Staff & Board
Michele James
Executive Director
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Michele James has lived and worked in Flagstaff for thirty years and brings her knowledge of Flagstaff and love of the community to F3. With a background in both science and art, including a master’s degree in Sustainable Communities (NAU) and a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology & Technical Journalism (Colorado State University), Michele has spent two decades doing advocacy work on northern Arizona ecosystems.
Michele has a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of complex issues, the ability to communicate well with diverse groups, and an expertise in designing effective community outreach. She is also an accomplished graphic designer and writer. With her husband, Peter Friederici, Michele enjoys hiking, photography, ocean snorkeling, and camping.
Michele has been a wildlife biologist with Grand Canyon National Park and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a research coordinator for NAU’s Fossil Creek restoration, a species conservation program manager with the Grand Canyon Trust, and a stakeholder with the Flagstaff Forest Partnership. Prior to becoming the Director of F3 in October 2020, she was adjunct faculty at NAU for eight years, teaching interdisciplinary courses related to sustainability, climate change, art as an advocacy tool, and civic engagement.
Margery Sorensen
Program Coordinator
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Margery Sorensen moved to Flagstaff in 2002 to take a one-year position at NAU. It didn’t take long to feel at home in the mountains so she stayed for 23 years and counting. Having grown up in the mid-west, Margery loves the four seasons and is never happier than when she is outdoors cross-country skiing, hiking, playing tennis, or just sitting on a rock gazing at natural wonders.
Since retiring from NAU in 2022, Margery volunteers at a variety of local organizations such as the Flagstaff Family Food Center, High Country Humane Society, Archuleta County Park and Willow Bend Environmental Center, the Grand Canyon Trust, and with students at NAU.
Margery has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and a Master of Science in Administrative Science from the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay. She was an early participant in the Master of Arts in Sustainable Communities at NAU. The program was life-changing and led to a greater appreciation of what makes a healthy, just, and livable community. She is excited about supporting the mission and vision of F3.
Susie Garretson
President
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Susie Garretson was born and raised in Blythe, California to community minded and active parents who loved to roam the desert searching for archaeological sites and water ski on the Colorado River. College consisted of majoring in Chinese at the University of Southern California and then graduating from University of Northern Colorado with a BA in Elementary Education. After teaching in southwest Colorado for several years, in 1978 she moved to Flagstaff to found the Flagstaff Athletic Club with her then husband. She is proud to have served as Owner/General Manager of Operations for 23 years. After a few years of retirement she went to work at Coconino County serving as the Executive Assistant for County Supervisor Mandy Metzger, and then as the Coordinator for the three Diversity Councils.
Following in her parent’s footsteps, Susie has been active in the community serving on various boards and committees: Soroptimist International of Flagstaff; Shepherd of the Hills Youth Committee; Coconino County Juvenile Detention Community Advisory Board; Flagstaff Leadership Founding Board; Coconino Community College Foundation Scholarship Committee; Flagstaff Arboretum Board; Friends of Flagstaff’s Future Board (served two full terms in it’s early years and re-upped in 2019); Museum of Northern Arizona Board of Directors; Flagstaff Arts Council. She also has worked on campaigns for County Supervisors Carl Taylor and Mandy Metzger, as well as propositions for the County Jail, Mountain Line, and Coconino Community College.
In her personal life, Susie is proud of her two grown sons, Patrick and Jesse. Susie is doing her best to be semi-retired but keeps finding good causes to participate in. However, she does manage to find time to travel, hike, explore, go for long walks with her two dogs, read, movies, and have fun with friends. Susie believes that we are all so lucky to live in this beautiful area on the Colorado Plateau, and that we all have a responsibility to make it a little better in the best way we can. She believes Friend’s of Flagstaff’s Future is crucial to this effort and hopes that more citizens will decide to join and participate. She is honored to serve on the current board with its energetic, caring and knowledgeable members. Keep Flagstaff Funky!
Marcus Ford
Vice President
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Marcus Ford has lived and worked in Flagstaff for nearly thirty years and is committed to making Flagstaff a great place to live and raise a family. He came to Flagstaff in 1990, from Central Illinois, to teach at Northern Arizona University, and has never really left. (At least not for very long.) Marcus’s thinking about “growth and development,” sustainability, and justice is informed by his reading of such great thinkers as Alfred North Whitehead, Wendell Berry, John Cobb, Jr., and Wes Jackson. As biological and cultural beings, our most basic needs are not economic. Our economy must function as a means to meeting our more basic needs. Marcus is also a big fan of recumbent bicycles and tricycles and is giving serious thought to getting an e-bike.
Marie Jones
Secretary
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Marie Jones was a frequent visitor to Flagstaff before moving here in 2011. She and her family settled in the Southside, attracted to its soul and spirit. With the advent of the notorious Hub, it became clear that the entire historic heart of Flagstaff was threatened by ill defined zoning regulations that failed to balance the genuine need for housing for a growing population with the precious character and livability that residents and visitors love. This realization led to her involvement with Stand Up for Flagstaff and then the Flagstaff Planning and Zoning Commission, which she’s been a member of since 2017.
She’s also contributed to the Southside Community Plan as a neighborhood advocate. Marie has long admired the longstanding community advocacy work of F3, is excited about its strong revival, and delighted to join a board of extraordinary community activists. She loves that Flagstaff is an accessible community where people are well informed and involved. Marie’s professional work is as an artist and designer with a focus on public work.
Mary Poore
Treasurer
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Mary Poore was raised in western Montana and grew to love all that Montana’s mountains, rivers and lakes had to offer. She graduated from the University of Montana with a BS in pharmacy and later completed her doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from National University in Portland, Oregon. She and her husband, Mark James, moved to Flagstaff in 1986 and opened the Flagstaff Clinic of Naturopathic Medicine. Flagstaff provided a welcoming and nurturing environment to raise their three daughters and grow their medical practice.
In 2013 Mary retired and now enjoys having more time to hike, run and ski, often with their dog, Sadie, in the lovely pines in and around Flagstaff. She volunteers for the Literacy Center, AFS International Student Exchange program and sings with the Flagstaff Threshold choir. She also volunteered for five years at the Grand Canyon as a preventive search and rescue ranger. Mary has been a longtime supporter of Friend of Flagstaff’s Future, and has appreciated the work they have done over the years in the community. As a new board member, she is honored to be part of this organization that advocates for creating and maintaining a beautiful, prosperous, sustainable, and just Flagstaff.
Sandra Lubarsky
Board Member
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Sandra Lubarsky has spent most of her years as a university professor and administrator bringing sustainability into the curriculum and into campus activities. She founded one of the first graduate programs in sustainability, the M.A. in Sustainable Communities, at Northern Arizona University and chaired the Department of Sustainable Development at Appalachian State University.
Sandra previously served on the F3 board, including a stint as co-president in 2007-2008. She is actively involved in immigrant rights issues, the Kehillah of Flagstaff, and serves as on the city’s Beautification and Public Arts Commission. She is especially passionate about the importance of beauty as a public value and writes often on the intersection of beauty and sustainability.
Marilyn Weissman
Board Member
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Marilyn Weissman moved to Flagstaff in 1992 with the desire to live full time where she would normally, as a big city dweller, take a vacation. She recently retired from her small land surveying business, which she had here in Flagstaff for 16 years.
When she first moved here she found a community on the verge of growing and potentially losing a lot of what the residents here cherish: access to open space, affordability, local small business and sustainable growth. Not long after she arrived, Friends of Flagstaff’s Future was established to work on preserving what locals love about Flagstaff. She joined the organization and volunteered in the many campaigns F3 took on: funding open space preservation, limiting the size of big box stores, having a Regional Plan and City Zoning Code that balanced the needs of the community with the demands of business and development. Eventually she became a board member and served as President. After a few years off the board she is glad to be back and participating in the revitalization of the organization.
Dara Marks Marino
Board Member
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Dara has lived in Flagstaff since the summer of 2000. She moved here to be a professional mountain bike racer and stayed because of the community, mountains, and access to the outdoors. In 2016 she earned a Masters degree from NAU in Climate Science and Solutions and since then has worked and volunteered in many areas related to climate, environmental justice, air quality, energy, waste, and water conservation.
Dara was a driving force behind the 2019 Climate Strike, the Climate Emergency Declaration, and the elevation of Flagstaff’s climate goals to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. She currently works for the nonprofit WattTime, an organization that makes it possible for everyone to reduce the emissions caused from electricity usage.
Dara supports F3’s work on the cross-cutting issues of environment, social equity, housing, and land use planning and how these issues impact all of Flagstaff’s residents and visitors and, by extension, our larger world community. Dara likes to spend as much time as possible with her daughter and husband exploring northern Arizona by bike, boat, and foot.
Celia Barotz
Board Member
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Celia has lived in Flagstaff since 1999 and was elected to the Flagstaff City Council in 2010 and again in 2014, winning the most votes of six candidates in both elections. She served two stints as vice-mayor. Prior to running for office, Celia served on many local boards and commissions including the Coconino County Planning and Zoning Commission and the City of Flagstaff Planning and Zoning Commission. In 2016, she was instrumental in the passage of Proposition 413, a citizen initiative which preserved as passive open space 300-acres of magnificent city land south of Buffalo Park and on McMillan Mesa. Celia practiced law before moving to Arizona.
Robert Breunig, Ph.d.
Board Member
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Robert G. Breunig, Ph.D.is President Emeritus of the Museum of Northern Arizona and the museum’s former Director and CEO, a position he held from 2003-2014. In 1982 he became the Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Heard Museum of Anthropology, Phoenix, Arizona. In 1985 he became the Executive Director of the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona and served as director of the garden until 1994 when he accepted a position as Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, in Santa Barbara, California. In 1997 he became the executive director of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. In December 2013 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Northern Arizona University. In May 2015, Mr. Breunig accepted the National Medal for Museum Service on behalf of the Museum of Northern Arizona from Michele Obama at a White House ceremony. Today Robert Breunig serves on the boards of the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition; Hopivewat, a Hopi-led group seeking to establish a Learning Center on the Hopi Mesas, Friends of Petrified Forest National Park, and the Tucson-based Southwest Folklife Alliance. He loves his adopted home of Flagstaff, Arizona and believes that F3 can support community sustainability, conservation of the environment, and livability.