Rich lives in Bellingham, WA with his wife Stephanie and daughter Danna. Since moving to Bellingham from Maryland in 2001, Rich has been a nonprofit consultant, a Board Member of the Whatcom Land Trust, and a volunteer river advocate for many issues. Rich is the former Executive Director of American Whitewater, and before that, Conservation and Hydropower Program Director. He is happy to be on, under, or in water in whatever form; snow, river or ocean.

John came to Hydropower Reform Coalition in January 2005 from American Rivers, where he worked as a grantwriter. Previously, he has been an English teacher, an interpreter, a policy analyst, and a raft guide. He has a M.A. in International Relations with a concentration in Environmental Dispute Resolution from the University of Kentucky, and a B.A. in English from Davidson College. A Kentucky native (a distinction shared with the HRC's Northwest Coordinator), John has been an avid hiker and paddler for most of his life.

Rupak Thapaliya joined HRC in October 2007.

Rupak is responsible for information interchange and strategy exchanges between Coalition members. Prior to working at HRC, Rupak interned with the Iowa Department for Natural Resources and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. He also worked for a campaign for Sierra Club while in Minneapolis in summer ‘04. Originally from Nepal, Rupak obtained his MS in Environmental Policy from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, IL and BA in Environmental Management from Luther College, IA.

Contact Rupak at rupak at hydroreform dot org.

Rebecca moved from her tenure as the national Coordinator to become the Northwest Coordinator in fall 2003. In 2007, she retired her coordinator hat to enjoy the Oregon summer.

As national and Northwest Coordinator, she participated in the rulemaking of the new Integrated Licensing Process, has testified before state legislatures, and published in newsprint and elsewhere on the importance and progress of hydropower dam reform.

Before coordinating for the Coalition, Rebecca worked for American Rivers’ hydropower and outreach campaigns, working with grassroots river groups from across the country most intensely on coal mining issues.

Rebecca has crisscrossed southern Africa, in part to conduct historical research under a Wagoner Grant. She has also served as an Americorps*VISTA in southeastern Kentucky, her homestate, directing a youth literacy project through the sponsorship of Save the Children.

Rebecca holds a B.A. from Rice University in history with an emphasis on gender and African studies. She is a long-standing admirer of rivers, having grown up in Kentucky right along the Ohio. Her favorite river song is, uncontestably, "Paradise" by John Prine.

At right, she is pictured paddling upstream.

Contact Rebecca at rebecca at hydroreform dot org.