Board

Doug Lentz started his career with the National Park Service in 1979 as a seasonal Road Crew employee. He worked seasonally as a Laborer and Park Ranger for many seasons in different National Parks. He became a permanent law enforcement/search and rescue/EMS/fire Supervisory Park Ranger in Yellowstone. He worked his way up to being the Superintendent at the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Near the end of his career he was Acting Superintendent at Petrified Forest National Park. He couldn’t have had a better assignment and really appreciated the resources and staff at the Park. He retired after 38 years with the National Park Service and then joined the board of Friends of Petrified Forest National Park.

Dr. Robert Breunig is the President Emeritus of the Museum of Northern Arizona where he was president and the chief executive officer from 2003 to 2015.

Dr. Breunig’s career included working at the Heard Museum in Phoenix as Deputy Director and Chief Curator, and at Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden where he served as Executive Director for nine years.

He left Arizona for a time, serving as Executive Director for California’s Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and, later, for The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas.

Nationally, Dr. Breunig was appointed by both President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton to serve on the National Museum and Library Services Board (NMLSB), the governing board of the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.

In 2012, he received the Individual Award at the 31st Annual Arizona Governor’s Arts Awards and in 2013 was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Northern Arizona University.

He was also the recipient of the Director’s Chair Award from the Western Museums Association in 2014 and in 2015 represented the Museum of Northern Arizona as the institutional recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, presented by First Lady Michelle Obama at a White House ceremony.

Gary Grube, originally from Kansas, is a retired high school teacher and counselor. He has also been a cabinet maker and an office manager for his wife, Connie, a Certified Public Accountant. They live in the White Mountains, 70 miles south of the park. Following retirement, Gary and Connie volunteered at the park for five seasons. As park volunteers, they developed the routes for the Guided Backcountry Hikes program and were the original leaders of those hikes.

Gary has served on the Friends Board since 2020.

Bich-Hoa Nguyen, D.O., a native of Vietnam, is an osteopathic family medical doctor at the Winslow Indian Health Care Center. Her hobbies include birding, hiking, cooking, and drawing.

Bill Jeffers is a cattle rancher and a lifelong resident of Navajo County. He serves on the board of directors of the non-profit Petrified Forest Museum Association Board, the group that runs the park’s gift stores.

Bill is also on the Northern Arizona Healthcare Board. He attended the University of Arizona, earning degrees in Economics and Business. Bill has served Arizona as Chairman of the State Transportation Board, a member of the State Appellate Court Commission, and as President of the Arizona Natural Resource Conservation District Association.

The Jeffers’ Ranch borders the Painted Desert on the Park’s northwest boundary and Bill, his wife, Lois, and his sister, Ann, consider the Park to be a partner and a friend.

Before becoming a National Park, a portion of the Jeffers Ranch was included in the boundaries of the Painted Desert, making the status of “National Park” possible, which allowed the park to become a true “gem” and recreational and scientific treasure.

Matt Walters is a retired insurance claims supervisor. He followed up his retirement by volunteering in National Parks. He and his wife, Dorenda, volunteered at Petrified Forest National Park for five winter seasons. They continue to volunteer at National Parks including Death Valley National Park, Katmai National Park, Hawaii Volcano National Park and Big Bend National Park. Matt and Dorenda live in Iowa. They are avid cyclists and hikers. Matt volunteers at other events at home, including the Ronald McDonald House, the Principal Charity Classic, and the Drake Relays. They enjoy the beauty of nature and sharing it with others. While volunteering at Petrified Forest National Park, they led backcountry hikes for four seasons. Both fell in love with the southwest.

Dr. Regan Dunn is the Interim Assistant Deputy Director and Assistant Curator at the La Brea Tar Pits. She is a paleobotanist whose research seeks to understand the interplay between climate, plants, and animal evolution through time. She studies a variety of plant fossil types including phytoliths, pollen and macrofloras to reconstruct ancient vegetation structure and composition. She has a PhD in Biology from the University of Washington, a Master of Science in Botany from the University of Wyoming, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Colorado State University. Before coming to the La Brea Tar Pits, Dr. Dunn worked as a paleobotanist for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the National Park Service at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, and the Field Museum of Chicago. She has performed extensive fieldwork in South and Central America, Mexico and in the western United States. At the La Brea Tar Pits, Dr. Dunn’s research focuses on understanding vegetation change over the last 50,000 years in the Los Angeles Basin and how the fossil record informs us about future change.