Women's Council
Sarah Biedenharn
Sarah Biedenharn
Sarah Nunley Biedenharn is a fourth generation landowner, rancher, and hunter. Sarah, along with her
sister and cousin, form the fourth generation of leadership for the Nunley Brothers. Founded by her
great-grandfather and expanded by her father and uncle, the family’s Santa Gertrudis cow-calf
operation has ranches in South Texas and the Trans-Pecos.
Sarah received her Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and accounting from Texas Christian
University. She has worked most of her career in the hospitality industry but spends as much time as
possible at the ranch with her husband, Tucker, and son, Henry.
Sarah serves as a Director and past President of Texas Wildlife Association, a board member of the Texas
Agricultural Land Trust, an Advisory Board member of Borderlands Research Institute, and a member of
the Texas Parks and Wildlife Whitetail Deer Advisory Committee.
Meredith Ellis
G Bar C Ranch
Meredith Ellis
Meredith Ellis (G Bar C Ranch) is an award winning 2nd Generation rancher in Rosston, TX. Working alongside her father, GC Ellis and ranch manager, Mike Knabe, they manage 200 mother cows on 3000 acres of land which Meredith lovingly refers to as her “national park.” She passionately believes in ranching’s ability to provide nutritious food to a growing population while leaving habitat and natural ecosystems intact. Meredith received her Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture with a focus on sustainability from the University of New Mexico. Through her formal education she is very familiar with the health and fragility of the ranch’s natural ecosystems and knows its importance to not only the success of her operation but to the health of our planet as a whole.
Sarah Fulton-Smith
AMERICAN FARMLAND TRUST
Sarah Fulton-SMith
Sarah Fulton-Smith has been the Texas Director at American Farmland Trust since the spring of 2023. As a seventh generation Texan, she cares deeply about leading programs that improve the resilience of Texas’ working lands and the farmers and ranchers that steward them. Sarah has worked at the intersection of agriculture and climate change issues throughout her career as a policy advocate, a researcher, and a landowner/ operator. She worked in Washington, DC as a Senior Associate for Climate and Energy at the United Nations Foundation, and as a consultant for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization focusing on advancing sustainable land use and bioenergy policy efforts through stakeholder engagement and consensus building.
Jessica Karlsruher
Jessica Karlsruher
Jessica Karlsruher has more than 20 years of experience with trade associations and nonprofit organizations. She began her career at the Texas Capitol and after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, Jessica worked in the Governmental Affairs department of the Texas Association of Realtors® (TAR) where she coordinated lobby days and other grassroots efforts, hosted leadership and PAC conferences and lobbied on behalf of TAR. Jessica left the Realtors® after four years of service to work in Washington, DC in state society management including board development, volunteer recruitment and state advocacy efforts. She transitioned into nonprofit fundraising, raising awareness and funds for patient advocacy organizations during the rest of her time in DC. In 2013, Jessica moved back to continuing to serve in the nonprofit advocacy space and has been with TREAD since 2019. Her roots run deep as a 6th generation Texan, a landowner and a steward of Texas land and resources. Jessica is a proud member of the Texas Wildlife Association, Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers, Texas Land & Mineral Owners Association and serves on a Pipeline Safety Standards Committee with the American Petroleum Institute.
Ginny King
Ginny King
Virginia (Ginny) King is a geologist with over 33 years of global experience in the environmental field and is
the subject matter expert (SME) for Natural Capital at Stantec. She has extensive experience in designing
and executing natural capital strategies to achieve corporate ESG, sustainability, biodiversity and carbon
goals domestically and globally. She has provided expertise in strategically resolving environmental liability
involving multiple contaminants in groundwater and soils, including petrochemical and manufacturing sites,
legacy mining sites, pipelines, and refineries utilizing natural capital and nature-based solution strategies.
Julie Lewey
Julie Lewey
Julie Lewey is a proud 7th-generation Texan whose life and passions are deeply intertwined
with the ranchlands and rivers that flow through the heart of the Lone Star State. Born and
raised along the Nueces River, Julie has dedicated her life to ranching and conservation to
preserve the wild lands of Texas and the rivers that sustain them.
With a profound sense of duty to her heritage and a heartfelt commitment to safeguarding land
and water, Julie works to build partnerships with landowners and implement conservation
ranching techniques to recover and improve resource values. Her work is built upon a
foundation of respect for the land and a deep understanding of the delicate balance that
sustains it.
Julie serves on the boards of the Hill Country Alliance and the Friends of the Pecos River.
Through these roles, she supports initiatives to protect and revitalize Texas' rivers.
Stephanie Musgrave
Stephanie Musgrave
Stephanie C. Musgrave spent 27 years as a journalist with experience in mixed use multi-media campaigns, marketing, public relations, advertising, print, television, and social media. Stephanie honed her skills in DFW, Los Angeles, and New York City markets.
As a journalist Stephanie had the pleasure of launching programming with well-known networks, including The Discovery Channel. Stephanie has contributed to NBC‘s Today Show in New York, NBC’s Today Show, and Good Morning America. After the birth of sons Luke and Nicholas, Stephanie shifted to contributing editor to The LA Times, USA Today, Womens Health Magazine, Prevention Magazine, Self Magazine, and Modern Luxury magazine's Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas Profiles.
Tamara Wood
Tamara Wood
Tamara Wood has over ten years of experience as an applied ecologist and business owner in the field of natural resource conservation. From her bachelor's and Master's of Science in Forestry degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University, Tamara has served key roles in in developing and founding an impressive platform of successful environmental asset-based companies.
Her current endeavors include a role of Managing Director of Ecological Services at Conservation Equity Management, a private equity investment firm focused on environmental sustainability and conservation. She is also a co-owner and lead ecologist at Conservation Equity Partners, an enterprise that focuses on natural resource consulting, mitigation banking, and rural land investment. Most recently she has co-founded Habitat Select Nursey, a company specializing in propagating and sourcing high-quality plant materials to improve land management across the Southeast.
Margo Richards
Margo Richards
Margo Richards is a proud sixth-generation Texan and fifth-generation Aggie with a deep love for the outdoors. Her extensive career in the travel and outdoor industries has focused on promoting and creating unique adventures across the state for native Texans and visitors alike. As senior vice president of Community Resources for the Lower Colorado River Authority, Margo oversees about 40 parks along the lower Colorado River that welcome more than 1.5 million visitors annually. Margo and her family own and operate Maysel Ranch, a cow-calf operation in Freestone County that has been in the family since 1948. She spends much of her time in the parks developing innovative fun experiences for visitors. Margo serves as treasurer of the Texas Travel Alliance and is on the membership committee of the Texas Wildlife Association.