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She has held several positions related to adjudicating administrative appeals.  Since 2019, Mrs. Nicholson has been the Deputy Director of the Office of Hearings and Appeals, primarily responsible for overseeing the operations of NAD’s regional offices and the issuance of Director Review Determinations. Mrs. Nicholson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University and her law degree from Creighton University.  She completed judicial clerkships with the Circuit Court of St. Mary’s County, Maryland, and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. 

For most of his prior 15 years in USDA, Rick was engaged directly in our nation’s bioeconomy through the U.S. Forest Service: first on the ground in forest management on the National Forests, and later in forest policy and regulation for USDA leadership and on assignment to the US Senate Committee on Agriculture. For the rest of those years Rick worked in senior management with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service in agricultural trade capacity-building. Rick holds a B.S. in Conservation & Resource Studies from U.C. Berkeley and a Master’s in Forest Science from Yale.

She works with colleagues across USDA to integrate climate adaptation into their planning, programs, and operations to ensure USDA is equipped to serve and support its stakeholders in a changing climate.

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Ms. Van Alstine previously worked as an environmental health scientist, senior chemist, and supervisory chemist in the Health Effects Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs from 2008 to 2022. Directly prior to joining OPMP, she worked as a health science specialist at the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Ms. Van Alstine received her MPH in Global Health from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and her BS in Chemistry from Allegheny College.

Ms. Ranville previously worked as an economist in the Biological and Economic Analysis Division (BEAD) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs from 2008 to 2015. Her work at EPA focused on evaluating the economic benefits of pesticides, primarily in agricultural applications. She also worked on cost-benefit analysis for regulations and led an effort to develop a method for establishing economic minor uses of pesticides. She has since worked as an economist at the U.S.