Chocorua Lake Conservancy Board of Directors
David Kunhardt, President
David has been coming to Chocorua since 1962, when his family purchased land and built a house on Chocorua Lake Road. David served on the CLA board from 1987 to 1991 and the CLCF board from 1990 to 1996, and facilitated the Chocorua Mountain Club-CLC merger talks in 2023. David retired from his solar business in 2020. After moving from California to Scarborough, ME, he and his wife Susan now spend almost half the year in Chocorua. David made contributions to building sustainable communities for over 30 years, primarily as a finance professional. He is active with Citizens Climate Lobby in Maine, and is on the Board of the Piper Shores Lifecare Retirement Community. David is also a Member of the Tamworth Energy Committee. David has a B.A. from Middlebury College and attended the Master of Urban & Regional Planning program at George Washington University.
William Zehring, VICE PRESIDENT
Will and his wife Kristi retired and moved in 2020 from Pennsylvania to a home in Silver Lake, New Hampshire, in search of snow. Will has participated in many CLC events and has been a key Winter Fest volunteer and wood chip spreader. He is a member of CLC’s Events and Outreach Committee. He received his BA from the University of Kansas, his PhD from the University of Chicago, and has also trained at Brandeis and at Duke. Will is an Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry from the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. While at Brandeis he contributed to research that led to the Nobel Prize in Medicine to three U.S. researchers for their decades-long work on the circadian clock. Will's interests, apart from hiking and skiing, include old movies, books, music, and rusty sports cars.
Geoffrey Gill, Treasurer
Geoff has spent time in Chocorua since the 1960s when his parents bought a house on Chocorua Lake Road. Geoff served a three-year term on the CLC board from August 2015 to August 2018, and has served on CLC’s Finance Committee since 2015. Geoff is the founder and currently serves as CEO of Verisense Health, a digital health company. He previously served as a CFO for ten years at two other companies. Geoff and his wife Karen live in Newton, Massachusetts. He has an A.B. from Harvard University and an M.S. from MIT. Geoff is an avid tennis player and has organized the Chocorua Labor Day Tennis Tournament for the past several years.
Ruth Weld, Secretary
Ruth spent summers in Chocorua her whole life and volunteered with CLC during much of that time. She served as chair of the Education & Outreach Committee for five years and has served on the Development Committee and the Land Conservation Committee. Her father instilled in her a love of wooden boats, re-reading books, and blueberry picking. Her mother instilled a love of architecture, travel, and art. Ruth graduated from Oberlin College, then worked at a family philanthropy fund, a women's shelter, and as a nanny. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Communication Disorders with the goal of becoming a Speech Language Pathologist. She lives with her husband Mike, their daughter, and two cats in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Richard “Rich” Comer
Rich’s connection to the Lakes Region began during his childhood summers at the family cabin near Providence Lake, inspiring a lifelong love for the area. Following a distinguished 25-year military career and subsequent decades in defense contracting, he and his wife fulfilled their dream of residing in the region full-time in 2020. Throughout the isolating years of 2020 and 2021, Rich found sanctuary in CLC’s hiking trails and natural landscapes, prompting him to contribute as a volunteer. His dedication led to a role on the Lakes and Property Management Committee, where he has served since 2022. Rich holds a BS in Workforce Education, Training, and Development from Southern Illinois University and is a graduate of the Navy Senior Enlisted Academy. He and his wife Annette live in Effingham with their two beloved dogs, Sam and Molly.
Anne Foley
Before purchasing her uncle’s house in Tamworth in 2005 with her oldest brother and mother, Anne spent most summers at the family home in Chocorua, not only with her siblings but also with her many cousins; together they swam and canoed at Chocorua Lake and hiked the Sandwich Range and beyond. In 2022, Anne moved from the D.C. area. For the past several years, Anne has enjoyed many CLC activities, both as a participant and a volunteer. She works remotely as a research attorney/legal editor in areas ranging from banking law to legal ethics, primarily as these laws and ethical rules implicate corporate attorneys and executives. When not working, Anne enjoys playing tennis and pickleball, doing crossword puzzles, and walking her dog on the many trails in the area. Anne has an A.B. from Mount Holyoke College, a J.D. from Tulane Law School, and an M.S.L.S. from the School of Library and Information Science at Catholic University.
Sue Kelley
Sue has been coming to Chocorua with her family since her grandparents owned a house here in the early 1960s. Over the years she has continued to come to the area to enjoy skiing, camping, hiking, kayaking and, of course, tubing on the Saco River.In 2024, she moved to Albany, NH with her husband Charlie. Sue is a member of CLC’s Outreach Events Committee and enjoys all the activities of CLC, whether taking in an evening Owl Prowl or watering the shoreline. She retired as a Food Scientist at the beginning of the pandemic, which gave her more time to focus on her many hobbies. In addition to volunteering for CLC, Sue enjoys quilting, knitting, kayaking, and gardening.
John Kumm
John’s grandparents bought The Rafters on Philbrick Neighborhood Road in Chocorua in 1947, and John has been going there since 1955. After many years of seasonal visitation, John and his wife Ellen realized a long-time dream and moved their home to the Rafters in 2022, where they now reside full-time. John has been an active CLC participant and volunteer, most recently as a member of the Winter Fest planning team and the Finance Committee. John is also a member of the Tamworth Energy Committee. He works remotely as a senior environmental engineer for EA Engineering, which is based in Maryland. John has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. In his free time he is happiest maintaining the Rafters and spending time outdoors.
Bruce Larson
Bruce has served for several years on the LPMC and is now the chair of that committee. Bruce and his partner Kathy Bird have owned a tract of forest and stream in Albany for 40 years which contributes to the Chocorua Lake watershed. Upon retirement, they moved full time to the land and have been learning sustainable beekeeping, orcharding and timber practices. Bruce taught science and did enrichment activities for students K-12 in a career which allowed him to take students to the Amazon River and glaciers of Alaska. An avid traveler, hiker and photographer, Bruce has an M.S. in Environmental Science from Johns Hopkins University.
Michael Rich
Michael is a third generation Chocoruan, having first dipped his body into our sylvan waters in his first year of life. While The Admiral (grandpa) was off in the Pacific during WWII, his grandmother, Joan Watt, and his mother, Joan Watt Rich, bought Merrybrook Farm, home of the now (in)famous Orgasmic Organic Blueberries. Michael spent every summer of his young life on that farm, swimming in The Lake daily and climbing The Mountain every summer since he was 5. He and his siblings continue the PYO blueberry tradition started by his father. Michael, his wife Lydia, their sons, Jason and Ian, are now “hill people” on Page Hill (but swim only in The Lake). In his other life, Michael is a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, known as “The Mediatrician” for his research and clinical work on the effects of screen media use on the health and development of children and adolescents.
Diane Viera
A lifelong New Englander, Diane enjoyed family trips to the White Mountains throughout her childhood. She and her husband Gary purchased their log home in Tamworth in 2009 and became full-time residents in 2020. Diane is a member of the Governance Committee, and she and Gary enjoy getting their hands dirty as volunteers in support of the staff’s great work maintaining CLC’s properties. Following an early career in corporate communications, Diane worked for three decades at Historic New England, a nonprofit preservation and conservation organization. She served in various external affairs and administrative positions before retiring as the organization’s chief operating officer. She holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Bridgeport and completed executive education programs in nonprofit management at Harvard Business School. Diane’s interests include gardening, kayaking, and trying to improve her golf game. She feeds her passion for handcrafts by taking workshops and learning new skills from New Hampshire’s many talented artisans.
Banner: Chocorua on a perfect June day. Photo: Juno Lamb