Board Officers
John Driggers, President
John is the son of Nathan “Barry” Driggers, a key figure in the Foundation’s early formation and conservation orientation. John basically “grew up” with the Foundation, and as result, was instilled early with Foundation’s principals regarding stewardship and conservation. His long term exposure to the Foundation’s activities has allowed John to follow ongoing conservation efforts in the northern Rockies, an area where he maintains a deep personal interest. John has an MBA in Finance, and a variety of experiences from various successful entrepreneurial activities. This background helps John support the Foundation to grow its investments and maintain its conservation focus. John has been on the Board since 1998, and was elected Vice President in 2013. John became the Foundation’s President early in 2015. In this capacity, John manages the work of the Board of Trustees, and provides strategic guidance and support to both the investment and program activities of the Foundation.
Bob Langbauer, Vice President and Treasurer
Bob has long enjoyed working with state grassroots conservation groups. He first became involved as a founding member of the Mono Lake Committee dealing with water rights in the West. Later he gained experience in investment management and has directed the Foundation investment process since 1996 from our office in Naples, Florida.
Del Langbauer, Senior Program Advisor
After more than 20 years as President of The Harder Foundation, Del retired in early 2015, turning the 
presidential gavel over to John Driggers. Del will continue to serve as a Trustee; and as Senior Program Advisor, he will maintain his active engagement with our Alaska grantmaking program. Earlier in his career, Del taught comparative religion and philosophy for 22 years at the University of Puget Sound, in Tacoma, Washington. His area of personal research was the implications for environmental ethics of symbols and values in traditional Asian cultures. Del has been an active mountaineer, sailor and sea kayaker, and a long-term volunteer environmentalist. He began serving as an environmental program advisor to The Harder Foundation in 1978; became Vice-President of the Foundation after retiring from the University; and in 1994 was elected as its President.
Program Team
Cathy Lehman, Senior Program Officer
Program Advisory Panel
Gabe Langbauer
Gabe Langbauer was fourteen years old in 1995 when he was inspired by the IPCC’s Second Assessment Report. His fleeting attempts to understand the human impact on complex biological systems led Gabe to pursue a degree in atmospheric science. Over the last dozen years Gabe’s passion for linking the natural world to humanity has led him to a successful career providing individualized meteorological support for complex problems. In his personal life, Gabe enjoys doing almost anything outdoors with his wife and young daughters. Gabe’s ability to find data driven methods to ease the burden on the human/environment interface led him to find a home on the Science Advisory Panel. His greatest hope is that his role on this panel will help protect public lands and Earth’s biodiversity
Nels Langbauer
Nels began his professional life guiding and leading backpacking and sea kayaking trips in Latin America and on the West Coast of the US. He worked on sustainable tourismprojects throughout Latin America including Patagonia and Brazil. His focus moved to education and has been teaching and coordinating special education and language education programs in California and Oregon as well as service learning trips to Brazil throughout that time. He is currently a Resource Specialist and an educational doctorate student while serving on the program advisory panel of The Harder Foundation. Nels is honored and excited to be serving on the program advisory panel of The Harder Foundation supporting campaigns that are deeply important to him.
Contract Administrative Support
Mary Beth Garafola
Financial Assistant
The Harder Foundation, Florida Office
Elaine Zacka
Grants Manager
The Harder Foundation, Florida Office