David Ballard

Current Term: June 2015-June 2023

David Ballard is the President of Champion Financial Planning Group, an independent financial planning firm located in Annapolis, MD.  He is a Certified Financial Planner who has been helping individuals and families meet their unique goals and objectives for over 25 years. He is passionate about financial stewardship and works with clients to protect their assets by providing guidance that is objective, holistic and independent. Locally, David has been an impartial financial speaker on Fox News Channel and a contributor in the Washington Post’s “Ask the Experts.” He resides in Davidsonville, MD with his wife and two children.

Phil Dales

Current Term: June 2020- June 2024

Phil Dales is a Partner with Liff, Walsh & Simmons where he manages the firm’s Land Use & Zoning practice and is a member of the Real Estate, Litigation, and Administrative Law practices. He counsels clients on zoning matters, including rezonings, variances, special exceptions, planned development applications and comprehensive planning. Phil has a J.D. from Maryland Law where he completed the Environmental Law program. He also has a Master of Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, English with Environmental Studies from Washington and Lee University. Phil has also worked and volunteered with the Institute for Environmental Negotiation and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. An Annapolis native, he has spent many happy hours hiking, kayaking, running, and cycling throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Kristen Maneval 

Current Term: June 2018-June 2024

Kristen is the Senior Transactions Counsel at the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. She assists Prince George's Department of Parks and Recreation in acquiring land for trails, urban parks, agricultural reserve easements and buffers to the Patuxent River at Jug Bay. She holds a Bachelor's in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the University of Baltimore. She has concentrated her legal career on land use, affordable housing, and real estate and natural resources issues with a focus on the nonprofit and government sectors. Her experience includes three years at a boutique zoning and real estate law firm outside of Philadelphia; 11 years as Assistant General Counsel at Enterprise Community Partners in Columbia; and 10 years as Assistant Attorney General and Senior Counsel at Maryland's Office of the Attorney General representing the Maryland Environmental Trust. She served four years as a commissioner on the Land Trust Accreditation Commission and previously served six years on the board of SRLT. Kristen is admitted to the bar in Maryland. She lives on the Severn River in Crownsville with her husband and two children.

Liam O’Meara

Current term: June 2017-June 2024

Liam grew up in and around the construction industry and has done little else since a young age. He spent many years working as a manager of infrastructure construction, commercial construction, and real estate development, but has found his true passion in working hard to restore our watersheds. He is the President of Environmental Quality Resources, LLC. When he’s not working, he spends his time with his family fishing, crabbing, and sailing on the Severn River.

Lily Openshaw, PE, MS, PMP

Current Term: June 2021-June 2023

Lily is a registered professional civil engineer with a BSCE (high honors) from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a master’s degree in Environmental Science and Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.  She served 3 tours as a Naval Officer in the elite Civil Engineer Corps, receiving numerous awards including two Navy Commendation Medals and the Navy Achievement Medal.  During her tour as Public Works Director, Naval Air Facility Washington D. C., the Department was awarded “Best of Type” by the Naval Reserve Inspector General.  She also was appointed Acting Director of the first hazardous waste investigation and remediation unit in the Navy, NACIP, at the ground-breaking Naval Energy and Environmental Support Activity (NEESA).  After her military service, she worked for several engineering consulting firms, and, for a time, worked part-time for the City of Annapolis as an engineering project manager while her children were young.  Projects of note for the City included Restoration of the Southgate Memorial Fountain, Restoration of Historic Hanover Street, and construction of Little Gott’s Court, the City’s first green infrastructure parking facility.  These projects received several heritage awards from Four Rivers Heritage Society and honorable citations from the State Legislature.  In 2015, her Little Gott’s Court project won the Best Urban Stormwater Management project in an Ultra Urban environment from the Chesapeake Water Environment Association.

Since 2012, she has been President of Chesapeake Blue and Green, an engineering services firm with a concentration in civil and environmental infrastructure projects.  She recently completed the Annapolis Design/Build project for the new $30 million Water Treatment Plant, the largest construction project ever undertaken by the City of Annapolis.  The Water Treatment Plant recently won a 2019 Leadership Award from the state US Green Building Council and received an international LEED Silver certification, one of the first municipal projects in Maryland to receive that award.

Lily serves on the boards of the national Public Works Experience, the Bay Ridge Civic Association and the Four Rivers Heritage Association.  Previously she served as Chairman of the Board of Leadership Anne Arundel, President of the St. Mary’s Pastoral Council, Chairman of the Board of Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, and President of the Founding Board of the Chesapeake Children’s Museum.  For her community volunteer work, she was chosen as one of the Capital Women of the Year in 2012, a YWCA TWIN Awardee in ’07, and was selected for Leadership Anne Arundel Flagship in ’05 and the LAA Executive Leadership in ‘13.

Lily and her husband have four children, and in her free time, she enjoys her book club (of 28 yrs.) and is an avid USTA league tennis player.

Joe Ports

Current Term: June 2020-June 2024

Joe has been an Environmental Project Manager at a municipal department of public work's restoration division since 2016.  Prior to that, he worked on restoration projects, water quality monitoring, and expanding public water access with the West/Rhode Riverkeeper, now part of the Arundel Rivers Federation, for approximately four years.  Through his work, he sees the damage that is left from historic land use decisions and the need to preserve the natural resources that remain.  Joe is an avid hunter, angler, sailor and general outdoor adventurer who enjoys being outdoors all year round.  He holds a bachelor's degree in Biology from Towson University, and currently lives in Crownsville with his wife near the Little Round Bay area of the Severn River.

Paul Zanecki

Current Term: June 2020-June 2024

Mr. Zanecki is a Maryland attorney, counselor, and advisor, with some 40 plus years of experience,  to both environmental and development firms, having significant experience in land use law, growth management controls, environmental law, community planning, property acquisition, land entitlements, property rights, public takings rights and litigation, and related areas.  He currently manages land acquisition programs for stream and wetland mitigation rights and easements. He assists in developing strategies for ecological asset development (full delivery project acquisition and development) stemming from EPA Clean Water mandates, and compensatory 404 mitigation, including  stream restoration, wetland mitigation, and state and county MS-4 and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) compliance rules.

He has had significant experience with the NEPA Act, Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Act, federal and state wetlands laws, and similar state and federal programs, as well as an extensive background in negotiating agreements with the Interior Department, National Park Service, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Capital Planning Commission, and Congressional Committees.  His service to the community also includes serving as speaker and moderator for various Washington symposiums focused on charting the course for future growth and development in the area, as well as a guest lecturer, panelist, and faculty member at numerous forums on the environment, renewable energy and growth management (Smart Growth), land use and planning.  In addition to his various speaking engagements, Mr. Zanecki is the author of “Planning and Zoning” in the published book titled Real Estate Practice in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, and an author of the Smart Growth section of MICPEL’s publication on “State and Local Government” Law, amongst other publications.