ABOUT THE
HARRIS CENTER

Mission

Directions

Map of Trails

Staff

Board of Trustees

Jack Calhoun of Harrisville has lived in the Keene area since he was six weeks old, with the exception his college years and an 18-month stint in Washington, DC. He holds a B.A. in political science, and a M.B.A. from the University of New Hampshire and is a graduate of Leadership New Hampshire. Jack has served as a longtime member and chair of both Harrisville’s school board and planning board. He also serves as a trustee for the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music and has served for nine years as trustee and president of the board for the Monadnock Conservancy. Jack is interim executive director of Antioch New England Institute and assistant to the president of Antioch University New England, based in Keene, where he focuses on training, supporting, and developing citizen leadership in rural communities. Jack was also the New Hampshire Lakes Association’s first full-time executive director from 1992 to 1998.

Paul Faber of Hancock, board treasurer. Paul is actively engaged in his community of Hancock and the greater Peterborough area. Paul and his wife Sandra have two young children who have enjoyed many Harris Center activities exploring the wonders of nature. Paul holds a BS in Business Administration and Economics from Fitchburg State College, has earned additional academics at Babson College and Harvard University Extension School and is a graduate of Leadership Monadnock. Paul is senior vice-president of commercial and municipal banking for Lake Sunapee Bank in Peterborough. He serves on the Hancock Conservation Commission, is past president of the Peterborough Rotary Club, is past treasurer of the Cheshire Housing Trust, and has served for a number of other civic organizations.

Emily Hartshorne of Nelson has lived, run, and hiked in Nelson and throughout the Monadnock Region for the past 20 years. She holds a BA in philosophy from Mount Holyoke College and a ME from Antioch New England She is currently the teaching principal at Wells Memorial School in Harrisville and has worked closely with the Harris Center in designing her school’s naturalist in residence program. That work continues as the teaching staff continues to provide extensive opportunities for placed-based science education. Emily is also a musician and plays her violin in several community groups, including the Raylynmor Opera, Keene Chorale, and the Mill Pond String Trio.

Ben Haubrich of Francestown is an active volunteer for the Harris Center, Society for the Protection of N.H. Forests, the Piscataquog Watershed Association, and the Francestown Conservation Commission. He is also a board member and volunteer land manager for the Francestown Land Trust, tending its 580-acre Rand Brook Forest, handling stewardship and administration needs for the trust. From 1972 to 1993, Ben worked for the N.H. Division of Parks and Recreation at Monadnock State Park in Jaffrey, starting as seasonal manager of the 1,000-acre park and later as manager of Monadnock, Rhododendron, Annett and Gap Mountain State Parks, 5,000 acres in all. From 1993 to 2001, Ben was supervisor of the Division’s western region state parks, overseeing more than 100 employees and a wide array of operations. From 2001 until he retired in 2004, Ben was director of recreation services, which included administering the federal Land and Water Conservation fund, for the N.H. Department of Resources and Economic Development.

Marcia Kayser of Stoddard has a master's degree in education and human services and has provided workshops for many years in the areas of children and grief and suicide. She worked as a pediatric dental hygienist for many years and has been the dental coordinator at Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield for 24 years. She has four grown children and moved to the area four years ago after 33 years in Amherst, N.H. “I like to read, travel, and try new things,” Marcia says. “I especially enjoy exploring outside with grandchildren. So working with the Harris Center is a great fit.” As a lifelong volunteer and learner, Marcia is currently on Stoddard’s school and library boards and is a member of the N.H. Disaster Behavioral Health Team. Employed part-time, Marcia spends much of her time outdoors, hiking, kayaking, gardening and snowshoeing.

Ted Leach of Hancock, board chair. Ted was born in New York, raised in Illinois, and attended the University of Tulsa, its College of Law and Harvard University. He served as administrative assistant to Oklahoma Governor Dewey F. Bartlett. He was executive editor of Pipeline and Gas Journal in Dallas. Ted founded Leach Newspapers, Inc. in 1979 when he acquired The Monadnock Ledger, Peterborough, NH. The company then purchased newspapers in South Carolina and Nantucket, Mass. He also created America's first and only opera company performed entirely by string-operated marionettes. The New England Marionette Opera (www.marionettes.org) was one of New England's most talked about cultural attractions until it was destroyed by fire on Jan. 1, 1999. Ted was elected to the N.H. House of Representatives in 2000 and founded the Legislature's Environmental Caucus. In 2003, he became co-chair of the Carbon Coalition, a non-partisan, non-profit group of New Hampshire citizens who advocate for a responsible energy policy. Ted lives with his wife Beverly on Powdermill Pond in Hancock. He has two grown children, both Wol's Nest alums, who live in California.

David Lesser, board vice-chair. David, his wife Charlotte and son, Jonathan are long term residents of Keene.  Having grown up in metropolitan New York City David realized early in his adult life that he needed the beauty and solace of nature that the Monadnock Region offers.  With a B.A. in history from the College of William and Mary and an M.Ed. in elementary education from Rutgers University, David has spent the past 34 years in some form or another of education.  His exploits have included a Fulbright year in London, England, teaching adults at Antioch University, and working with hundreds of wonderful young children.  Currently he is the principal of the Saxtons River Elementary School in Vermont (where he can keep a loving eye on his son at Vermont Academy!).  Some of his hobbies include gardening, bicycling, traveling, walking and going to the movies.  Often you can find David and his family lakeside at their little getaway house in Stoddard.

Mary Lesser of Peterborough was raised in the Allegheny Region of Pennsylvania and the Finger Lakes Region of New York. She earned a B.A. in marketing from LeMoyne College in Syracuse. Her love of outdoor adventures attracted her to a job at Eastern Mountain Sports, which brought her to the Monadnock Region in 1986. Mary's career at EMS has been varied and tenured, first in the retail store, next as the director of training and development, and for the last several years, as the director of E-commerce operations. She's traveled extensively; backpacking in New Zealand, diving in Fiji, sea kayaking the Virgin Islands, adventure travel in East Africa, and more. She says she's always glad to come home to this region – much of which has been protected and preserved by the Harris Center. Mary has served on the Hancock Recreation Committee and has recently built a sustainable, energy-efficient home on Cunningham Pond in Peterborough.

Charles A. Levesque of Antrim, is founder (1994) and President of Innovative Natural Resource Solutions, LLC (INRS). INRS is a forest and natural resource consulting firm with offices in New Hampshire and Maine. INRS clients are from the business, non-profit and government sectors. The firm seeks sustainable ways for forest landowners and the forest products industry to do business and keep lands in forests. Before founding INRS, Charlie was executive director of the Northern Forest Lands Council, The Trust for NH Lands and NH Timberland Owners Association. Early in his career he worked for forest industry in northern Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont and for the US Forest Service in the west. Charlie is a forester and avid outdoors person. He Chaired the Antrim Open Space Committee and was recently Board Chair for the Center for Northern Woodlands Education, the organization that published Northern Woodlands magazine. Charlie has served on the national board of the Society of American Foresters and numerous other non-profit industry, civic and local government boards. He was a town moderator for many years in New Hampshire. In his spare time, with his son Galen Kilbride, Charlie makes fine New Hampshire maple syrup at their Old Pound Road Sugar House and produces firewood for local customers. He and his wife Noreen Kilbride have two sons. Their idea of a good time is to be at their remote Pittsburg log cabin and listen to coyotes by moonlight.

Alison Rossiter of Hancock, board secretary. Allison earned a BS in nursing and an MBA from Rivier College. She has taught in the graduate program in health services administration at Framingham State College. Allison and her husband Dennis have lived in Hancock since 1980. “As a neighbor, we have enthusiastically supported many of the Harris Center’s efforts over the years,” Alison said. “Serving as a trustee of the Harris Center allows me to extend my involvement in a more formal and meaningful way.” With more than 25 years of experience in providing and managing nursing and healthcare services, Alison is vice-president of clinical services for Life Coping Inc. of Nashua.

Jane Shapiro of Keene has nurtured gardens, children and community projects in Cheshire County since 1976.  With a BA from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) and an MS from Antioch New England, her professional life has been varied, including teaching biology, administrative work at the Monadnock Waldorf School and Hospice of Cheshire County, and community health work for Cheshire Medical Center/ Dartmouth Hitchcock Keene. Currently a free-lance project leader, she most recently helped to create an education program for the Kaddish project at the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, KSC, and chairs the community coalition, Advocates for Healthy Youth. She is a founder, board member and past president of Dental Health Works, Keene, and on the executive committee of the Ladies Charitable Society. Always ready to pack a suitcase or backpack, she loves hiking, kayaking and travel. Her current to-do list includes becoming a birder and finishing the 4,000 footers in Maine.

Craig Stockwell has lived in Keene for 22 years. He is an artist and a professor of art at Keene State, Vt. College of Fine Arts, and Union Institute & University. His art work (abstract painting) has been shown widely and is in many private and public collections including Boston's MFA. He is very involved in the Keene community having served on the board of AVEO before it joined with the Harris Ctr and also on the board of The Colonial Theatre. He founded the art school that is a part of MOCO Arts. His love of the outdoors was developed in years of work for Outward Bound.

R. Charles (Chuck) Van Horn of Hancock has lived in the Monadnock area since 1983. He was born and raised in Michigan but moved to New Hampshire when he took a job as Vice President - Finance and Treasurer of Monadnock Paper Mills in Bennington. Since 1997 he has operated his own accounting, tax and investment advisory practice in Antrim. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a BBA degree in accounting and general business. He is a certified public accountant (CPA) and a personal financial specialist (PFS). He and his wife, Nancy, have been active in church and community affairs in Hancock since they moved to Hancock. Chuck served as a board member and treasurer of the Hancock Depot Association and also served as Trustee of Trust Funds for the Town of Hancock. He lives on property that is adjacent to the Moose Brook Conservation Area and has explored that area (and the Harris Center trails) for many years. His personal interests are photography, hiking, kayaking and working with non-profit organizations. Chuck has two children and three grandchildren, all of whom live in Michigan so he and his wife travel back there frequently.

Thomas Warren has had a lifelong interest in ornithology since being introduced to a Scarlet Tanager at age 4 by the president of Massachusetts Audubon Society. He is a graduate of Harvard University and holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Finance. His business career began at General Electric and Harvard University. He is a Compensation Consultant to the banking industry and over the past 40 years has worked for more than 1,000 banks in all 50 states. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, New England Baptist Hospital, Belmont Hill School and the Wellesley Scholarship Foundation. He was recently asked to serve on the Board of the New Hampshire Audubon Society. An active field ornithologist Tom has guided bird walks in New England, Ontario and the Rocky Mountains in the western United States and Canada. He has been a youth hockey coach for 21 years and still plays senior hockey with the Legends at tournaments in New England, California and Canada. He and his wife, Anne Marie, live in Dublin, New Hampshire.