Kevin is a retired attorney and a conservation leader. He has had a successful career in leadership of conservation organizations, law firms and non-profits. He has nearly two decades of experience in land and water conservation.As executive director of Black Swamp Conservancy, Kevin was called "the gold standard for nonprofit turnarounds"​ by a Conservancy board member who was a VP of The Andersons, a publicly-listed business. The executive director of Toledo’s largest family foundation described Kevin as someone who “consistently exceeded expectations."​ Under Kevin’s leadership, the Conservancy significantly increased fundraising and quadrupled the rate of land conservation. As Ohio project manager of Trust for Public Land, Kevin worked with federal agencies, state divisions and county parks to protect and conserve natural lands for public use.Kevin was appointed by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland to serve on the Ohio Great Lakes Compact Avisory Board. He won a Conservation Movers and Shakers award from the Land Trust Alliance.Kevin's law practice included advising employees and businesses about employment contracts and other employment law issues.Kevin was a partner of Connelly, Soutar & Jackson for more than a decade, where his practice focused on trials and appeals. At CSJ, Kevin won a two week federal jury trial and defeated a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court. Kevin is committed to making his community a better place. His current community service focuses on conservation as board chair of the Lucas Soil and Water Conservation District. He was a member of the Natural Resource Assistance Council, District 12 (Lucas Co.) for a dozen years.Past service included Lucas SWCD vice chair; editor and writer for the Toledo Bar Association’s TBAnews; steering committee of the Coalition of Ohio Land Trusts; and, board of directors of Toledo Bar Association, the Northwest Ohio Hemophilia Foundation, Toledo Hearing and Speech Center, and Black Swamp Bird Observatory. Kevin has also served as an emergency management and disaster assessment volunteer with American Red Cross. Kevin holds a B.A. magna cum laude from Case Western Reserve University, M.O.D. from the Schmidthorst BGSU College of Business (Beta Gamma Sigma honor society); and J.D. cum laude from the University of Toledo College of Law, where he was a published author and Articles Editor on law review. He has taught organizational behavior and business law at BGSU and lectured on land conservation at Toledo Law.