Staff & Trustees

President

Mary Griffin has served as a Commissioner of the MA Department of Fish and Game, as Southeast Regional Director of Mass Audubon, as Executive Director of the Mass Land Trust Coalition, as General Counsel of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and as Chief of Legal Services and Land Protection at the MA Department of Conservation and Recreation.  Currently, she is a part-time hearing officer for the MA Department of Fish and Game and works seasonally at Wellfleet Wildlife Sanctuary for Mass Audubon.  She is a graduate of Davidson College and Cornell Law School.  She lives in Orleans, MA and enjoys hiking and exploring nature with her husband Andy and dog Finley.

Vice President

Gary Bowden has been an active volunteer and supporter of the OCT since he and his husband Mark Ziomek made Orleans their permanent home in 2019.  Gary retired after a 34-year career with the Federal Courts in Washington DC and has found his new passion in the support of the environment and advocating for restoring native plants, removing invasive species, and educating the public about the value in protecting our native pollinators.

Gary has been active in the community since retiring.  He serves on the Board of the Nauset Newcomers, having recently ended his term as President.  He is on the Board and a member of the Speakers Bureau of the Master Gardeners Association of Cape Cod.  In 2020 he worked with a group of 13 individuals from nine regional non-profits, including OCT, to form the Pollinator Pathway Cape Cod.  Recently, Gary was also appointed to the Land Management Committee of the Sipson Island Trust and is working with others to restore the landscape of the island and make it accessible for visitors to hike and enjoy.

Gary and Mark have a vegetable garden plot at Sea Call Farm and their home perennial garden has been on the Orleans Improvement Association and Hydrangea Festival tours in recent years.

Treasurer

Deb began her career in nonprofit management and finance over 40 years ago. She earned her MBA from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill, NC and passed the Uniform CPA examination. Deb retired from Justice Resource Institute where she served as Chief Financial Officer. She has overseen budget and contract development, capital management, debt and cash structuring, investments, and financial reporting in the nonprofit field. Deb participates in designing business and leadership development strategies. Deb is most interested in developing financial models that assist creation of innovative programming responses in the often challenging nonprofit fiscal environment. Deb and her husband moved to Orleans from Barnstable in 2020 and have enjoyed exploring some of the lesser known conservation areas in the area.

Clerk

Jim is a retired Senior Executive at CHUBB Limited, where he worked for over 20 years and served in several leadership roles before retiring as Executive Vice President. In that role he managed business operations of the Commercial Insurance Division, including underwriting, marketing, product development, business analytics, and actuarial. Since retiring in 2019, he splits his time between Florida and Orleans. He has been an active volunteer with the Homeless Prevention Council in Orleans and with the Orleans Conservation Trust, predominantly in helping with invasive species control and property boundary delineation. Jim received his B.S. from University of Massachusetts Amherst and his MBA from Columbia Graduate School of Business
New York. He’s married and has three adult children.

Carolyn is an experienced HR Professional/Compensation Expert and Strategic Consultant. She has worked at Boston Children's Hospital and Lahey Health as a compensation specialist. Carolyn recently went to part-time consulting. She is involved in the Orleans community in the following capacities: Board Member, Friends of Crystal Lake, Member of the Town of Orleans Marine and Fresh Water Quality Committee, Member of the Orleans Pond Coalition, and Volunteer for the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod.

Jeanne has spent her career in nonprofit leadership, coalition building, program planning and management, and volunteer recruitment, training and coordination. Jeanne spent her professional career building regional collaboration between business and education and establishing extensive working relationships in both the urban and rural settings of Southwestern Pennsylvania, most recently, prior to her retirement in 2001, as the Vice President of Workforce Education and Development for the Pittsburgh Technology Council. She was the founder and past national president of the Association of School/Business Partnership Directors. In her volunteer career, Jeanne has served as national president of ARCS Foundation, Inc., (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists), an organization dedicated to addressing the serious shortage of American scientists and engineers. She founded the Pittsburgh Chapter and currently chairs their Fund Development Committee. Mrs. Berdik also serves as a member of the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden Board of Directors and Executive Committee. She is the past-President of the Nauset Garden Club in Orleans. She was a founder and is on the Steering Committee for a regional initiative—Pollinator Pathway Cape Cod. Jeanne is a past-President of the Junior League of Pittsburgh and served on the Board of the Association of Junior Leagues International. She was a member of the founding committee of the Pittsburgh Children's Museum. Jeanne is married with three grown children and six grandchildren. She lives in South Orleans.

Charlie chairs OCT’s Land Acquisition Committee and leads fundraising for these acquisitions. He also serves on OCT’s Executive Committee and Finance Committee and as a non-voting member of OCT’s Land Management Committee.  Outside of OCT, he is a member of the Nauset Heights Association, a neighborhood group, and he has served the Town as Chairman of the Town’s Dredge Advisory Committee and as Chairman of the Nauset Estuary Stakeholder Group, which is a discussion forum for issues relating to the dredging of Nauset Estuary. He also serves as an alternate member of the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission.  As a lawyer and business executive, Charlie was the founder and president of Family Office Management Services Inc., a company that assists wealthy families with their personal and financial affairs, which he sold in 2017. He now provides consulting to high-net-worth families through Carlson Advisory Services LLC. Previously he served as COO and general counsel for Cabot, Cabot & Forbes and Corporate Realty Investment Company and as an associate at the law firm of Sherburne, Powers & Needham (now Holland & Knight) in Boston. Charlie received his BA from Harvard College and his JD from George Washington University.  He is married with two adult children and lives full-time in Orleans.

Jamie is passionate about land conservation and improving the quality of the Cape’s waters, advocating for sewering and eco-friendly landscaping free of pesticides and fertilizers. She is currently serving on the board of APCC.

Jamie served her first term as a trustee for the Orleans Conservation Trust from 2016-2021. She is a past treasurer for the Orleans Pond Coalition, where she led OPC’s committee to sample Orleans ponds for cyanobacteria in partnership with APCC.

Jamie is semi-retired, working as the part-time COO for the podcast studio Double Elvis Productions. Double Elvis’ award-winning podcast, Disgraceland, is the most listened to music-themed podcast of all time. Prior to podcasting, Jamie was the SVP of finance & administration for Macmillan Learning. Jamie has extensive experience in business development, financial planning, HR, contracts, and operations.

Jamie majored in English at Boston University, where she played varsity lacrosse and field hockey. She has had a home in the Bakers Pond area of Orleans since 2006 and has lived in Orleans full time since 2019. An avid environmentalist and proponent of native plants, Jamie enjoys gardening, bird watching, and hiking in Nickerson State Park with her dogs Lucy and Koko.

Kevin has been an OCT member and active supporter and volunteer for nearly 40 years. He currently serves as a member of the Town of Orleans Select Board and has served as a public member of the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, member of the Orleans Conservation Commission, a Water Commissioner, chair of the Renewable Energy Committee, and member of the Orleans Personnel Advisory Board. Kevin has a BS in accounting from the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth, a BS in mechanical engineering technology from Northeastern University, and an MBA from University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth. With Vince Ollivier he owns and operates a small farm that follows organic growing practices. He taught environmental science—specifically energy efficiency and conservation—at Cape Cod Community College and continues to provide energy consulting services.

Ed worked in science research for the Allied-Signal Research Center near Chicago and then at Pfizer, Inc., served many years on the Conservation Commission in East Lyme, CT., and volunteered at and became Board Chairman for the Drop-In Learning Center in nearby New London, tutoring kids in their after-school program.  

He has been a mentor for 4 years at the K-3 Hyannis West Elementary School, serves on the Orleans Pond Coalition Board, and as a member of the Orleans Marine and Fresh Water Quality Committee.  

Drusy graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in English and Geology and continued her studies in geology at Harvard University.

Her family came to Orleans over 100 years ago, and she has been a part or full-time resident for over 60 years (her first job was at Fancy’s Farm Stand - now Nauset Farms).

Drusy spent her entire career in the tech industry, holding positions such as Director of Business Analysis at Deltek Inc, Senior Manager of User Experience and Documentation at Iron Mountain Digital, and Senior Principal User Researcher at Oracle Corp.

She serves as Chair of the Orleans Conservation Commission and as the Commission’s liaison to the Putnam Farm property, and represents Orleans on the Pleasant Bay Alliance Steering Committee. She lives in East Orleans with her wife and two beloved rescue dogs.

David spent many years with American Express in Europe, leading two of their five businesses across the region. At American Express, he also led marketing and co-branded credit card initiatives with European airlines, hotels and large retailers. Following American Express, David launched a startup digital business within Barclays Bank in the UK. Upon moving back to the New England area, David worked with early and mid-stage HealthTech and FinTech companies, and for MassChallenge, a non-profit startup accelerator. David is passionate about helping to preserve the beauty of the Cape through climate and environmental initiatives. He lives in Orleans with his wife Ellen.

Emily McKhann is a strategic communications professional who has spent her career working with the world’s leading nonprofits, corporations, and agencies. For twelve years, Emily was co-founder and CEO of The Motherhood, an award-winning social impact agency that leveraged the web to advance and inspire social good. She launched global campaigns for the Gates Foundation, the ONE Campaign, the UN Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others. Emily sold the company in 2018.  

Before this, Emily ran strategic communications firms based in New York City and Dallas, TX, advising senior leadership teams at CBS, AT&T, Scholastic, and others. Prior to that, she was Director of International Business and Acting Commissioner to the United Nations and Consular Corps for New York City. She co-authored the bestselling book Living with the End in Mind, published by Crown Books and featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show.  

Emily currently serves on the Orleans Pond Coalition board and has principal responsibility for updating The Blue Pages, A Guide to Protecting Cape Cod Waters.  

She and her husband split their time between Larchmont, NY and Orleans. 

Meff currently serves on the Town of Orleans Select Board and formerly chaired the Orleans Open Space Committee. He spent summers in Orleans beginning in 1952 and has lived in town full-time since 1974. He received his BA from Colgate University in 1974 and began working at the Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank in 1975. He retired in 2011. Over the years, Meff has served on various town committees, including the town’s Comprehensive Planning Committee.

Deirdre grew up among the apple orchards and dairy farms of the Hudson Valley in Dutchess County, N.Y. and vacationed in Wellfleet for many years. In her teens, she learned firsthand about environmental protection with the near death of the Hudson River and subsequent, ongoing, cleanup.

Deirdre left the Hudson Valley to complete her B.A. at Smith College and an M.B.A. at the Simmons Graduate School of Management. She worked in banking and real estate development in New York City from 1981 until 1999, when she left to attend Princeton Theological Seminary and graduated with an MDiv in 2002.

She has served on several non-profit boards including Family Promise North Shore/Boston and the Cape Ann YMCA, and is a Trustee of the Snow Library. Deirdre is a Master Gardener, an OCT Trail Steward, with her husband, for the Mill Pond Valley Trail, and a “growing” member of Pollinator Pathways Cape Cod and the Sea Call Farm community.

A landscape photographer, she enjoys wandering on the beach, in the woods, and on the waters of the Cape, which she is delighted to call home.