Ramsay is engaged in all aspects of Mountainkeeper’s work, including shaping programs and campaigns, guiding the team, and cultivating strong relationships with allies and strategic partners in the Catskills and across NY State. He is a member of NY State's Catskills Strategic Planning Advisory Group, which is charged with protecting the Catskill Park's natural resources while making sure the growing number of Park visitors have a welcoming, accessible, and inclusive experience. Ramsay sits on the Advisory Board of Hudson Riverkeeper, serves as a Trustee of the Catskills Fly Fishing Museum, and is a founding partner in the Catskill Brewery, which produces craft beer in a green building awarded the US Green Building Council’s LEED Gold Certification. He's also a film and television music supervisor, author, and educator. Ramsay received a BA in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he lives with his wife and kids in the beautiful Sullivan County Catskills, where his family's history is many generations deep.

Avalon Bungee oversees PollinateHV and the Ecological Restoration Grant program at Partners for Climate Action (PCA). Prior to PCA, she directed a coastal climate resilience education initiative through NOAA’s Environmental Literacy Program. She co-manages a large landscape in Columbia County, focusing on native meadows, forest health, and deer management; she also has over a decade of farm work experience in New York and Canada. Avalon received an MS in ecosystem restoration from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and a BA in geology from Colgate University. She is completing a PhD in restoration ecology at Antioch University.

Bob has dedicated his professional life to working at the intersection of economics, environmentalism, and culture with an eye toward locally owned business, resilient agriculture, and democratic participation in decision making. Bob also directs the Local Economies Project at the New World Foundation.

Prior to this, he served as executive director of the NoVo Foundation and director of the Rudolf Steiner Foundation’s East Coast Office.

Pia Ruisi-Besares is the Director of Science, Climate, and Stewardship at Scenic Hudson where she is responsible for the stewardship and management of over 30 preserves and parks in the Mid Hudson Valley. Pia is a forest ecologist and natural resource management professional by training and has worked in a variety of ecosystems across the United States, including Alaska, California, and Vermont. Prior to her role at Scenic Hudson, she spent 6 years on the Island of O’ahu working as a research coordinator and land manager. During that time, she completed her master's thesis, which studied various methods of in situ planting techniques to bolster populations of an endemic, endangered plant species. 

Pia has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Skidmore College, and an M.Sc. in Natural Resources and Environmental Management for the University of Hawai’i- Manoa. She grew up in Kingston, NY and is happy to be working in her home region.

Keri VanCamp has worked at Vassar College for 20 years.   She is the Director of the Preserve at Vassar, a 520 acre Field Station for Vassar College and the largest publicly accessible open space in Poughkeepsie, NY.  As Preserve Director, Keri is responsible for the vision, development, planning, and oversight of the Preserve.  She also works to oversee the research, monitoring,and  stewardship efforts that occur at the site.  Keri played a leading role in the development and implementation of the Preserve’s Conservation Action Plan which uses a science based approach to conservation and land management.  She works to integrate the ecological preserve into formal and informal education at the college by involving students in monitoring, management, research, and outreach efforts on our Preserve.  Keri holds her MS in Botany with a focus in Plant Ecology from the University of Maine in Orono and her BS from SUNY New Paltz in Organismal Biology with a minor in Environmental Science. 

Bio fortcoming

A life-long resident of the Hudson Valley, Justin Wexler has dedicated his life to learning everything he can about the lives, land management practices and ethnoecology of the Hudson Valley's original human residents. He has studied regional Eastern Algonquian languages, history and folklore since 2002, reconstructing the precontact landscape and sharing discoveries with other scholars and with tribal language departments. He has a BA in History and Anthropology from Marlboro College in Marlboro, VT; a Professional Certificate in Environmental Policy from Bard College and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Bard College. He is currently in contract to publish a history of Native land management in the Catskill Mountain region by the end of 2026. Through his organization, Wild Hudson Valley, Justin regularly hosts Lenape/Mohican visitors on ancestral homeland visits from their contemporary displaced communities, and he and wife Anna Plattner work to connect the area’s current residents to nature through guided walks, boat tours, presentations and workshops.