Board of Directors
NANPA members volunteer to serve staggered terms of three years on NANPA’s board of directors. New directors take office July 1, following the annual election.
Previous board members
We appreciate the volunteers who have served on NANPA’s board of directors. View a list of previous board members.
Nominate a board member
Members can apply to serve as board members.
Coby’s term expires in 2025.
Coby Cooper, President (2024-25)
Coby Cooper earned a B. A. in Mass Communications, specializing in video production with a minor in Visual Design. His career in broadcast TV and video production spanned 40 years, during which he served on the boards of and in various leadership roles for the Illinois and Tennessee Broadcaster’s Association, the national board of Operation Honor Guard, and the boards of various advertising and marketing organizations. He’s been involved in amateur photography for 30 years, off and on, and semi-professionally for the last 10 years. He was the media partner for the Valley Land Fund Nature Photography Contest in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas across 8 years.
Hank’s term expires in 2025.
Hank Erdmann, Vice President (2024-25)
Hank Erdmann is a professional natural history photographer and photographic educator who resides in Will County, Illinois. He has photographed throughout North America, making the Midwest his primary geographic area of interest. A love of history, especially the maritime history of the Great Lakes, kindles a special interest in the ports, shorelines, islands and natural areas of Lakes Michigan and Superior. He helped start the photography program at The Morton Arboretum near Chicago.
Hank has been a NANPA member for more than twenty-five years, serving on the environmental committee (now conservation committee) and as a judge for the Nature Photography Day photo contest. He was also active in the River Prairie Group of the Sierra Club, participating in numerous environmental campaigns in northern Illinois.
Beth’s term expires in 2025.
Beth Huning, Immediate Past-President
Beth Huning has extensive organizational development and management experience with conservation non-profits and government agencies, most recently coordinating partnerships to protect and restore wetlands in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Beth has served NANPA in various capacities over the years, including Membership Chair in the early years and an active member of the Environment (now Conservation) Committee where she coordinated Conservation Centers at 5 NANPA Summits.
She also received the NANPA Foundation’s 2011 Philip Hyde Conservation Grant for Turning the Tide: Restoring the Wetlands of San Francisco Bay and the California Coast. She developed photographically illustrated audio tours of some of the largest restoration projects on the West Coast as well as a companion book to raise funds for restoration. Other publications include a series of books on gardening for wildlife for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Susan Day, Member Ex-Officio
Susan Day is a charter NANPA member and joined the Communications Committee during her first Summit in 1995. Since then she has worked on or chaired nearly every committee in NANPA and served 8 years on the board of directors (including Treasurer and President). She was NANPA’s Executive Director from 2011-2023, was bestowed a NANPA Fellow designation in 2019, and is currently NANPA’s Program Coordinator.
Susan is an award-winning writer and photographer specializing in backyard wildlife and travel. Her images have been published worldwide in magazines, calendars, ads, and as 10’ murals in medical facilities. She’s written hundreds of articles, been a book consultant, editor and proofreader, and wrote “The Wildlife Gardener’s Guide to Hummingbirds & Songbirds From the Tropics.”
Sonia Wasco, Member Ex-Officio (Foundation President)
Sonia S. Wasco is president and CEO of Grant Heilman Photography Stock Photo library – a collection that contains nearly a million high quality images representing the work of more than 100 photographers. Sonia is responsible for contracting all new photographers and reviewing incoming imagery and she has 35 years’ experience in the stock photo business. Prior to joining Grant Heilman Photography, Sonia was an award-winning high school agriculture teacher and has been an active volunteer in the local and state agricultural and conservation community for more than 30 years. Her lifelong volunteerism in the area of conservation and agriculture has earned her an appointment by the county commissioners as a member of the board of directors of the Lancaster County Conservation District. She is a past president of Picture Archive Council of America (PACA), now Digital Media Licensing Association, and has served on their board for over 20 years. Sonia is a frequent speaker at industry events and has been a presenter at past NANPA Summits, PACA International Conferences, ASPP events, and PhotoPlus Expos.
Lorianne Simon, Member Ex-Officio (Foundation Executive Director)
Lori Simon Lori describes her theory of life with an Albert Einstein quote: “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”
That passion has taken Lori on a circuitous path from the days of her first Brownie camera to journalism and photography degrees, through publishing and non-profit work and back to landscape and nature photography. And now, back again to part-time work in the non-profit industry at NANPA Foundation.
A native of California, Lori has lived in nine states currently residing in Buffalo, NY. She is an avid bird, portrait, and landscape photographer and enjoys restoring vintage “canned ham” trailers.
Members
Paul’s term expires in 2027.
Paul Brooke
Paul Brooke, Ph.D. is a professor and Endowed Chair at Grand View University, where he teaches Creative Writing, Creative Photography and Experimental Photography. He was elected to NANPA’s Board of Directors in 2024 and is the Chair of NANPA’s Awards Committee. Paul is the author of six books including Sirens and Seriemas, The Skáld and the Drukkin Tröllaukin, and Pantagruelian. Most of his books combine his love of science, poetry, and photography. In 2020, with his coauthor Paul Donahue, he published Jaguars of the Northern Pantanal: Panthera onca at the Meeting of the Waters by Elsevier Publishing.
Paul has been published in Audubon and Wild Planet magazines and 100 literary journals across the world, winning numerous prizes and awards. He is always pushing the limits of his work by trying new techniques such as Scanning Electron Microscope photography. His photography has been shown in ten different exhibits and he specializes in wildlife and nature photography.
Daniel’s term expires in 2026.
Daniel J. Cox
Daniel J. Cox has been pursuing his life long dream of photographing nature for 40 years. He’s traveled to all seven continents producing stories for such respected publications such as National Geographic magazine, BBC, National Wildlife, Outdoor Photographer and many others around the world. His conservation work includes over twenty years as an advisory board member for Polar Bears International as well as being the director of their Arctic Documentary Project. He’s published numerous books and in 2013 was awarded Outstanding Photographer of the Year by the North American Nature Photography Association. Daniel was a “Nikon Legend Behind the Lens” for nearly thirty years and a Lumix Ambassador for five years.
Cathy’s term expires in 2026.
Cathy Illg
Cathy Illg, along with her husband Gordon, have been working as full time professional nature photographers since 2000. Their work appears in nearly every major nature and travel publication, including numerous covers of magazines like Backpacker, Defenders, National Geographic Young Explorer, National Geographic Kids, National Wildlife and Ranger Rick. In the extreme print category, several of their images decorate the tails of Frontier Airlines’ jets. She has also placed in BBC’s Wildlife Photographer Of The Year as well as other well-known contests. Their livelihood now revolves around sharing the magic of wild things and wild places with other photographers by leading nature photography tours under the name Adventure Photography.
Originally Cathy served on the Communications Committee. She has continued NANPA support by having a company booth at the Summit, providing portfolio reviews, webinars and leading a number of Regional Events.
Amanda’s term expires in 2027.
Amanda Meyers
Amanda Meyers has been working as a professional photographer since 2005—as a portrait and event photographer, lead digital artist in a post-production lab and more recently as a conservation photographer. She served as community organizer for NANPA’s DC Metro Regional Meetup from 2017-2020 and helped plan NANPA’s High School Scholarship Program at the Tremont Institute for 2020, a year the program was impacted by the pandemic. She is a former participant in NANPA’s College Scholar Program.
A U.S. Department of State Gilman Scholarship recipient, Amanda graduated from the University of Maryland with a major in communication and minor in sustainability studies. She recently began work at the National Science Foundation, where she oversees brand development, acts as primary staff photographer, and provides graphic design for internal and external communication.
Ray’s term expires in 2026.
Ray Pfortner
Ray Pfortner has worked in photography for over 30 years – as an educator, stock photography agent, editor, consultant and photographer. He was the Magazine Liaison for Art Wolfe, completing 16 books; an Account Executive at Minden Pictures, the nature stock agency; and a Partner at Peter Arnold, Inc, the stock agency specializing in nature, science and medicine. He’s also worked at the USEPA, the National Park Service, the NYC EPA, the NYC Parks and Recreation.
He was a volunteer instructor for the NANPA High School Scholarship Program for many years.
He is a NANPA Fellow, and Kinne Grant recipient.
Ray teaches youth, adults and seniors with partners like the University of Washington, Bellevue College’s Tombolo Institute, Bellevue Botanical Garden, the Seattle Chinese Garden, the Seattle Public Library and Vashon Center for the Arts. He leads artist cultural exchanges to Canada, China, Cuba and the Czech Republic. Ray has a Masters of Environmental Management from Duke and a BS in Biology from Yale, and is represented by Getty Images.
Alice’s term expires in 2025.
Alice Robertson
Alice L. Robertson joined NANPA in 1996 and attended her first summit the same year while a photography student at Daytona Beach College in Florida. Finding NANPA was a welcome discovery as she turned her studies to wildlife, nature, and travel photography after graduating with an AS in Photo Technology. She was instrumental in proposing and establishing the NANPA Summit College Scholarship Program. She received the 2021 Kinne Legacy Award as well as NANPA’s Outstanding Service Award in 2007 for her work with the college student program. Alice has served on NANPA’s Board of Directors since 2019.
Jennifer’s term expires in 2026.
Jennifer Leigh Warner
Jennifer Leigh Warner is an award-winning wildlife, landscape and conservation photographer living in Central Texas and specializes in creating meaningful images that convey a message of hope for the natural world. In 2018 she became Chair of the Ethics Committee for the North America Nature Photography Association. She is also a certified Texas Master Naturalist, a Ambassador for Nature First and a mentor for the non-profit Girls Who Click, which encourages young girls to consider a career in conservation photography. She is a Nikon Professional and her fine art images have been on display in art festivals, galleries and museums throughout the United States. Jennifer’s images and writing have been published in Outdoor California Magazine, Gizmodo, the NANPA Expressions Magazine, Outdoor Photographer Magazine, WIRED, The New Yorker, National Geographic Online and Wild Planet Photo Magazine among others. In addition to Jennifer’s photography she is a public speaker, who has presented for Professional Photographers of America, NANPA and was the 2022 Keynote speaker for the Winter Wings Festival.
