Arielle Poulos - President
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. The Southwest Chapter is looking ahead to an exciting new year, developing professional relationships and opportunities to grow through building membership, fostering education, partnering with FGCU, and exposure to all that southwest Florida has to offer.
Christina Hall - Vice President
Christina earned her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Water Resources Science and Management from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2020. During her Senior year at FGCU, she interned with Turrell, Hall & Associates, Inc. as a field technician and created a field guide to common plants in Big Cypress National Preserve, which led to a position as Staff Biologist with the company upon graduation. Christina works alongside veteran biologists on 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. She enjoys camping and shelling with her son in her free time. Christina is looking forward to hosting some exciting events and giving back to our environmental community!
Katharina Shoemaker - Secretary
Katharina is the current and proud owner of Tropical Environmental Consultants; an environmental consultant firm serving SWFL. After graduating from Florida Gulf Coast University with a B.S. in Biology in 2012, Katharina worked in environmental education through the Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center in Punta Gorda Florida. She is a current member on the advisory board of Cypress Cove Landkeepers; a non for profit environmental education center located in Naples Florida.
Pursuing her passion in environmental policies, she started with Tropical Environmental Consultants in 2017, and has since gathered an extensive knowledge of wetland regulation, wetland permitting, the wetland delineation process for State and Federal criteria, habitat restoration, as well as listed species identification and protection.
She is also a State authorized gopher tortoise agent and works in permitting and relocation activities for the State threatened gopher tortoise.
Her goal as that of TEC is to work with the public in developing a balance between that of human use and the environment.
Ramsey Fisher - Treasurer
Ramsey Fisher is an Ecologist at Passarella & Associates, Inc, an environmental consulting firm. He has been an ecologist for Passarella & Associates since 2017. He is excited to become more involved with FAEP and contribute fun and valuable programs and events for other members. Ramsey graduated from Florida International University in 2017 with a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies following two summer internships with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at its Maryland Headquarters and Mississippi field laboratory. He spends most of his free time outdoors fishing, boating, hiking, or fishing some more.
George Sprehn - Membership Director
George Sprehn holds a Master of Geographic Information Systems (MGIS) degree from the Pennsylvania State University. George has been associated with GIS for over 25 years, offering experience in GIS project planning and management, spatial analysis, problem solving, cartography, and geodatabase management. George currently manages the GIS department at EarthBalance® where he has worked since 2014. He is also affiliated with the American Association of Geographers, the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, the Florida Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, and the Southwest Florida GIS User Group. Currently, George is the membership Director on the SWFAEP board and a Member-at-large on the State 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.
Piper Jones - At Large Member
Piper is currently an ecologist at Passarella & Associates, Inc. she earned her bachelor’s of science 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 as a park naturalist at For-Mar Nature Preserve and Arboretum, developing and facilitating environmental education. During this time, Piper also enjoyed her role as a Certified Tourism Ambassador for Genesee County and a Certified Global Rivers Environmental Education Network Mentor. Piper looks forward to bringing her love of outreach and education to the SWFAEP chapter.