OUR LEADERS

Bob is the former Director of Real Estate and CFO of Wolf River Conservancy in Memphis, TN. He is an experienced Chief Financial Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organization management industry. He is a strong finance professional with a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Busines Management from Harding University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) focused in Accounting from Louisiana Tech University.

The late Jim Narey, was one of the key promoters and founders of the White Oak Bayou Management Program.  As the former Director of Planning with the City of Maumelle, he was there when the US Army Corps of Engineers approached the city in the mid 2000’s tasking them with protecting the wetlands.  I have heard him give the speech many times where he describes the tone from the Corps as something like this….”We want you to protect and manage the wetlands but we don’t have a plan to do it or any money to help you." In spite of not being given much direction, Jim found some technical experts (Wetland Consultant’s, Inc) to help him with the science and they set out to determine what needed to be done.  This began a process where Jim lead the City of Maumelle through procurement of several EPA Wetland Program Development Grants that he administered and that ultimately funded over a million dollars worth of education, assessment, planning and management efforts that culminated in a Wetland Management Plan in 2017.  During all these years Jim served on the Steering Committee and sat in on many Technical Advisory Committee meetings to ensure the important tasks were accomplished.  After the completion of the management plan, Jim was the catalyst that helped form the White Oak Bayou Wetlands Conservancy, a non-profit entity that now manages the efforts in White Oak Bayou.  Without Jim’s tenacity, resilience, and commitment, we would not be where we are today.  Thanks Jim!