Board Members & Volunteers

Steve practiced as a CPA for 5 years before focusing on representing clients with the sales of their companies. He co-founded and was president of BKD Corporate Finance, a subsidiary of BKD, LLP one of the top 10 CPA firms in the US. After retiring in 2013, Steve and wife Susan moved to Lake Norfork, east of Mountain Home. Susan’s family moved to Mountain Home in 1968, and Steve and Susan have spent the last 40 years, along with their 2 children and 4 grandchildren enjoying the natural beauty of the Twin Lakes area.

Steve mentors youth and mobility impaired individuals on Dry Run Creek next to the Norfork National Fish Hatchery helping them catch beautiful trout, introducing people to the creek’s aquatic life and demonstrates how to tie flies that catch trout and how to properly handle and release the trout. He recognized the need for a broader and more structured approach to teaching kids on Dry Run Creek and with the help of many expert area fly fishers, founded Dry Run Creek Academy. The Academy teaches the Sport and Science of Fly Fishing in Dry Run Creek. www.dryruncreekacademy.org. DRCA is sponsored by Friends of the Norfork National Fish Hatchery, White River Trout Unlimited Chapter 698, North Arkansas Fly Fishers and Friends of the North Fork and White Rivers.

Steve enjoys trout and lake fishing and is very passionate about keeping our water and environment clean for the next generations. He is President of Friends of the North Fork and White Rivers and a Board Member of the Mountain Home Education Foundation. He is a Life Member of North Arkansas Fly Fishers, Trout Unlimited and Friends of the North Fork and White Rivers. Friends of the North Fork and White Rivers is a nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to protecting our wonderful watersheds. Their focus is the middle White  River from the Bull Shoals  and Norfork Dams to Batesville and includes many sub watersheds such as Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River.ww.friendsoftherivers.org

After having worked as a municipal accountant for 20 years, I retired from that position and started my second career as a payroll accountant for another 10 years before again retiring -- this time for good.  After somewhat adjusting to this huge change in lifestyle, I felt that another change was also necessary -- this time in scenery.  So I sold everything and moved from the prairies and corn and bean fields of north central Illinois to the mountains and lakes of Arkansas.

I now live in a condo in a 55+ community and no longer have to worry about yard work because the condo association takes care of that for me.  So in order to meet people (I knew no one when I first moved here), I decided that volunteering would give me the opportunity to make new acquaintances and friendships.  On any given day, I can be found volunteering with four different organizations  — the fish hatchery visitor center, the library, the museum and the Bargain Box. 

Volunteering has given me the opportunity and ability to meet all kinds of people from the local area, and, at the hatchery, I have had wonderful conversations with visitors from other states and even visitors from other countries as I share bits of information about the area and, more importantly, the life cycle of the trout.