Meet our Team

Dave Brennan first discovered a passion for hiking as a teenager roaming the northern California Coast Ranges. He retired in 2008 after a 28-year career as a national park ranger, protecting park resources, providing emergency services, and managing visitor use. Dave finds adventure and inspiration in exploring the backcountry of southern Oregon and northern California, and connecting people to those wildlands as an SMC trip leader. He lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife Kate Kennedy and their adventure dog Kelsey.

Dave is known for his excellent camp cooking and enjoys leading hiking and backpacking trips.

Haley Cox has lived in the Rogue Valley with her husband John and their three cats since 2017. She serves on the Jackson County Bicycle Committee and is currently the Parks Planner for the City of Medford. Haley grew up in the Willamette Valley on a farm outside of McMinnville, and spent many summers hiking through the Cascades, Coast Range, and Columbia Gorge. She has also traveled far and wide on various study and leisure trips, from Monterey Bay to Madagascar, and from the Wallowas to the Alps, Andes, and Himalayas.

Haley is an avid adventurer, and feels at home among the tall trees or wandering the city streets. She has an undergraduate degree in Natural Resources from Oregon State University and a Master of Science in Urban Environmental Systems Management from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.

Roxanne Tenscher has spent most of her adult life exploring wild places, either by boat, by ski, by bike or on foot. This has led to her love of the places she has explored and a life-long passion to share the knowledge and skills she has acquired.

Tenscher has made her living teaching outdoor skills and helping other people get outside through her 30-year career working at REI. She also enjoys teaching Wilderness First Aid through NOLS Wilderness Medicine.

Roxanne lives in Talent, OR with her husband, Max. In addition to many other projects and adventures they do together, they are working to complete hiking all of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail together.

Edem Gomez joined the Siskiyou Mountain Club board of directors in February 2021. Edem grew up on a small farm on the Southern Oregon Coast and at a young age developed a passion for outdoor recreation as well as a deep respect for the value of public lands.

After graduating from the University of Oregon in 2014, Gomez moved to the Rogue Valley to start his career as a Transportation Planner at Rogue Valley Transportation District.

As a first generation American and son of immigrant parents, Gomez has an interest in expanding outdoor recreation opportunities and access to diverse communities, particularly helping connect underrepresented groups to their public lands. In his free time, you can find Edem hiking with his partner Nicole, exploring new areas of the Siskiyou backcountry, and foraging for wild mushrooms. 

Maria Katsantones has lived in Southern Oregon for three decades and joined the SMC board in January 2023. She is author of the guide book Hiking in Ashland, helps care for our senior community, writes nature essays, and participates in hiking, trail running, and backpacking experiences.

Katsantones raised her two sons in Ashland where she volunteered for the schools and helped build multiple trails in the Ashland watershed. She loves being outside breathing fresh air and quietly honoring the grandeur of the wilderness and says she’s grateful for the work of SMC interns and staff.

Justin Hymas has lived in the Rogue Valley with his family since 2019. He has had a deep love for the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion since he was a kid when he would horse-pack trail supplies into trail crews, hunters, and researchers with his grandfather.

Between working in the wilderness as a wildland firefighter and getting to play there as a trail runner, the wilderness areas of the Klamath-Siskiyou hold a special place in his heart.

He is the founder and owner of the remodeling company Ashland Builders and joined SMC because he wants to be part of an organization that is making a difference in the local wilderness areas. With three kids all ready to explore the beauty of our rugged mountains, he needs good trails as much as anyone.

He joined the board of directors in March 2023.

Amalie grew up in Seattle and has always enjoyed spending time outdoors, especially in the Pacific Northwest.She graduated from Southern Oregon University with a  BA in English & Writing and a BS in Environmental Science & Policy.

After graduation she became a WCC 2017 Intern for Siskiyou Mountain Club. She had her first experiences backpacking, doing trail work, and being in Wilderness, while helping to clear thousands of logs off of the Rogue Wolf Loop in the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

Working for SMC changed her life and led her to careers with REI and the USFS. Amalie is excited to have become a board member in April 2023 and is looking forward to helping further SMC’s mission to “Restore, maintain, and promote primitive trails in the Siskiyou backcountry and beyond.”