board of directors
2023

Ann Newman

Vice President

A native of San Antonio, she has owned property in the Lost Maples area for almost 30 years.

As a passionate advocate for the environment and education, an avid birder and Texas Parks and Wildlife Master Naturalist, Ann has served on the BCA board for 15 years, the Hill Country Alliance board, and the advisory boards of Environmental Defense Fund and the Texas Nature Conservancy. She is also a member of The Headwaters Alliance.

Along with her husband, Chico, Ann manages their family foundation.

Mary Lynn Spangler

Treasurer

My father was in the Air Force so I lived and traveled all over the world. After College and marriage, my husband and I settled in Houston to raise our two daughters. When the youngest left for college, we bought a ranch in Vanderpool where we have lived full time for thirty years. When a water rights issue arose in the area, Environmental Defense came to our aid. They also taught us how to take baby steps into conservation to protect the endangered birds on our property. We have also worked with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Nature Conservancy and other environmental groups to implement conservation programs. The end result is that we have put a Conservation Easement on our land so that it will never be developed. It will stay bird habitat forever.

Kathleen Fisher Lewis

Secretary

Kathleen (Kathy) Lewis is a fifth generation Utopian and a retired teacher/school counselor. She inherited (along with her three sisters) the Fisher Ranch (now known as the Four Sisters Ranch) a working cattle ranch in the Southwest corner of Bandera County. The ranch was honored in 2018 by the Texas Commissioner of Agriculture as a 100 Year Family Land Heritage Ranch.

Kathy joined the BCA board because she is passionate about the land, rivers, plants and wildlife in our area and wants to do everything possible to preserve all of these for her grandchildren as well as yours.

BeyRL Armstrong

Rapid Response Committee Chairman

Beyrl Armstrong, a long time Hill Country resident, has been involved in the conservation and protection of private lands for the last 30 years. A current Creekside landowner in Hays County, Beyrl has worked to assist private landowners in maintaining their ownership and maximizing the use and enjoyment of their property. A founder and owner of Plateau Land & Wildlife Management, he has participated in wildlife management planning for private landowners throughout the state. To date, over 1,100,000 acres of land have been placed under wildlife management property tax valuation by Plateau. Before moving to Hays County, Beyrl and his wife Georgia managed a 10,000 acre ranch at the headwaters of the Frio River in Real County. Beyrl has worked with landowners in the Sabinal/Medina River valleys since 1999 working with landowners to establish the Hog Management Cooperative and the Bandera Canyonlands Alliance. He is currently a consultant on staff to the Bandera Corridor Conservation Bank. Bandera County landowners, working with the Corridor Bank to sell conservation credits on their land while placing over 4,000 acres under permanent protection.

Jeff Braun

Communications Committee Chairman

Jeff is the founder of Crucial Communications Group, a reputation management and executive coaching firm specializing in crisis and leadership communications. 

His love for the Texas Hill Country began early in life while hunting and fishing with his father, and later attending summer camp.   Jeff and his wife Melody have been connected to the Sabinal Canyon for more than 20 years vacationing in the area with their three children.   Ultimately, they purchased land and built a home near Vanderpool along the Sabinal River.   Jeff is an avid outdoorsman and has been involved with the BCA since 2017.

Rebecca Neill

Science Committee Chairman

Rebecca Neill was raised on her family’s grain and livestock farm in northwest Illinois. She began her career with The Nature Conservancy in 2002 as a seasonal employee, dividing her time among preserves in Illinois, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Florida for nearly three years. She joined The Nature Conservancy of Texas in 2007 and currently serves as the Southern Hill Country Project Director. Her responsibilities include landowner outreach, management of Love Creek Preserve, volunteer coordination, prescribed fire implementation, and assistance with conservation easement transactions. Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Science degree in Rangeland Ecology and Management from Texas A&M University at College Station.

Joe Mims

Joe is a project manager for Byrne Construction, a commercial contractor in DFW. He has been in construction project management for the last 10 years conducting many projects from municipal facilities to ground up construction for Fortune 500 companies. When not volunteering, Joe and his wife Caitlin can be found spending time in the outdoors with their two daughters.

Joe began working with Bandera Canyonlands Alliance during the Save Our Sabinal campain. He has many connections to Young Life (YL) and began expressing concerns with both YL and BCA over the last year. Joe’s family has property along the Sabinal River a few miles downstream from the YL Longhollow camp, so this hit very close to home.

Cameron Mackie Harlan

Cameron is the VP of Corporate Communications at Emergent Technologies, Inc. an Austin, TX-based biotech venture capital firm. Since 2007, she has been active in marketing and communications strategy, business development efforts, and managing public and investor relations for Emergent and its portfolio companies.

Cameron became involved with the BCA during the Save Our Sabinal campaign. She and her husband Tommy are outdoor enthusiasts with a deep love for the Texas Hill Country. They spend several days a week at their property in Uvalde County, just south of Utopia, TX with a dream of someday retiring in this beautiful area.