Speaker

Carrie Vollmer-Sanders

Carrie Vollmer-Sanders was named the Nutrient Strategy Manger for The Nature Conservancy’s North America Agriculture Program in February 2016. In this role, she works closely with state program staff and partners throughout the region, with a special focus in the Mississippi, Great Lakes, Chesapeake and Everglades basins, to reduce the amount of nutrients entering our freshwater systems and oceans. In Carrie’s prior role as the Conservancy’s Director of the Western Lake Erie Basin Project, she excelled at developing partnerships with a broad base of stakeholders, ranging from working farmers, agribusinesses, researchers, corporations, government agencies, other non-profits and conservation groups. Under her leadership, these diverse groups came together to develop the 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification Program to ensure sustainable nutrient management practices are adopted by the agriculture industry for long-term water quality benefits in Lake Erie. In 2014, President Obama honored Carrie for her work to reduce agricultural runoff into Lake Erie. Before joining the Conservancy in 2010, Carrie worked for Michigan Farm Bureau as their Agricultural Ecology Specialist. She has a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture and Biology Education and a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics, focusing on environmental economics, both from Michigan State University. Carrie is a board member of the Steuben County YMCA and volunteers with the Soil and Water Conservation Society, Angola United Methodist Church, 4-H, FFA, and a local school. She and her husband, Ryan, farm in Ohio and Indiana and live in Angola, Indiana, with their two sons, Ethan and Isaac.