GEAA Staff
Annalisa Peace holds an MS in Urban Administration from Trinity University and has over thirty years’ experience working with government and non-profit organizations in a variety of capacities, including as a San Antonio City Council Aide, Public Information Officer for the City of San Antonio’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Executive Director of Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, and Director of Development of the Carver Community Cultural Center. She has been instrumental in organizing citizens’ campaigns and has served on many governmental advisory boards, including as co-chair of the Kelly Air Force Base Restoration Advisory Board, the City of San Antonio Open Space Advisory Board, the City Task Force that drafted San Antonio’s water quality rules, the Southern Edwards Plateau Habitat Conservation Plan, the Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Program, and the City of New Braunfels Technical Committee for Stormwater Planning, and the City of New Braunfels Master Plan Committee for Water and Natural Resources.
Since 2004, Ms. Peace has been the Executive Director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, which unites 58 organizations throughout a 21 county region in Central and South Texas behind a plan to protect the Edwards and Trinity aquifers, their contributing watersheds, and the Texas Hill Country. She currently serves on the Texas Water Development Board’s Regional Flood Planning Group for the Guadalupe watershed, the City of San Antonio’s Water and Natural Resources Stakeholder Group for the Climate Action Plan, the Environmental Advisory Committee of the San Antonio River Authority, the Steering Committee of the Texas Hill Country Conservation Network, UTSA Urban Planning Advisory Committee, the Camp Bullis Sentinel Landscape Project, and participates in many other efforts to maintain the environmental integrity of our region.
Deborah (Debbie) Reid holds a Bachelor of Science in Soil and Crop Management and a Master of Science in Horticulture from Texas A&M University. She has over 30 years of experience in these areas with an emphasis on natural resource management in the last 15 years.
She worked for the City of San Antonio as the Nature Preserve Coordinator at Friedrich Wilderness Preserve and as the City Arborist implementing the Tree Preservation, Landscape, Streetscape and Irrigation ordinances. During this time, she assisted in developing and implementing new ordinances or guidelines to incentivize the preservation of native trees and their associated native plants and to preserve natural waterways.
She has been a member of many committees such as those to create the Linear Creek Corridors and a variety of codes and ordinances including Smart Growth, Conservation subdivisions and Low Impact Development. During her career in San Antonio, she has worked with numerous agencies and non-profits to promote environmental projects, programs and workshops including the Releaf Our City Parks, VIA Bus Stop Tree Planting, Master Naturalist volunteer program (Co-creator), Native Plant Landscape Certification program (Co-creator), and the EPA’s Managing Stormwater with Green Infrastructure workshop.
And most recently, she has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Mexico and Guatemala where she shared her knowledge with residents living in rural mountainous areas while promoting best management practices for stormwater management and maintaining habitat for native songbirds, butterflies, hummingbirds and pollinators.
Nathan Glavy holds a Bachelor of Science in environmental studies and a Master of Water Management in water management and hydrological sciences from Texas A&M University. He has almost a decade of experience in these fields with an emphasis on watershed planning and water quality and riparian education and outreach.
Before joining GEAA, Nathan served as a program specialist for the Texas Water Resources Institute at Texas A&M University and Texas A&M AgriLife. During his time at TWRI, he provided leadership for various research and extension projects, working with university faculty, state, local and federal government agencies and stakeholders, to address statewide water-related issues. Nathan has also worked with the US Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 office’s Children’s Environmental Health and Schools division, the United States House of Representatives for Congressman Filemon Vela, the water conservation department of the San Antonio Water System, and the water resources department of the City of College Station. Thanks to those work experiences, he gained professional interest in water conservation and education, water policy and public health issues associated with drinking water quality.
A San Antonio native, Nathan is a big supporter of the San Antonio Spurs. Unlike most Texans, he is a Buffalo Bills fan, thanks to his father who was born and raised in New York. In his free time, he likes to be hiking outdoors, running, or playing soccer or volleyball.
Rachel Hanes holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX and a Master of Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. She has multiple years of experience in the environmental and water policy fields and in working within and with non-profits and local, state, and federal governments.
Before joining GEAA, Rachel served for three years as a program analyst for the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation in the Reclamation Law Administration Division and later in the Colorado River Binational Program, working to help manage and conserve water in the West.
Rachel has also worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council on their decarbonization efforts, the City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure on their Complete Streets and green infrastructure initiatives, the Tarrant County Tarrant Transit Alliance, the Office of Congressman Joaquin Castro, the League of United Latin American Citizens on environmental issues along the border, and the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio on local water issues.
A Texas native, Rachel grew up in Fort Worth and made frequent trips throughout Hill Country. After short stints in Pittsburgh, Washington, DC, and Denver, Rachel is thrilled to be back in San Antonio, where she can merge her interests in water and environmental policy with her love of her home state and adopted city.
Kellie holds a Communications Management Degree from Missouri State. Her career began in the Commercial Waste Management Industry in St. Louis, Missouri and later in Madison, Wisconsin where she took a special interest in working with her clients to help them start and improve their recycling programs.
After moving to San Antonio in 1996, she launched a small graphic design business which she ran together with her husband for nearly 10 years, allowing her to connect with many local business owners and nonprofit organizations. She then moved into a 14-year career with Texas Public Radio where she was able to focus on her passion for helping to give nonprofit organizations a voice to support and forward their missions.
Her role with GEAA allows her to merge her interests in environmental stewardship and community collaboration.
Kellie Fichter
Office Manager/Marketing & Special Projects Coordinator
Mike Clifford holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University and an Advanced Technical Certificate in Environmental Sciences from Austin Community College. He has a broad background in environmental work as well as high tech, having taken three different startup companies public. He is also a professional musician with five original CDs released, and has been nominated for four Texas music awards, including 2011 Album Of The Year.
Mike worked as the Campaign Organizer for the No Dumping Sewage campaign prior to joining GEAA. In this role, he worked with central Texas property owners to fight for clean creeks and rivers and against dumping of treated sewage into local waterways. He wrote and produced the No Dumping Sewage video which you can view on our homepage, and also contributed heavily to KVUE-TV’s segments on sewage dumping in the South San Gabriel River. He has been involved in fighting wastewater permits in Austin, Liberty Hill, Cherryville, Dripping Springs, Blanco, Bulverde, Boerne, and Bandera. More recently, Mike has led the effort against the proposed Violet Crown Amphitheater, garnering full-page articles against the development in the Austin Statesman, Austin Chronicle, and Austin Business Journal.
Mike is based in Austin, Texas and has written articles for the Sierra Club, Environment Texas, No Dumping Sewage, and is an active member of the Sierra Club’s Austin Chapter.
Joann holds a degree from the University of Texas at Austin, a Masters in Educational Leadership from Our Lady of the Lake University, and is certified in Secondary Science education and Art education. She has over thirty years classroom teaching experience in Science education, and was Science Coach for Northeast Independent School District and the Secondary Science Facilitator for South San Antonio Independent School District.
She has served as Chairperson for the Bexar Grotto, as a Board Member of the Texas Cave Management Association, and as the Program Chair for the San Antonio Geological Society. She is a member of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, the Texas Earth Science Teachers Association, the National Science Teachers Association, the Texas Science Educational Leaders Association, the Science Teachers Association of Texas as well as the Texas Speleological Association, the Bexar Grotto, and the San Antonio Geological Association. In addition to her work with GEAA, she is currently working on a Teachers Resource Guide for the National Earth Science Teachers Association, and writing middle school science curriculum for Bat Conservation International.
