Clockwise from top left: new ASO board members Ashley Carlson, Rebecca Carrillo, Hannah Miller, and Zach McMullen
At the May 2026 meeting, the ASO Board of Directors elected its officers for the 2026-27 fiscal year:
- President: Conor Gearin
- 1st Vice President: Melissa Sitze
- 2nd Vice President: Mark Harberg
- Treasurer: Derek Comba
- Secretary: Rebecca Carrillo
Thank you to Melissa Sitze, Mark Harberg, and Derek Harberg for taking on new officer roles for 2026-27, and to Rebecca Carrillo, who joins ASO this year as Secretary!
At the June 2026 meeting, the board elected three new directors to serve two-year terms beginning July 2026: Ashley Carlson, Hannah Miller, and Zach McMullen. Below, find biographies for the four people new to the board!
Ashley Carslon is joining the Audubon Society of Omaha board as part of an ongoing effort to become more involved in her community and help support its natural wonders. She graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2022 with a BA in Graphic Design and now works in the Omaha area as a design and marketing professional. While serving on the board, she hopes to use this experience to support ASO's marketing and outreach initiatives. An artist at heart, she also plans to assist further with the Student Art Contest. In her free time, Ashley loves to take care of her balcony garden, thrift for bird decorations, and read with her cat asleep on her lap.
Rebecca Carrillo is excited to join the Audubon Society of Omaha as an Elected Officer! She is a water and environmental policy specialist, and recently moved to Omaha after attending college and grad school on the East Coast. Rebecca currently works for the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute in Lincoln and is passionate about agricultural water conservation. Originally from Texas, she began birding in high school and loved to spot songbirds and waterfowl in the Rio Grande Valley. In Rebecca's spare time, she enjoys birding, hiking, making art, and exploring the beauty of the Great Plains in Nebraska.
Hannah Miller is a Naturalist Educator at Fontenelle Forest with 8+ years of experience in environmental education and conservation. Hannah followed her passion for the natural world and earned her bachelor’s degree in fisheries & wildlife from UNL in 2017. Her professional experiences include game counts in southern Africa, teaching preschoolers at Pioneers Park Nature Center, and field research and private land work in Western Nebraska before starting her current adventure at Fontenelle Forest. At the Forest, she runs programs for preschool-aged children, facilitates and compiles data for community science projects, and dotes on a 40-year-old turtle named Tre.
Zach McMullen is a graduate student at UNO pursuing a master's degree in geography with a focus on geospatial information systems (GIS). He is obsessed with all things birds and spends most of his time outdoors hiking and bird watching. Ultimately, he plans on building a career in bird conservation and preserving the amazing species that need us. He loves to travel and wants to attempt to see more than 5,000 bird species in his lifetime. He is sitting at a little over 300, so he has a ways to go. He’s excited to put his skills to use to help advance ASO’s conservation initiatives!
