TIM SHIELDS
Founder/Pres/CSO
~ Scientific Desert Rat ~
Desert biologist Tim Shields has 35+ years experience in the field, logging some 25,000 miles on foot, surveying and making observations. Shields has authored, co-authored and illustrated numerous scientific papers, is generally recognized among U.S. conservationists, and is specifically established as a leader in threatened desert tortoise population management. Shields has trained 200+ fieldworkers in various aspects of tortoise biology. Most recently he led development and demonstration projects for HSL’s innovative avian deterrence technologies and processes with leading agencies and corporations involved with desert conservation in southern California including: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Raven Management Working Group, Desert Tortoise Council, Desert Tortoise Conservancy, Bureau of Land Management and utility companies with power powers in the affected conservation areas.
Shield’s background also includes: co-founding serving as Executive Director of the Takshanuk Watershed Council, a very successful watershed conservation and public education non-profit. He is also an accomplished wildlife artist, and hosted a public radio show in his home town, Haines, Alaska. Shield’s artwork has appeared in numerous publications and prestigious traveling exhibitions. His perspectives on conservation biology have been quoted by BBC World News Update, Audubon magazine’s on-line article, “Meet the Bird Brainiacs: Common Raven” as well as its print editions, CNN, the Los Angeles Times Magazine and the Sierra Club. Shields contributed a chapter in a book on desert conservation published by Death Valley National Park presenting his prescriptions for ensuring the survival of the desert tortoise. Please reference Shields’ full resumè for further detail; context and a few highlights are incorporated here.
VINCENT McDONAUGH JD, CEPA
Advisor to President
~ Executive Posse Consiglieri ~
Vince McDonough advises small to mid-market businesses and their owners on the legal issues that arise with the entrepreneurial idea, continue through business growth and maturity, and conclude with ownership transitions and the “next chapter.” McDonough applies broad blends of business, civil, criminal and regulatory experience to solve clients’ multifaceted issues. McDonough’s experience includes: being general councel for a federally registered fixed income investment adviser; stock option plans creation; securities litigation; investment due diligence. He received his Juris Doctorate at Suffolk University Law School.
JEFF CUMMINGS
CFO
~ Rainmaker ~
Jeff Cummings is an accomplished finance director with experience as CFO, Controller and Corporate Secretary roles in publicly traded and privately held companies, primarily specializing in software, medical device and life sciences. Cummings holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Finance from San Diego State University, earned his MBA, with Honors, from the University of Southern California, and was a finalist for the San Diego Business Journal’s 2018 CFO of the Year award. He brings a 30,000 foot finance and business strategy perspective to HSL where he will lead funding, cash & expense management, financial reporting, policy & control design, and serve on HSL’s Executive Posse.
RAND DE MATTEI
Marketing/Development
~ Utility Infielder ~
Rand De Mattei is a business professional with experience in marketing and executive roles with Fortune 100 companies (McGraw-Hill Publications, Chiquita Brands Int’l) and consulting to startup ventures. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management and his career expertise includes: professional presentations, financial spreadsheet modeling, business plan writing, company formation, market analysis, branding, business development and all things marketing. De Mattei sits on HSL’s Executive Posse and is developing HSL’s website and business infrastructure.
SARAH SHIELDS, JD
Corporate Secretary
~ Deputy Marshall ~
Sarah Shields is an expert counselor, legal strategist and litigator with over twenty years of success handling high profile, complex legal cases of national significance. She brings a persuasive presence to the courtroom, the boardroom and the negotiating table. As a skillful legal manager, Shields ensures effective execution of priorities without compromising quality or results. She crafts cost-effective negotiated solutions, has served as corporate Director in an environmentally oriented law firm and a mining company, and is well versed in: Litigation & Appeals; Risk Management; Alternate Dispute Resolution; and Environmental Claims. Shields earned her Juris Doctorate degree from Stanford Law School.
FRANK & CRAIG
Engineering & Operations
Current HSL collaborators, Frank Gercio and Craig Sherwood represent a young wunderkind in engineering and a potential heir to HSL’s field operations.
ROY A. HAGGARD
Consult/Engineer/Design
Roy Haggard has extensive engineering experience in aircraft, parachute and inflatable structure design and production, serving in senior executive and technology company founder roles. He is is CEO of T3B, Inc. (Thinking through the Box) in leading edge tech development. Haggard is part of the team that designed and built Hardshell’s Guardian Angel Rover and its evolving iterations purposed for avian deterrence and nest treatment, as well as the Hardshell Labs ground rover.
Haggard is working with NASA on its Mars 2020 rover mission. Since 1970 he has contributed significant technical innovations related to un-manned air vehicles (UAVs), designed, fabricated and test flown over 50 of his original aircraft and holds several aircraft and parachute patents.
SUNDANCE BIOLOGY, INC.
Science Associate /Sub-Contractor
Mercy Vaughn and her partner, Steve Boland have been working as Environmental/Compliance specialists in the U.S. desert southwest for the past three decades. While they conduct biological resource inventories and oversees compliance measures for multiple Threatened, Endangered, and sensitive species, their passion has been working with desert tortoises. Vaughn was first inspired to study tortoises when she attended the University of Arizona, BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and in 2001 she initiated and led a 15-year multi-disciplinary research project studying the distribution, genetics, ecology, and health and disease of Gopherus sp. Sundance continues to advise the Turtle Conservancy on their land acquisition project in Durango, Mexico to conserve some of the last remaining Bolson tortoise habitats.
WILLIAM BOARMAN, Ph.D.
Avian Behaviorist
~ Bird Brain Expert ~
Bill Boarman provides science and technical support to government, non-profit,and private entities dealing with conservation and wildlife management issues particularly involving desert tortoises and common ravens. As a wildlife scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, Boarman served as principle investigator and was the team leader for several multidisciplinary projects involving desert tortoise ecology and conservation, common raven ecology and management, and the Salton Sea terrestrial ecosystem where he worked with multiple government agencies and multidisciplinary teams scientists conducing field research.