Merry Jo Velasquez, Director
The Lake County Land Trust (LCLT) is pleased to welcome Merry Jo Velasquez as the newest member of our board of directors. Merry Jo has been interested in environmental issues since childhood and originally hails from upstate New York.
She and her husband, David, joined the Land Trust as members shortly after moving to Lake County in 2015. After coming to events and getting to know other board members, she became a member of the Land Trust’s “Lands Committee,” and helped to organize and present the recent workshops to update the LCLT’s Land Conservation Priority Plan. Merry Jo is also a director for the Lake County Resource Conservation District (RCD), a member of the Middle Creek Marsh Restoration Coalition, a member of Lake County Master Gardeners and is active with the Lake County Symphony Assoc.
Merry Jo brings an astounding level of expertise to the Land Trust. She graduated from Skidmore College in upstate New York with a combined Biology and Chemistry degree. Her undergraduate thesis was “Co-Evolution of Insect Pollinators and Flowering Plants”. While working full time as a technician at the University of Rochester, she obtained a Master of Science degree from the University in Environmental Studies. In one of her classes, she met and then married her husband of 40 years, David Velasquez, who was in a Ph.D. program at the University. After they both completed their degrees, the couple moved to Saint Louis for David to take a job and Merry Jo enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Washington University.
After being awarded a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Merry Jo and David relocated to Minnesota where David took a position at 3M while Merry Jo continued her training at the Mayo Clinic as a postdoctoral fellow in the area of Bone Cell Biology. After completing her training, she accepted a position at the University of Minnesota as an Assistant, then Associate Professor of Biology. Seven years later she relocated to the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine as a Professor of Medicine. Since 2003, she has been the Director of the Bone Cell Biology Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic... only now Merry Jo gets to telecommute from her Lakeport home!
She and her husband, David, joined the Land Trust as members shortly after moving to Lake County in 2015. After coming to events and getting to know other board members, she became a member of the Land Trust’s “Lands Committee,” and helped to organize and present the recent workshops to update the LCLT’s Land Conservation Priority Plan. Merry Jo is also a director for the Lake County Resource Conservation District (RCD), a member of the Middle Creek Marsh Restoration Coalition, a member of Lake County Master Gardeners and is active with the Lake County Symphony Assoc.
Merry Jo brings an astounding level of expertise to the Land Trust. She graduated from Skidmore College in upstate New York with a combined Biology and Chemistry degree. Her undergraduate thesis was “Co-Evolution of Insect Pollinators and Flowering Plants”. While working full time as a technician at the University of Rochester, she obtained a Master of Science degree from the University in Environmental Studies. In one of her classes, she met and then married her husband of 40 years, David Velasquez, who was in a Ph.D. program at the University. After they both completed their degrees, the couple moved to Saint Louis for David to take a job and Merry Jo enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Washington University.
After being awarded a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Merry Jo and David relocated to Minnesota where David took a position at 3M while Merry Jo continued her training at the Mayo Clinic as a postdoctoral fellow in the area of Bone Cell Biology. After completing her training, she accepted a position at the University of Minnesota as an Assistant, then Associate Professor of Biology. Seven years later she relocated to the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine as a Professor of Medicine. Since 2003, she has been the Director of the Bone Cell Biology Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic... only now Merry Jo gets to telecommute from her Lakeport home!
