BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

Allen Bjergo - Allen serves as Secretary for The Teller board. Allen has served on the Teller Board from the very beginning, when Otto Teller "ordered" him to become a member of the Board of Directors being formed for The Teller.  Allen retired from the Montana State University Extension Service. He has carried out assignments in twelve countries and serves on several other boards of directors.  He and his wife, Jackie, have a small farm near Corvallis.  Allen believes in the importance of education, fishing and hunting, which can orient succeeding generations about the natural world, conservation and sustainable farming practices.

Nina Bonnie -  Nina joined the Teller Board in October of 2011. Nina presently serves on the PACE Board, a state Commission which receives and monitors agricultural easements. She also is a Board member of Oldham Ahead, a local organization which monitors county development. In Montana, she serves on the Greater Ravalli Foundation and the Stock Farm Homeowners Board. Her honors include the United States Equestrian Federation Lifetime Achievement Award and she was named a Louisville Woman of Distinction in 2002. She and her husband, Ned, are in the final stages of placing a conservation easement on their 525 acre farm in Kentucky. She looks forward to serving on the Teller Board.  

Dan Huls - Dan previously served several terms as a Teller Board member and rejoined the Board in 2011. Dan is a fourth generation “Bitterrooter” where he and his wife, Joanie, and the Huls family own and operate Huls Dairy Inc. in Corvallis. Dan is a strong advocate of land conservation and played a leadership role in the formation of the Ravalli County Open Lands Bond program. Dan served several terms as president on the Ravalli County Planning Board, is currently serving as chair of the Ravalli County Right to Farm & Ranch Board, as a director on the Mountain West Co-op Board, as a trustee for the Corvallis Canal & Water Company and as a commissioner of the Humble Drain.

Lucy Tompkins - Lucy joined the Teller board in 1994, and served as its Chair from 2005-2010.  She is a Professor of Medicine in infectious diseases at Stanford University Medical School, and is the hospital epidemiologist for Stanford Hospital and Clinics.  She and her husband, Stan Falkow, have spent summers in the Bitterroot since 1984, and have a home on the river near Hamilton.  She is an avid fly-fisher and is learning to fly a Cessna 172 SP.  One of her major goals is for The Teller to serve as a national model of conservation education.

 

John Talia - John joined the Teller board as Treasurer in 2002 and is presently its Vice Chairman and Treasurer.  He is a licensed Montana and California CPA with a tax practice in Corvallis, Montana, and is also a licensed Montana fly fishing outfitter.  He moved to the Bitterroot Valley in 1990 from the San Francisco area after enjoying the outdoor activities in the Valley for many years prior.  John is active in assisting other charitable organizations in the Valley, both in a governance role and advisor. He believes that The Teller's mission statement says it best...The Teller inspires and educates the conservationist in all of us.  The Board hopes to take that message beyond our beautiful Bitterroot Valley...to demonstrate conservation in action.

Anne Teller - Anne has been a Teller board member since its inception, with a particular interest in community-based environmental education.  She married Otto Teller in 1977, and assumed management of Oak Hill Farm in California in 1998 after Otto died.  Oak Hill Farm has a conservation easement on over 1,000 acres - mostly woodlands. It is now in its 55^th year of business as part of the Sonoma area's local, organic movement.

Paul Thomas - Paul became a Teller board member in 2006.  Paul's love of fly fishing brought him to the Bitterroot Valley in 2000 and he was introduced to Teller.  He and his wife, Ann, live in the Bitterroot six months of the year and in Rancho Santa Fe, California the other six months. He is trying to retire from a career in the commercial and industrial real estate development business. Paul enjoys the challenge of representing a business perspective on the board and is rewarded by seeing the accomplishments of management and staff that contribute to a better life in the Bitterroot Valley.

Bill VanCanagan - Bill joined the Teller board in January 2011, though he has been involved with The Teller for many years.  He is an attorney and shareholder with Datsopoulos, MacDonald and Lind, P.C. in Missoula, Montana, with an emphasis on land use planning and real estate law.  Bill is committed to the Teller's mission dedicated to the preservation and management of the Teller property as private land and conserving and enhancing wildlife habitat along the Bitterroot River corridor, as well as promoting education with regard to the Teller's conservation objectives.