Matt Flaherty
Matt Flaherty is an ultramarathon runner, running coach, and climate policy researcher. His background is in environmental engineering and law, and he formerly practiced law in Chicago. He also pursued trail running professionally for five years. Matt is currently pursuing two Master's degrees in environmental science and public affairs at Indiana University, seeking to synthesize his professional background and his passion for the environment in impactful policy work. He strongly supports land and biodiversity conservation efforts and is very excited to be a Monarch Ultra Ambassador. Matt is looking forward to this amazing project and sharing its important message with local environmentalists, area runners and schools, and the wider ultrarunning community. |
Ellen Sharp
Back in 2011, Dr. Ellen Sharp was finishing up a PhD in cultural anthropology at UCLA when a trip to see the monarchs in Mexico changed her life. Since then, she’s sought to share this experience with others by organizing butterfly ecotourism and working for more effective conservation of the monarchs’ overwintering sites. In 2013, Sharp relocated from Los Angeles to Macheros, a tiny town at the entry of the Cerro Pelón Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in the State of Mexico. She and her husband, Macheros-native Joel Moreno, run JM Butterfly B&B together. They also started the non-profit Butterflies & Their People, which employs four locals in full-time forest protection. Their work has been featured on the BBC and the AP Wire. Ellen is looking forward to organizing the welcoming committee for the last leg of the very first Monarch Ultra Relay Run. |
Dawn Pond
Dawn Pond has always being interested in plants and completed an undergraduate degree in Plant and Soil Science but it wasn’t until moving to Canada to study pollination where she really found a passion for the relationship between plants and their pollinators. She lives in Peterborough, Ontario and is a proud member of the Peterborough Pollinators community group. She is also the Depave Paradise and Downtown Vibrancy Coordinator at GreenUP, a Peterborough-based environmental charity. She is helping to create new green spaces in Downtown Peterborough through this collaborative project. Dawn is also an art enthusiast and enjoys producing drawings and prints inspired by plants and pollinators. She created Monarch butterfly prints to help the Kickstarter campaign for the Monarch Ultra and is now a Monarch Ultra Ambassador. |
Sergio Avila
Sergio Avila grew up exploring in the Chihuahuan Desert and dreaming of becoming a biologist. Sergio is a wildlife biologist who has worked on regional and binational conservation efforts along the U.S.-Mexico borderlands in Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora, Chihuahua and Baja California, working with species like jaguars, ocelots, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, California sea lions and Monarch butterflies. Sergio enjoys trail running, gardening, bird and butterfly watching, and looking for wildlife tracks. He lives in Tucson with his wife Jenny, their cats 'Lupe,' 'Carlos,' and 'Pancho,' and 'Toby' the desert tortoise. |
Russell Stubbles
Dr. Russell Stubbles was a professor of park management and tourism in the Dept. of Horticulture, Forestry, Landscape and Parks, College of Ag-Bio Sciences at South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD. He began graduate faculty status in 1995 and served on numerous graduate committees, including as chair. He held an adjunct professorship with the Dept. of Geography. He was one of three original faculty involved in the team teaching of the new Integrated Natural Resources Management capstone senior course for the College. Russell is the founder of Monarch City USA, a non-profit organization that supports monarch education programs nationwide by getting municipalities to become supporters of the monarch butterfly by planting milkweed and nectar plants. |
Karen Hinshaw
Karen Hinshaw is the County Extension Director and Health and Human Sciences Educator for Purdue Extension Huntington County in Indiana. Since starting her career with Purdue in 2005, she has been taking university information to the local level and helping people strengthen families, spend smart, eat right, and live well. Karen also facilitates workshops about the importance of pollinators, how participants can impact the environment related to pollinators and the lifecycle of the butterfly. She grows pesticide free milkweed to help build more pollinator gardens and habitat for the Monarch Butterfly. Karen distributes butterfly eggs and caterpillars to local schools, groups and individuals each growing season to help them learn the lifecycle and take an interest in preserving their habitat. |
Angelica Guzman
Angie Gazelle is her nom du coureur. She ran her first marathon in 2013 and her first 50 km in 2018. To date she has completed 20 marathons and a plethora of other distances in Canada, the USA, and Mexico. She is a science teacher in south Texas. On campus, she has created native habitat gardens where monarchs and other pollinators are enjoyed by students. Her home is a registered monarch way station. |
Chris & Shirley Agen
Chris and Shirley Agen are avid mountain enthusiasts, with several ultra marathons to their credit. Their adventures have taken them up and down the west coast, from Mt. St Helens to the Pacific Crest Trail, and thru National Parks like Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce. This love for the outdoors fuels their CREATIVE spirits, and their passion for DESIGN. This boundless array of beauty and awe inspiring images that nature presents led to the founding of their graphic design company, Bona Fide Funk Designs. |
Suzanne Slear
Suzanne Slear is the President of Environmental Concern (EC), a non-profit corporation located on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. During Suzanne’s 20 years working with EC, she also served as an officer on the U.S. National Ramsar Committee for 15 years, and attends the annual meeting of the Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management as the USNRC representative. Suzanne’s passion for plants and natural habitat has expanded from a few jades on her window sill in college to supervising the creation of schoolyard pollinator habitats, and acres of Monarch butterfly habitat on EC’s campus and throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region. After attending the 2015 meeting of theTrilateral Committee in San Diego, California, Suzanne’s concern for the decrease in vital habitat for the Monarch butterfly was the impetus for creating EC’s Mid-Atlantic Monarch Initiative and Seed Stewards for Monarchs program. Suzanne is thrilled to be a Monarch Ultra Ambassador, and to be part of a network of environmentalists and runners from three countries working together to promote the conservation of natural habitat and to increase the awareness of the amazing journey of the Monarch butterfly. |
Jessica Lister
Jessica Lister is the co-founder of the Mid-Atlantic Monarch Initiative (MAMI) and Vice President of Restoration at Environmental Concern Inc. in Maryland. As EC’s VP of Restoration, Jess facilitates the creation & restoration of tidal marsh and wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay region. Through MAMI, Jess educates the public about monarch butterflies and collaborates with organizations and landowners to restore monarch butterfly habitat. Jess has a deep passion for the monarch butterfly, which began back in high school when she conducted field work with the University of Maryland for their research on the impacts of Bt corn pollen on monarch butterfly populations. During her months of field work observing and learning everything she could about the monarch, her love for the species grew. Jess considers the monarch butterfly her “spirit animal”, representing the hope, change, and endurance that she strives to have in life. In addition to the monarch butterfly, Jess’s other great passion is for trail running and obstacle course racing. As Jess puts it, the Monarch Ultra Project is a “dream come true”….it’s very rare in life when your two utmost passions…your two worlds “collide”. She couldn’t be more excited to embark on this journey and support this amazing project. For Jess, this will be her very first ultra run. She is ready and excited to put in the work, and go through the “transformation” to become an ultra runner. |
Jo Hayward-Haines
Jo Hayward-Haines was born in the USA. Jo and her husband, Paul, moved to Canada in 1976 to raise their three children, Tim (Bluestreak Records), Avery (CTV – W5) and Emily (Metric). As an artist, activist and teacher, she established a school for Dalits in New Delhi, a bilingual arts centre in Smooth Rock Falls, Ontario and the Victoria Peace Project in Fenelon Falls. She currently lives in Ennismore and is one of the founders of Peterborough Pollinators. Active in the Council of Canadians, Transition Town Peterborough, the Sacred Water Circle, 4 R Grandchildren and the Raging Grannies, she is dedicated to engaging with others to solve problems of social and environmental injustice. |
Carroll Voss
Carroll Voss is a race director, training group coach and veteran endurance athlete of road, trail & cycling. After running Boston in 2004, an invitation from the Raramuri governors of Copper Canyon for their celebration of Semana Santa, gave rise to the Big Bend Ultra in Big Bend National Park & Big Bend Ranch State Park for the last 15 years. The Monarchs’ journey goes through this region with great anticipation for them. Carroll is currently working on race management, course plotting and design. He’ll be gathering support and awareness for the Monarch Ultra through running specialty retailers, training groups and race events. |
Carl Wright
Carl Wright grew up on a traditional family farm in Southern Ontario. Learning from his father, Carl learned about the importance of sustainable farming. This was reflected by his dad’s deep loving care and stewardship of the land. When Carl was 15, his father died of a heart attack. The only place he could find strength and comfort was immersing himself in nature. This has resulted in a lifelong love for our natural areas. Carl took up running at 55 after a dire ultimatum from his doctor to get his blood pressure and cholesterol down. At 60, Carl has run many distances including 10 ultras. Carl works for a company called Busch Systems. With a strong Corporate Social Responsibility, the company has a generous give-back program to several carefully chosen environmental charities. Just over a year ago Carl was promoted to Creative Environmental Writer. A position he loves. |
Wendy Kertesz
Wendy Kertesz is the Executive Director of Monarch Learning Lab, a non-profit that focuses on educating people of all ages about the concepts and practices of sustainability. Monarch Miles, their first initiative, will create partnerships with groups and organizations around the country to implement native plant pollinator corridors. Wendy is also the Developer of Monarch, A Living Resort, a completely sustainable luxury corporate resort that will be built in Canal Fulton, Ohio. “My vision is to create a place for people to retreat from their busy worlds, to slow down and reconnect with nature…and reconnect with themselves.” With over 25 years of PR and Marketing experience, Wendy has found a way to combine her passion for nature with an amazing business concept. Wendy has spent many summers raising Monarch Butterflies with her two sons and sharing milkweed with anyone that wants it! |
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Cora Lund Preston
Cora Lund Preston is the Communications Specialist for the Monarch Joint Venture (MJV). She works to engage partners and people across the country in monarch conservation through partnership building and outreach in-person, in print and online. Cora studied Environmental Science, Policy and Management, focusing on Environmental Education and Communication at the University of Minnesota. In her free time, Cora likes hiking, biking, reading, playing board games and traveling. Her interest in monarchs goes back to finding them as a child in northern Minnesota, and now she is inspired by the many connections monarch conservation has to other environmental issues. She has previously been a political organizer and communicator working on clean water, clean energy, voter engagement, and social justice. Cora enjoys putting her background and skills in outreach and organizing to support monarchs and the environment by working with MJV partners. |
Eileen Kimmett
Eileen Kimmett started running in the summer of 2012. She is a Mental Health advocate and openly talks about her mental illnesses. Running has been part of not only her physical health, but also her mental health. It was the news of the Monarch Ultra Relay Run and the concerns the Kimmett's children have on Climate Change and their future that really led to an increase in living a greener lifestyle at home. It led to being part of the incredible Monarch Ultra Relay Run following the migration route of the monarch butterfly to their winter home in Mexico. It also led to the beginnings of a pollinator garden in their backyard, Garden Stewardship of the Medical Drive Pollinator Garden in Peterborough, Ontario - of which their children are actively a part of. Eileen and her husband Joel are running a 50K leg in Indiana, which was a Valentine’s Day gift! The couple hopes to promote and share what they have learned about pollinators and the monarch butterfly through this relay run to many people. |
Monica Nolan
Monica Nolan is honoured and excited to be a Monarch Ultra Ambassador, to be part of the journey of the flight of the butterfly as it makes its way from Canada to Mexico. She has been a secondary math and science teacher for over 20 years and is currently working at St. Peter's Secondary School in Peterborough. Each year, she organizes a group of students to travel to a Latin American country and volunteer their time building wells or helping in an orphanage or creating gardens. Monica is an an avid outdoor person and lover of nature who spends as much time as possible hiking, trail running, camping, skiing and biking. She also enjoys road running and have several marathons completed, including Boston. |
