Meet Your IAFI Board of Directors ⋆ Ice Age Floods Institute

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The board members of the Ice Age Floods Institute put a lot of energy, time and effort into making and keeping our organization and chapters active, relevant and influential in relating and promoting the story of the Ice Age Floods. We thought it would be good to give everyone a chance to gain a bit more personal insight into who we are and why we’re dedicated to the goals and mission of the Ice Age Floods Institute.

If you have any questions, suggestions or issues to discuss, we’re always happy to hear from you through email to , or leave us a phonemail message at (541) 716-1311.

Gary Ford: IAFI Board President

I have been a member of the Ice Age Floods Institute since 2001 and was a founding member of the Cheney-Spokane Chapter. I was president of the Cheney-Spokane Chapter for five years and have been IAFI president since 2013. I … Read more…

Vacant: Lake Lewis Chapter President

The presidency of the Lake Lewis Chapter is currently vacant, but there are plans afoot to organize a local board of directors to distribute the workload of the chapter. Read more...

Jane Walpole: IAFI Director

I was blessed to be raised in the San Joaquin Valley when water was plentiful and the air was clean. On a good day, I could stand in my driveway and see the Sierra Nevada range to the East, and … Read more…

Consuelo Larrabee: IAFI Director

As a child, riding on the old pre-1-90 road from Spokane to Seattle through such flat & uninteresting country was so boring…until I learned how that land was formed! Wow! “Flat & Boring” no more! I am a member of … Read more…

Monte Nail: IAFI Treasurer

I was born and raised on a farm in Hansen Idaho, graduated from the University of Idaho and after a ten year stint with a private company, went into public accounting. I was asked to join Ice Age Floods while … Read more…

Melanie Bell: Cheney-Spokane Chapter President, Ex-Com Board Member

My family moved from beautiful Northeast Texas to the Spokane area to teach and work at Eastern Washington University. We raised four children on a sheep ranch east of Cheney where a rock ledge captivated EWU students as geology faculty … Read more…

Gene Kiver: IAFI ExCom Member, Technical Committee Member

I received my BS from Case-Western Reserve and my Doctorate at the Univ. of Wyoming where I studied alpine glaciation in the Medicine Bow Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, and I taught geology at Eastern Washington Univ. for 34 years. … Read more…

Gary Kleinknecht: IAFI Board Vice-President

After growing up in the Tri-Cities area I attended Washington State University, BS in Psychology, and the University of South Carolina, MEd in Secondary Social Studies Education. I am retired in the Tri-Cities area after 40 years in high school … Read more…

Denis Felton: Lower Grand Coulee Chapter President

I was born and raised in Spokane, WA, where I spent many years during high school and college working part time at a plant nursery. My secondary education combines a mixture of machine shop studies, natural resources, general studies and one year … Read more…

Lloyd Stoess: Palouse Falls Chapter President

I grew up on a wheat farm 8 miles from Palouse Falls but didn’t learn about the Ice Age Floods until I attended EWSC where I graduated in 1974 with a BA in Geography. After college, I returned to Washtucna … Read more…

Jacqui Hair: IAFI Secretary

I am a 4th generation wheat farmer in the Walla Walla, WA area. In addition to farming, I drive a school bus! Earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from Whitman College sparked my continued education in geology. My … Read more…

Charles Hall: Lower Columbia Chapter Interim President

Since our previous president, Rick Thompson, retired for a move to Georgia, I have accepted to be Interim President of the Lower Columbia Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute. I was instrumental in forming the Lower Columbia Chapter because … Read more…

Norm Smyers: IAFI Director

I was one of the founding members of the Ice Age Floods Institute. I was Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter President for two-years. I worked as a geologist for the U.S. National Forest Service (Custer NF, Lolo NF, Siuslaw NF and … Read more…

Patty Hurd: IAFI Store Manager

My husband Terry and I moved to the Columbia River Gorge in 1993 and were struck by its beauty. We signed up for a field trip with the Lower Columbia chapter one weekend in 1995, drove almost two hours to … Read more…

Dale Lehman: Puget Lobe Chapter President

The geologic landscape east of the Cascades has always fascinated me. I was introduced to the Ice Age Floods story by Mike Folsom, Dale Stradling and Gene Kiver while I was an undergraduate at Eastern Washington University. Since that time, … Read more…

Tony Lewis: Coeur du Deluge Chapter President

I have a BS from West Chester State College, a MS from Oregon State University and a PhD from the University of Kansas. Most of my professional career was in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University … Read more…

Ken Lacy: IAFI Board Member

Geology has always interested me but I didn’t pursue it because life led me in a different direction, and I got a business degree at the U of WA. In the ’90’s, my wife and I often came over to … Read more…

Brent Cunderla: Wenatchee Valley Erratics President, Technical Committee Member

I’m currently president of the IAFI-Wenatchee Valley Erratics. I grew up in the Midwest (Rochester, Minnesota). My first knowledge of the Missoula Floods and J Harlen Bretz was in a Glacial Geology course in 1981. I received a B.S. degree in … Read more…

Nick Zentner: Ellensburg Chapter President

Nick is a geology professor at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington, but he is better known internationally for his online videos covering the geology of the Pacific Northwest and his Nick on the Rocks series. Starting in the mid-2000s, … Read more…

Jim Shelden: Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter President, Technical Committee Member

I was raised in the western United States, the second son of a USGS topographical surveyor and a cow girl from Chilly Flats Idaho. Moved twice a year attending many schools in many places. I attended college at the University … Read more…

Lorrie DeKay: IAFI Membership Manager

I’ve been fortunate to have an ‘in house’ geologist for over 40 years. Lloyd’s career enabled us to live in and explore much of the US, Africa and Europe. With retirement came one last move, to Washington State, which we … Read more…

Tayler Welch: IAFI Assistant Treasurer

I was born and raised in Tri-Cities, Washington. I started college at CBC where I decided to go into accounting, eventually graduating from WSU with my Bachelors in Accounting. I began working for Monte Nail in 2009 and Ice Age … Read more…

Lloyd DeKay: Columbia River Gorge Chapter President, IAFI Webmaster and Newsletter Editor

I have a BA in Earth Sciences (CSUN), an MS in Geological Oceanography (URI-GSO). I worked 27 years on international exploration projects throughout the world with Gulf/Chevron before retiring and moving to the Columbia Gorge with my wife in 2007. … Read more…

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