People

Ashley Hoffman has served as the Executive Director of the Kentucky Association for Environmental Education since 2010 and currently serves as the NAAEE Affiliate Chair and the part-time Executive Director of the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance (SEEA). The Affiliate Network represents the state, provincial and regional environmental education organizations of NAAEE. The SEEA is a collaboration of environmental education organizations in the eight southeast states (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, and TN). Ashley Hoffman holds a B.S. degree in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida and a Masters in Nonprofit Administration from North Park University School of Business and Nonprofit Administration. Prior to her work with KAEE, Ashley served as a Biologist for the Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program, a partnership between The Nature Conservancy and the Natural Resource Conservation Service. Ashley is a Certified Professional Environmental Educator in Kentucky. She serves as the Kentucky State Coordinator for Project Learning Tree and is a certified member of the NAAEE Guidelines Trainers Bureau. In her free time, she enjoys traveling to new places and enjoying time in the outdoors with her husband and children.

A former Chicago Public School Teacher, Laura moved to Kansas about 25 years ago and continued teaching K-8 students. In 1998, Laura was fortunate to join the staff with the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education (KACEE) and in 2000 became the Executive Director for the organization. KACEE is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization with the mission of promoting and providing quality, non-biased and science-based conservation and environmental education for all Kansans. Laura currently sits on the steering committee for the Affiliate Network of NAAEE, the Educational Operating Committee with PLT, and is active with the National Science Teachers Association. She holds a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education, a Master’s in Administration and Supervision and a Doctorate from Kansas State in Curriculum and Instruction for Math, Science and Technology.

I have a BA in philosophy and history of science and mathematics and a MS in marine science. For over 20 years my work has focused on building ocean literacy, environmental literacy, and science literacy among K-12 and informal education audiences through grants and other partnerships.

I am a Life Science teacher in Virginia.  I love the outdoors and have an interest in sustainability.  

My name is Amanda (Mannie) Richardson and im working on receiving my wildlife educator certificate. I specialize in snakes and love providing education to those who are wanting to learn more and understand the native wildlife. 

Jessica joined Black Rock Forest in 2023 as the Director of Education. Her primary focus is educational programming for K–16 students, teachers, and the general public. Jessica taught middle and high school science in the Bronx for six years, beginning as an NYC Teaching Fellow in 2017. Prior to teaching, Jessica conducted postdoctoral research in wildlife conservation modeling in Germany for four years; first at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and then as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biology at the University of Konstanz. She also taught college biology courses focused on assessing habitat loss of forest endemic birds. Jessica holds a BS in Nutritional Sciences from Cornell University, an MS and PhD in Biology from Rutgers University, and an MSEd in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, K-12 from City College of New York.