Board of Directors

Ronalda Meson
Board Chair

Ronalda has been a dedicated member of the Friends of Wolf Trap since 2015, where her passion for conservation, nature, science, and the arts converge. With a professional background in business, sales and management, Ronalda brings strategic thinking, leadership expertise, and effective communication to her role.

Beyond her professional pursuits, Ronalda is a Virginia Master Naturalist and volunteer Park Ranger, demonstrating her commitment to environmental preservation and education. Her deep appreciation for the natural world aligns perfectly with her love for the arts, so she is honored to have the opportunity to support Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.

Donald Emerick
Board Member

Donald “Donny” Emerick recently joined the Friends of Wolf Trap board after relocating to the adjoining Wolf Trap Woods neighborhood.   He originally got involved by walking in the woods of the park.  A Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Donny and his family lived and worked overseas for a dozen years serving in Mexico, Poland, Nicaragua, and Argentina.  Previously, he owned and operated an event production company and worked in technology and marketing.  His initial environmental advocacy involved working with the Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace.  He and his wife Heather, an educational and training consultant, are originally from New England.   Along with their three daughters, he regularly visits their family’s ancestral home in Greensboro, VT, where he also does a fair amount of walking in the woods.  

Allen Hoffman
Board Member

Allen Hoffman is “semi-retired” from a 32-year career in airport planning, where he has provided consulting services for more than 70 large- and medium-hub airports across the U.S., as well as Canada, Europe and the Middle East.

Allen focuses much of his time toward environmental stewardship and recently completed the Fairfax Master Naturalist program.  He also serves as a site leader for the Fairfax County Park Authority’s Invasive Management Area Program and works with a team of volunteers to monitor a Bluebird box “trail” near his home in the Clarks Crossing area of Vienna.  He also works with a local small business in the development and installation of landscape plans that incorporate Virginia native plants.

Allen is a member of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, where he serves as the current Trail Overseer for Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.  In this role he provides routine trail monitoring and maintenance duties as well as supporting the implementation of improvements to existing boardwalks, bridges and other trail infrastructure.

Allen is married to Julie and has lived in the Clarks Crossing neighborhood of Vienna since 2000, where they are raising their son who attends Marshall High School.  Allen enjoys hiking, backpacking, woodworking, reading and traveling.

Sara Holtz
Board Member

Sara enjoys volunteering and mobilizing groups of volunteers, particularly youth, to participate in community service projects. She volunteers with the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital and the BSA National Capital Area Council to teach Leave No Trace outdoor ethics and lead conservation service projects. In Fairfax County she serves as a site leader for the Fairfax County Park Authority Invasive Management Area program to remove invasive plants from public land, plants native trees with Fairfax ReLeaf, and labels storm drains with the Soil & Water Conservation District.

Jan Rehacek (informally Honza) is a mathematician with professional interests in Dynamical Systems, Machine Learning and Number Theory. He was born in the Czech Republic (hometown) and originally came to the USA to pursue PhD in Mathematics. He graduated from Georgia Tech in Atlanta with a thesis on chaotic billiards (and if billiards are not chaotic enough, he can always take up their study in the Analytic Beer seminar).

After living in Ohio, Georgia, New Mexico and New Jersey, Mr. Rehacek settled in Virginia. He has been supporting the activities of FOWT since 2017 and the next year became a summer volunteer ranger for the Wolf Trap park. He creates articles and photo blogs about the park and knows almost all the wild animals living in it by first name.

He enjoys anything creative and loves most of the carbon based life forms.

Kathy Stewart 
Board Member

Kathy Stewart has been a “good neighbor” of Wolftrap for 20 years and recently joined the FOWT Board. She walks the trails of Wolftrap almost daily with her dog, Khalee.

Kathy had almost 40 years of Federal service. She retired from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2014 where she headed a staff that developed policies and programs for employee benefits and career development.

Kathy has volunteered with animal shelter and rescue organizations, participated in insect surveys, planted native plants and trees and removed invasive species on her property (now, certified as an Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary). Kathy is currently pursuing her certification as a Virginia Master Naturalist. Kathy enjoys hiking, skiing, kayaking, reading and theatre.

Fun fact about Kathy: She competed in ballroom dancing for 20 years, including internationally!

Ted Reuss
Board Liaison & Committee Member
Webmaster; Trails & Trail Counter Program

Mr. Reuss has lived in Vienna, Virginia for over 20 years with his family.  Mr. Reuss is one of the original leaders involved in the First Time Campers (FTC) program.  He can often be found at the Wolf Trap Farm Pond helping campers with the Fly Fishing activity during the FTC program.

Mr. Reuss is an advocate for getting youth interested and interacting with the great outdoors and with nature.  He is very active in community service and has been recognized for his outstanding service by Volunteer Fairfax and with two Gold Medals from the Presidential Community Service Award committee.

Mr. Reuss is a former Board member, a liaison to the Board, and maintains the FOWT website along with helping to maintain the trail system and the trail counter program.

Marjorie Brown-Holsing
Founding Member

Co-Chair and Co-Founder of the organization, Marjorie Brown-Holsing committed time, talents, resources, and determination for standing up the Friends of Wolf Trap. The efforts’ appeal for her was the founding teams’ passion and purpose to preserve, enhance, and raise awareness welcoming visitors in to appreciate natural beauty surrounding the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. The parks’ natural amenities and recreational potential were pretty much hidden in plain sight. 

As development in the Tysons corridor indicated  prospects for massive expansion, an interest in promotion of green spaces in an urban environment provided deeper motivation. She was honored to participate. Here was the potential to make a lasting and meaningful contribution. The intention reflected the vision of Catherine Filene-Shouse whose legacy was to provide an oasis of sorts for those in need of tranquil, healing, respite. 

In 2011, Marjorie began work with the National Park Service as a Volunteer Team Lead with PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC. Enlisting volunteers regularly, she joined efforts to install, maintain, and expand the indigenous garden facing the Filene Center, which had been affectionately dubbed “The Dimple Garden” by Philip Goetkin, the National Park Services’ Chief Grounds Curator at that time. Her role during early formation of “The Friends” board and was in supporting the establishment and maintenance of  gardens where environmental scientists, naturalists, and master gardeners would be able to conduct sustainability impact studies on native plants, pollinators (bees and butterflies),  and migratory and indigenous bird populations.

Wearing many hats, Marjorie’s dedication to promoting the parks’ natural side garnered an increasing wave of interested volunteers.  By 2013, formal movement had  taken shape providing traction towards securing 501(c)3 non-profit status as the Friends of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. Her participation included the enlistment of qualified legal guidance, access to initial funding and additional grants for garden projects, crafting marketing campaigns and materials, the initial logo design, administrative support, leading visitor experiences, spearheading volunteerism campaigns, organizing garden work groups, events, and initial program development. 

Her vision and hard work have helped foster a deeper appreciation for the park’s natural surroundings, ensuring that visitors not only enjoy world-class performances but are also able to connect with the environment in meaningful ways. 

Marjorie’s interest in environmental stewardship, the founding teams’ collaboration, and support from the NPS have shaped the Friends of Wolf Trap into a thriving organization which continues to support the park’s natural beauty and provide enriching experiences for its volunteers and visitors.

Alan Day
Founding Member

Alan Day has served as the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club Supervisor of Communications, PATC Wolf Trap District Manager, & led the Wolf Trap Trail Performers Crew that built the blue-blazed trail around Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.

The trail received excellent support from the local community — of the 53 people that asked to be on the email list for work trips, 42 of them participated in at least one work trip.

Additionally, he serves as webmaster for the Bull Run Civil War Round Table & Friends of Fairfax Archaeology, has served on the Deepwood Board of Directors in Reston, & is a former Wood Badge-trained Boy Scout leader with two Eagle Scout sons.

Alan and his wife Janet have lived in Reston since 1971.

Alan was awarded a Career Intelligence Medal for exceptional achievement by the Central Intelligence Agency after he retired in 2003 with over 32 years of service. He then worked for SAIC as a US Government contractor, retiring in 2012.

He enjoys day hiking in the metro area, playing with computers, historical research, & reading.

Michael Moran
Founding Member

Michael Moran is a founding director of FOWT and recipient of the Phill Goetkin Award which honors individuals who have provided exemplary service to Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts and to FOWT. Over the past 20 years he has had a special interest in environmental stewardship, working with the Sierra Club, PATC, the National Capital Area Garden Club, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and the Fairfax County Park Authority Natural Resource division.

Mike provided a major role in establishing hiking trails at WolfTrap, and has excellent rapport and working relationships with other organizations. He actively participates in training and interpretive hiking programs, and the development and improvement of the native gardens.  He has provided leadership for Boy Scout Eagle projects. Along with his wife, Diane, he published a photo album entitled “Nature at Wolf Trap National Park: Year Round Discoveries.”