Our Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Kalvyn Ferronato
Idaho, USA
Previously the Brand Coordinator for 2% for Conservation (the parent organization of Fish & Wildlife Volunteers), Kalvyn Ferronato is a Public Relations Manager at Gunpowder Inc. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations and an associate's degree in psychology from Boise State University. Through her experiences, Kalvyn has seen the importance of conserving our wild animals and places for future generations.
After graduating college, Kalvyn settled in Montana and took on the opportunity to hone her PR skills by working for the Governor’s Office of Outdoor Recreation, 2% for Conservation, and others. Her experience over the past years has helped garner an appreciation and understanding of the need for active participation in the outdoors and conservation programs. This also sparked a new desire for her to have a personal impact for conservation, wild places and so much more, which is what she is striving for in this position.
She can be found adventuring around her new home region in Idaho when not hard at work. She is particularly fond of honing her hunting and fishing skills in southwest Montana where she fly fishes the pristine trout rivers of the area, bird hunts with her German Wirehaired Pointers, or chases bugling elk with bow in-hand.
Mike Schmillen
Minnesota, USA
Mike is a Fish & Wildlife Volunteers certified business owner of River City Tile & Stone, and a conservationist from Minnesota. In his business, he has made conserving wild places, and wild creatures part of their core values. His company does clean-ups, migration corridor projects, supports local youth projects, and donates time and money to various conservation organizations. Mike has served as a Vice President for the Midwest Chapter of Wild Sheep Foundation as well as participating in multiple committees for varies conservation organizations.
Mike has deep roots in Minnesota, but thoroughly enjoys travel and adventure. Mike has spent time all over North America actively supporting, pursuing, and completing conservation projects. He enjoys fishing, hunting, hiking, and spending as much time with his daughter outdoors as possible.
Nate Myers
Pennsylvania, USA
Nate grew up and currently resides in South Central Pennsylvania. Growing up in PA he has always been immersed in PA’s vast tradition of hunting and fishing with his father. His father taught him from a young age the importance of conservation and preserving wildlife and public places for the future.
He currently sits on the board for the PA Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and is very active in local clean ups and conservation events throughout the state. He is an original member of our Regional Committee’s program that helped grow grassroots efforts locally, even traveling to Montana in 2021 to help the Montana FWP on their fence removal project to improve Pronghorn habitats.
In his free time, Nate enjoys spending time at his cabin hunting, hiking, kayaking and spending time around the campfire with friends and family.
Benton Collins
Ohio, USA
Benton Collins and his family live in Northwest, Ohio near the banks of the Maumee River. Growing up hunting deer, turkey and small game, a love of the outdoors and wildlife were ingrained in him from an early age. He and his wife became co-owners of Wild Rivers Coffee Company in 2023 to help give back and support organizations that protect and fight for wildlife and their habitats. Wild Rivers Coffee Company has been certified with Fish & Wildlife Volunteers since its inception.
Benton joined the state of Ohio board of Backcountry Hunters in 2017 and served for four years. In 2024 he joined the Henry County of Ohio Parks board which helps manage old canal boat land owned by the state which has mostly been converted into trails that are a part of the state wide Buckeye Trail. He his excited to join the Fish and Wildlife Volunteers board and support volunteer efforts across the country.
Shannon Waters
Montana, USA
Shannon is the owner of FWV-Certified Gastro Gnome Meals in Bozeman, Montana. A chef formally trained at the French Culinary Institute in NYC, former restaurant consultant, and culinary school professor, Shannon has spent a lot of time in kitchens.
Her love of cooking and the outdoors collided when she packed a heavy cast iron pan into the backcountry. That’s when she realized that if she was going to enjoy a great adventure and a great meal, she was going to have to find a solution for packable meals.
She now runs the freeze drying business which fuels thousands of adventurers in wild places that she wants to protect. A passion for keeping public lands both wild and public - she tries to give a little back to the places she loves to explore.
Staff
Jared Frasier - Executive Director
Montana, USA
Born and raised in Wisconsin’s Northwoods, Jared’s first outdoor experience came at a couple months old when his parents sat him in a half-drilled ice fishing hole so they could chase tip-ups while ice fishing. When in elementary school, he helped his parents build a trout hatchery to help with rewilding efforts with the WI DNR, following the footsteps of his grandfather and great grandfather, who built the state’s first successful muskie hatchery, several decades earlier. Wild game and an intimate connection to habitat stewardship were pillars of his upbringing.
From his late teens and well into his twenties, Jared taught outdoor education and habitat conservation classes to public, private, and collegiate students from around the Midwest - ultimately relocating to Montana in 2007. Over the following decade, he pivoted careers into web/app design and development. But, as many hours as he put into his business, he volunteered nearly as much for wildlife. He has volunteered on the boards and committees of several regional, national, and international conservation and environmental groups, but most enjoys his time working in the field to help wildlife. In late 2017, shortly after our founding, he was brought on as our Executive Director. Currently, he volunteers with multiple local conservation and humanitarian causes and serves on the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame inductee review committee.
When not working with our members to help wildlife, Jared can be found with his family and their griffon — likely working the land or preparing food and beverages harvested from their garden and Montana’s wild places.