Ryan Callaghan is the conservation director for MeatEater and vice chair of the executive committee on the BHA North American board. Ryan has been a passionate member of the outdoor community, growing up guiding, hunting, fishing and playing in the West.

Jenkins lives in the Nantahala Mountains where he has built a life around conserving wildlife and wild places. He is the founding chief executive officer of The Orianne Society. He also serves on the board of the Indian Ocean Tortoise Alliance and has served leadership roles in the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Partners for Reptiles and Amphibian Conservation, and Gopher Tortoise Council.

During his career, Chris has protected and restored tens of thousands of acres of land. Chris is a sportsman who enjoys both “hunting from home” and going on hunting and fishing adventures around the world. He spends over 150 days a year hunting and fishing on public lands, primarily hunting Appalachian bigwoods whitetails and travelling the continent chasing gobbling turkeys. His interests in conservation brought him to serve on the board of the Southeast chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and subsequently to create the Georgia chapter.

Chris has also worked with Wildlife Conservation Society, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Massachusetts, University of British Columbia and National Geographic. Chris received a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Massachusetts in wildlife conservation. He received his Ph.D. in biological sciences from Idaho State University.

Growing up, Katie spent much of her time outdoors with her family camping, horseback riding, canoeing and fishing. She feels lucky to now live in southern Alberta, Treaty 7 Territory, in the heart of world-class flyfishing rivers and streams, and she spends her summers traveling in her converted minivan camper or backpacking into the mountains, chasing native westslope cutthroat trout. She also loves crunching through the fall leaves and snow in pursuit of white-tailed deer and attempting to find upland birds with her non-hunting dog.

When she's not hunting or fishing, you can find her digging up yet another section of her yard to accommodate her ever-expanding garden or drying, freezing, preserving and cooking the abundance of foods harvested from the backcountry and the backyard.

Katie’s early connection to the natural world motivated her to obtain a B.Sc. in environmental and conservation sciences from the University of Alberta and a master's of environmental design from the University of Calgary, combining her love of both natural and social sciences. Katie has worked in biology and conservation for more than 20 years and now spends her days working on the protection and management of Southern Alberta’s wild lands and waters.

Jeff Jones is a senior manager for a global engineering and environmental consulting firm while simultaneously serving in the United States Army Reserve for the last 27 years. A veteran of two tours in Iraq, he was raised in south Mississippi as a generalist hunter and angler. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural and biological engineering from Mississippi State University and is a registered professional engineer. He lives in Huntsville, Alabama, with his wife and two daughters. 

James’ love of the outdoors began as a boy chasing his dad, but instead of going through the woods, it was on the golf course. Playing late into the evening, he paid attention to the way the air cooled and the sounds changed as the sun dipped behind the Ozark hills where he grew up. Today James is a husband and father to three sons. They hunt, fish, hike, camp, and explore public lands and waters as a family. It was James’ boys who exposed him to deer hunting and eventually ignited a passion for the pursuit of wild game for food and for the thrill of the hunt. They learned how to hunt and fish together, with the lessons often flowing in both directions.

A question about what “public lands” were on a Colorado vacation eventually led James to volunteer in 2018 to help BHA in Arkansas. From there he worked with other board members to establish the Arkansas Chapter in 2020 and proudly led the chapter until 2024. James is a generalist hunter and angler, as happy throwing poppers to bream in an Ozark stream as he is pursuing black bears in the Ozark National Forest or ducks on unnamed public areas within a reasonable drive of his home in Bentonville, Arkansas. In his spare time, he runs the US operation for an India-based textile company and serves on other conservation-oriented boards and advisory committees in Arkansas.

Bill is blessed to be a wilderness hunter and to live in British Columbia. He grew up in Trail, B.C., and although he had never hunted or even knew anyone who owned a horse, he has always had a passion for all things wild. His dad got him interested in fly fishing at an early age and established a high degree of ethics for how they conducted themselves outdoors and how important it is to adhere to the regulations.

Bill graduated from Eastern Washington University in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology and went on to finish his bachelor’s degree in education at the University of British Columbia in 1986. He taught industrial education at Elkford Secondary School for almost 20 years before changing careers in 2006 to start a small business called Wilderness Spirit Woodworks. He has been creating and building custom furniture ever since.

Bill has been fighting for habitat, wilderness and access management for the last 25 years. He co-founded the Hornaday Wilderness Society, a small but effective wilderness advocacy group based in the Elk Valley. He is also the representative for the wilderness and wildland sector on the Southern Rocky Mountain Management Plan Advisory Committee. He owns six sturdy mountain horses and two blue heeler/border collies named Smokey and the Bandit. He spends every possible minute riding or hunting with his family in the wildest places remaining in B.C. He was honored to be the first chair of the British Columbia chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

Jim Harrington was born and raised in Michigan. He currently lives 30 minutes outside of Detroit in Northville with his wife and three kids. 

As far back as he can remember he always spent time outdoors whether he was fishing for largemouth in neighborhood ponds, building tree forts or just endlessly exploring in the woods. This love for the outdoors has grown into spending countless hours creating whitetail habitat on his farm Branch County, MI, and hunting and fishing Alaska, Canada, Wyoming and Montana chasing all different kinds of cool critters.   

He also loves to share and teach the outdoors with his children which has been one of his greatest joys of being a dad. Whether he is with them hunting turkey, squirrels or whitetail on his West Michigan farm, fly fishing in Montana, or shore fishing in Florida he is never happier than when he is experiencing these adventures with his children.     

For over 20 years, Jim has fought in courtrooms across the country as a trial lawyer winning numerous jury verdicts for the individuals and families who have suffered tremendous losses.  

Hilary Hutcheson owns and runs Lary’s Fly and Supply in Columbia Falls, Montana, and guides on the Flathead Ri

ver and Middle Fork of the Salmon River. Hutcheson started her fly-fishing career as a teenaged guide in West Glacier, Montana.

Later, she took her journalism degree to Portland, Oregon, and worked as a television news anchor and reporter before returning to Montana to co-own and operate Outside Media and Trout TV for nearly a decade. She loves hanging out with her two teen daughters, especially when they volunteer on the oars.

Though he is an avid duck hunter, Ray also loves spending time in western Oklahoma pursuing the state's native elk and mule deer.  Growing up as an avid angler, Ray is an adult-onset hunter and enjoys teaching and mentoring other adults who are learning to hunt.  When asked what he would choose if he could only enjoy one outdoor pursuit for the rest of his life, his answer is tarpon on the fly in his Mother's native Puerto Rico.

Ray is the CEO of G&H Decoys, Inc., the last manufacturer of waterfowl decoys in the United States.  Prior to his time at G&H, Ray worked as a prosecutor on the Gang and Organized Crime Unit of the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office.  In addition to his time prosecuting organized crime, Ray also prosecuted all of the fish and game crimes in the greater Tulsa area.  Before law school Ray spent seven years as an Artillery Officer in the United States Marine Corps, deploying to Afghanistan in 2011.  

When he's not hunting or fishing, Ray can be found in the kitchen cooking the things he hunts and fishes, playing classical guitar, or driving one of his kids to a sports game or and extracurricular event.  Ray lives in Tulsa.

Don Rank is a lifelong Pennsylvania resident, born and raised in the Philadelphia area. As a youth, he learned to hunt and fish on the large tracts of state game lands surrounding the family cabin built by his grandfather in the mountains of PA. To this day, that cabin continues to be the epicenter of many of his outdoor pursuits.

Professionally, Don has been in practice as a nurse anesthetist since 2003, concentrating primarily on pediatric anesthesia. He served in the same role in the Army Reserves and has lectured for various nurse anesthesia graduate programs in the Philadelphia area.

Prior to joining the North American Board, Don served on the board of the Pennsylvania Chapter, first as secretary, beginning in 2018, and since 2021 as chairman. During that time, he has focused primarily on legislative and policy issues, making dozens of trips to the state capital to advocate for BHA with lawmakers and agency decision makers. As the chapter policy lead, Don has empowered many BHA members to become advocates for conservation in the state.

Don’s wife, Wendi, is also an active BHA member. In addition to outdoor pursuits, Don, Wendi and their two children enjoy traveling in the U.S. and abroad. Their most recent adventure was to Scotland.

Peter Vandergrift has made almost every nickel of his life from the fly fishing industry. He cut his teeth as a bush guide in the Alaskan backcountry guiding fly anglers in the shadow of what would be the Pebble Mine. For 18 more years, he served as a fly fishing guide and outfitter in Montana and Wyoming. But Peter’s thirst for adventuring in the backcountry started even earlier. 

Shortly after getting his first driver’s license, Peter drove the Alcan Highway to Alaska with a friend to fish, hike, and adventure for eight weeks. There, Peter was chargedby a grizzly bear, caught and smoked salmon over a fire and fell in love with tundra. The day after his high school graduation, Peter stepped onto the white blazes of the Appalachian Trail, thru-hiking its 2,100+ miles in six months. 

Years later, Peter combined his love of the outdoors with storytelling while at the University of Montana in Missoula where he studied literature and creative writing before spending a stint as a journalist, writing and producing multiple outdoor articles and films. 

Before long, his work caught the eye of industry giants Simms Fishing Products and Costa Sunglasses where he worked a number of years before joining North Point Brands as their Chief Marketing Officer responsible for Cheeky Fishing, RepYourWater, RepYourWild, and Wingo Outdoors brands. 

Peter resides in Missoula with his wife and two river-rat daughters. He is an avid bowhunter, chases upland birds with his black lab and fishes just about every corner of the world he can access. 

J.R. Young was raised in Bellevue Washington. He enjoyed his weekends and summer at a cabin in Central Washington where he started hunting and fishing at an early age. He spent countless days exploring Wenatchee National Forest as well as the Mt. Baker/Snoqualmie National Forest closer to Bellevue. He truly fell in love with the outdoors.

Currently living in The Santa Cruz Mountains in Los Gatos California with his wife, son, dog and chickens, he continues to enjoy the outdoors on a regular basis. At J.R.’s house, most activities surround food, preparing for food, canning food, foraging for food hunting for food and most importantly sharing the experience of food with friends and sometimes complete strangers. J.R. is a man that loves life, and he encourages people to explore that natural world and enjoy what is theirs to enjoy. He holds his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Washington and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Fairfield University in Connecticut. After spending eleven years as a tax accountant he has joined his wife in her Naturopathic Medical Clinic.