The Board
Stephen Hiltner
President
Prior to moving to Princeton in 2003, Steve founded and led the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association (ECWA) in Durham, NC. With degrees in botany and water quality, Steve has served Princeton in multiple capacities. During his years as the first resource manager for the Friends of Princeton Open Space, he conducted plant inventories and led workdays and nature walks at many of Princeton's parks and nature preserves. He was a longtime member of the Princeton Environmental Commission, spearheading a new Environmental Resource Inventory for the town, and served as chair of the Princeton Shade Tree Commission. As a member of the board for Princeton's Mountain Lakes House, he helped increase energy efficiency and solve runoff issues.
Angelique Olmo
Treasurer
Angelique became involved with FOHW when she received an an event email for May’s Café. An avid coffee drinker and sweets lover, she could not resist the lure of a café in the ‘Woods. She is an independent researcher, management and strategic development consultant and a local substitute teacher. She is interested in governance, resource development and stakeholder cooperation related to non-profit organizational development and sustainability. She supports local environmental sustainability efforts, programs that promote learning from nature and strengthen community engagement.
Ben Schaffer
Secretary
Ben arrived in Princeton as an undergraduate student at Princeton University to study math and physics and never left. Obtaining a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2018, with a focus on mathematical ecohydrology (the modeling of plant-soil-water interactions), while also regularly working as a freelance theater technician and bike mechanic. Since connecting with FOHW in 2019, he's worked to maintain the trails and on a variety of projects, including the gazebo installation in the Barden and is currently focused on trail maintenance, invasive species removal, and stabilization/rehabilitation of the preserve's structures.
Inge Regan
Inge Regan, MD is an emergency department physician, originally trained in family medicine. Inge grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania, and is committed to helping people learn to become stewards of their local environment. In 2022, Inge created the social "Invasive Species of the Month Club," and more recently the "Princeton Salamander Crossing Brigade." Inge has a goal to help botanists, who she calls "Physicians of the Earth," to translate what they know into easily understood information for people to learn and enjoy.
Hope VanCleaf
Artist-in-Residence
Hope is a multi-media artist and founder of Creative Fingerprint, an organization dedicated to fostering positive change and growth through art, her past experience in communications and fundraising has broadened her scope and understanding of many facets of business, which are blended into Creative Fingerprint and now Herrontown Woods. She is now retired from Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, allowing her time to pursue Creative Fingerprints mission: to provide unique, judgment-free workshops where art facilitates team building, enhanced communication, personal development, and well-being, effectively bypassing ego and hierarchical barriers to enable genuine and meaningful change.
Derek Reamy
Derek is a retired business leader with 30 years of experience in the equipment rental and transportation industries. Having grown up on seven acres in Virginia and lived many years in the Pacific Northwest, Derek has always enjoyed the outdoors. He became involved with FOHW after hearing a history lecture at the Princeton Library on Oswald Veblen’s legacy. As an amateur carpenter and woodworker Derek splits his time between Habitat for Humanity and Herrontown Woods where he is currently focused on the restoration of the Veblen House.
Advisors
Bill Jemas
Scott Sillars
Peter Thompson
Clifford Zink
Pallavi Nuka
Founding Board Members
Sally and Kurt Tazelar
Beginning in 2013, Sally worked with her future husband and fellow founding member, Kurt Tazelar on weekends and during the summer to clear and mark long neglected trails in Herrontown Woods and Autumn Hill Reservation--more than 200 total acres. Along with Steve Hiltner, Kurt and Sally formed the core of what became FOHW. Kurt and Sally received the 2013 Sustainable Princeton Leadership Award for their work to reopen trails.
Kurt in particular worked tirelessly to improve trails and clear large areas of invasive shrubs that had grown over historical features and had blocked vistas. Sally worked as an art teacher for East Windsor Regional Schools.
Sally also collaborated with her husband on documentary videos. She maintained the FriendsOfHerrontownWoods facebook page for many years. Kurt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019, but after initial treatment was able to resume his work at Herrontown Woods for a period, completing the purple trail and envisioning other improvements. An obituary in Town Topics documents his remarkable life and contributions to the community, and a letter-to-the-editor by Steve elaborates on the legacy he left behind at Herrontown Woods.