Board Members

Maia Bellon

Maia is a Partner at Cascadia Law Group where she advises Tribal government, municipal, and private clients on a wide array of complex environmental matters, including climate and energy policy, air quality, water resources, toxics cleanup, water quality, and Tribal law. Prior to joining Cascadia, Maia was Director of the Washington State Department of Ecology and previously served as the Deputy and Program Manager of Ecology’s Water Resources Program regulating the state’s freshwater resources and overseeing Ecology’s Dam Safety Office and Well Construction and Licensing Program. Maia also served as an Assistant Attorney General for 15 years representing Ecology before the Pollution Control Hearings Board, Shorelines Hearings Board, Growth Management Hearings Board, and Washington superior and appellate courts.

Bill Bryant

Bill Bryant is founder and chairman of Bryant Christie Inc. and has advised USTR, USDA, and the Ex-Im Bank on trade policy under both Democratic and Republican administrations. In 2007, Bill was elected to the King County/Seattle port commission and was re-elected in 2011.  In 2016, Bill Bryant was the Republican candidate for governor of Washington state. Before founding BCI, Mr. Bryant spent nearly seven years as vice president of the Northwest Horticultural Council, where he worked to eliminate trade barriers confronting the Northwest tree fruit industry. Prior to the NHC, he served as the director of the Governor’s Trade Council in Washington state. Mr. Bryant is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he concentrated his studies on Asia and Latin America.

Phyllis Farrell

Phyllis Farrell was raised and educated in Iowa and moved to Washington in 1976. She retired in 2011 from North Thurston Public Schools after 35 years of teaching middle school special education and Social Studies. After retirement, she started volunteering in political and environmental organizations. In addition to serving as the chair of the Nisqually River Council Citizens Advisory Committee since 2017, she is the current chair of the South Sound Sierra Club Group representing over 2,400 members in Thurston, Lewis, Grays Harbor and Mason County. She serves on the Chapter (state) Sierra Club Executive Committee and is also the League of Women Voters of Washington Climate Change Issue Chair. She also serves on the Boards of the Washington Senior Citizens Lobby and the Washington Education Association-Retired. She has two adult daughters, twin grandchildren and enjoys advocacy work, reading, travel, and hiking.

Karen Fraser

Born and raised in Washington, Karen graduated with a Master of Public Administration from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. She was the first woman to be elected Mayor of Lacey and went on to serve as Thurston County Commissioner where she was appointed to be the first chair of the Nisqually River Task Force. Karen was elected to the Washington State House of Representatives for two terms before ultimately being elected to the Washington State Senate for six terms where she continued to advocate for the protections and conservation of the natural world. Over the course of her career, Karen chaired or was a member of numerous environment-related committees including water policy, salmon recovery, shoreline management, Puget Sound water quality, watershed planning, outdoor recreation, State Environmental Policy Act, forestry, natural resources, and more.

Leif Hatlan

Originally a Livermore, California resident, Leif came to the Pacific Northwest to attend Pacific Lutheran University where he earned a degree in Business Administration and Financial Resource Management. While currently serving as Senior Vice President at Seattle Credit Union, Leif has previously spent time as a business lender at First Citizens Bank and Director of Commercial Services at Twin Star Credit Union. He loves being outdoors with his family and friends biking, wilderness backpacking, pack rafting, and exploring from Montana to Alaska.

David Troutt

David has served as the Nisqually Indian Tribe’s Director of Natural Resources since 1987, overseeing a diverse department comprised of salmon harvest management, two large salmon hatcheries, shellfish management, data operations, environmental management, wildlife management, dive services, legal, administration, and budget development and monitoring.  He was previously the Chair of the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board and the current Chair of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council, and has been a leading voice in numerous regional efforts for salmon recovery. David received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Washington School of Fisheries and is a proud husband and father of two teenage boys. He has served as the chair of the Nisqually River Council since 2006.

Jim Wilcox

Jim Wilcox has lived along the Nisqually River for his whole life. He was a member of the Nisqually River Task Force that wrote the Nisqually Watershed Management Plan, and is a retired chairman of Wilcox Family Farms. Jim served on the Puget Sound Partnership’s Leadership Council from 2014 through 2020.