Board of Directors

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Vincas (Vin) Steponaitis is a professor of anthropology and the former director of the Research Labs of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a former head of the Society for American Archaeology. Mr. Steponaitis holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and one of his major research interests is the moundbuilder cultures of the Mississippi Delta.

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.

Gordon P. Wilson, Chairman, is a retired investment and mutual fund manager.  He served as chief investment officer of Kemper Financial Services and president of Kemper-Murray Johnstone International in Chicago. Wilson is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and taught investments at Northwestern University. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center and Futures for Children.  He holds a Masters degree in finance from the University of Illinois and lives in Santa Fe. Learn more about Gordon Wilson in our blog series The People Behind TAC: Economics & Archaeology- My Road to The Archaeological Conservancy