Board of Directors

Vin Steponaitis is a professor of archaeology and anthropology and the former director of the Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research focuses on the ancient history of the American South, particularly the mound-building cultures of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and is a past president of the Society for American Archaeology.

Anne Lowe is the President & CEO of The Archaeological Conservancy and an experienced land and water conservation expert with over 25 years of direct conservation projects, initiatives, and partnerships in the nonprofit and government sectors across the United States and Canada. She holds an Executive Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Colorado, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Alma College, a graduate certificate in GIS from Cleveland State University, and a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University. She currently lives in Santa Fe with her husband and golden retriever where she enjoys yoga, hiking, birding, and wildlife photography.

Robert Gelb is an attorney and archaeologist who lives in San Carlos, California. His archaeology master’s thesis was on the protection of Mono Lake Paiute Kutzadika sacred sites in California. He has taught criminal and constitutional law at the college level and introductory archaeology and physical anthropology at community colleges. He also serves as a volunteer site steward for the Conservancy.

Jerry Golden is a retired President and Chief Executive Officer of Shell Chemical Company. Since retirement he lives in California and Boulder, Colorado where he pursues his interest in Southwestern archaeology. He holds a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and has studied anthropology at the University of Colorado and corporate finance at the London Business School.

Leslie Masson lives in Lexington, Massachusetts where she is active in the community. She is retired from the software industry and currently collaborates with her mentor in costume study and design. She has had a passion for archaeology since childhood and holds a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology from University of California at Berkeley.

Elizabeth (Betsy) M. Alexander lives in northern Virginia. She holds a B.A. degree from Boston University and a law degree from Georgetown University. She has practiced law in Virginia and served as an aide to the Virginia Senate and in various political positions. She is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at American University and has been doing research in Egypt. She serves on the board of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.

Jeffrey M. Mitchem retired in 2022 from his positions as an archaeologist with the Arkansas Archeological Survey and Research Associate Professor in Anthropology at the University of Arkansas. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1989, and since 1990, he has been directing research at Parkin Archeological State Park in northeast Arkansas. Since 1976, he has participated in fieldwork in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Idaho, and the country of Jordan. He currently resides in Tallahassee, Florida. Learn more about Jeffrey Mitchem in our blog series The People Behind TAC: Surprises Around Every Corner: Archaeology, The Parkin Site and The Archaeological Conservancy

Shane Doyle is a Crow tribal member and educational consultant who hails from the Crow Agency in Montana. Along with his educational consultant work in Montana public schools, the National Park Service, and Yellowstone Forever, Shane is currently the Montana Resource Coordinator for the TEDNA-NYCP 2015 program, as well as an advocate and spokesperson for the Montana Wilderness Association. Shane lives in Bozeman, Montana where he also works as an adjunct instructor for Montana State University-Bozeman.

Bill Thompson spent decades in the corporate world, owning and operating companies. Since 2009 he has been a published novelist, and now he has more than two dozen books in print, archaeological thrillers and ghost stories, all available on Amazon. He attended Tulane University, is a graduate of the University of Tulsa and lives in Dallas, Texas.

Jim Galloway, a resident of Jackson, Mississippi, lived most of his life, prior to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, in Gulfport. Jim is a former lawyer, who was a litigator, and who represented the boards of directors of many municipal, county, and regional governmental entities. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi with a degree in English and Sociology, and of the University of Mississippi School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree.