Jeff Ballman
City: Waterville
Year Joined: 2016
Occupation: Educator/Farmer
Hobbies & Interests: Hiking, Fishing, Spending time outdoors
What strengths do you bring to the Board? Representation from the south.
What is your vision for the nature center? To continue to preserve the Ney site and continue to build programs for schools and students to use at the nature center.
Where is your favorite place at the nature center? Lookout and the old oaks.
What is your favorite animal and/or plant? Gray Squirrel
Earl Gransee
City: Belle Plaine
Year Joined:
Occupation: Retired Principal
Hobbies & Interests: Wood Working, Travel, Making Snowshoes
What strengths do you bring to the Board? Hard worker, interest in outdoor education. Sharing love of nature, history with others.
What is your vision for the nature center? To add more staff so we can offer more programs. To build an event center, etc. with classrooms, office space, and displays. If not, build a new building connection of the older building.
Where is your favorite place at the nature center?
What is your favorite animal and/or plant?
Eleanor Hanna-Dyb
City: Henderson
Year Joined: 2020
Occupation: Sr. Director of Global Customer Engagement and Service Sales at Ergotron Inc. I am responsible for driving customer growth through Service Sales and Inside Sales teams as well as supporting effective and brand reflective customer journeys through our various routes to market by effectively managing technology, process and our sales and customer support teams globally.
Hobbies & Interests: I live on a hobby farm with my husband Dan and 3 of our 4 children. We have many different animals and enjoy the wildlife that lives alongside our domestic breeds. I am an avid horse owner, gardener, cook, and baker. I work daily in Eagan and travel often, as such, I love returning to my home in Henderson and the amazing environment it offers.
What strengths do you bring to the Board? My diverse experience in sales and customer experience will support the efforts of the board regarding membership growth and building meaningful connections to those members. Leveraging resources and mindful fiscal responsibility has been a core to my business success and translates well to supporting the fulfillment of the Ney Nature Center mission. As a mother of 4 kids, I appreciate the educational opportunities this organization offers. Perhaps most important, my love for nature, history and taking time to prioritize these things in my life aligns well with the overall goal of the Ney Nature Center family.
What is your vision for the nature center? The Ney Nature Center is a jewel in the Minnesota River Valley and as such, my vision is to build upon this foundation to share to a wider audience the education and interactive opportunities that this foundation brings to Henderson and surrounding areas.
Where is your favorite place at the nature center? As a new member to the center, I am still in the process of exploring all the nooks and crannies of the land. There has yet to be a building or path that I have not enjoyed.
What is your favorite animal and/or plant? It is impossible for me to pick just one plant or animal as my favorite. As a steward for my own acreage in this city, I appreciate how interconnected our ecosystem is and love seeing the innerworkings from pollinating bees to migrating birds and the impacts of the flora and fauna these creatures support to thrive.
Carol (Jentz) Jackson – President and Historian
City: Eden Prairie
Year Joined: 2006
Occupation: Retired in 2017 following 46 years as Corporate Manager-Consumer Services for Jerry’s Foods in Edina, including 20 years with WCCO-AM Radio’s Joyce Lamont as Best Buys reporter; Home Economist for The Pillsbury Company in Minneapolis, including writing cookbooks and other publications; Clerk and bookkeeper for Corner Drug Store in Le Sueur; Graduate of Le Sueur High School and the College of Home Economics (Human Ecology); Grew up near Rush River, west of Le Sueur in Sibley County
Hobbies & Interests: Genealogy, History, Card Designing, Photography, Cake Decorating, Gourmet Cooking and Baking, Bringing Art and Food together
What strengths do you bring to the Board? Leadership – experience with a variety of professional and community organizations; Organizational – understand structure of organizations; Visionary – ability to see the larger picture; Consensus Builder – ability to see both sides of an issue; Communication and Writing Skills – have written publicity pieces (ads, commercials, for newspapers, newsletters, radio); Business Background – worked with budgets, fundraising, and as treasurer of professional organizations; Historical – probably the only person with an expansive knowledge of the Ney family history
What is your vision for the nature center? A large dedicated volunteer base that works side-by-side with our staff; Continuing to recognize the historic importance of the Ney family and the restoration of the Ney buildings; Expanding programs for all ages with no lack of space and staff that hampers the expansion; Growing our base of park users
Where is your favorite place at the nature center? The Ney Homestead and the South Overlook
What is your favorite animal and/or plant? Large dogs such as St. Bernard or New Foundland
Paul Jaeger – Secretary
City: Henderson
Year Joined: 2017
Occupation: MNCS Advisor
Hobbies & Interests: Hiking, Cooking, Reading, Writing, Wood-carving, Travel
What strengths do you bring to the Board? Five years of experience as a member of the school board at the Minnesota New Country School.
What is your vision for the nature center? To deepen its roots as a stronghold for the neighboring communities of the Minnesota River Valley.
Where is your favorite place at the nature center? The Great Oak
What is your favorite animal and/or plant? Virginia Bluebells
Holly Kreft – Vice President
City: Arlington
Year Joined: 2014
Occupation: Executive Director of Charlson Meadows
Hobbies & Interests: Reading, Bicycling, Watching high school sports
What strengths do you bring to the Board? Administration background and a love of nature.
What is your vision for the nature center? The sky is the limit for the Ney Nature Center! My vision is to increase usgae by adding programs and amenities. It’s time to uncover this hidden gem.
Where is your favorite place at the nature center? Ravine Trail
What is your favorite animal and/or plant? Live Oak (Quercus virginiana)
Mick McGuire – Treasurer
City: Montgomery
Year Joined:
Occupation: Landscape Contractor
Hobbies & Interests: I enjoy traveling often to hiking destinations, also ailing in the summer and skiing in the winter.
What strengths do you bring to the Board? I like to think that my background in business and years I’ve spent as a city council member and mayor bring an understanding of management and the ability to work in a group setting. I feel that having an ability to look at the big picture can help the board with decision making.
What is your vision for the nature center? Great strides have been made in the past few years and I see this continuing at possibly even a faster pace. I would like to see an expansion of our programming and facilities, but at the same time we need to protect the “charm” of our nature center.
Where is your favorite place at the nature center? The Overlooks
What is your favorite animal and/or plant? The Big Oaks
Brian Sorenson
City: Henderson
Year Joined: 2020
Occupation: Business Development & Automation Director
Hobbies & Interests: I enjoy gardening, biking, exploring Minnesota breweries and wineries, restoring furniture, and photography.
What strengths do you bring to the Board? A deep connection to life in rural Minnesota and the knowledge of being in a business leadership role. I grew up on a fifth-generation family farm and know firsthand the importance of preserving historical and natural spaces for future generations. In my current life, I have been in leadership roles at growing small businesses and understand the importance of growing the Ney Center’s offerings both in terms of programming and facilities.
What is your vision for the nature center? I am happy to see the ongoing work in preserving and restoring the Ney Center’s historical buildings. The buildings can be an integral part of educational programming as well as a draw for those looking to simply see a piece of history in its original location.
Where is your favorite place at the nature center? The scenic overlooks. What is your favorite animal and/or plant? As a gardener, my favorite plant is a tie between peppers and tomatoes. They are both diverse and I love to experiment with what products they can be turned into.
Doug Thomas
City: Henderson
Year Joined: 2016
Occupation: Semi-retired, Education Consultant
Hobbies & Interests: Building, Hiking, Sports
What strengths do you bring to the Board? Board experience, Building maintenance, Fundraising
What is your vision for the nature center? To become a premier nature center in south-central Minnesota, and a natural history education destination.
Where is your favorite place at the nature center? The Overlooks and the Log House
What is your favorite animal and/or plant? Deer & Maple Trees
Tyler Luethje – Le Sueur County Parks Director
City: Le Center
Year Joined: 2017
Occupation: Le Sueur County Parks Director
Hobbies & Interests: I am enjoy anything that allows me to be active and outdoors. My hobbies include sports, gardening, fishing, and pheasant hunting.
What strengths do you bring to the Board? As a liaison to the Board, I try to promote a quality partnership between Le Sueur County and the Ney Nature Center
What is your vision for the nature center? To promote the outdoors to children and families through programming, education, and providing a piece of nature center that is difficult to find in today’s world.
Where is your favorite place at the nature center? I enjoy the trail system that the Ney Nature Center offers, specifically the Ravine Trail.
What is your favorite animal and/or plant? My favorite animal is a ring-necked pheasant and my favorite plant to grow in our garden is a tomato plant because there are so many things you can do with a large tomato harvest.