Will Stelle first joined the Land Trust in 2018 after departing the Obama administration, served two terms and then rejoined the Board in 2025 after a one year hiatus. He had in earlier lives specialized in marine resource law and spent a decade in Washington D.C. in a variety of policy roles with the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, and as special assistant to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to shape the Northwest Forest Plan. He then moved to the White House in the Clinton/Gore administration to referee interdepartmental natural resources policy issues and budgets. He and his wife Claudia escaped to the Puget Sound region in the mid-1990s with their four sons where he served two tours of duty as Regional Administrator of NOAA Fisheries for the PNW and West Coast.

Will and Claudia live in a drafty old farmhouse on the north shore of Penn Cove — with their four sons now departed — and enjoy the country life in this wonderful place working hard, growing things, breaking and fixing things, and having fun.