Ellen Lapham is an Emeritus Director of the American Alpine Club and co-chairs the AAC’s Conservation Committee, dedicated to preserving and protecting the places we love to climb. She is the co-leader of the AAC sponsored American Climber Science Program, currently carrying out a 3 year volunteer project in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca. She has led land conservation and management programs in the Western United States’ Sierra Nevada bio-region and worked on the critical 20 year plan for the Lake Tahoe Basin. Ellen chaired the Board of the Trust for Hidden Villa, a pioneering environmental education center in Northern California that serves over 50,000 visitors and students every year. Her professional focus is in high technology businesses as a turnaround CEO, founder of companies, investor in new ventures, and director of strategic marketing/public relations programs for major computer firms. Ellen prefers to be on rock and ice in remote and high places: she climbed on Mount Everest north side expeditions in 1986 and 1989 and later skied across Ellesmere Island. She holds an MBA from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Syracuse University. Right now, Ellen is building up a small farm in the Sierra Nevada foothills in California—close to excellent climbing, skiing, and mountain biking.
