CCV Director Biographies
Michael J. Ficco is a Geologist with the engineering firm AECOM. Mike has served on the CCV Board of Directors since 2004, has held the office of Chairman of the Board since 2006, and currently also chairs the Stewardship Committee. Mike graduated from Syracuse University with a BS in Geology. Mike began caving in the early 1980s and has explored caves throughout the U.S., with emphasis on the long and deep caves of Virginia. Internationally, he has participated in caving expeditions to Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and his most recent focus has been the exploration of the karst of southwestern China. Mike is also a director of the Virginia Speleological Survey, Vice President of the Butler Cave Conservation Society, and a Fellow of the National Speleological Society.
Judy L. Fisher is Business Manager for Morgan Sanitation, Inc., in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. Judy has served several terms on the CCV Board of Directors in the past, and is currently serving since 2007. She has been studying caves, bats and karst features for 25 years in over 20 states in the U.S. as well as in various countries such as Bermuda, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Kenya, Peru, Madagascar, Slovenia and China. Judy has surveyed, explored, and photographed hundreds of caves. For the past ten years, she has been concentrating on cave biology, primarily bats. She does volunteer work for the George Washington National Forest in Virginia, Bat Conservation International, the U.S. Park Service, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service. Judy was Chair of the Tri-State Grotto of the National Speleological Society (NSS) for nine years. She led Tri-State in successful fundraising efforts that aided numerous conservation groups in purchasing caves for protection as well as acquisition of equipment for ongoing bat studies. Judy has helped with many cave gating projects in West Virginia and Maryland. Judy is also a Fellow of the NSS, Vice Chair of Virginia Area Region of the NSS and Secretary-Treasurer of Bubble Cave LLC in West Virginia. She gives educational talks on the importance of bats, caves and karst to school and civic groups as well as at various local and regional festivals.
Daniel W. Fong is Associate Professor and former chair of the Department of Biology at American University in Washington, D.C. Dan was a member of the Board of Directors of CCV from 1992 to 2003. He is serving on the CCV Board again since 2006 and currently chairs the Membership Committee. Dan holds a BA from University of California at Berkeley, an MS from University of Oklahoma, and a PhD from Northwestern University. His research focuses on the biodiversity of subterranean ecosystems in general and more specifically on the ecology, evolution and protection of groundwater crustaceans. Dan started caving in 1980, and has explored the biology of subterranean systems in many parts of the U.S. as well as Mexico and Europe. Three subterranean species have been named in his honor: a millipede from West Virginia, an amphipod crustacean from Slovenia, and an isopod crustacean from Croatia. Dan is also a Fellow of the National Speleological Society, President of the Karst Waters Institute, and founder and managing editor of the on-line journal Speleobiology Notes.
Gary Fielden is a pediatric dentist in Kingsport, TN, where he has had a practice since 1979. He grew up in Brazil where his father flew as a bush pilot for the Foreign Mission Board. He received a B.S. in Zoology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a dental degree from the University of Tennessee, Memphis.
Gary started caving in the mid 1980’s with an interest in surveying and mapping the caves of South West Virginia and North East Tennessee. Although he has caved over much of the south, his favorite cave projects have been Corkscrew, Omega, and Doe Mountain in Virginia. He has also caved in Puerto Rico, Spain, and Alaska. Gary is the present Chair of Mountain Empire Grotto and serves on the Board of Directors for Appalachian Cave Conservancy.
Horton H. Hobbs III is Professor of Biology and past department chair at Wittenberg University. He has served on the CCV board since 1988 and is currently the Vice President. He was born in Gainesville, FL and grew up in Charlottesville, VA. He received a BA in biology from the University of Richmond, an MS in zoology from Mississippi State University, and a PhD in zoology/limnology from Indiana University. Horton has more than 230 publications primarily concerning the ecology and systematics of decapod crustaceans as well as the biodiversity, biogeography, and conservation of subterranean ecosystems. He has surveyed more than 250 caves, and participated in cave expeditions to Andros Island (Bahamas), Barbados, Costa Rica, Dominica, Hawaii, Yucatan, and Lechuguilla Cave (New Mexico). He has gone on more than 3300 cave trips, visiting more than 1500 caves in 20 countries. Horton is a Fellow of the Explorers Club, a Fellow and Honorary Life Member of the National Speleological Society, a Fellow and Past President of the Ohio Academy of Science, a member of the Cave Research Foundation, and Director of the Ohio Cave Survey. Currently he also serves on the Boards of Directors of the American Cave Conservation Association, the Karst Waters Institute, and the Ohio Academy of Science. He was Life Sciences Editor of the Journal of Cave and Karst Studies for 11 years and currently serves on the editorial boards of the journals Subterranean Biology and Investigations of Indiana Lakes and Streams.
Bill is a District Conservationist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. He is a graduate from the University of Virginia's College at Wise with a major in Environmental Science. Bill started caving in 1983 and became involved in cave conservation issues, such as clean up and gating projects as well as cave rescue training. Bill has worked extensively in the Cedars Natural Area including the Unthanks Cave hydrology study and a Hydrogeological investigation of the Cedars (Lee co. VA). Bill has been involved in bat conservation efforts including assisting with inventories, habitat evaluation for NRCS and BCI workshops. Bill has been very active with sinkhole policy and issues in Virginia including the adoption of standards for sinkhole protection as a conservation practice. Bill served for two gubernatorial appointments to the Virginia Cave Board including 2 years as chairman.
James E. Littlefield is Professor Emeritus of Marketing at Virginia Tech and former Department Head at Virginia Tech and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Jim has been serving on the CCV Board since 2006 and currently chairs the Planning and Nomination Committees. He started caving in the 1980's and has had sporadic caving experiences in the New River Valley, including rappelling of the New River Bridge. His contributions to CCV have been in advising the Cobblestones and Bingo operations in Glen Allen, VA. He is Associate Editor of The Journal of Ethics and Entrepreneurship.
Walter R. Pirie is Associate Professor Emeritus in Statistics at Virginia Tech. Walt served on the Board of Directors of CCV from 2003 to 2006 and served one year as Board Chair. He returned to the Board in 2010 and currently chairs the Grants and Awards Committee. Walt is a native of Toronto, Canada. He holds undergraduate degrees in Electronics and in Physics from Temple University, a Masters degree in Physics from University of Toronto, and a PhD in Statistics from Florida State University. Walt began caving in the mid-70s with the VPI Cave Club. While his caving has focused in the Virginias, he has also caved in several other states and abroad in Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Wales, England, and Spain. He is a Life Member of the National Speleological Society (NSS) and participated in the NSS Costa Rica Expeditions of 1988 and 1990 as well as the NSS Scott Hollow project. He also served on the NSS Convention staff at Virginia Tech in 1995. Walt developed the email listserv for the Virginia Area Region of the NSS (VARlist) in the late 1990s and has continued to maintain the list since. He is a Sustaining Member of the Southeast Cave Conservancy incorporated (SCCi) and on two occasions ran fundraising drives in support of SCCi acquisition of classic caves in TAG (Tennessee-Alabama-Georgia).
Ira D. Sasowsky is Professor of Geology and Environmental Science at the University of Akron (Ohio). His research specialization is karst, particularly cave origins, hydrogeology, and geomorphology. He earned his geology degrees from University of Delaware (BS) and Penn State (MS, PhD). Ira has served on the CCV board since 2005. He has been a caver since 1977, initially focusing on the Virginias. His caving activities later expanded to Colorado and the Appalachian Plateau of Tennessee, as well as other parts of North America and Europe. Ira is a Fellow and recipient of the Science award of the National Speleological Society. He was the former earth sciences editor for the Journal of Cave and Karst Studies. He currently serves as Secretary of the Karst Waters Institute, and co-edits the journal Environmental and Engineering Geoscience.
David R. Socky is an engineer with General Electric at Salem, Virginia, and owner of Video Hodag Productions. Dave has been a member of the CCV Board since 2006, and is currently the webmaster for CCV. He holds two Bachelor degrees, one in Business Administration/Management from Ohio University and one in Electrical Engineering (EE) from Cleveland State University, as well as a Masters degree in EE from Virginia Tech. Dave started caving in 1974 and has surveyed and explored countless numbers of caves since, including Hellhole in West Virginia and Omega in Virginia, and is currently engaged in several survey and exploration projects. He is responsible for production of the video of Grand Caverns and an educational video of Mammoth Cave, and is a video production staff of the Photo Salon of the annual convention of the National Speleological Society. Dave is a Life Member and a Fellow of the NSS. He is also the Secretary of the NSS Video Section, Chair of the NSS AV Library and Chair of the NSS Video Salon. In addition, Dave is Editor of Carbide Dump, the newsletter of the Blue Ridge Grotto, a board member of the West Virginia Association for Cave Studies, a director of the Virginia Speleological Survey, and a member of the Cave Research Foundation.