ELA Board Officers
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RIE MACCHIAROLO, ELA President Director of Ornamental Horticulture, Mt. Auburn Cemetery Somerville, Massachusetts Rie lives in a collective house in Somerville, MA with a small but mighty (mostly) native garden that attracts all sorts of pollinators and smiles from strangers. As the Director of Ornamental Horticulture at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Rie oversees the maintenance of the ornamental gardens and native meadows in the cemetery. They collaborate with a team of directors in the Horticulture & Landscape department to maintain this landscape of exceptional beauty. Rie has been an active member of the ELA board of directors since 2016. Their experience includes designing, installing and maintaining native landscapes, managing invasive plants, maintaining green infrastructure systems, and restoring native landscapes. Rie loves seeing wildlife interactions with new plantings, learning new plants, and staring deeply into the eyes of a flower!
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JULIE SNELL, ELA Vice President Founding Principal, TEND Landscape Design Co-owner/Operator, Redbud Native Plant Nursery Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Julie is trained as a landscape architect, and is a certified arborist, co-owner/operator of Redbud Native Plant Nursery and a founding principal of TEND Landscape Inc. Prior to forming TEND, Julie’s work focused on landscape management, developing her expertise over 14 years as project manager of high-profile public spaces in Philadelphia with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.Julie has worked closely with city agencies, corporations, volunteers, and other nonprofit entities to advise on the daily operations of the landscapes under their purview. Since 2013, Julie has been an adjunct instructor at Temple University in the Department Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and she has served on the ELA Board of Directors since 2019.
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MOLLY KERKER, ELA Secretary Director of Education and Programs, Perfect Earth Project Brooklyn, New York Molly’s reverence for Earth’s wondrous creatures began in her childhood, where she nurtured butterflies, ants, and worms in her Buffalo, NY backyard. After earning her B.A. in English from SUNY Geneseo and M.A. in Public Humanities from Brown University, she was inspired to channel her love of storytelling, community, and ecology into botanical education. At Brooklyn Botanic Garden and then Central Park Conservancy, she led community classes and horticulture certificate programs, and advanced workforce development. Currently, as Director of Education and Programs at Perfect Earth Project, she helps lead the transition to nature-based land care, offering educational programs to parks, gardens, landscape professionals, and backyard stewards. Molly lives in Brooklyn, NY with her tuxedo cat and husband. In her free time, you can find her volunteering with her local community composting group, birding in her neighborhood park, experimenting with foraged food recipes, and playing music.
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PENNINGTON MARCHAEL, ELA Treasurer President/COO, Pennington Grey New York, New York Penn Marchael is a licensed pesticide applicator and certified horticulturist in multiple states. Working professionally in the horticulture industry since 2009 starting in the nursery trade and moving into fine gardening, project management, and ecological restoration. With ten years experience installing and maintaining meadows from Virginia to Northern New York with a total of over one hundred fifty acres installed and many more maintained and monitored. After spending the past five years working with Larry Weaner Landscape Associates refining his meadow maintenance techniques, Penn has launched his own landscape company, Pennington Grey Landscape. Here he will be training the next generation of native plant stewards, meadow experts, and horticulturists.
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ELA Board Members
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LAUREN ANDERSON-PIRKLE Kleiner Graduate Fellow for the Environmental Ethics Certificate Program, University of Georgia Master of Landscape Architecture Program Atlanta, Georgia Lauren is a master’s in landscape architecture student at the University of Georgia, where she is the 2024-2025 Kleiner Graduate Fellow for the Environmental Ethics Certificate program. Before UGA, she received her master’s in city and regional planning from Georgia Tech and worked for several years as an environmental planner in Atlanta. She is passionate about the use of native plants in landscape design and using green spaces as vital resources in enhancing climate change resilience and ecological health. Lauren lives in Atlanta with her husband, Olin, and her feisty senior dog Xan. She enjoys reading, hiking, and experiencing the city with friends.
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KRISTIN ANDRES Associate Director for Education, Association to Preserve Cape Cod Chatham, Massachusetts Kristin Andres is the Associate Director for Education for the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, the region’s environmental advocacy non-profit organization. Before joining APCC as a staff member, she worked for the town of Chatham as its first Conservation Agent for more than 15 years. She serves on several local boards, including Friends of Chatham Waterways, and the Pollinator Pathway Cape Cod steering committee. She is the regional liaison for Grow Native Massachusetts and an honorary trustee of the Chatham Conservation Foundation. She writes a biweekly column for “The Cape Cod Chronicle” on natural history topics.
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IRENE BRADY BARBER Adult Education Program Manager, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Boothbay, Maine Irene Brady Barber manages the Adult Education Program at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens where the emphasis of horticulture lies in the principles of ecological practices and sustainability in order to achieve maximum resilience, regeneration, and biodiversity. Irene has worked and trained in multiple sectors of the horticulture industry, which has enabled her to understand and appreciate the variety of lenses of horticulture policy, practices, and professionalism. As an educator, horticulturalist, landscape designer, registered horticultural therapist (HTR), and program manager, Irene focuses on deepening people’s awareness and appreciation towards plants and the value they hold in whatever context, either on a farm, in a container garden, on a shoreline embankment or in the wild.Mrs. Barber is the principal of Greenscapes Design LLC, under which she consults and designs for residential and public settings to produce vibrant landscaped ecosystems that actively support clean water and air, biodiversity, and healthy soils.
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SHANICE CHESNEY Donor Relations Manager, Trust for the National Mall Washington, DC Shanice Chesney serves as the Donor Relations Manager at the Trust for the National Mall, working to help donors of all levels feel a stronger sense of connection and purpose through a thoughtful & intentional stewardship plan. In her previous role, Shanice served as the Fellowship Program Manager at the Charleston Parks Conservancy. There, she was responsible for spearheading a multi-million national Horticulture Fellowship Program creating a path to management within the horticulture industry for emerging leaders. Prior to joining the Charleston Parks Conservancy, Shanice was the Operations Manager at Georgia Organics, an organization that champions organic agriculture, food justice, and healthy families. In recognition of her service, inclusive leadership strategies, and dedication of connecting people to their community, Shanice was awarded the 30 under 30 Young Nonprofit Leadership Award in Atlanta.
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SANDRA NAM-CIOFFI Co-Founder & CEO, QiqoChat Inc.
Scarsdale, New York Sandra began her career as a marketing manager in NYC’s luxury beauty and fragrance industry, focusing on branding and product development. She then earned a master’s degree in landscape architecture and led the design and management of world-class institutional, cultural, and conservation agriculture projects across the United States and internationally. Her work blends craftsmanship, cultural research, regional ecology, and enhancing human experiences in built environments.
Sandra’s entrepreneurial journey includes a pivotal role in the tech startup Qiqo, where she spearheaded marketing and product design initiatives. Her ability to manage multiple projects and develop strategic business partnerships has been key to driving Qiqo’s success. |
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LESLIE DUTHIE Retired Ecological Horticulturist Monson, Massachusetts Leslie has worked in ecological horticulture throughout her entire career. She spent 35 years managing 75 acres of public trails, woods and native plant gardens in a wildlife sanctuary in central MA. A speaker, an educator, a plant propagator, a grower of ferns, a mentor and lover of open spaces. Leslie volunteered in her community on the open space committee, the tree committee after the tornado of 2011, and spent 22 years on the conservation commission where she helped to protect over 1600 acres of land. Leslie is currently president of the local land trust, a volunteer at a botanic garden, and chair of the publications committee of ELA.
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MISSY FABEL Ecological Landscape Designer and Horticulturist New York Missy Fabel is an ecological landscape designer and horticulturist with a deep understanding of native plant communities, stemming from her love of the natural world. She has a certificate in Field Botany from the New York Botanical Gardens and in Designing with Native Plants from The Native Plant Center, where she teaches and serves as a Steering Committee member. Currently, Missy manages a large native plant garden on a private estate in Westchester County and is the horticulturalist for Bedford Audubon. She is also a freelance ecological landscape designer and consultant, focusing on increasing biodiversity and sustainability using native plant palettes.
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MARISSA GALLANT Director of Education, New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill Worcester, Massachusetts Marissa is Director of Education for New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental Science from Clark University and has a decade of experience in environmental education working in roles at the EcoTarium, Mass Audubon, and Boston based ‘e’ inc. Marissa has worked at New England Botanic Garden since 2018. In her previous role as the Garden’s Manager of Youth Education, she grew youth and family offerings including field trips, scout programs, birthday parties, family classes, drop-in activities, community outreach programs, and more. In 2023, Marissa was promoted to Director of Education. In this role, she hopes to continue this growth across the department; building upon existing and forging new partnerships and programs that will allow the Garden to bring science education to more communities, adults, children, and families.
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CODY GEORGE Ecological Horticulturist & Manager Native Restoration & Management Bella Vista, Arkansas Cody George is an Ecological Horticulturist and Manager of Native Restoration & Management (NRM), an ecological land care company in Northwest Arkansas. Through the work of NRM, Cody aims to create and steward biodiverse landscapes through ecological, organic, and quiet land care. He received his BS in Landscape Horticulture through the University of Arkansas and became the region’s first accredited organic land care professional (AOLCP) through NOFA in 2020. He has worked within the green industry of Arkansas since 2004.
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CHLOE HAWKINS Landscape Architect & Founder, Cohort Landscape Architecture Charlottesville, Virginia Chloe Hawkins is a licensed landscape architect and the founder of Cohort Landscape Architecture, which operates from the belief that impactful and healthy landscapes emerge from the communities that make places unique and their interplay with their deep histories and imagined futures. Chloe brings years of experience working with interdisciplinary teams on design planning through construction and infuses the necessary nuts and bolts of landscape architecture with a spirit of improvisation, play, and humor. She brings her background in visual arts into play to use large-scale drawings and on-site fieldwork as essential tools for sparking imagination and collaborative space-making. Cohort has a special affinity for working with intergenerational and interdisciplinary grounds and for approaching plants as collaborators in shaping places that inspire community stewardship.
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MARK HIGHLAND President, Organic Mechanics Soil Company, LLC Modena, PA It was on a beautiful piece of Illinois farmland that Mark pushed his first shovel into garden soil. After he “grew up,” Mark focused his M.S. degree studies in the Longwood Graduate Program on compost and potting soil. After the Longwood Graduate Program, Mark started The Organic Mechanic Soil Company, LLC in 2006, and serves as President of Organic Mechanics. Mark has served as a consultant for the EPA and Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Mark is the author of the recently published Practical Organic Gardening: The No-Nonsense Guide to Growing Naturally. Mark joined the ELA board in 2016 and serves on the Education Committee and Trustees Committee.
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MAE LIN PLUMMER Executive Director, IDEA Center for Public Gardens Denver, Colorado Mae Lin currently serves as Director of the newly launched IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility) Center for Public Gardens, a collaboration between Denver Botanic Gardens and the American Public Garden Association, with support from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Her pronouns are she/her. Mae Lin has been a passionate advocate for public gardens and IDEA based on the belief that the joy and wonder cultivated by public gardens and the protection of biodiversity must include human connection and a sense of belonging. Mae Lin holds certificates in Horticulture and Native Plant Studies. She is also 2020 graduate of the esteemed Longwood Fellows Program at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.
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TOM SMARR Executive Director, Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens Devon, Pennsylvania Tom has been the Executive Director at Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens since 2019, a public garden dedicated to ecological horticulture. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in urban horticulture studies from the University of Washington in Seattle. He has worked for established institutions such as the University of Washington Botanic Gardens in Seattle and the Native Plant Trust’s botanical garden “Garden in the Woods” in Massachusetts. Tom’s most notable work has been as a leader establishing horticulture programs at newly opened urban parks such as the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in Boston; The High Line in New York City; and The Parklands of Floyds Fork in Louisville, Kentucky. He previously served on the ELA board from 2002 to 2004.
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ANGELA TANNER Landscape Architect, Jenick Studio Falmouth, Massachusetts Angela Tanner is a Landscape Architect on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where she specializes in designing restorative landscapes that bridge the gap between the built and natural worlds. Through her work at Jenick Studio Landscape Architecture, and their sister company Crawford Land Management, she seeks to create magical outdoor spaces that are inviting to both people and wildlife, and that express the unique personalities of each site. Angela holds a Master in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture from Kent State University.
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DAN JAFFE WILDER Director of Applied Ecology, Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary Wales, Massachusetts Dan Jaffe Wilder is an ecologist, horticulturist, and botanist with over fifteen years’ experience working with native plants and their associated ecology. His work has ranged from classrooms to nurseries to botanical gardens to wildlife refuges specializing in native plant ecology, propagation, wildlife habitat construction, and native edible landscapes. Dan is the Director of Applied Ecology for the Norcross Wildlife Foundation whose mission is to protect, enhance, and expand wildlife through conservation, education, and support. A prolific photographer and author Dan’s book Native Plants for New England Gardens was published in 2018.
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