About : Officers & Directors
Timothy J. Volk - President
Timothy G. Volk, the current President of Chartiers Nature Conservancy (2004 to present), is also a Carnegie Council Member (2002 to Present), a member of the Carnegie Historical Society, Board Member of the Andrew Free Library and Music Hall of Carnegie (2002 to present), and member of the Carnegie Renaissance. Tim also participates in the Pan Handle Trail. Tim is a graduate of Carlynton High School, Penn Technical Institute of Pittsburgh, and Point Park University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. His business experience includes 16 years as a Wayside Electrical Consulting Engineer for Union Switch & Signal (1989 to present), and Owner and Manager of T. G. Volk Properties specializing in residential rental for over 10 years.
Tim's personal interests and goals reflect his love of the outdoors and include: Rock Climbing, Hiking, Caving, Canoeing, kayaking and Camping. His love of Pittsburgh and surrounding areas is exemplified by his continuing efforts at preserving undeveloped land for recreational use. Some of his specific goals include cleaning up Chartiers Creek to allow recreation boating and completing the trails system from the Pan Handle Trail to the City of Pittsburgh trail and the Montour Trail.
Derek Rykaczewski - Vice President
Derek has served on the Board since 2004. Derek's interest in the preservation of land in its natural state stems from his youth. Derek was raised on his family's riparian farm in northern West Virginia, where he spent his childhood learning about the natural world through first-hand exploration and observation. Derek was attracted to the CNC by its mission to return formerly industrialized properties to their natural condition and to maintain them in their natural beauty.
Law school initially brought Derek to Pittsburgh, where the majority of his practice involves the remediation of a polluted area of rural Butler County, Pennsylvania. In his free time, Derek loves to leave the city to enjoy time spent in the woods or streams of western Pennsylvania or his native West Virginia.
Vincent J. Coppola - Secretary
Vincent has served on the Board since 1997, and was a past president. He traces his environmental commitment to viewing a network premiere of "The Lorax" at age nine, impressed that progress and environmental protection need not be mutually exclusive. Born and bred in Brooklyn, he learned how to direct people in his stint as an army captain. Law school at Pitt brought him to Pittsburgh. Vince has brought in grant dollars to the CNC for land acquisition and watershed management. He uses his professional affiliations as an appellate attorney to bring in new members, most of whom are clients and do not live in the watershed or share the conservancy's conservation values. Vince states that his goal is to expand CNC's stature as one of the region's leading conservation organizations. Vincent, Janice and the boys have lived in Thornburg since 1993.
Celia Santander - Treasurer
Ms. Santander has served as a Director and Treasurer of the Chartiers Nature Conservancy since April of 2004. In her professional career, Ms. Santander is Corporate Counsel with Ariba, Inc. and formerly a sole practitioner in the private practice of law. She also teaches as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Duquesne University School of Law teaching advanced applied intellectual property. Prior to private practice, Ms. Santander served as Director of Legal Affairs for TimeSys Corporation.
Her former experience also includes: Principal Contracts Negotiator for SAS Institute; Vice President of Technology Asset Management for PNC Bank, NA; Contracts Negotiator with Computer Associates International, Inc; and Associate with the law firm of Reed Smith LLP. She is a member of the American and Pennsylvania Bar Associations, received her J.D., Cum Laude, from the Duquesne University School of Law, and her B.A., Summa Cum Laude, from Point Park University. She has been published in the areas of e-commerce, privacy, healthcare, and open source software technology in numerous publications over the past five years.
Janice Coppoloa - Director
A CNC lifetime member, Janice studied environmental issues in college and is keen on teaching her family and others about the importance of protecting it. As chair of the Education and Publicity Committee, she has distributed CNC's award-winning video, "Chartiers Creek - Pittsburgh's Hidden Treasure", to schools and libraries within the watershed and is following up with educational programs. She constructed a living watershed model that functions as a hands-on exhibit for youth and adults alike. Founding member of The Hot Matzohs klezmer band, Janice is an accomplished, award-winning clarinetist, holding a B. M. and M. M. from the Cleveland Institute of Music and was the 1996 Grand Prize winner of Marvin Hamlisch's Search for a Star.
Frank Marciw - Director
Frank has been employed as a police officer in Stow Township for 15 years. He is very people and environment oriented. Living downstream at the mouth of the Chartiers River, he is committed to CNC's goals and is willing to become more involved in its projects. A long time resident of McKees Rocks, his service broadens watershed representation on the Board.