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Kate Bowditch joined Greenbelt in 2018 after serving for 25 years in leadership positions at the Charles River Watershed Association. A published scientist, Kate has a strong focus on conservation science and climate change.
Through her work, Greenbelt is taking a leadership position in making the region more resilient.
A nationally-recognized expert in conservation, she helped transform the Charles River from a heavily-polluted blemish on the state’s environmental reputation to one of the cleanest urban rivers in the country; a widely-acclaimed success story.
At CWRA, Bowditch led efforts to improve the Charles River watershed and parklands in the 35 cities and towns through which it runs. She worked closely with neighborhoods and communities to improve and protect the environment. She also created its Blue Cities Initiative which reduces flooding and pollution by creating natural greenways to clean and absorb runoff.
As Chair of the Brookline Conservation Commission, she worked to create new parks, restore a sanctuary, and develop three open space plans.
Kate loves the outdoors and skiing, sailing and traveling. Her personal and work history reflects a lifetime of dedication to the natural world and to the work of conservation.
Maggie works with landowners in the belief that we all have a role to play in protecting Essex County. She works to familiarize them with the beneficial options available to meet their conservation and financial goals.
In obtaining her Master’s Degree at Tufts University, she studied legal protection techniques in land use planning, while she completed a multi-phase and award-winning research project in coordination with Fishing Partnership Support Services.
Maggie returned to Greenbelt where she had previously worked as a MassLift/Americorps land stewardship coordinator for two years, while simultaneously working at the Town of Ipswich Open Space Program. During her Americorps service, Maggie re-established a thriving bee colony at the Cox Reservation, advanced the Osprey program and supported many stewardship initiatives. Maggie most recently worked as a GIS analyst, including conservation planning projects, at LandVest in Boston.
Mike manages Greenbelt’s Conservation Restriction Monitoring Program, coordinating with landowners of diverse and varied private landscapes throughout Essex County. The process involves initial baseline documentation when a conservation restriction is first acquired and continues with routine monitoring of a restriction to ensure a landowners’ ongoing compliance with the terms of the agreement.
Carbone also assists in the management of all Greenbelt-owned properties, from trail design and construction to long-term care and maintenance of a property. He manages the Young Farm Community Garden in Gloucester, overseeing a number of gardeners and garden plots, and is active in the Osprey Program.
Mike has also found a role in Greenbelt’s GIS Program, creating maps for both internal and external purposes. He assisted in a total upgrade of our databases, maintaining and updating Greenbelt records.
Carbone has a Bachelor’s Degree in Community and Environmental Studies and got his first taste for the land trust world while in college. Prior to joining Greenbelt in 2012, Mike worked for a non-profit that supported a national wildlife refuge group, and an environmental consulting firm. His passion for land conservation stems from lifelong enjoyment of the outdoor world. Mike believes in Greenbelt’s mission to preserve natural resources and open spaces and is proud to be able to help people enjoy the land that Greenbelt conserves
As Greenbelt’s full time Finance and Operations Manager, Joanne Flannery is looking forward to bringing her many years of accounting and operations experience to Greenbelt.
Previous to Greenbelt, Joanne worked for over 20 years at North Shore 104.9FM/WBOQ radio in the accounting and operations area where she oversaw the day to day operations on Enon Street in
Beverly and the tower location in Topsfield.
Joanne has lived in the Ryal Side area of Beverly for 30 years with her husband and two sons. One married and one single (so if you know of a nice girl…) and expecting her first grandchild in February 2023. She grew up in Reading, attended the local schools and went on to graduate from Northern Essex Community College and Bentley University.
Anna spends her days at the headquarters of Greenbelt making sure that all is running smoothly. She considers herself to be the one who wears many hats in her role as an administrative and development coordinator. Her days are often spent doing gift processing and interacting with members, in person, by email, or over the phone, while ensuring that her team has everything they need to continue their mission of protecting the land in Essex County.
Anna was born deaf and grew up orally, and she currently wears a cochlear implant. She is a proud graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with her undergraduate degree in history and a graduate of Harvard University with her master’s in museum studies.
Before arriving at Greenbelt, she worked in the museum and library field, with her longest stint on the guest experience team at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. Outside of her professional life, she is an avid hiker on the quest to accomplish the New Hampshire 4,000-footers with her husband and dog by her side. Her other interests include reading, baking/cooking, and traveling.
The trail guides for Greenbelt’s public reservations, the precision of the Tour de Greenbelt route and the real-time mapping that pinpoints your location on our smartphone app come from the technical proficiency that Abby brings to her job.
Using mapping software integrating thousands of data points, Abby also creates maps for Greenbelt publications, grant applications and for presentation at town meetings.
The GIS technology now allows Greenbelt to better evaluate properties that are under consideration for conservation based on farming potential, habitat or climate change resiliency. Abby also works with the Stewardship Department providing the technical data needed for conservation restriction monitoring.
Abby has a Master’s Degree in Environmental Policy & Planning from Tufts University and has been a visiting instructor at Salem State University.
Prior to joining Greenbelt in 2011, Abby worked for a municipality on the South Shore doing wetland and open space permitting and management.
With a strong background in non-profit development work, Elizabeth recently joined the Development & Community Engagement team to assist with event management and logistics, and provide support for Greenbelt’s communications and outreach work.
Elizabeth has a lifelong passion for animals and the natural world. She thoroughly enjoys being outdoors- whether on horseback, on bike, on cross-country skis, on a romp with the dogs, or on a hike with her kids. Elizabeth also works at a local dressage farm, and enjoys training and competing her Collie pup.
As Assistant Director of Development, Rachel works with our membership to encourage loyal, consistent giving, and is part of the Greenbelt team working on land campaigns, the Annual Fund and our business partnership program.
Rachel has upgraded our data management system to better communicate with members based on their individual interests. She believes members should feel like an important part of the conservation community, and has developed a survey program that provides important feedback in planning future Greenbelt programs.
She also helps manage and nurture the Cox Reservation beehives, an important part of Greenbelt’s community outreach and education, and a local source of honey. Rachel is a Texas-transplant whose love of hiking grew in the Cascade Mountains while attending the University of Washington, where she was a Division I swimmer. Prior to Greenbelt, she taught English in China and worked for a safari company where she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Vanessa brings over 20 years of experience in land conservation and a passion for working with people to preserve land to her position as Director of Land Conservation Division at Greenbelt.
After participating in efforts to save Coho salmon in Oregon and grizzly bears in Montana, Vanessa began her land trust career in Napa, California. Following a break to teach English in Ecuador, Vanessa settled back in her home state of Massachusetts in 2007.
Vanessa enjoys visiting and eating from local farm stands, kayaking, trail running, XC skiing, bicycling, and hiking mountains near and far.
Greenbelt volunteers are a key part of our collaborative culture that is inclusive, respectful, and resourceful. Their help enables Greenbelt to extend its reach to communities across the county for universal access to open space.
Volunteerism has always been a core belief of our Volunteer Program Coordinator, Mary Ellen Kelly. She welcomes the opportunity to help Greenbelt volunteers find work within the organization that is meaningful, engaging – and fun – for them!
Mary Ellen brings more than 30 years of volunteer management to Greenbelt, working in communications for a variety of non-profits, as well leading Sheldrake Environmental Center in Larchmont, NY, as Executive Director. She is a self-described “serial volunteer,” having served on boards locally for BTA/BOLT, the Boxford Elementary Schools Trust, and the St. John’s Prep Parent Council. While in New York, she was a volunteer teacher for Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.
An avid outdoorswoman, Mary Ellen was a Field Teacher/Naturalist for Mass Audubon and currently teaches nature pre-school one morning a week for North Shore Nature Programs. She enjoys hiking, mountain biking, snow sports, and time on the water in kayaks and canoes.
Cathy has two decades of experience in development and advancing the work of environmental, educational and cultural nonprofits.
In her 10+ years at Greenbelt, she has attracted and engaged multi-generational audiences by bringing in new members, increasing the participation of current members and facilitating volunteer programs and events. She leads Greenbelt's Development and Community Engagement team working to advance our land campaigns, the Annual Fund, communications and membership programs.
Cathy's appreciation for accessible open space stems from her lifelong love of being outdoors - trail running, skiing, hiking, boating, beach walking. Professionally, her goal is to provide others who value the benefits of conserved land the opportunity to get involved, make a difference, and support Greenbelt's mission. Cathy has a Master’s Degree in Geology and worked as an environmental consultant before starting her career at Greenbelt.
Chris provides leadership in land conservation throughout Essex County and leads our campaign to conserve 10,000 acres in the region. In his time at Greenbelt, he has worked to conserve more than 1,300 acres with a fair market value of more than $15 million.
Chris helps landowners navigate the financial and sometimes emotional aspects of conserving their land and making decisions for the future. He especially enjoys the process of engaging with communities around their values: close to home recreation, protection of wildlife habitat and farms, and clean drinking water.
His signature project is the John J. Donovan Reservation & Sagamore Hill Conservation Area - a complex, multi-partner project that required the mobilization of $5.1 million to create a corridor of 525 acres of permanently protected land.
Chris, who has degrees in environmental policy and natural resource planning from Colby College and the University of Vermont, enjoys hiking, gardening and exploring the natural beauty of Essex County. Before coming to Greenbelt, Chris worked for 12 years for The Trust for Public Land, where he conserved more than 2,750 acres across Massachusetts, with a fair market value of $75 million.
Dave’s mission at Greenbelt is to help protect the natural lands he grew up admiring. His goal is to improve public accessibility while preserving the wildlife values of Greenbelt’s protected lands.
While not working at Greenbelt, Dave’s conservation work continues as Vice Chair of the Rockport Conservation Commission, Vice President of the Cape Ann Trail Stewards, and as the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Storm Team representative for Rockport.
His conservation career began as the Assistant Land Manager in Amherst, Massachusetts, where for 10 years he oversaw the management of 2,000 acres of conservation lands, was responsible for the delineation of its watershed boundaries, and maintained the town’s 80-mile trail network including the Robert Frost Trail. After leaving Amherst he spent the next five years as the Conservation Land Manager for the Town of Lincoln, Massachusetts, where he was responsible for the stewardship of the town’s trail network, biodiversity fields and helped manage its farm license agreements.
As Greenbelt’s part-time Accounting Assistant, Joan O’Connor is excited to bring her business experience to our Finance & Operations team, supporting many of our financial processes. For the past few years, Joan has been volunteering with Greenbelt as a member of our mail crew, assisting in that role remotely during the pandemic.
Previously, Joan worked as a Business Office Director at assisted living communities in Boston and on the North Shore. Joan lives in Magnolia and is an avid gardener and cook. She also spends much of her free time walking Greenbelt properties.
From the signs and kiosks welcoming the public at Greenbelt properties, to communication of current land campaigns and conservation stories in our newsletters, to promoting outreach events and encouraging activity on our properties through our Greenbelt Guide, Sharon is responsible for enhancing awareness of and constituency for our land conservation efforts.
In 2012, working as a consultant, she spearheaded Greenbelt’s rebranding effort and soon came on staff as Design Manager, meeting our strategic marketing objectives by creating and managing graphic design across all departments.
Prior to joining Greenbelt, Sharon worked for the design firm Fitch/Richardson Smith in Ohio, Boston and London, settling with her husband and children in the North Shore to be near Boston, open countryside and the ocean.
Dave’s goal is to ensure that Greenbelt land is managed with a balanced approach that allows public access while protecting natural resources.
Since 2001, Dave has guided the organization through a period of significant growth of protected land and infrastructure. He is currently responsible for overseeing the management of approximately 6,500 acres owned by Greenbelt and 7,200 acres under conservation restrictions held by Greenbelt.
Rimmer has overseen the construction of the stewardship barn, the expansion, and renovation of Greenbelt headquarters and many other improvements at the Cox Reservation in Essex. He has managed the opening of all new Greenbelt reservations, including the 270-acre Donovan Reservation in Hamilton in 2017. He developed and implemented a new conservation restriction monitoring program, as well as working on Greenbelt mapping and database projects.
Dave’s education in wildlife biology and particular interest in ornithology has resulted in Greenbelt’s involvement in raptor and shorebird conservation efforts, most notably with breeding Piping Plovers and Osprey, where Greenbelt has become the leader in Osprey conservation and management in Essex County.
An avid outdoorsman, Dave is a licensed US Coast Guard captain who guides fishermen on the coastal waters of Essex County in his personal time. He is also a member of numerous local, state and national conservation groups.
Jane advances Greenbelt’s land conservation goals by organizing and facilitating events that engage the public not only with Greenbelt, but with the benefits of open space throughout Essex County.
She works to create a wide variety of programs throughout all corners of Essex County, as well as meeting the needs of all age groups and lifestyles of participants. Jane is also part of our efforts to make our reservations and properties accessible to all.
She is prepared for the unexpected on the trails with a certification in Wilderness First Aid.
Jane is a former public-school teacher and brings that background to her work educating and reaching out to a new generation of Greenbelt supporters interested in conservation. On the occasional free weekend, she can be found backpacking or trailrunning in the mountains, or sailing along the coast.
