Anna Priest, PWS

Blue Earth is pleased to announce that Anna Priest has joined our Board of Directors.  A lifelong Asheville native and graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill, Anna has developed unique interdisciplinary professional skills that combine her passion for math and environmental science with business and non-profit organization management.

As a professional wetland scientist (PWS), Anna has conducted numerous stream and wetland assessments throughout Western North Carolina and has a deep understanding of our ecoregion. And as a financial coach and instructor with Mountain BizWorks, Anna has helped numerous businesses and non-profit organizations succeed with their business management. Along her career path, Anna has served as the Executive Director of the Asheville Museum of Science and she currently serves as a Project Manager with ClearWater Environmental. 

Additionally, Anna serves on the Asheville Downtown Association Board as well as the City of Asheville’s Sustainability Advisory Committee on Energy and the Environment (SACEE).  These two boards allow her to stay connected with the community and better understand the environmental and economic impacts of current events.  In addition to her day jobs and volunteer work, Anna loves exploring the beautiful mountains that surround our region by hiking, biking, and running. 

Tim Ormond, P.E.

Tim Ormond, P.E. has over twenty-five years of water resources planning and engineering experience.  He is recognized for his expertise in watershed hydrology, stormwater management, green infrastructure and innovative research.  While working for a global consulting firm for fourteen years, Tim led water resources and environmental projects throughout the United States, including innovative stormwater pilot projects in the mountainous Lake Tahoe watershed, which has some of the most stringent water quality protection standards in the nation.

Tim’s extensive experience in innovative stormwater management in Western North Carolina includes the steep slope bioretention pilot project, funded by the Clean Water Management Trust Fund Innovative Stormwater Grant program, the stormwater mycelium filter pilot project, as well the Bailey Mundy Stormwater Demonstration Park at the Mars Hill Town Hall, which received the Land of Sky Friends of the River Award in 2014.  

Tim holds a B.S. degree in civil and environmental engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1991) and an M.S. degree in civil and water resources engineering from Texas A&M University (1993).  He has completed extensive coursework in sustainable approaches to stormwater management, rainwater harvesting and ecological design.  Tim is an avid student of ecological design systems and has studied permaculture design for many years.  He earned his permaculture design certificate (PDC) in 2013. 

A registered professional engineer since 1997, Tim has published and presented numerous technical papers at regional and national professional conferences. He is a member of the American Ecological Engineering Society, the Rainwater Harvesting Technical Committee for the American Society of Civil Engineers as well as the Chi Epsilon and Tau Beta Pi engineering honor societies.

In 2009, Tim founded HydroCycle Engineering as a consulting firm which specializes in sustainable and regenerative design to protect and enhance the natural environment.  He has volunteered with the Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council since 2013, focusing on the vital interconnections between water, resilient local food systems and community health. And in 2018, he joined with his friends and colleagues Marshall Taylor and Tom Bailey to start Blue Earth Planning, Engineering & Design, PC in order to have a greater positive impact on the world around us.

Marshall Taylor, P.E.

Marshall has over 40 years of experience in water resources planning, management and engineering. His experience has been broad, starting in his college years working for small civil engineering firms, performing both undergraduate and graduate research in the field, leading water resources groups in large firms for over 15 years, and founding and managing two previous consulting firms. His technical experience lies in hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, water quality analysis, water supply planning and drought management, reservoir operations, watershed assessment and master planning, benefit-cost analysis, and development of Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements.  

Marshall received his B.S. and M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1974, 1976) and completed advanced graduate studies in water resources systems analysis at Case Western University (1977) and Cornell University (1980-1981). At the M.S. and advanced graduate levels, his studies combined engineering with Agricultural and Natural Resources Economics and public policy development. 

In addition to his technical knowledge and experience, Marshall brings the interest and proven ability to coach and mentor project team members and serve as a stakeholder facilitator and public educator. Water and environmental education have been one of Marshall’s passions since the early 1980s. He taught engineering classes at University of Nebraska and Cornell University and at seminars and workshops throughout the US and abroad.  Over the years, he has worked with thousands of students, in both formal and informal settings, to aid their understanding and appreciation of our watersheds, stream, river and lakes, the life within them, and their importance to our well-being.  As a founding member of two watershed protection organizations, and an active supporter of others, Marshall believes that we each, as part of an integrated community, have a responsibility to protect and restore our natural resources.