The Adventure Scientists Team

Get in touch! Call us at 406.624.3320 or email us at info@adventurescientists.org

Operations

Gregg Treinish

​Founder/Executive Director

Madelyn Underwood

Head of People

Ricky Jones

Senior Technology Manager

Lydia Freeman

Chief of Staff

Gabe Leum

Accounting Manager

Communications

Kascie Herron

Associate Director, Communications and Marketing

Development

Sarah Bush

Lindsey Schwartz

Major Gifts Officer

Sarah Bush

Josephine Roberts

Head of Development

a young woman with soft wavy hair smiles in front of a background of mountains

Devynn Maclure

Grants and Development Manager

Programs

Luis Pabón-Zamora

Head of Strategic Partnerships

Catherine Workman

Head of Programs

Alison Ormsby

Forest Specialist

Jessica Eggers

Senior Systems and Volunteer Manager

Alisa Futritski

Senior Manager Volunteer Recruitment & Community Engagement

Jessica Eggers, Senior Systems and Volunteer Manager

Jessica grew up in Crow Agency, MT. There she enjoyed wide open spaces, raising horses, and exploring the Pryor Mountains. After moving to Bozeman, MT, she began developing a love for science, ecology, and conservation.

This led her to the Bay Area in California, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Earth Systems from Stanford University. Missing the mountains, she returned to Bozeman, MT, to complete an M.S. in Ecology at Montana State University. She studied how mycorrhizal fungi can help native forbs, such as yarrow and blue flax, mediate the negative effects of climate change. 

Jessica now lives in Bozeman, where she enjoys taking her dogs to rivers, kayaking, cross-country skiing, and reading. 

Lydia Freeman, Chief of Staff

Lydia grew up in the mountains of West Virginia, where she spent much of her time running around outdoors. She obtained a B.S. in Finance from West Virginia University and has built a career in business and financial analysis, product management, and consulting. She recently became a Virginia Master Naturalist to facilitate her career transition into conservation.

Outside work, she volunteers extensively by walking and training dogs and cats, building homes with Habitat for Humanity, teaching English, maintaining trails, removing invasive plants and planting native species, and much more. You can find her hiking, biking, kayaking, doing home renovations, or pet-sitting while traveling.

Alisa Futritski, Senior Manager, Volunteer Recruitment and Community Engagement

Raised in northern California, Alisa has spent the last decade of her life working, traveling, climbing, and scuba diving her way through 5 continents. She received her Bachelors in International Relations at Boston University, and went on to pursue research and development at international NGO’s, including Camfed International and UNESCO. 

She quickly realized her passions laid within the environmental sector, and focused her efforts across education and sustainability. She developed programming for an ocean technology accelerator with Sustainable Ocean Alliance, supported multinational international events for ocean conservation in conjunction with the US Department of State, managed the PhD research fellowship program with Facebook, and became a tour guide throughout the US and Canadian National Parks. 

Alisa currently splits her time between California and Argentina, and enjoys learning music, fumbling through new languages, and running around leafy mountains.

Kascie Herron, Associate Director of Communications and Marketing

Kascie originally hails from Maryland’s Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay and has lived in Montana since 2011. Kascie brings over 15 years of experience in grassroots conservation work with a blend of science, policy and communications background to Adventure Scientists.

Kascie is hopeful to finish her MFA in Science and Natural History Filmmaking from Montana State University in the next year, while also heading up all things communications-related at Adventure Scientists. In her spare time, Kascie likes to recreate on nearby rivers with her husband and three dogs.

Ricky Jones, Senior Technology Manager

Ricky grew up in the central valley of California, often venturing up into the Sierra Nevadas where he eventually lived for two years before coming to Bozeman.

He volunteered as a nature docent at the Woodcreek Nature Center, and as an Earth Team Volunteer for the Natural Resource Conservation Service for two years. Ricky obtained a B.S from Montana State University in Soil and Water Sciences. Driven to take everything learned in school and apply it to the real world, Ricky was a volunteer for Adventure Scientists on the Gallatin Microplastic Project and Conserving Biodiversity Project.

When not out collecting water samples or looking for butterflies, Ricky can be found climbing around Salt Lake City.

Gabe Leum, Accounting Manager

Gabe is a 3rd generation Montanan that grew up on his family’s homestead in the Madison Valley. Nestled on the flats in between BigSky and Yellowstone, he spent much of his childhood exploring Montana’s backcountry and learning from the environment.
Gabe attended the University of Montana, where he graduated from the Accounting & Finance programs with a focus in Business Operations & Strategy. After spending the first part of his career developing accounting controls and better processes in the Denver area, he made the trek back to Montana to pursue his passion in conservation.
When he isn’t an Adventure Scientist, you’ll likely find him exploring the mountains with his dog Modi, or in his garage, projecting on something old and broken.

Devynn Maclure, Grants and Development Manager

a young woman with soft wavy hair smiles in front of a background of mountains

Devynn grew up in Palmer, Alaska, on Dena’ina land. Living between the Chugach and Talkeetna mountain ranges, she spent time playing outdoors, snowboarding, kayaking, and raising farm animals.

After receiving her B.A. in Sustainability Studies from Alaska Pacific University, her investigative research on the impact of leachate from municipal landfills led her to work in the state’s conservation sector. There, she served Alaska’s rural communities as an environmental specialist before becoming a grant writer and coordinator for the state’s agriculture industry.

Now living in Missoula, Devynn is a proud slow hiker and finds joy in exploring Montana’s public lands, making art, and playing with her pets, Hoonah the dog and Louise the cat.

Alison Ormsby, Forest Specialist

a young woman with soft wavy hair smiles in front of a background of mountains

Alison grew up in the Washington, DC area. She has had a variety of work experience over the years – as an environment/parks Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone, a Fulbright scholar in India researching sacred forests, a journalist with the United Nations reporting on environmental treaties, an educator with the Bronx Zoo/Wildlife Conservation Society, and as an environmental studies college professor for two decades. 

Alison’s research interests include forest conservation, environmental education, ecovillages, park management, biocultural conservation through sacred natural sites, and global sustainability.  She has lived, conducted research in, and/or traveled to over 50 countries.

 Alison lives in Appalachia and enjoys birdwatching, hiking, and SCUBA diving.

Luis Pabón-Zamora, Head of Strategic Partnerships

Luis is a dedicated conservationist with robust negotiation skills, having conducted several challenging international policy processes from scratch to success. He is experienced in bringing a diversity of global, regional, and local institutions to the negotiation table including government agencies, multilateral and civil society organizations, academia, the private sector, and Indigenous and local communities among others.

Among his main achievements, Luis promoted the declaration of one of the largest Ramsar Sites, which are wetlands designated as areas of international importance. The “Llanos de Moxos” complex encompasses 7 million hectares. Luis personally led the Pantanal Declaration signed by Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay at the World Water Forum in 2018 and coordinated the preparation of the recently approved Pantanal GEF project with the three governments, the Inter-American Development Bank and UNEP.  

Luis works internationally to establish protected areas conservation, economics, management, and policy. As a member of global policy teams, Luis participated in and helped negotiations at United Nations conventions and processes including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Rio +20 conference, the Climate Convention, and IUCN congresses. Luis supported the global policy team at WWF, was part of the private-public partnership team, and a member of the Latin America and Caribbean policy cabinet.

Josephine Roberts, Head of Development

Josephine is a Philippines-born, Chicago suburb-raised, northern Michigan local who spent her early career working with and for nonprofit organizations in Chicago and Detroit. Centered on building sustainable fund development systems and organizational capacity, throughout her career she has been able to connect critical resources to numerous impact areas including, public arts programs and women in the workforce to urban educational systems and most recently, land and water conservation. In her last post, Josephine brought her nonprofit management expertise to rural northern Michigan where she led a hybrid lake association and land trust organization through a critical time of change and modernization. A local change agent, Josephine supports other nonprofit organizations in her region through board membership and volunteerism.

 Josephine and her young boys are avid mushroom hunters! She is also a sailing skipper of a mighty Sunfish. Josephine and her husband consider themselves the luckiest to be able to enjoy all the outdoor offerings of the Midwest’s four seasons with their family.

Lindsey Schwartz, Major Gifts Officer

Sarah Bush

Lindsey Schwartz  is dedicated to building Adventure Scientists’ network of support so that the organization can increase its already significant impact during this critical time for our planet. Lindsey has spent her 30-year career with a variety of innovative and impactful foundations and nonprofits addressing education, public health, social justice issues and more. This includes the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, DRK Foundation, Share Our Strength, Milagro Foundation and Eastside School. Lindsey loves helping people and institutions connect with meaningful ways to further their passion and interests.

Lindsey attended Colgate University where she was on the crew team and remains an active alum. She enjoys skiing and hiking anywhere/anytime she can and being on the ocean in her home state of Massachusetts. 

Gregg Treinish, Founder/Executive Director

Gregg founded Adventure Scientists in 2011 based on his passion for exploration, scientific discovery and galvanizing “the choir” to more directly participate in conservation.

National Geographic named Gregg Treinish “Adventurer of the Year” in 2008 when he and a friend completed a 7,800-mile trek along the spine of the Andes mountain range, and he has participated in multiple ecologically focused expeditions around the world. His field work has included projects focused on wolverine, lynx, bears, owls, sturgeon, and more. Gregg holds a biology degree from Montana State University and a sociology degree from CU-Boulder.

In 2015 he was named a DRK Foundation social entrepreneur and one of Men’s Journal’s “Most Adventurous Men.” In 2017, Gregg was named an Ashoka Fellow, and in 2020, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. He was named to the Explorer’s Club 50 and the Hatch 100 in 2023.

Madelyn Underwood, Head of People

Madelyn is committed to creating and maintaining a progressive and innovative employee culture that attracts and retains top talent. She brings more than 20 years of experience across all functional areas of human resources. She’s successfully led organizational efforts to attract, develop, engage, and retain the best talent, with a focus on elevating employees and building strong teams while helping to foster inclusion.

Prior to joining Adventure Scientists, Madelyn led people functions for the Ford Foundation, Longwood Gardens, and Mt. Cuba Center.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources from Cornell University and is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). A collaborative colleague and active Cornell alumni, she shares her extensive expertise with other nonprofit organizations and mentors fellow Cornellians throughout the United States.

Madelyn lives in southeastern Pennsylvania and loves any time shared with her family of six. She enjoys the ocean and spending time outside hiking, biking, gardening, and practicing yoga.

Catherine Workman, Head of Programs

Catherine grew up in Nashville, TN with a passion for animals. Trained as an anthropologist, she has conducted fieldwork with colleagues in Southeast Asia, Central America, and Central Africa and has more than 15 years experience in the strategic planning, research, policy, impact evaluation, and communication of biodiversity conservation, combating wildlife crime, and global grant-making. 

Prior to joining Adventure Scientists, Catherine oversaw the National Geographic Society’s research, conservation, and technology funding as the Vice President of Science, served as a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in the Office of Forestry and Biodiversity at USAID, and worked in Denver Zoo’s Conservation Biology department. She currently serves on the Board of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition and on the Editorial Board of the Vietnamese Journal of Primatology. Locally, Catherine volunteers with Lights Out DC to monitor buildings downtown for bird strikes during migration. She holds a MA in anthropology from the University of CO, Boulder and a Ph.D. in evolutionary anthropology from Duke University.

Catherine lives in Washington DC and loves spending time in forests, reading, tinkering in her pollinator garden, listening to podcasts, running, and adventuring with her husband and son.

Want to join the team? Check out our current openings: