

Voting Board Members

David Bott

Director, Chairman of the Board

Driven by the ideal to protect the home God gave us, David has dedicated most of his 69 years of life to protecting West Virginia’s rivers and streams. He is a lifetime member of Trout Unlimited and a former chair for the TU State Council.  Professionally, David served our state as a coal miner and labor commissioner for the United Mine Workers of America. While working in the mines, he obtained my bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Public Administration. David then served the City of Morgantown as the Assistant Director of the municipal airport and later as the Community Development Director.

Since retirement, David has had more time to enjoy West Virginia’s natural beauty. With a family cabin located in northern Pocahontas County, David and his wife enjoy roaming the mountains in the Monongahela National Forest, Cass Scenic Railroad, and fishing the Greenbrier River and Lake Buffalo.

Kevin Campbell

Director, Chief Executive Officer, Board Secretary

Samantha Nygaard

Director, President, Board Treasurer

Samantha Nygaard serves as the West Virginia Program Manager, part of the Mid-Atlantic regional team at the National Parks Conservation Association. Through this role Sam is dedicated to advocating and preserving the Mountain State’s parks and public lands, including America’s newest national park, New River Gorge National Park & Preserve. Growing up in a military family, Sam lived in the Pacific Northwest, Florida, and Japan. These experiences shaped her passion for community service and appreciation for the outdoors.

After moving to the Mountain State from Jacksonville, Florida in 2018, Sam coordinated outreach and marketing efforts and hosted curated trips to promote the state as the Destination Sales Manager for the West Virginia Tourism Office. After transitioning to nonprofit work, Sam focused on initiatives to attract and retain young folks to West Virginia through her role as Assistant Director for Generation West Virginia’s Impact Fellowship program. She has a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Media/Communication Studies from Florida State University and lives in West Virginia’s capital city of Charleston with her dog, Georgia.

Non-Voting Board Members

Stephen Nelson

Chief Operating Officer, Longview Power

Steve joined Longview in January 2014 to manage the plant rehabilitation work with over 36 years of industry experience encompassing the key aspects of power plant operations and maintenance. His extensive experience in generation asset strategy development and implementation, financial due diligence, program management, maintenance engineering and organizational/technical troubleshooting has been applied to most generation technologies including hydro, nuclear, solar, biomass, coal, oil and pas power generation. He has significant experience in troubleshooting plant equipment, plant organizations and aligning an assets capabilities with key business objectives.  Prior to Longview, Mr. Nelson worked for Sacramento Utility District, Babcock & Wilcox, Pacific Gas & Electric, PPL Montana, Aptech Engineering Services and Black & Veatch. Throughout Steve’s Career, he has worked with regulated utilities, merchant power companies, municipals and financing entities throughout North America, Asia, Europe and Africa. Mr. Nelson has a BS Mechanical Engineering degree from California State University, Sacramento, and a MBA from Saint Mary’s College.

 

Executive Director

Shanda Minney

Ms. Minney comes to ASF with over 25 years of experience in the non-profit arena.  Before joining ASF, she served as Executive Director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition for over four years.  Shanda has experience in working for a wide range of non-profit organizations in areas including environmental campaigning, advocacy, international development, philanthropy, policy analysis, and has taught international environmental issues at the Masters level.  Previous employers include the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC and the non-profit Center for Urban Watershed Renewal based in Massachusetts.  In addition, Shanda has spent extensive time living and working overseas, where former employers include Friends of the Earth UK, Care International, Marie Stopes International and the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Shanda has an Undergraduate Degree in International Relations and International Politics from The George Washington University, and a Masters degree in Development Studies from the University of London.  Shanda resides in Elkins, West Virginia.