Sylvan joined Xerces in 2024 as the controller, overseeing the finance and accounting teams. Her accounting background includes public accounting as a financial statement auditor at KPMG, technical accounting and reporting in global metals recycling at Schnitzer Steel Industries, and business accounting spanning agriculture, food manufacturing, real estate, and grocery retail.
Prior to becoming an accountant, she worked as an organic farmer producing vegetables, flowers, and herbs for farmers markets and community supported agriculture in Colorado and Massachusetts. She now enjoys shopping for seasonal foods at farmers markets and tends a home garden for food, beauty, and wildlife habitat.
Her lifelong interests in ecology and wildlife yielded a growing curiosity about the lives of native bees, leading her to volunteer for several Xerces projects, surveys, and community science initiatives before joining the organization. She is thrilled to bring her accounting experience to the field of conservation.
Sylvan makes her home in Portland, Oregon where she lives with her partner and their young children. Together they enjoy exploring natural areas and observing plants and wildlife of all sizes.