Our Team
Ecosphere Restoration Institute is led by an experienced team of restoration professionals, scientists, and nonprofit leaders dedicated to restoring and protecting coastal and aquatic ecosystems through science-based solutions and collaborative partnerships.
Tom Ries is the President and Founder of Ecosphere Restoration Institute. He is a nationally known Ecologist with more than 43 years of experience in restoring natural systems throughout Southwest Florida and beyond. Over the course of his career, Tom’s work has resulted in the restoration of more than 2,400 acres of wetlands and earned numerous environmental awards. In 2013, he received the prestigious National Wetlands Award in Conservation & Restoration from the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, DC.
In 2003, Tom founded PEER to advance ecological restoration through innovative public-private partnerships. The name was changed to Ecosphere Restoration Institute in 2007 to align with our mission objectives. Prior to Ecosphere, Tom was a partner at Scheda Ecological Associates for 23 years and served as an officer and Biological Services and Restoration Director for Environmental Science Associates (ESA), an environmental science and planning firm with offices across the United States.
He holds a B.A. in Biology with a minor in Geology from the University of South Florida. Early in his career, Tom mapped wetlands for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (National Wetland Inventory) and implemented dozens of coastal habitat restoration and stormwater retrofit projects in Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, and Charlotte Harbor through the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Program.
Thomas Ries, President & Founder
René Wiesner Brown, Senior Director
René Wiesner Brown serves as Senior Director of Habitat Restoration. She is an environmental biologist and conservation professional with more than 30 years of experience in land conservation, land management, and habitat restoration.
René earned a doctorate in Integrative Biology from the University of South Florida and a master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University. Her work spans restoration planning, project implementation, and conservation strategy across a wide range of ecosystems.
She is a founding board member of the Tampa Bay Conservancy, the current board chair of Florida Wildlife Federation, and an appointee to the Expert Review Group of the United Nations Race to Resilience initiative. René brings deep scientific expertise and global perspective to Ecosphere’s restoration mission.
Board of Directors
Kurt Allebach brings a diverse background spanning healthcare, technology, and public service. His career includes service in the U.S. Army Medical Services Corps, hospital administration, and information technology roles with organizations such as Microsoft and Raymond James.
Kurt holds a B.S. in Biology from Christopher Newport University and an M.S. in Administration with a concentration in Health Service Systems from Central Michigan University. He also supports the Coral Restoration Foundation in Key Largo, Florida, where he serves as a technology advisor for their Cerulean AI™ Reef Health Monitoring solutions.
Kurt Allebach, Board Member
Allison Dhand is an environmental attorney with a strong background in environmental law and advocacy. She earned her Juris Doctor and Certification of Concentration in Environmental Law from Stetson University College of Law.
Since 2016, Allison has practiced environmental law across nonprofit and private sectors. Most recently, she served as Senior Attorney with the Southwest Florida Water Management District, where she focused on environmental permitting related to water quality and quantity. Her expertise includes environmental restoration, regulatory compliance, and natural resource protection.
Allison Dhand, Board Member
BriAnna Harris brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, serving in a variety of market-facing roles. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of South Florida and an M.S. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University.
A lifelong student of mindfulness and systems thinking, BriAnna is especially interested in advancing behavior change related to climate adaptation, sustainability, and energy use—bringing a human-centered lens to Ecosphere’s work.
BriAnna Harris, Board Member
Karla Price is a Landscape Architect with more than 36 years of experience at the City of Tampa Parks and Recreation Department, where she designed and managed projects that enhanced parks, neighborhoods, trails, and environmental resources.
Her environmental restoration work includes notable projects such as the restoration of Ulele Spring. Karla is a graduate of Purdue University and has served on both the Hillsborough County Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee and the Hillsborough Greenways Advisory Committee. She joined the Ecosphere board upon retiring from the City of Tampa.