1 / 3
REFUGE/DDWS
Brian White and Becky Clemens have joined the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge’s board of directors.
2 / 3
REFUGE/DDWS
Board members past and present gathered at the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge’s annual meeting on Dec. 3 on Sanibel. From left, Bill Valerian, Brian White, Barb Bluedorn, Wendy Kindig, Becky Clemens, Jo Smith, Robin Cook, Hank Spire, Bill Millar and John McCabe.
3 / 3
REFUGE/DDWS
From left, “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge Vice President Bill Millar presents Emeritus Board Member Bill Valerian with an award for his service.
[expand]
close
The “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS) elected two new board members and installed its 2026 officers at its annual business meeting on Dec. 3 at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel.
The new members include Becky Clemens and Brian White, who will serve three-year terms.
Bill Harkey was re-elected as president. Serving with him will be Bill Millar as vice president, Barb Bluedorn as secretary and Dick Levinson as interim treasurer. Immediate Past President Wendy Kindig will also sit on the executive committee. Retiring Member Bill Valerian was elected to the emeritus board.
“Brian and Becky both bring diverse skill sets and experience to the society’s board. Their creative and financial skills provide valuable assets. The board is all the better for having them join us,” Harkey said. “We thank them, the board officers and the entire board for their dedication to conservation and wildlife sustainability.”
Clemens retired from a career as a special education teacher and school principal in 2015, the same year that she and her husband bought a home on Sanibel, where they had been visiting for three years. They spend eight months of the year on the island.
“One of the reasons we chose to retire on Sanibel was the refuge,” Clemens said. “I had never lived in a suburban setting, and the outdoors and nature have always been very important to me. When we discovered that two-thirds of Sanibel is in conservation land, we knew it was the perfect spot.”
After earning her Master Naturalist certification from the University of Florida in Gainesville, she started volunteering in 2019 as a rover on Wildlife Drive. Her husband, too, volunteers at the refuge.
Retirement to Sanibel also afforded Clemens that opportunity to pursue her interest in wildlife photography. She often leads photography tours at the refuge, and this year she placed second in the “Ding” Darling Amateur Photo Contest.
“My background in education makes me see the refuge as such an important place to teach people about the amazing estuary and unique habitat that make up ‘Ding’ Darling. It’s a very special place,” Clemens, who calls upstate New York her other home, said. “As a board member, I value the opportunity to carry on their very important work and preserve this beautiful land for generations to come.”
White is a certified public accountant, licensed in Connecticut, New York and Florida. He is a retired partner at Nanavaty Davenport Studley & White, where he specialized in not-for-profit accounting, auditing and consulting until his retirement in December 2024.
Prior to that, White was a partner at Studley White & Associates, and he also worked for PepsiCo, Texas Gulf Sulphur and Price Waterhouse.
White discovered Sanibel through his wife, whose parents had a home on the island since 1979. He started visiting in 1986, and now the Whites are snowbirds, splitting their time five months on Sanibel and the rest of the year in Newtown, Connecticut. He serves on many boards of director in Newtown and currently at the Newtown Savings Bank as chair of the audit committee. White is a former chair of its enterprise risk and investment committees.
“Susan’s family introduced us to ‘Ding’ Darling, and we took our three sons on multiple visits to the refuge,” he said.