Our Team

C. Ashton Drew, PhD

Owner, Lead Scientist and Data Analyst

Ashton has over 30 years research and consulting experience at the intersection of science, social values, and organizational development. As a researcher at North Carolina State University, she managed and collaborated on diverse multi-investigator, multi-year projects serving the USGS, USFWS Raleigh Ecological Services Field Office, USFWS Caribbean Ecological Services Field Office, NC Wildlife Resources Commission, Biofuels Center for NC, The Nature Conservancy, and Keystone Institute Field-to-Market program. As a consultant, she has served the NC Department of Transportation, the Yukon Land Use Planning Council, Environment Yukon, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, among others. She has co-edited two textbooks and authored multiple papers on topics of landscape ecology, conservation planning, expert knowledge elicitation, and inquiry-guided teaching.

For more information, see the resume or curriculum vitae.

Will Saulnier, MF

Senior Data Analyst and Software Engineer

Will is an experienced and innovative leader in data science with a proven track record of driving strategic initiatives, building high-performing teams, and leveraging data-driven insights to achieve organizational goals. He specializes in machine learning, geospatial analysis, web application development, and remote sensing. Since 2022, Will has utilized his highly specialized skillset to assist in developing a cutting-edge machine learning framework for a wetland prediction model for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

For more information, see the resume .

Eliot Dixon

Data Analyst and Software Engineer

Eliot has experience in data analysis, systems administration, and application development. While completing an undergraduate degree at UNC Asheville, he participated in several software development projects, gaining experience across multiple platforms and languages. His focus on these projects has been applied conservation and environmental science. At KDV, he has led development of Shiny applications to visualize team dynamics within organizations (for client Team Elements) and to document ecological insights from ecological data (for client Michael Baker). A gifted communicator, he also contributes to our R instructional materials and serves as teaching assistant. He is often one of the lead developers when projects require knowledge of MongoDB, PostgreSQL, R, or Shiny.

For more information, see the resume .

Kelsey Keeter

Operations and Administrative Support

Biography coming soon.