Leadership

In September of 2021, Jonathan Fredland transitioned from Vice President of Operations to his current role as Perennial President. For over a decade, Jonathan has contributed to Perennial’s growth, serving roles of advancing leadership since joining the team in 2011 as a field biologist. He has more than 15 years of experience in natural resource management, environmental permitting, and environmental construction compliance, as well as operations leadership and management. Jonathan has managed an array of projects throughout North America ranging from small-scale land development to large, high-profile, multi-year linear projects. He is adept at navigating multi-disciplinary teams through complex regulatory situations and providing sound regulatory solutions to Perennial’s clients.

Prior to joining Perennial, Jonathan earned a degree in Biology from Texas A&M University and worked as a wildlife biologist, crew leader, and research technician for public, private, and non-profit entities.

Leslie Yoo has over 20 years of experience as an environmental permitting and compliance professional.  In 2021, Leslie transitioned from Vice President of Regulated Projects to her current role as Executive Vice President of Perennial where she provides oversight and leadership to Perennial’s NEPA, Cultural Resources, and Administrative departments.  Her duties also include staff mentorship and growth, focused marketing and business development in various energy sectors, and client relations and contract management.  Leslie’s extensive regulatory compliance experience drives Perennial’s success in complex FERC and NEPA applications as well as interagency consultations.  She holds a B.A. in Biology from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, and a M.S. in Zoology from Oklahoma State University. 

As Director of Perennial’s Cultural Resources Department, Abby leads a diverse and experienced team of professional archeologists and cultural resources specialists.  She has over 15 years of experience in the environmental consulting industry, and specializes in negotiating local, state, and federal regulations in support of land development, state and local, municipal, renewable energy, transmission, transportation, and oil and gas projects. Her highly dynamic team conducts cultural resources investigations, permitting and consultation for a wide variety of projects across much of the continental US, with specialized experience across Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, the Southeast, and Great Plains.  She holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Baylor University, a M.A. degree in Archeology from Texas State University, is a Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA), and meets the requirements for the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archeology.  

Ms. Butler started with Perennial in 2011 and currently serves as NEPA Director. She has been managing a wide-range of Projects for over nine years.  As an astute practitioner of NEPA and other environmental regulations, Ms. Butler effectively bridges the gap between the regulatory and industry worlds to communicate real-world solutions for project implementation.  Ms. Butler is a driven, client-focused director who fosters and maintains positive relationships across the country.  Within Perennial, Ms. Butler oversees the execution of all NEPA-regulated projects and ensures all products submitted to clients and agencies meet the quality standards that is the pinnacle of Perennial’s reputation. Ms. Butler received a Bachelor’s of Science in Natural Resource Sciences from Washington State University in 2008 and a Master’s of Science in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 2011.

Josh Melnar serves as the Director of Biological Services for Perennial and has over 13 years of experience in the environmental consulting field conducting wetland delineations, baseline natural resource surveys, threatened and endangered species surveys, regulatory agency coordination, NEPA analysis and permitting.  In addition to overseeing Perennial’s biological survey operations, Josh has successfully managed a variety of projects throughout the continental United States ranging from small-scale operation and maintenance procedures to large-scale linear pipelines (100+ miles in length) and industrial facilities.  

As GIS Manager, Andrea oversees geographic database management and technology, providing technical guidance and support on IT, GIS managed cloud services, and software development. He is primarily responsible for agile product development, automations, and architecture design dedicated to cloud-hosted GIS web platforms. He is experienced in working with spatial databases, managing and optimizing ETL workflows in a variety of platforms, performing data profiling and analysis for spatial and non-spatial data. Andrea has been with Perennial since 2018 and has been pivotal to the development and implementation of systems, processes and procedures that increase data production and management. Andrea holds a Master's Degree in Urban Planning, with an emphasis in GIS, from Texas A&M University, College Station.