Meet the Team
Pete Berthelsen, Executive Director As a co-founder of The Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund, Pete has dedicated his life and expertise to conservation and pollinator health. Pete has 40+ years of experience as a biologist and a true expert in conservation and pollinators. Pete lives in Nebraska with his wife Laura and chocolate labs Gracie and Oscar. pberthelsen@beeandbutterflyfund.org |
Elsa Gallagher, Habitat Program Director Elsa works one-on-one with cooperators on all of our projects. She provides the expertise on everything from site preparation to management. There's not a question that she can't answer! Elsa lives in Missouri with her husband Jeff and dogs, horses, and goats. elsa@beeandbutterflyfund.org |
Amanda Allen, Development Director Amanda oversees all fundraising initiatives, donor relations, and works with our Cause Marketing business partners. She lives in Pennsylvania with her family where they enjoy the outdoors, hunting with their dogs, and are devoted to conservation work. amanda@beeandbutterflyfund.org |
Lindsey Huber, Director of Marketing & Communications Lindsey handles all marketing materials, social media management, press releases, and more. She lives in South Dakota, spending time outside as much as possible. lindsey@beeandbutterflyfund.org |
Bret Babos, Director of Operations
Bret wears many hats to make sure the organization runs smoothly. He lives in California.
bret@beeandbutterflyfund.org
Bret wears many hats to make sure the organization runs smoothly. He lives in California.
bret@beeandbutterflyfund.org
Meet our Board of Directors
Zac Browning, Board Chairman
Zac Browning is a fourth-Generation Commercial Beekeeper from Jamestown, North Dakota. Zac currently serves the beekeeping industry in several capacities as a former President and a current Legislative Advisor of the American Beekeeping Federation, a NAPPC Steering Committee Member, A Steering Committee Member of the Honey Bee Health Coalition, a director for the Pollinator Stewardship Council. With his focus on honey bee forage and habitat issues for many years, he co-founded The Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund, and has been working to build alliances among stakeholders interested in establishing honey bee habitat.
George Hansen, Vice Chair
After a short six year long career as a public-school teacher, George transformed a hobby beekeeping operation into a commercial endeavor. Starting from a few swarms and a collection of retrieved nuisance hives, the company now runs 7000 colonies in three states. George is an active member of the beekeeping community, promoting the industry's interests as past president of the American Beekeeping Federation and formerly as a long- time producer representative on the National Honey Board. He hosts an annual Bee Day workshop and orientation at the Foothills Honey Company home site. Currently, George represents the ABF on the Honey Bee Health Coalition, participating on the steering committee as well as work groups tackling forage, nutrition, crop pest control and beekeeping management issues. He serves on the board of the Bee Informed Partnership, as well as the steering committee for the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund. George and his wife Susan maintain an overlarge garden, both vegetable and landscape and enjoy developing and crafting theme spaces in the gardens. Both George and Susan have painting studios.
John Miller, Secretary/Treasurer
John Miller is a retired, but active fourth-generation beekeeper. He now devotes his life to bee research and forage initiatives. The fifth generation of Miller’s now majority owns and operates Miller Honey Farms, based in Gackle, N.D. & Newcastle, CA. The Newcastle property also grows Owari Satsuma Mandarin Oranges, marketed locally in November and December. John is a former two-term Chair of the National Honey Board, and President of the California State Beekeepers Assn. John has lived the American migratory beekeeping experience as profiled in The Beekeepers Lament, by Hannah Nordhaus. He authors a monthly article in Bee Culture Magazine. He is Poppa to 11 grandchildren.
Brent Barkman, Former Chair
Brent Barkman is a third-generation beekeeper and honey packer and has been a part of the industry all his adult life. He oversees the operations of two separate bee operations that own 16000 colonies of bees producing and pollinating in eight states. Artesian Honey Producers has 8500 colonies based in South Dakota, wintering in Oklahoma and Texas and pollinating in California. Barkman Apiaries is based in Florida and operates bees in Michigan and New York as well as pollination in California. Barkman Honey is the family-owned business that packages honey based out of Kansas supplying millions of pounds of quality honey to consumers all over the world. In addition to serving as the vice chairman of Project Apis, has served the industry in many capacities including serving as chairman of the National Honey Board, once while it was a producer board and again more recently after it was changed to a packer board. He is also a member of multiple state beekeeper organizations and both the American Honey Producers Association and American Beekeeping Federation. His memberships also include the National Honey Packers and Dealers Association and the Western States Packers and Dealers Association. He was one of the founders of True Source Honey and is a proponent of high-quality traceable honey for the enjoyment of the consumer.
Christine Gemperle
Christine Gemperle has been farming almonds since 1998 although she was raised in an almond and poultry farming family in the Central Valley of California. Her educational background is in biology (BA, UC Santa Cruz) and fisheries (MS, Utah State University) with the scientific process and research having been the main attractant. Currently she and her brother, Erich, manage and operate 135 acres with no employees which places them in the unique position of intimately knowing every facet of their operation, from the mundane to the technologically advanced. Practical knowledge and feasibility combined with scientific advances and discovery are essential to solving problems in agriculture. Over the years Gemperle Orchards has hosted numerous studies related to almond growing, whether it be deficit irrigation strategies, root stock trials or the benefits of cover crops. Christine serves as an alternate on the Almond Board of California, additionally participating on the Biomass Task Force and the Nutritional Research Committee. She has been a member of the Blue Diamond Growers Cooperative for almost 25 years where she serves as a grower liaison. Formerly she was a small-scale beekeeper and acted as secretary for the Delta Bee Club for 7 years. Most of all Christine enjoys being active and vocal in the agricultural community especially when it comes to promoting and sharing what she has learned about sustainable agricultural practices.
Zac Browning is a fourth-Generation Commercial Beekeeper from Jamestown, North Dakota. Zac currently serves the beekeeping industry in several capacities as a former President and a current Legislative Advisor of the American Beekeeping Federation, a NAPPC Steering Committee Member, A Steering Committee Member of the Honey Bee Health Coalition, a director for the Pollinator Stewardship Council. With his focus on honey bee forage and habitat issues for many years, he co-founded The Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund, and has been working to build alliances among stakeholders interested in establishing honey bee habitat.
George Hansen, Vice Chair
After a short six year long career as a public-school teacher, George transformed a hobby beekeeping operation into a commercial endeavor. Starting from a few swarms and a collection of retrieved nuisance hives, the company now runs 7000 colonies in three states. George is an active member of the beekeeping community, promoting the industry's interests as past president of the American Beekeeping Federation and formerly as a long- time producer representative on the National Honey Board. He hosts an annual Bee Day workshop and orientation at the Foothills Honey Company home site. Currently, George represents the ABF on the Honey Bee Health Coalition, participating on the steering committee as well as work groups tackling forage, nutrition, crop pest control and beekeeping management issues. He serves on the board of the Bee Informed Partnership, as well as the steering committee for the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund. George and his wife Susan maintain an overlarge garden, both vegetable and landscape and enjoy developing and crafting theme spaces in the gardens. Both George and Susan have painting studios.
John Miller, Secretary/Treasurer
John Miller is a retired, but active fourth-generation beekeeper. He now devotes his life to bee research and forage initiatives. The fifth generation of Miller’s now majority owns and operates Miller Honey Farms, based in Gackle, N.D. & Newcastle, CA. The Newcastle property also grows Owari Satsuma Mandarin Oranges, marketed locally in November and December. John is a former two-term Chair of the National Honey Board, and President of the California State Beekeepers Assn. John has lived the American migratory beekeeping experience as profiled in The Beekeepers Lament, by Hannah Nordhaus. He authors a monthly article in Bee Culture Magazine. He is Poppa to 11 grandchildren.
Brent Barkman, Former Chair
Brent Barkman is a third-generation beekeeper and honey packer and has been a part of the industry all his adult life. He oversees the operations of two separate bee operations that own 16000 colonies of bees producing and pollinating in eight states. Artesian Honey Producers has 8500 colonies based in South Dakota, wintering in Oklahoma and Texas and pollinating in California. Barkman Apiaries is based in Florida and operates bees in Michigan and New York as well as pollination in California. Barkman Honey is the family-owned business that packages honey based out of Kansas supplying millions of pounds of quality honey to consumers all over the world. In addition to serving as the vice chairman of Project Apis, has served the industry in many capacities including serving as chairman of the National Honey Board, once while it was a producer board and again more recently after it was changed to a packer board. He is also a member of multiple state beekeeper organizations and both the American Honey Producers Association and American Beekeeping Federation. His memberships also include the National Honey Packers and Dealers Association and the Western States Packers and Dealers Association. He was one of the founders of True Source Honey and is a proponent of high-quality traceable honey for the enjoyment of the consumer.
Christine Gemperle
Christine Gemperle has been farming almonds since 1998 although she was raised in an almond and poultry farming family in the Central Valley of California. Her educational background is in biology (BA, UC Santa Cruz) and fisheries (MS, Utah State University) with the scientific process and research having been the main attractant. Currently she and her brother, Erich, manage and operate 135 acres with no employees which places them in the unique position of intimately knowing every facet of their operation, from the mundane to the technologically advanced. Practical knowledge and feasibility combined with scientific advances and discovery are essential to solving problems in agriculture. Over the years Gemperle Orchards has hosted numerous studies related to almond growing, whether it be deficit irrigation strategies, root stock trials or the benefits of cover crops. Christine serves as an alternate on the Almond Board of California, additionally participating on the Biomass Task Force and the Nutritional Research Committee. She has been a member of the Blue Diamond Growers Cooperative for almost 25 years where she serves as a grower liaison. Formerly she was a small-scale beekeeper and acted as secretary for the Delta Bee Club for 7 years. Most of all Christine enjoys being active and vocal in the agricultural community especially when it comes to promoting and sharing what she has learned about sustainable agricultural practices.