Board of Directors
Dale Shewalter
Honorary Chairman of the Board
Dale is affectionately known as the “Father of the Arizona Trail” and although he passed away in 2010, will always be the Honorary Chairman of the ATA Board. Learn more about Dale and how we are keeping his dream of a cross-state trail alive through his In Memoriam page.
Contact the Board of Directors
2026 Board Meeting Schedule
- February 1 ~ Annual Meeting ~ Desert Botanical Garden ~ Phoenix
- April 11 ~ Spring Board Meeting ~ Central Arizona
- July 12 ~ Summer Board Meeting ~ Northern Arizona
- October 24 ~ Autumn Board Meeting ~ Southern Arizona
Additional Board Documents are only available to ATA members in their Members-Only Resources upon login. Not a member? Join or renew today.
Karen Gresham
President
Phoenix
Karen is a third generation Phoenician and has spent most of her life living near and hiking in the Phoenix Preserves (Piestewa Peak). She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Arizona State University, earning a BS in Accountancy and minors in Spanish and Communication. After working as a CPA auditing all types of companies from large corporations to nonprofits to utilities, she “retired” from accounting to raise her three sons. Ever since then Karen has volunteered her time in the classroom, helping public education candidates, and for many charitable organizations. She has raised over $100,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and is now on the leadership team. She currently serves as an elected governing board member for the Madison Elementary School District, and coaches cross country for one of the middle schools. Karen loves everything trail related; she has completed several trail and ultra-marathons in Arizona and beyond, and is a trail steward/hike patrol for the City of Phoenix Parks Department. She has been on many parts of the AZT and will complete a thru-hike eventually!
Dana Ernst
Vice President
Flagstaff
Dana moved to Flagstaff in the fall of 1997 to attend graduate school in mathematics at Northern Arizona University, where he is now a professor. While rock climbing is the first outdoor activity that got him into the wilds of Arizona, he has enjoyed many immersive experiences while mountain biking, trail running, and backpacking. Dana and his wife have two energetic sons and a dog, and as a family they hike, bike, and run the trails throughout Arizona. He believes that respect for sensitive habitats and places of cultural significance are what make trails truly sustainable, and the Arizona Trail is the crown jewel of our vast networks of trails. Dana is honored to play a role in preserving the AZT, as well as enhancing it for his children and future generations. He has served as a Bikepacking Roots Regional Advisor and is active within the NAU Cycling Club.
David Rabb
Treasurer
Tucson
David first visited Arizona in 1978 and immediately fell in love with the wide-open spaces, beauty, and diversity of the desert. In 2004, he moved to Tucson which has truly been home ever since. His involvement with the ATA started later that year; volunteering in the construction of the Cienega Corridor near Vail. He has continued building and maintaining the trail ever since, participating with the Crazies, Usual Suspects, and Tom’s Sawyers. In 2010 David began segment hiking the trail, completing it in 2012. More recently, he has also had the privilege of participating in the Trail Angel program. David loves to meet trail users from across the world and learn their stories. He believes the trail itself is a wonderful place, but the most important things are the benefits it brings to the people who experience it.
Samuel Richard
Secretary
Phoenix
Sam is President of Government Affairs for Consilium Consulting, based in Phoenix. He has a degree in nonprofit leadership and management from Arizona State University’s Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, is a Flinn-Brown Fellow and is an Eagle Scout. Sam loves to hike and get out into nature, attend concerts and music festivals whenever possible and is a huge fan of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He and his wife, Kim, live in Central Phoenix with their two children, four chickens, three desert tortoises and two cats.
Shawn Redfield
Board Member
Pine
Shawn’s volunteer involvement with the ATA began in 2005 with remote trail construction along Passage 15. After 30+ years of bureaucracy working for the Department of the Interior, Shawn retired from public service in 2010 and decided to unwind by hiking the AZT. Since then he has continued to work on many areas of the trail including the layout and design, construction, maintenance, and infrastructure development. In 2011, he formally took on the role of Director of Trail Operations where you can witness his unwavering commitment to the continuation of developing and maintaining the trail. Whether he’s installing a sign, replacing a gate, or conducting trail work, Shawn is always busy supporting staff and volunteers to see that they have the tools, supplies and the where-with-all to do their part. He received the 2015 Trail Volunteer of the Year Award from American Trails, and in 2016 was named the Cox Conserves Hero for Arizona – an award that honors volunteers who create, preserve or enhance the outdoor places in our communities.
Alexandera Houchin
Board Member
Nomadic
Alexandera grew up in the Great Lakes region of southern Wisconsin and is a citizen of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. Alexandera attended the University of Arizona and the University of Minnesota, graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in American Indian Studies. Her first true love is cycling, and she has dedicated most of her life to bike touring, bikepacking, and bike racing. Alexandera has completed six successful long-distance bicycling efforts on the Arizona Trail, and she holds the women’s singlespeed records for the AZT 300 (U.S./Mexico border to Superior in 2 days, 19 hours, 25 minutes) and the AZT 800 (U.S./Mexico border to Utah border in 10 days, 13 hours, 36 minutes).
Alexandera has worked for her Tribal Government in Planning, and in the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, Duluth in community outreach and student support. Her interests lie in pursuit of including Indigenous voices in issues of public land, building trail user relationships across user groups, and giving back to the people and organizations who’ve ensured that she has been able to embark on several of the transformative odysseys she’s had on the AZT.
Victoria Levin
Board Member
Chandler
Victoria Levin was a transplant to Arizona in 1995 from New York and Boston. She works as a trial attorney for the federal government. While attending law school in Tucson, she became an avid hiker, fell in love with Arizona’s breathtaking landscape and biology, and is particularly enamored by the beauty and serenity offered by the Arizona Scenic Trail. She is honored and humbled to be part of this wilderness preservation organization.
Rebeca Rodriguez
Board Member
Phoenix
Rebeca’s Arizona Trail journey began in 2018, sparked by volunteering at a trail reroute event in Happy Jack. Witnessing the transformative power of community, she made it a goal to give back to the trails, accumulating over 200 volunteer hours on the Arizona Trail. In 2022, she was selected to be a part of American Hiking Society’s NextGen Trail leaders program where she refined her leadership skills by actively engaging in state and federal trail advocacy efforts.
Equipped with a master’s degree in sustainability solutions from Arizona State University, Rebeca’s academic journey includes a master’s degree in space management from the International Space University and a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Arizona. Transitioning from her aerospace engineering career, Rebeca redirected her path, returning to school to explore the intersection of community, sustainability, and advocacy. At the Hispanic Access Foundation, she serves as a liaison between the Latino community, the United States Forest Service, and federal funding for climate change mitigation. Originally from Puerto Rico, she exchanged a hot and humid climate for the hot and arid landscapes of Arizona.
Clark Tenakhongva
Board Member
Polacca
Clark Tenakhongva is a respected Hopi leader and traditional cultural practitioner. He served in the United States Army for 10 years, and continued to support veterans as the Director of the Hopi Office of Veterans Affairs for 15 years. He has volunteered on Hopi school boards for decades, and is committed to youth education and empowerment on and off the reservation. Clark was elected as Vice Chairman of the Hopi Tribe in 2017 and served for four years, and one of his proudest accomplishments was the designation of Bears Ears National Monument. Clark is a proud farmer, rancher, grandfather, singer and artist who has won numerous awards for both his music and kachina carvings. Clark is honored to bring a perspective to the ATA from a group of indigenous people who have inhabited Arizona longer than any other, and whose core value is stewardship of the land.
Prospective Board Members
Pablo Burghard
Globe
After a 27-year career in finance at Merrill Lynch in Texas, Pablo moved to Arizona in 2000 to pursue his passion for river rafting on the Salt River. Since the river season can be short in Arizona, he began to volunteer to do trail work for the Tonto National Forest. Pablo quickly failed retirement as his volunteer work morphed into part-time, then full-time work over the next 15+ years. “Learning by doing” taught Pablo trail layout, new construction, ongoing trail maintenance, post fire rehabilitation, grant writing, youth crew management, and working with volunteers and partners. Eventually, his job grew to managing all of the 1,000 miles of trails on 3 million acres of the Tonto National Forest. This included extensive work in partnership with the ATA over many years. The ATA recognized Pablo with the Larry Sneed Trail Stewardship Award in 2010, the Outstanding Partner Award in 2015, and the one Pablo is most proud of – the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Pablo hopes that his experience on the trail and knowledge of fiscal management will help sustain the ATA for generations to come.
Anna Darian
Patagonia
A rising community leader based in Patagonia, Anna is passionate about strengthening the connection between the Arizona Trail, its gateway communities, and the people who live and adventure along its route. As Executive Director of the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance and former Director of Advocacy and Community Engagement for Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, she has dedicated her career to environmental stewardship and protecting southern Arizona’s unique landscapes. With over 15 years of experience in public and nonprofit leadership, Anna brings expertise in advocacy, storytelling, project management, and coalition-building. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Arizona, and a master’s degree in Urban Planning from the American University of Beirut. Inspired by her experience walking the Camino de Santiago, Anna envisions the Arizona Trail as a vibrant corridor of connection and pride for communities across the state.
Alex Derr
Tempe
Alex moved from Oregon to Arizona with dreams of bikepacking the Arizona Trail. He soon found he enjoyed working on the trail as much or more than biking or hiking it. After thru-hiking the AZT in 2021, Alex became a trail steward in the Mazatzal Wilderness. He enjoys hosting annual work trips in the Mazzies and organizing groups to re-open and maintain neglected trails connecting to the AZT. As a mechanical engineer, Alex spent 20+ years designing oceanographic instruments and supporting scientists studying global change. Now volunteering for his partner’s lab at ASU, he supports ecosystem research in drylands. He loves being outdoors and appreciates having access to our extensive public lands.
Jacob Northrup
Catalina
Jacob is a 2015 graduate of D’Youville University’s School of Pharmacy and has called Arizona home since 2019. Since moving to the desert, he’s been dedicated to improving healthcare access in underserved communities across Pinal County as a clinical pharmacist in Florence and Oracle. He specializes in chronic disease management, patient education, and developing continuing education for his peers. But when the workday ends, Jacob is all about the great outdoors. An avid hiker, backpacker and cyclist, Jacob quickly fell in love with the stunning diversity of the Sonoran Desert. His passion for the wilderness runs deep; what began as a simple love for hiking evolved into a commitment to preserving the very trails he hiked. Inspired by the Backpacker Radio podcast, he started volunteering on the Arizona Trail and soon completed the Trail Skills Institute. From there, he went on to become the Trail Steward for Passage 15A and a certified cross-cut sawyer. With over 750 volunteer hours logged, Jacob is committed to protecting these landscapes for future generations. His work focuses on trail maintenance and educating fellow outdoor enthusiasts about the importance of conservation and responsible recreation. Whether he’s providing education on chronic disease management or clearing trails, Jacob is driven by a single goal: to give back to the places that bring him peace and the thrill of adventure.
