Michele Colopy, President/ Treasurer, and co-founder has been focused on honey bees, beekeeping, and pollinator education for more than seven years. Her father was a beekeeper in southeast Ohio for their small apple orchard. She keeps honey bees in the city, and has replaced her crabgrass front yard with pesticide-free pollinator flowers for her honey bees and native pollinators. She was the Program Director for the Pollinator Stewardship Council from 2013 to 2019.
Ms. Colopy holds a Master’s degree in Nonprofit Management/Arts Administration. Her nonprofit experience includes work in the performing arts, housing and homelessness, foreclosure prevention, community development, and health and wellness. She volunteered as Treasurer of The Ohio State Beekeepers Association (OSBA) from 2016-2019 modernizing the accounting, co-managing a USDA grant, administering the Affiliate program, and managing two grant programs of OSBA.
Terry Lieberman-Smith, Secretary, and Co-Founder has been actively involved with bees, beekeeping, and local beekeeping associations for over 15 years. She has held a variety of leadership positions in both the local and state level beekeeping associations. At The Ohio State Beekeepers Association, Inc., she was Newsletter Editor for 8 years, Conference Coordinator for 7 years, Vice-President for 4 years, and President for 2 years.
Terry understands the importance of clean pollinator habitat and enrolled part of her property in CRP to ensure that not only the bees in her apiary, but all pollinators in the area have a haven for forage. Terry holds an undergraduate degree in business, along with an MBA specializing in Logistics. She incorporates her business background, leadership skills, and interest in sustainable beekeeping practices to help strengthen the beekeeping community and develop partnerships with other like-minded groups.
Becky Johnson, Vice President, has been an avid beekeeper and solo owner / operator of Kiss My Beehive and Stargazer Farm for several years. She enjoys catching swarms,cutting beehives out of walls or buildings, managing / maintaining several bee yards, creating products from the hive and teaching others about these amazing girls. She has held several positions in her state and local entities in facilitating education and support for all pollinators and advocates. Becky has a deep devotion to teaching others. Education is fundamental in everything we do, every day; and she feels fortunate to have researched and experienced things that she can pass on to others.
Board of Directors documents
LEAD for Pollinators By Laws
LEAD for Pollinators 2020- 990 on Guidestar /Candid
Organizational Accomplishments
FY 2022
FY 2021
FY 2020
Email a Board member: info@leadforpollinators.org
2023 Presentations to date:
Rolla Bee Club, Missouri, Feb. 16, 2023
Presentations for Save White Pond group: March 11, 18, and 25, 2023
Renaissance Senior Community- Nature Club, March 22, 2023
Community Life Collaborative event, May 20, 2023
Haven of Rest Men’s Garden group April 13, 2023
Middle Tennessee Beekeepers Assn., April 13, 2023
Oak Hill Presbyterian Church, April 23, 2023
Western Apiculture Society Mini-Conference, May 17, 2023
Pollinator Palooza, June 24, 2023
Tennessee Beekeepers Assn. Conference, Oct. 6, 2023
Heartland Creation Care & Justice Retreat, Oct. 14, 2023
Community Life Collaborative event, Aug. 12, 2023
LEAD for Pollinators, Inc. Accomplishments 2020
Presentations provided:
- Jan. 19, 2020 Trumbull County Beekeepers
- Feb. 13, 2020- Beekeepers of Middle Tennessee
- March 30, 2020- Miller South School- 6-7th grade science students
- April 20, 2020- Calif. Master Beekeepers
- May 9, 2020- DAR, Dayton, OH
- May 13, 2020-Interview on Fox 45-My TV Dayton
- June 9, 2020- Wake County Beekeepers, North Carolina
- July 13, 2020- Blount County Beekeepers, Tennessee
Policy Actions Taken:
- LEAD for Pollinators submitted a Comment letter to EPA concerning Neonicotinoids -May 2020
- Signed on to Beyond Pesticides EPA Neonic Comment letter
- Created virtual Earth Day poster participating in Rainforest Action Network virtual march
- Signed onto letter to Environmental Protection Agency to rescind or replace its policy allowing companies to stop reporting how much they pollute under the guise of COVID-19 with the Natural Resources Defense Council
- Signed onto the Food and Water Watch/ Friends of the Earth comment letter to Treasury Secretary to direct Title IV funds towards helping small and mid-sized family farmers stay on their land.
- Signed onto the Coming Clean, Inc. comment letter to EPA about the indiscriminate advance waiver of enforcement and penalties for essential health and safety requirements at tens of thousands of polluting and hazardous facilities which will unnecessarily endanger workers and the public, without any application, disclosure, or other oversight required by facilities or the agency.
- Took action in Massachusetts concerning mosquito spraying and worked to encourage a revision to H.4650, coordinated through MassNOFA coalition (of which LEAD for Pollinators is part of the coalition).
- Work on Akron, OH Beekeeping and Urban Agriculture ordinances.