Wildcat Glades Audubon- Meet The Staff 2

201 W Riviera Drive, Suite A
Joplin, MO 64804
(417) 782-NATR

Meet The Staff

Our greatest resource is our experienced and friendly staff. Below are short profiles of each...

Ron Foster, Buildings & Grounds Caretaker, Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center
Ron joined the staff March 2009. He worked at Missouri Southern State University and retired in July 2007 after 27 years of service. He previously volunteered his time at WGCAC, working closely with the maintenance supervisor. Ron grew up in Parsons, Kansas and went into the Navy shortly after high school. Upon completion of his duty, he attended Pittsburg State University and earned a B.S.T. with a major in printing. He has served in the Air Force Reserve and retired in 2004 as a Senior Master Sergeant. He is an avid hiker and birder and loves being outdoors.

Robin McAlester, Executive Director, Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center
Robin graduated from MSSU with a B.A. in communications and has worked with nonprofit organizations throughout her career beginning with the United Way of Southwest Missouri which included a variety of development and marketing responsibilities. Prior to joining Audubon Missouri, she organized marketing efforts for St. John's Regional Medical Center, Joplin, Mo.. \

Chris Pistole, Education Director, Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center
Chris, originally from Pittsburg, Ks. graduated with his B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology from Pittsburg State University. After graduating he worked as the program director at NatureReach, a nature education outreach program in Pittsburg. During that time he coordinated Raptor Reach, a rehabilitation program for sick, injured and orphaned birds of prey. At the same time, he worked for the Southeast Kansas Education Service Center (Greenbush) with the Abernathy Science Education Center. Most recently he worked as a park naturalist with the Johnson Co. (Kansas) Park and Recreation District at the Ernie Miller Nature Center in Olathe, Ks. In Chris' free time you may find him bird feeding, hiking, camping, scuba diving, photographing nature, gardening or mountain biking.

Donna Whitehead, Office Manager, Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center
Donna has an extensive volunteer history working with Master Gardeners, Master Naturalists and her local church. She helped manage a local lumber yard for six years. She has most recently helped open and operate a local restaurant and was a coordinator of the Title VII Native American Grant for the Seneca School District.

Chanda Williams, Teacher/Naturalist, comes to us from Prairie State Park where she worked as an Interpretive Resource Specialist since 2004. She holds a master's degree in biology from Emporia State University and lives in Joplin. For her master's research, she examined butterfly abundance and species diversity on burn versus burn and grazed land in the flint hills region of Kansas. Her prior naturalist experience includes Graham Cave State Park in Missouri and Great Plains Nature Center, Dillon Nature Center and the Hutchinson Zoo, all in Kansas.