Sue Byers, Audubon Washington Board Chair

Sue currently serves as Assistant Provost/Chair and Director of the Urban Environmental Education M.A.Ed. program at Antioch University Seattle. She provides leadership and supervision for all campus-based offices and activities that support students and student-focused administrative services, including Integrated Student Services, Veterans Affairs, Diversity Services, and other campus-based staff employees. Sue leads campus diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism efforts and serves as Title IX Officer for Antioch University Seattle Campus. Previously at Antioch she served as Chair and Director of the Urban Environmental Education graduate program. She directed graduate program, academic oversight, student management and partnership development.  In addition, she led the design and delivered near- and long-term strategic plan; led the institutional interface with Antioch University Seattle, institutional strategic partners, and supervises faculty and staff.  Prior to joining Antioch University in 2014, she served as Chief Academic Officer at the College Success Foundation (CSF) where she led the replication effort of the foundation programs in Washington State and the District of Columbia; provided oversight for the creation and delivery of college preparation as well as bachelor’s degree attainment supports for low income and underserved youth. Sue began her career in education at Seattle Public Schools (SPS) where she directed college access and readiness programs for middle and high school students and served as special project director in support of the Superintendent.  Education: B.A. from Evergreen State College and her M.A. in Human Development with a specialization in Leadership in Education, Administration and Supervision from Pacific Oaks College.

Chelsey Thornton, Manager of Museum Education, MOPOP (Museum of Pop Culture) 

Chelsey is an artist with a background in communications, education, and community arts. She believes witnessing both the individual and community in program development is integral to how we shape culture and that creativity is essential to everyday life. Chelsey values equitable access to the outdoors, services and programs and experiences where creativity, healthy challenge, and joy work together as tools for transformation. Chelsey was an early bird enthusiast exploring the lands of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla and dxʷsəq̓ʷəbš (Suquamish) tribes and thanks her Grandparents for starting her bird watching life list on a camping trip. 

Sahkiya Brakebill, Education Committee Chair

Sahkiya is a passionate professional dedicated to improving our world through relationships, a mindset which extends through her work as she collaborates with clients, partners, and community. She is currently Senior Operations & Community Relations Manager, Center for Early Relational Health, at Akin, where her ten plus years of teaching experience, marketing and communications expertise, and dedication to community partnership and impact come together. Her wide breadth of skills also includes non-profit Board management, event planning, fundraising, and administration. Sahkiya embodies a compassionate, humanistic, and holistic approach to her work, driving positive change and leaving a lasting imprint on organizations and individuals she serves. In her free time Sahkiya can be found hugging trees, climbing mountains, and speaking to animal friends.

Elizabeth McManus, Managing Principal at Ross Strategic

Elizabeth has over 25 years of experience in collaborative process design and facilitation, program assessment and evaluation, project management, and strategic planning for environment and natural resources programs in Washington State. Supporting both regional and local efforts in protection and recovery, she works most comfortably at the intersection of science, policy, and practical on-the-ground implementation. She is well-versed in working with state, federal, and tribal governments, and other interested parties on conservation, restoration, and recovery projects throughout the region. Having served on Boards for several terms, Elizabeth is very familiar with the function, culture, and communication of an engaged Board. Raised on Puget Sound, she is an avid birder and particularly enjoys birds of the eastern Cascade slopes and coastal Puget Sound.

Regional Chapter Representatives

Judy Hallisey, Eastern Washington Chapter Representative and Conservation Committee Chair

Grandmother and activist, living the good life in Cle Elum, WA. I am an avid hiker who enjoys all the birds I observe in all seasons and across varied landscapes. After raising two children and working as a forester, wildland hydrologist and firefighter, I retired as US Forest Service District Ranger on the Cle Elum Ranger District. I am the past president of Kittitas Audubon, involved in Rotary, The Checkerboard Partnership, and Mountains To Sound Greenway. I am a graduate of the Climate Reality Project. I believe climate change is the greatest threat to all the things I love in nature and to our human population.
University of Idaho: Bachelor’s of Science, Forest Resources; Master’s of Science, Watershed Science.

Amanda León

Amanda has decades of experience with non-profit and government organizations focusing on park and garden design, volunteer management, urban forestry restoration, open space conservation, and salmon recovery. As a Parks and Recreation Director, she created community birding classes, coordinated community-based science salmon recovery programs, and designed multi-lingual and multi-cultural urban forest restoration and stormwater education programs.
Amanda attended Bryn Mawr College and University of Pennsylvania earning a bachelor’s degree in urban planning, Mimar Sinan Universitisi with a master’s degree in architecture, and received a certificate in arboretum studies from The Barnes Foundation.
“I’ve been a naturalist since childhood and enjoyed studying the natural world and design, and later worked to create programs that help others learn the wonder, joy, and passion for nature. I look forward to working with the board volunteers.”
Amanda lives with her partner and two dogs in Redmond. She also volunteers her time on the King County Conservation Futures Advisory Committee and Spanish language community forestry projects. She’s an avid knitter, sewist, and gardener. She enjoys travel, culture, and languages.

Kim Adelson, Southwest Washington Chapter Representative

I have a Ph.D. in Psychology, an M.A. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and a B.A. with majors in Evolutionary Biology and Physical Anthropology. I was a college professor for almost 35 years: I held faculty positions at the University of Minnesota, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand and attained the rank of full professor, during which I authored an Adolescent Psychology textbook that has been translated into 6 languages and have written numerous chapters and scholarly articles. My biology mentor was an ornithologist, and my earliest introduction to research involved trying to decode the meanings of Costa Rican bird songs he had collected in the field. I really got “the birding bug”, however, when my husband and I moved into a house in bird-filled woods. Also, we were fortunate to live fairly near Magee Marsh in Ohio, and so got to visit it and see staggering numbers of warblers each spring. My husband and I like to travel, and for the past 30 years have mostly gone on birdwatching vacations. Have binocs, will travel!
I’ve lived in Washington for about 11 years and have been on the Black Hills Audubon Society Board for about 10. I’ve been Treasurer, Vice President, and President. I’ve put together and managed several major initiatives during that time, including a program to encourage bird-friendly yards, Family Birding Backpacks donation to the library system, a nonfiction Spanish-language book about birds for young children, a brief STEM requirement-meeting bird video, a simulated bird walk using wooden bird models, and an "email hotline” for birding questions from the community. In addition, I am on the lecture circuit, and have given talks about bird evolution, climate change, and bird-friendly gardens at many Audubon chapters.

Robert Kaye, Northwest I Chapter Representative

Judy Willott, Northwest II Chapter Representative