Advisory Council

Tom Bliss is Executive Director of the Southeast Nebraska Development District (SENDD), a 15-county economic and community development organization. Prior to joining SENDD in April 2017, Bliss directed Mo-Kan Regional Council a bi-state development district located in St. Joseph, Missouri. During his 14-year tenure at Mo-Kan, he worked to grow a number of programs and services: economic, community, and workforce development; Homeland Security and disaster readiness; and environmental resiliency, including watershed planning.

Mr. Chappelle is the Senior Solid Waste Engineer for Engineering Solutions & Design, Inc. He has more than 39 years of domestic and international environmental engineering experience, with the last 30 years ...

Dale Ekart. Born and raised in Imperial, Ne. Attended University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Started in the recycling field in 1989 after attending a Nebraska Recycling Conference. Started a recycling company in Beatrice, ...

Gene Hanlon has a masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Nebraska. He has worked as Recycling Coordinator for the City of Lincoln since 1987. He has served on the boards of the Nebraska ...

Andy Harpenau owns Gretna Sanitation and Soil Dynamics Composting Farm along with his dad and brother. Hillside Solutions is the waste solutions umbrella company that offers a wide variety of services ...

As Director of Environmental Services for Douglas County, Nebraska, Kent is responsible for administering the County’s NPDES Phase II Stormwater Permit, the County’s solid waste landfill contract, environmental ...

Dana Klabenes is the City Clerk for the City of Neligh since 2011. Prior to her municipality experience, she worked in very different offices for a bank, a cattle feedlot and a hog confinement. She graduated from ...

Kelley McReynolds has been in the recycling industry for more than 20 years. He has managed MRFs in Des Moines, Houston, New Orleans, and Lincoln. He is currently the owner of Green Quest Recycling.

Benjamin has been the Environmental Sustainability Director at Central Community College (CCC) since August 2016. His office is in Grand Island but he oversees all CCC campus sustainability projects and manages an ...

Tammy Slater has been Chief Executive Officer at Goodwill Industries of Greater Nebr., Inc. since 2010. She began her career in the alcohol and drug rehabilitation field for adult women, then served as Executive ...

Chris Vail is the Executive Director of Keep Keith County Beautiful for the past 6 years. As a Program Manager and an environmental educator she has assisted the Ogallala Public Schools in the successful development of recycling programs and education earning the organization numerous awards and prize dollars from the PepsiCo Recycle Rally, Keep Nebraska Beautiful and Keep America Beautiful.

Mark Brohman has been the Executive Director of the Nebraska Environmental Trust since 2006. Prior to joining the Trust, he was employed with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission since 1993 and served as Director ...

Ruth Johnston has been the supervisor of the Grants & Planning Section of the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality’s Land Management Division since 2016. Prior to that she spent over twenty years with ...