Dave Gorman spent much of his childhood in south suburban Sauk Trail Woods searching for and bringing home plenty of frogs, snakes, turtles and wild onions.  That and other early experiences instilled in him a lifelong passion for the outdoors.  He has also paddled many of the navigable waters in Northeastern Illinois, and happily fills his canoe with trash each year during the DuPage River Sweep.

 

Dave is a civil engineer, working as the Assistant Director of Public Works for the Village of Lombard.  He has led the DuPage River Salt Creek Workgroup as President since 2012, working closely with The Conservation Foundation’s staff to improve our local waterways.  He previously worked in floodplain management, public water regulations, and dam safety for the Illinois DNR, aside other state agencies and the US Army Corps of Engineers.  The first few years of his career was as a Peace Corps volunteer, building rural community infrastructure and leading other development programs in the Kingdom of Lesotho in Southern Africa.

 

As an endurance runner and biker, Dave greatly appreciates the mindfulness achievable in those activities.  His project “Bikes for Lesotho” has sent over 6,000 bikes to orphans and others in poverty, and has been instrumental to develop a cycling culture there.  He also serves as Board Secretary of Working Bikes, a nonprofit in Chicago that has grown since 1999 to annually collect and redistribute over 12,000 used bikes for people in need around Chicagoland and internationally.

 

Dave summarizes his environmental ethic in this way: “What we do today has an impact on at least the next seven generations.  That’s a serious responsibility, and also a great opportunity.  The Conservation Foundation is uniquely able to protect local open spaces for us and for them.  Rolling up our collective sleeves and getting to work on that is extremely satisfying!”