National LYmantria Management Board

Carl Harper

Chair

University of Kentucky's Department of Entomology; Office of the State Entomologist

A native of Kentucky, Carl has been working in the spongy moth field since 1996.  Carl has been the program manager for the Kentucky program for more than 20 years.  He is a member of the National Lymantria Management Board (Chair) and the Slow the Spread Foundation Board of Directors (Secretary).  He and his wife, Anne, have 2 children: Erin (a sophomore at the University of Kentucky; studying entomology) and Alexa (a high school junior who loves writing).  Outside of work, Carl enjoys woodworking, playing racquetball, and helping on the family farm.

Jonathan Shields

Vice Chair

Ohio Department of Agriculture

Jonathan Shields manages the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Spongy Moth and Spotted Lanternfly response programs.  Jonathan has positions on the National Lymantria Management Board and the Slow the Spread Board of Directors.  He has over 15 years of experience in invasive pest programs.  Jonathan holds bachelor's and master's degrees in biology from Bowling Green State University.  Jonathan and his wife, Sharon have three college age children: Nathaniel, Avery, and Jackson.  Jonathan lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he enjoys curling, spending time outdoors, and attending concerts.

Nancy Johnson

Secretary/Treasurer

Illinois Department of Agriculture

Nancy Johnson manages the Illinois Department of Agriculture's Spongy Moth Program and has been the manager since 2012.  She joined the Slow The Spread Program and the IDoA in 2000 as a trapper and a trapper coordinator on its pilot program.  She has served at the National Lymantria Managment Board since 2013.   Nancy Lives in Princeton, Illinois where she has a wildlife rehabilitation  & education center sharing her love of all animals and in March you can find her in Tanzania as a guide for wildlife safaris.

Dr. Ksenia Onufrieva 

Virginia Tech Department of Entomology 

Ksenia Onufrieva holds an M.S. degree from Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia, and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech, USA. She is currently a Research Scientist at Virginia Tech, where she works on optimizing spongy moth management as part of the National Slow the Spread of the Spongy Moth Program. Ksenia’s research focuses on chemical ecology and supports ecological strategies for managing invasive species and enhancing forest health. 

Member Industry

Valent BioSciences

Jacques is a biologist with almost 40 years of experience in project management and in forest protection programs. He joined Valent BioSciences in 2001 as Field R&D Scientist and is now acting as the Global Forest Health Business Manager since 2020. Jacques lives in Quebec City, Canada.

Tiffany Pahs

Director At Large

Washington Department of Agriculture

Tiffany Pahs is the Entomology Branch Manager and State Survey Coordinator for WSDA’s Plant Protection Division where she oversees a variety of programs including spongy moth, apple maggot, Japanese beetle, terrestrial mollusks, and the CAPS surveys. Tiffany has been working in invasive species management for 18 years; 8 of those years as the Spongy Moth Program Coordinator. She joined the National Lymantria Management Board as Director at Large in 2019. In her free time, Tiffany enjoys hiking in the mountains, kayaking, biking, or just enjoying life in Washington with her husband and their retired racing greyhound.  

Ben Templeton 

Director At Large

Virginia Department of Agriculture& Consumer Services

Ben is the Project Supervisor of Virginia’s STS program for VDACS Office of Plant Industry Services (OPIS) and has been serving in this role for nearly two years. Before this, he was a nursery inspector for OPIS for 12 years in the westernmost portion of the state. Ben earned his BS in Biology and then MS in Forestry at Virginia Tech. Except for a year spent working for the FIA program of the US Forest Service in Louisiana, he is a lifelong native of Virginia and enjoys hiking and exploring the many beautiful natural areas of the state; Ben also enjoys cooking, gardening, and birding.

Director At Large

West Virginia Department of Agriculture

 Jeff joined the West Virginia Department of Agriculture in 1989 as a seasonal employee on the Spongy moth AIPM program and then the STS program. In 1993 he became a full-time employee with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and has worked in the plant industries division on spongy moth and other invasive plants and insects ever since. In 2009 he had the opportunity to visit Japan on a group study exchange and share ideas about invasive species. Now as a Plant Industries Regional Coordinator and Member of the National Lymantria Management Board his time is divided between Landowner Cooperative Suppression for Spongy moth, Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, West Virginia Hemp program, Spotted Lantern Fly, and Emerald Ash Borer. In his spare time Jeff coaches track at the local high schools, and studies language and culture(currently Chinese). Jeff lives in Buckhannon West Virginia with his wife Jody. They enjoy traveling and every so often, when they get a chance, make their way to the beach to unwind.

Director At Large