Complete the form below to select one candidate for each open position and provide your contact information. Keep scrolling to learn more about the candidates.
Votes accepted through midnight Pacific Time on Wednesday December 17th, 2025. Results will be announced at the December 18th Annual Meeting and posted on the WFC Board Member page.
Check out the bios below for three candidates for Wild Fish Conservancy board member positions and then fill out the form to cast your vote!
Tim Ragen earned a Ph.D. in oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego in 1990. His dissertation focused on the life history and demography of northern fur seals. He then completed a National Research Council Associateship at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory and, in 1991, joined the Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Program at the Honolulu Laboratory, NOAA Fisheries. From 1998 to 2000 he was the Steller Sea Lion Recovery Coordinator for the Alaska Region, NOAA Fisheries, where he focused on indirect interactions between endangered Steller sea lions and Alaska’s groundfish fisheries. From 2000 to 2006 he was the Marine Mammal Commission’s Scientific Program Director and from 2006 to 2013 its Executive Director. He retired in June 2013 but has continued his conservation work on a variety of species including the Florida manatee, Mexico’s vaquita, Pacific walrus, Sakhalin Island’s beluga whale, Hawaiian monk seal, southern resident killer whale, and New Zealand’s Māui dolphin. He also has served on committees or task forces focused on risk assessment by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and management of pinniped-salmon interactions in the Columbia and Williamette Rivers. From January 2022 to January 2025 he served as a member of the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Commission.
Pete Bisson retired from the US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station and now operates a small consulting business in Olympia, Washington. Early in his career, Pete worked as an aquatic biologist for the Weyerhaeuser Company in Tacoma, Washington. Then, he joined the Forest Service, where his studies included fish populations, stream habitats and food webs, riparian zones, and management issues related to aquatic ecosystems. Pete has served as president of the North Pacific International Chapter of the American Fisheries Society (now the Washington-British Columbia Chapter) and president of the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society. He co-chairs the Science Advisory Panel for the Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board. Pete received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Fisheries from Oregon State University.
Candace Beardslee is an internationally recognized artist/metalsmith. She is a founding member of Wild Fish Conservancy and was a founding member and past Trustee and Conservation Chair of Northwest Women Flyfishers. She has served on City of Duvall committees overseeing sewer issues and Comprehensive-Plan revisions, as an appointed member of the Washington Fisheries Management Task Force, served on the citizens advisory committee for the 2006 King County Flood Hazard Management Plan, and was chair of the Seattle Metals Guild Symposium committee for several years. Candace received a BA in art education from Central Washington University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Washington. In addition to her board duties, she designs the Wild Fish Journal, the annual newsletter of the Wild Fish Conservancy, and is a full-time studio artist. She lives in Duvall with her husband Kurt and dogs Fred and Wally.
