Meet the Commission
David Dicks represents the Puget Sound Partnership and is appointed to the Commission by the Governor. He is the first executive director of the Puget Sound Partnership, appointed in August 2007. Prior to that appointment, David was a partner with Cascadia Law Group and a consultant to King County for Puget Sound matters.
Kathy Fletcher is founder and executive director of People For Puget Sound, a citizens' organization formed in 1991 to protect and restore the health of Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits. She is a member of the Washington state Oil Spill Advisory Council and the Governor's Puget Sound Partnership, and previously chaired the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority. She is currently on the board of Restore America's Estuaries, and is president of the WA Foundation for the Environment.
Joe Gaydos is a Governor's appointee to the Commission. He is the Regional Director for the Sea Doc Society. He is a wildlife veterinarian and is interested in diseases of free-ranging wildlife and the science of marine conservation. He lives with his family on Orcas Island.
Kirby Johnson is the representative from Snohomish MRC, serving as a citizen member representing recreational interests. He is a volunteer diver for the Edmonds Underwater Park, where he has coordinated a census of lingcod nesting activity for the last 11 years. He is a temperate water aquarist and underwater photographer. In 40 years of diving in Puget Sound he has observed the marine environment and the changes that have occurred. In his other life he is an aerospace engineer.
Phyllis Kind is the representative from the Island County Marine Resources Committee. Since moving to Island County in 1999, Phyllis has volunteered with the Whidbey Audubon Society and Beach Watchers, in addition to her work on the MRC and the Northwest Straits Commission. In her previous life she was a Professor of Microbiology and of Genetics at George Washington University.
Terrie Klinger is Associate Professor of Marine Affairs at the University of Washington, and is appointed to the Commission by the Governor. She has performed marine ecological research in the Northwest Straits region since 1991. She currently serves as Chair of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, and formerly served as a member of the San Juan County MRC.
Scott McCreery is a Governor's appointee and comes to the Commission after serving as an alternate for several years and after sitting for 7 years on the Whatcom County MRC. He manages marine environmental projects for BP and brings expertise in oil spill prevention, preparedness and response to the Commission. Scott and his family live in Bellingham.
Buck Meloy, with the able help of his alternate Mark Herrenkohl, has represented Whatcom County on the Northwest Straits Commission since its inception. As a commercial fisherman on the Commission, he brings a unique, resource-based perspective to the group's deliberations.
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Tony Petrillo is the representative from the Jefferson County MRC. He presently is active on the Eelgrass and Soft Shore Armoring committees and the MRC executive board. Living in Port Townsend, he has been an ocean engineer and seabed mapping consultant for 25 years on the Puget Sound region working actively in the coastal waters of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.
Joe Schmitt is the representative from Clallam County Marine Resources Committee. Joe is a third generation resident of the Western Strait area. He co-owns and operates the Whiskey Creek Beach resort and owns the tide flats to 3 feet below low-low water. Joe also works in commercial fishing, charter fishing and commercial diving.
Jonathan White is a 13-year resident of the San Juan Islands, and served on the County Planning Commission for 5 years. He was the founder/director of Resource Institute, a non-profit organization that sponsored seminars from Seattle to Alaska aboard a 65' wooden schooner. Jonathan's book, Talking on the Water, was published in 1994 by Sierra Club Books. He is a father, husband, and currently makes his living as a custom home builder. Jonathan also serves as a trustee of the San Juan Preservation Trust.
Terry Williams is the Fisheries Natural Resources Commissioner for Tulalip Tribes and is the Tribal appointee to the Commission. Terry has worked to establish an office with EPA to address environmental issues of Indian Tribes nationwide. He has been an important participant in a vast number of important working groups including the NW Indian Fisheries Commission and the Pacific Salmon Commission, was appointed to the Regional Interagency Executive Committee by President Clinton, and represented tribes on the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority.
Christine Woodward is the Skagit MRC representative to the Commission. Now in her fifth year working with the Samish Indian Nation as Director of Natural Resources, Christine has worked in the northwest since 1991 setting up water quality programs for 3 Indian Tribes, was project manager for the Drayton Harbor and Portage Bay shellfish districts in Whatcom County, and as a landscape designer promoting native plants and drought tolerant projects and low impact development.