Meet our Team

Dave Brennan first discovered a passion for hiking as a teenager roaming the northern California Coast Ranges. He retired in 2008 after a 28-year career as a national park ranger, protecting park resources, providing emergency services, and managing visitor use. Dave finds adventure and inspiration in exploring the backcountry of southern Oregon and northern California, and connecting people to those wildlands as an SMC trip leader. He lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife Kate Kennedy and their adventure dog Kelsey.

Dave is known for his excellent camp cooking and enjoys leading hiking and backpacking trips.

Haley Cox has lived in the Rogue Valley with her husband John and their three cats since 2017. She serves on the Jackson County Bicycle Committee and is currently a planner for Oregon State Parks.

Haley grew up in the Willamette Valley on a farm outside of McMinnville, and spent many summers hiking through the Cascades, Coast Range, and Columbia Gorge. She has also traveled far and wide on various study and leisure trips, from Monterey Bay to Madagascar, and from the Wallowas to the Alps, Andes, and Himalayas.

Haley is an avid adventurer, and feels at home among the tall trees or wandering the city streets. She has an undergraduate degree in Natural Resources from Oregon State University and a Master of Science in Urban Environmental Systems Management from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.

Maria Katsantones has lived in Southern Oregon for three decades and joined the SMC board in January 2023. She is author of the guide book Hiking in Ashland, helps care for our senior community, writes nature essays, and participates in hiking, trail running, and backpacking experiences.

Katsantones raised her two sons in Ashland where she volunteered for the schools and helped build multiple trails in the Ashland watershed. She loves being outside breathing fresh air and quietly honoring the grandeur of the wilderness and says she’s grateful for the work of SMC interns and staff.

Justin Hymas has lived in the Rogue Valley with his family since 2019. He has had a deep love for the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion since he was a kid when he would horse-pack trail supplies into trail crews, hunters, and researchers with his grandfather.

Between working in the wilderness as a wildland firefighter and getting to play there as a trail runner, the wilderness areas of the Klamath-Siskiyou hold a special place in his heart.

He is the founder and owner of the remodeling company Ashland Builders and joined SMC because he wants to be part of an organization that is making a difference in the local wilderness areas. With three kids all ready to explore the beauty of our rugged mountains, he needs good trails as much as anyone.

He joined the board of directors in March 2023.

Amalie grew up in Seattle and has always enjoyed spending time outdoors, especially in the Pacific Northwest.She graduated from Southern Oregon University with a  BA in English & Writing and a BS in Environmental Science & Policy.

After graduation she became a WCC 2017 Intern for Siskiyou Mountain Club. She had her first experiences backpacking, doing trail work, and being in Wilderness, while helping to clear thousands of logs off of the Rogue Wolf Loop in the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

Working for SMC changed her life and led her to careers with REI and the USFS. Amalie is excited to have become a board member in April 2023 and is looking forward to helping further SMC’s mission to “Restore, maintain, and promote primitive trails in the Siskiyou backcountry and beyond.”

Eric Spivak has lived in the Rogue Valley since 2013. He is an internal auditor and management consultant who moved here when he accepted a position as Jackson County Auditor, a position he held from 2013 - 2023.

Eric and his wife have hiked, biked, and paddled throughout the Western United States. On many a hike he wondered how trails get built and are maintained. Soon after moving here, he attended a Club presentation where he learned the answer and joined that night.

Eric joined the board in 2024. His wife had been a board member from 2019 to 2024 and when she fulfilled her last term, Eric volunteered his services.

He is excited to be joining the board and doing his part to maintain access to hiking trails for everyone to enjoy. As he likes to say, "When a tree falls in the forest, it can block a trail if organizations like SMC don't clear it."