“Our mission is to further the education of the environmental professional, introduce new topics of discussion among peers, and foster relationships among the many environmental disciplines, professions and students throughout southwest Florida.”
Board of Directors
Ramsey Fisher - President
Ramsey Fisher graduated from Florida International University (FIU) in 2017 with a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies and a Biology Minor. Prior to his junior and senior year at FIU he was awarded the Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI) Scholarship. This included two summer internships with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) including the Maryland Headquarters and a Mississippi field laboratory. Ramsey is certified by the Society of Wetland Scientists as a Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) and is an Ecologist III at Passarella & Associates, Inc, an environmental consulting firm. He has been an ecologist for Passarella & Associates since 2017 and loves his work as he is an avid outdoorsman and is comfortable in both the office and field settings. In addition to a PWS, Ramsey is a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Authorized Gopher Tortoise Agent and Registered Agent for Burrowing Owls. Ramsey grew up on Sanibel Island where his passions for the outdoors, wildlife, and fishing began and led him to this career. A few of his typical responsibilities include wetland delineations, vegetation mapping, eagle nest monitoring, wetland and listed species permitting, mitigation site coordination and monitoring, and gopher tortoise and burrowing owl work. Ramsey has served as the SWFAEP Treasurer since May 2021 and is grateful for the SWFAEP involvement with environmental professionals as well as their local community outreach and is looking forward to the new opportunities this year.
Piper Jones - Vice President
Piper is currently the Education Coordinator for CREW Land & Water Trust, and enjoys developing environmental education programs for students and the public. She earned her bachelor of science degree in biology with a concentration in ecology and conservation at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). At BGSU, Piper served as president of the Environmental Service Club and was an active member of the President’s Advisory Committee of Sustainability. After graduating, Piper spent some time up in Michigan as a park naturalist at For-Mar Nature Preserve and Arboretum, and enjoyed her role as a Certified Tourism Ambassador for Genesee County and a Certified Global Rivers Environmental Education Network Mentor. She then moved to Florida and worked as an ecologist for 3 years. Piper looks forward to bringing her love of outreach and education to the SWFAEP chapter.
Kevin Yue - Treasurer
Currently licensed as a Professional Engineer (PE) in Florida and as a Certified Environmental Professional (CEP), I use my experience and passion for the environment to make the world a better place, one contaminated site at a time. As an Associate at Stantec, I develop strategies to address contaminated sites to achieve closure in preparation for redevelopment, primarily in Florida. I am engaged in Brownfields and private client projects, expanding my experience across different disciplines that Stantec engages in, from Energy to Agriculture, to Community Development.
I started my career in remediation engineering to expedite removal of contaminants of concern while maintaining regulatory compliance, where my main duties were to evaluate, design, install, and optimize remediation technologies, along with monitoring operations and reporting of data to regulatory agencies and clients. I have previous experience in implementation of in-situ stabilization applications, conducting and compiling data for EPA-regulated spill prevention, control, and countermeasure (SPCC) plans; providing guidance on feasibility testing of passive water treatment technology; development of remedial investigation and feasibility study work plans; the engineer of record for petroleum remediation for retail petroleum centers; and was the remediation project engineer for a trichloroethylene (TCE) cleanup.
Outside of work stuff, I'm also a father of 3 awesome daughters, and husband to my wife. We have a crazy busy life with kids activities and whatnot! But hey, it keeps me on my toes! I also love to volunteer when I can and get out to visit CREW lands as often as I can. I love the outdoors and exploring our uplands (and sometimes our coastal areas) and love pondering how every drop of water in the Corkscrew area eventually drains down to the bay, so keeping the ecosystem healthy will only help our waters.
George Sprehn - Membership Director
George Sprehn has been involved with the Geographic Information System (GIS) discipline for over 25 years, with emphasis on spatial analysis, problem solving, cartography, and geodatabase management. Since 2014, as a GIS Analyst for EarthBalance®, Mr. Sprehn has managed a GIS department throughout all aspects of GIS project scheduling, data acquisition, data management, map production and presentation, equipment inventory, and reporting. Mr. Sprehn successfully employs GIS, GPS, and spatial analysis methodologies to analyze local and regional-scale ecosystem projects. Mr. Sprehn holds a B.A. in Geography and a Master of Geographic Information Systems (MGIS) degree.
When not helping to balance the needs of people with the health of natural environments, George may be found hunting fossils on the Peace River, wading through a slough in South Fort Myers, or visiting grandchildren in the Massachusetts region.
George is currently serving the SWFAEP chapter in an At-large Membership position and chapter representative on the FAEP board.
Laura Gibson - At Large Member
Laura is originally from Nashville, Tennessee and received a Bachelor of Science from Middle Tennessee State University with a Minor in Political Science. Laura has lived and worked in Southwest Florida since 1998 with both environmental and GIS related work experience for a local non-profit and local municipalities as an Environmental and Senior Environmental Specialist. Her experience includes assessing all types of development and land use projects for compliance with local codes and regulations in relation to listed species, native vegetation protection and preservation, landscaping, sea turtle nesting habitat compliance, pollution prevention, hazardous material storage tanks with associated spill response plans and training, and GIS data development, analysis, and mapping for environmental and National Flood Insurance Program projects. Laura is a Certified Environmental Professional with the Academy of Board Certified Environmental Professionals and a Tree Risk Assessment Qualified Arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture.
Arielle Poulos - At Large
Arielle earned two Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Environmental Studies and Biology from Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). She spent 9 years with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, primarily with the Submerged Lands and Environmental Resource Coordination Program doing wetland and surface water permitting and compliance, wetland determinations, and handling the processing of Sovereign Submerged Lands Leases. She also spent some time as part of the Outreach and Business Development team developing and giving public education seminars, working with the school districts for environmental education, working with the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) program through the schools, and environmental festivals. She brings that knowledge and experience to Turrell, Hall & Associates, Inc. to coordinate with local, state and federal agencies on projects including jurisdictional wetland determinations, vegetative mapping and classification, threatened and endangered species surveys, preserve management and monitoring, single-family dock and marina permitting, and submerged resource surveys. Arielle has served as President and Vice President of SWFAEP, and served as co-chair of the 2016 FAEP Annual Conference.
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