Kelli McGee serves as executive director of Riverside Conservancy.

She earned a double major in biology and psychology at the University of Virginia, and studied the cognitive aspect of marine mammal research at the Dolphin Research Center in the Florida Keys.

Kelli also earned a law degree in 1997 from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and worked as a water-quality lobbyist for five years on Capitol Hill. She helped write federal law, penning the Beaches and Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act), signed into law in 2000. The BEACH Act required the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop criteria to test, monitor and inform public users of possible poor water quality in coastal recreation areas.

She left Washington and moved to Southern California to become west coast operations director of actor Ted Danson’s American Oceans Campaign, which later partnered with Oceana, a nonprofit ocean advocacy organization.

The Virginia native returned to Volusia County in 2002. She worked for Volusia County for 14 years with roles as Natural Resources Director, Planning and Development Services Director, and Growth and Resource Management Director, eventually founding her firm – Natua Strategies -- which strategically assists nonprofits and philanthropic organizations.

In addition, Kelli coordinated the Marine Discovery Center’s Project H2O in 2017, and facilitated the Protect Our Lagoon Academy, while also working with other local and regional nonprofits.

To learn more about Kelli, click here.

Dr. Art Litowitz is a Florida native and one of three founding members of Riverside Conservancy. Litowitz currently serves as a board member and as treasurer with the conservancy.

He earned his undergraduate degree in neurobiology & behavior from Cornell University. Dr. Art completed dental school at Washington University in St. Louis and earned his certificate in orthodontics at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine. He also earned his pediatric dentistry certificate at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Practicing for 40 years before retiring as an orthodontist in 2010, Dr. Art worked in Miami from 1979-1995, and in Central Florida from 1995-2010.
He also earned his M.B.A. degree in finance at Nova Southeastern University in 2009.

In addition, Dr. Art has completed Florida Master Naturalist Program certifications in coastal systems and coastal restoration and participated in the Protect Our Lagoon Academy.

Dr. Art and his family have had ties to community philanthropy for years through the Litowitz Foundation.

To learn more about Dr. Art, click here.

Ohio native Gregory Wilson is Riverside Conservancy’s board director and chief scientific officer. He is one of three founding members of the conservancy.

Greg holds a Ph.D. in biology/ecology (aquatic ecosystems management), an MBA in business management, and a bachelor’s degree in zoology. He has worked in university, corporate and nonprofit environments in both Florida and Ohio.

From 2014-2017, he served as director of research/business development for AdventHealth in Orlando, Fla. He also was the director of business development in life sciences at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, from 2012-2014.

Other previous roles include serving as associate vice president of research, as well as associate vice president of economic development and strategic partnerships at Kent State University in Ohio.

Greg was an appointee for the U.S. EPA National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology in Washington, D.C., and an appointee for the U.S. Rep. (FL) Michael Waltz Environmental and Water Quality Advisory Committee. In addition, he serves on the management board and finance subcommittee of the Indian River Lagoon Council.

Greg is also a board member and current president of Friends of Gamble Rogers State Park and has volunteered in various roles at the Marine Discovery Center, the University of Florida’s Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience and GTM National Estuarine Research Reserve. In addition, he has participated in the Florida Master Naturalist Program and the Protect Our Lagoon Academy.

To learn more about Greg, click here.

Sarah Gaudreault joined the Riverside Conservancy staff as program manager in May 2022.

Born in Florida, Sarah came to Riverside Conservancy as a student intern through the Stetson University Scholar Program and served as the 2021 summer program manager in the Conservancy’s Edgewater headquarters office.

She returned to Riverside Conservancy in autumn 2021 as a student intern and completed her senior research project to graduate from Stetson University in spring 2022 with a degree in marine biology.

Sarah has worked to facilitate Riverside Conservancy’s living shoreline projects. She has also tested water quality and monitored the salinity of the lagoon. In addition, she has tended to the center’s shoreline plants, created a pollinator garden, managed Riverside Conservancy’s restoration program, overseen visiting students on site and helped lead the Riverside Young Leaders in Conservation Program for high school students.

To learn more about Sarah, click here.

Lisa D. Mickey is a native North Carolinian who is staff writer at Riverside Conservancy.

She began her professional writing career at age 15 as a “Teen Page Correspondent” for the Winston-Salem Journal newspaper (N.C.).
She majored in English and played varsity field hockey at High Point University.

After graduating, Lisa began working as a staff reporter for numerous newspapers in North Carolina, reporting on everything from education and crime to writing human-interest features and covering golf.

At The Times in Thomasville, N.C., she won the North Carolina Press Association’s 1984 award for investigative reporting. She moved to the Greensboro News & Record to work as a staff feature writer before transitioning to sports as a staff sports writer. She was awarded the 1989 Women’s Sports Foundation’s National Journalism Award.

Lisa left the newspaper industry to work as a senior editor for Golf For Women magazine in Lake Mary, Fla. She took a senior editor’s position at the Golf Digest Company in Trumbull, Conn., and returned to Golf For Women in New York City eight years later as a senior editor.

During that time, she co-authored Champions of Women’s Golf, which was a Ben Franklin Book Award winner in 2001 as the best new recreation/sports book. Lisa returned to Florida to work as the LPGA Tour’s senior writer. From 2007-2011, she won three Golf Writers Association of America feature-writing awards.

Lisa left the LPGA in 2012 for freelance writing roles with The New York Times, ESPN.com, The Observer (U.K.), The Sunday Scotsman (U.K.), Golf Channel.com, Virginia Golfer magazine, Ladies Links Fore Golf magazine, The Legends Tour, LPGA.com, the United States Golf Association, the Marine Discovery Center and the Audubon Florida Naturalist magazine.

She still writes magazine golf features and covers environmental aspects of golf for the United States Golf Association. Lisa is a staff writer and certified Advanced Florida Master Naturalist/ Land Steward at the Marine Discovery Center, where she leads weekly boat eco-tours and serves as an instructor in the Florida Master Naturalist Program. She is also a board member with Friends of Canaveral.

To learn more about Lisa, click here.

To learn more about Briana, click here.