Board of Directors
Jeff Sundberg, Ph.D., President
Wallace Winter, Vice-President
Charles O'Connell, Treasurer
Kent Lawson, Secretary

Kenneth Klick
Dennis Nyren
Carol “Sunny” Sonnenschein, Ph.D.
Nancy Wallace
Jeff Werfel
Patricia Werner
Al Westerman
Carole Whitcomb
David Whitmore
Klaus Wisiol

Jeff Sundberg, Ph.D., President
Jeff is the James S. Kemper Foundation Professor of Liberal Arts and Business and is the Chair of the Department of Economics and Business at Lake Forest College.  His specialties include finance, environmental economics and natural resource economics. He earned a master's and a doctorate degree in economics from Stanford University. Jeff has taught Environmental Studies courses on economics, energy, and wildlife. He began and continues to direct a habitat restoration project at the College, and for seven years served as a Board member for the Chicago Audubon Society. 

Wallace Winter, Vice President
Wally is a lawyer at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, where he's worked for over 30 years. His present and past board memberships include the Chicago Council of Lawyers, Public Interest Lawyers Initiative, Ragdale Foundation (chairman), Designs for Change, and Strategic Learning Initiatives.  He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Yale, and his L.L.B. from the University of Virginia Law School. As a Peace Corps volunteer he worked with an agricultural cooperative program in Brazil.

Charles O'Connell, Treasurer
At Harris Bank, Charlie is Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Private Wealth Group, managing over one billion dollars in assets. He has administered investments for the University of Chicago, and has developed educational material for savings and loan managers through the Institute of Financial Education. A former teacher, Charlie earned a B.A. in economics from MacMurray College. Charlie is a former treasurer of Ragdale Foundation, former president of Cook Memorial Library, and former member of the adjunct faculty at DePaul University. He currently chairs the United Way of Lake County’s Investment Committee, and serves on the Investment Committee of YMCA of Chicago.

Kent Lawson, Secretary
Kent is Director of Global Business Development for the Health Practice at IDEO, a product design, development and strategy consulting firm. For the past 15 years Kent has dedicated his career to bringing sustainability practices to American business. He also has experience teaching industrial design and sustainability practice, both at graduate and undergraduate levels, at Archeworks and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Kenneth F. Klick
Ken has been a natural areas biologist in the Chicago region for over 30 years, working as an ecologist for the National Park Service and Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and currently for the Lake County Forest Preserves.  He has planned and implemented large-scale woodland, prairie, and wetland restoration projects throughout the region.  Through the private sector, Ken worked as a land planner conducting environmental assessments, regulatory permit reviews, and plant and animal inventories for commercial and residential developments.  Ken has a bachelor’s degree in botany from Eastern Illinois University, and teaches a range of courses in controlled burning, field ecology and birding.

Dennis Nyren
Dennis is Director of MJ Partners in Chicago, a provider of commercial real estate services. He holds a B.S. in economics from Lake Forest College and an M.B.A. in finance and accounting from the University of Chicago. In the real estate business since 1977, Dennis was Vice President of Walter E. Heller International Corporation. He founded Capital Realty Services, and later LaSalle Realty & Mortgage. He has financed and/or sold shopping centers, hotels, office buildings and other properties in excess of one billion dollars throughout the nation. Dennis is committed to local conservation efforts as demonstrated by his countless hours of volunteer work restoring properties with the Lake Forest Open Lands Association and Lake Forest College. Dennis also serves on the Lake County Forest Preserve Advisory Board.

Carol “Sunny” Sonnenschein, Ph.D.
Sunny is Associate Director of the Liberty Prairie Foundation and Director of Information Technology for Chicago Metropolis 2020, a business-based not-for-profit organization facilitating the evaluation of alternative land use and transportation strategies. Sunny holds a Ph.D. in sociology. Her research focuses on the social, political, economic and environmental impacts of metropolitan growth and change.

Nancy Wallace
Nancy is a certified public accountant who has specialized in nonprofit accounting for over 20 years. She has served on the board of the Lake County YWCA, is a member of the Illinois CPA Society’s Nonprofit Committee, and is active in her church. She holds a master’s degree in liberal arts from St. John's College in New Mexico and a master’s degree in accountancy from DePaul University. She has taught nonprofit management at North Park College and Spertus College.  She has volunteered for the Liberty Prairie Conservancy for the past three years.

Jeff Werfel
Jeff recently joined the staff of Proactive Worldwide in Rolling Meadows.  He possesses over 20 years of marketing, sales and consulting experience in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business environments. Jeff is also a Grayslake Village Trustee. He earned an MBA in Marketing from Loyola University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University.

Patricia Werner
Patty is the Watershed Planner for the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission. Prior to that she was Director of the Sierra Club Wetlands Project in Indiana. From Indiana University Patty earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Economics, a Master of Science degree in Environmental Sciences and a Master of Public Administration.

Al Westerman
Al owns and manages a tree nursery in Lake County on property that that has belonged to his family for nearly 100 years. Al began his career at the Illinois State Geological Survey and then joined the Lake County Forest Preserves, where he held a variety of positions including that of Forester and Land Protection Specialist. He was a Commissioner for both Lake County and the Lake County Forest Preserve District, and was President of the Lake County Forest Preserve District from 2000 to 2002. He has a bachelor's degree in geography and geology from Illinois State University, and a master's degree in forestry from the University of Illinois. Al was a founder of the Lake County Conservation Alliance. He is a past director of the Lake County Soil and Water District, and now serves on the Lake County Zoning Board of Appeals. Al has co-authored several books on geology and settlement.

Carole Whitcomb, Past President
Carole has held non-profit management positions for 30 years, primarily in higher education with Northwestern and Yale Universities, the Associated Colleges of Illinois and, most recently, as President of the National Foundation for Independent Higher Education, from which she retired in 1999. She has served on the Boards of the Brunswick Public Charitable Foundation, the Executives' Club of Chicago, the Goodwill Dwelling Association, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Stamford, CT Symphony Orchestra, and as a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, the University Club of Chicago and the RAND/Council for Aid to Education National Steering Committee. Carole is currently founder and President of LifeStories LLC.

David Whitmore
David is a real estate investor. He served on the Waukegan Port District Board from 1974 through 1991 (chairman for eight years). He was chairman of the Waukegan Action Committee for Economic Progress and served on the Board of the Lake County Economic Development Commission. David was also on the Board of MainStreet Libertyville where he served as chairman of the Design Committee. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Wisconsin State University—Stout.

Klaus Wisiol
Klaus is Principal of KW Enterprises, consulting in business strategies and finance, and managing investments and trusts. He worked for 30 years at Commonwealth Edison as a Corporate Officer and member of the Senior Executive Management Team. He is a board member of the Sinai Health System in Chicago, and serves on a number of other boards including Cerqua Rivera Art Experience, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts and Wild Ones–Natural Landscapers. He holds an MBA in Finance from University of Wisconsin.