Kathy Phillips is the Assateague and ACT's Executive Director. A Worcester County resident since 1971, Kathy brings experience in advocacy and coalition building for surfing rights and beach access through her 15-year career as the Executive Director of the Eastern Surfing Association. She campaigned for Worcester County Commission in 2006, and made certain that land and water conservation was a major issue of discussion during the elections. She is dedicated to building stronger working relationships with all stakeholders in the Assateague Coastkeeper territory. "Through better public education and a strong commitment among all those who live and work along our coastal bays, " Phillips says, "we can protect our waterways and the environment upon which all living beings depend.”

Steve Farr , Development Director, is a newcomer to the Delmarva Peninsula and joined ACT in October 2007. Steve came to ACT after spending more than 20 years in the strategic philanthropy practice of a Washington, D.C.-based global public affairs agency where he managed the design, development and implementation of charitable giving initiatives for corporate and private foundation clients. Steve graduated from Yale University with a BA in American Studies. He manages ACT's development program, including foundation grants, membership giving and major gifts. Steve can be reached at development@actforbays.org

Kimberly Fehrer , Administrative Director, has been with Assateague Coastal Trust since 1997. Her duties include bookkeeping, managing financial reports, membership database management, and general office support. Kim co-chairs Maryland Coast Day, volunteers at special events through the year, and manages sales of ACT merchandise. She is also an active steward for the Nature Conservancy Nassawango Creek Preserve. Kim can be reached at staff@actforbays.org

Verena Chase , Coastkids Program Manager, runs ACT’s Coast Kids program. Verena received a masters in Environmental Protection from the University of Applied Sciences in Bingen, Germany in 2003, having conducted her field work in Hawaii. Since then she has studied the beaches, marshes, and bays of the Delmarva coast by volunteering at the Assateague Island National Seashore and by searching for nutria, an invasive rodent species, in the Worcester County marshland for the Maryland Coastal Bays Program. Verena can be reached at coastkids@actforbays.org

K. King Burnett is a partner at the law firm Webb, Burnett, Jackson, Cornbrooks, Wilbur, Vorhis and Douse. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia as well as a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and an L.L.M. from New York University where he was a Ford Fellow. He also was a Fulbright Scholar at the Sorbonne. Mr. Burnett currently serves as a member of the Maryland, Virginia and New York bars, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and its Executive Committee, and the American Law Institute. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a member of the American Bar Foundation and its Executive Committee, a member of the Maryland Bar Association, and a Trustee of the Lower Shore Land Trust. Mr. Burnett has worked on many state, regional and local civic activities. He acts as counsel to the Assateague Coastal Trust and has been a member of its Board of Directors since 1975.

Keith Campbell is President of the Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment. Mr. Campbell attended the University of North Carolina and is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Campbell and Company, Inc. in Towson, Maryland. As investment advisors managing assets from a worldwide client base, Campbell and Company specializes in diverse portfolios of derivative instruments including currencies, energy, bonds, stock indices, and commodities. Mr. Campbell is an avid fisherman and builds boats as a hobby. He also enjoys surfing off Assateague Island, paddling his wooden kayaks, as well as diving and snorkeling. His interests include estuarine ecology, oysters and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV).

Joseph W. Fehrer, Jr. , ACT’s Immediate Past President, is land manager for the Nature Conservancy’s Nassawango Creek Preserve, where he has served for more than twenty years as a volunteer. He also serves on the Worcester County Board of Zoning Appeals. A native of Snow Hill, MD, Mr. Fehrer is a specialist in custom woodworking and restoration. He is a student of barrier island ecology, history and coastal wetland environments, and has visited East Coast barrier islands from Cape May to Virginia Beach.

Sandra Frazier , ACT’s Vice President, has a special interest in native plants and wildlife habitat education and implementation. She has been a volunteer for various environmental groups in Montgomery and Talbot counties in Maryland. Ms. Frazier earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Maryland and a Masters degree in counseling from Trinity College. She has worked in human resources and court counseling, and for fifteen years as a psychotherapist in clinical and private settings. Ms. Frazier is currently the ACT Membership Committee chairperson.

Tom Jones is Dean of the Richard A. Henson School of Science and Technology at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland. Dr. Jones has served as the associate dean of the school and, for thirteen years, as the chair of the biological sciences department. Dr. Jones received his Ph.D. in plant physiology from the University of Maryland and has maintained an adjunct position with the Horn Point Lab during his career at Salisbury University. Prior to receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Jones served in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1972 as a military intelligence officer. He served in Vietnam from 1971 to 1972, and as major in the Army Reserves, he was appointed the Military Intelligence Operations Officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency's Prisoner of War and Missing in Action office during the Gulf War in 1991.

Bill Killinger has lived and worked in Baltimore and been a longtime visitor to the Ocean City area. When it came time to retire, Mr. Killinger moved permanently to Worcester County, drawn to the region for its natural beauty and species diversity. Killinger has put his chemistry background to use as a volunteer water quality monitor with the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, where he has also served on the Citizen's Advisory Committee. He has volunteered his time speaking to school children on a variety of topics including horseshoe crabs, oyster reefs, the Chesapeake and Coastal bays watersheds, and ways that they can protect and preserve natural resources. Mr. Killinger is also an active member of the Ocean Pines Boat Club, the Ocean Pines Angler's Club, and the Maryland Saltwater Sportsfisherman's Association.

Ken MacMullin majored in industrial design at Philadelphia College of Art and the Washington School of Art. He has worked as a commercial artist and owned a small business. For twenty-nine years he was employed by Nationwide Papers. Mr. MacMullin has been active with the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, and with ACT as a volunteer oyster gardener and terrapin program monitor. A member of the Coastkeeper Steering Committee, Mr. MacMullin was instrumental in helping launch the Coastkeeper program in 2002.

Robert K. McIntosh , ACT’s Secretary, is an attorney with McIntosh & Schanno, P.A in Berlin, MD. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Dickinson College and his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. His areas of interest include water quality and habitat preservation.

Dr. Madhumi Mitra is currently an Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). She is also the Coordinator of both the Biology and Chemistry Education Programs at UMES. Dr. Mitra obtained her Ph.D degree in 2002 from the Department of Plant Biology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. She received her Bachelor's degree with first class honors in Botany from the prestigious Presidency College, Calcutta, India; thereafter received her Master's degree in Botany with a first class from the University Colleges of Sciences and Technology, Calcutta, India. Dr. Mitra is a member of American Association for Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), Botanical Society of India (BSA), American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists (AASP), and Association for Women Geoscientists (AWG). Currently, Dr. Mitra serves as the Vice President of the Association for Women Geoscientists-Potomac Chapter. Dr. Mitra is actively involved in research and teaching in the fields of biology, geology, environmental and marine sciences, and pedagogy. She is the recipient of many awards, scholarships, and grants. Her research on "Seaweeds and Human Health" has received national and international recognition.

Abhijit Nagchaudhuri is currently a Professor in the Department of Engineering and Aviation Sciences at University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Dr. Nagchaudhuri is a member of ASME and ASEE professional societies and is actively involved in teaching and research in the fields of applied mechanics, robotics, image processing, precision agriculture, geospatial information tecxhnology, and remote sensing. systems and control, and design of mechanical and mechatronic systems. Dr. Nagchaudhuri received his bachelors degree from Jadavpur University in Calcutta, India with a honors in Mechanical Engineering in 1983, thereafter, he worked in a multinational industry for 4 years before joining Tulane University as a graduate student in the fall of 1987. He received his M.S. degree from Tulane University in 1989 and Ph.D. degree from Duke University in 1992.

Richard Nieman has lived in Maryland all of his life and worked for the Federal Government for 32 years. He was the Deputy Director of Departmental Accounting and Financial Systems Development for the U.S. Department of Energy prior to his retirement in 1997. He has owned property on the Eastern Shore since 1984 and moved here full time with his wife in 1999. His degree is in Business Administration from Benjamin Franklin University in Washington, D.C. with a major in accounting. He is an active member of the Ocean Pines Anglers Club, the Maryland Saltwater Sportsfishermen Association, and a volunteer for the Believe in Tomorrow's Children's House by the Sea. Last year, he was instrumental in helping to pass Maryland legislation to ban the hydraulic clam dredging operations in our Coastal Bays.

Mary Ochse is co-owner of The Kite Loft, a retail chain located in Ocean City. Ms. Ochse earned a Bachelor of Arts in French from Thiel College and a Certificat D'Etudes from Universite de Neuchatel, Switzerland. She is very active in the Ocean City business community, raising funds for Atlantic General Hospital and as a member of Worcester County Concerned Citizens, Concerned Citizens of Church Branch, and the Citizens Advisory and Water Quality Subcommittees of Maryland Coastal Bays Program. Her areas of interest include Ocean City and Worcester County policies related to smart growth and economic and environmental sustainability, water quality, Maryland Coast Day, and promoting environmental causes through kite demonstrations and workshops.

George T. Parker, was raised on Virginia’s Eastern Shore and is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University. He and his family lived in Ft. Myers, Florida for twenty years where he started his environmental career as an interpretive naturalist guiding coastal and Everglades canoe and kayak trips and later became an environmental education field trip teacher. He was a Principal Environmental Planner with Lee County Government for many years and after moving to New Mexico commuted to Florida on a part-time basis as a senior ecologist with a private consulting firm. He has served on both private and public environmental education advisory boards. In New Mexico, George established a forest management business and was a founding member of the Cimarron Watershed Alliance. He and his wife Vicki now live in Onley, Va. where he has a landscape business. In addition to ACT, he is an active member of the Nassawango Creek Preserve Stewardship Committee.

Tom Patton has his own business in real estate property management and historic preservation. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University. His extensive volunteer experience includes work with the Maryland Historical Society, the Lower Eastern Shore Heritage Committee, St. Martin's Church Preservation Foundation, Maryland Coastal Bays Program, and with political advocacy and community association affairs. His areas of interest include marine fisheries, watershed development, and county comprehensive plans. Mr. Patton recently published the book Listen to the Voices, Follow the Trails, a fascinating account of the unique natural history and culture of Maryland's seacoast.

Ronald Pilling , ACT’s Treasurer and head of the Oyster Gardening and Restoration Program, is recently retired from his business in design and sale of computer output systems. He received his Bachelor of Science in economics from University of Maryland and a Masters of Business Administration in marketing from Morgan State University. His experience includes work as a volunteer and community spokesperson for the Union Square National Historical District since 1973. Mr. Pilling is interested in oyster restoration and coastal bays water quality and habitat preservation.

Kim Quillin received a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in Integrative Biology with an emphasis in bio-mechanics at the University of California, Berkeley. She works for Prentice Hall Publishers to improve the pedagogy of the art program in college biology texts. Dr. Quillin’s areas of expertise include research, information design, and education. She is interested in habitat preservation, habitat restoration using native plants, bivalve gardening, smart development and public education. Dr. Quillin created and directs ACT's Coast Kids program.

Jim Rapp , ACT’s President, is the Executive Director of Delmarva Low-Impact Tourism Experiences (DLITE). Jim is the former Executive Director of the Salisbury Zoo in Salisbury, Maryland. He also serves on the board of the Lower Eastern Shore Heritage Council and, and is Past-President of the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance. His areas of expertise include wildlife management, habitat preservation, and public outreach. Jim has a Bachelor of Science in biology from Salisbury University and enjoys paddling and birding in the coastal bays watershed.

Courtney Schupp received her B.S. in geology from Duke University and her M.S. in marine science from Virginia Institute of Marine Science at The College of William and Mary. Her research and professional experience has focused mainly on barrier island dynamics, shoreline erosion, nearshore geomorphology, coastal engineering, science education, and grant writing. She currently works as a coastal geologist for Assateague Island National Seashore and, in her free time, prefers to be in or near the water, whether diving, sailing, or exploring.

Pam Stansell has been an active volunteer in the Worcester County and Ocean City communities for many years. Her experience serving on Boards for Coastal Hospice, the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, and the Maryland Coastal Bays Program will bring a wealth of resources to Assateague Coastal Trust. Pam, and her husband Macky, owners of Macky's Bayside Restaurant in Ocean City, have donated a slip at the 54th St. marina to the Coastkeeper for the past two years. This has allowed ACT to keep the 24' pontoon boat in the water and available for patrols, education and tours for the past two summers. Pam is commited to a healthy coastal bays environment and clean waters, and endorses the mission of the Coastkeeper program.

Harry Womack is Professor of Biology at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland. A native of Miami, Dr. Womack received his Ph.D. from Auburn University and came to SU in 1971, primarily to teach, enjoy and learn about the regional environment, especially the Chesapeake Bay. He has been involved with seemingly countless environmental organizations and efforts over the years. The coastal bays first became an abiding interest in the early 1980s, when he began working with aquaculture in the Chincoteague Bay. The beauty and peace of the bays, along with their complexity and fragility were magnetic. He has led many classes and research projects on the bays and is primarily interested in water quality, submerged aquatic vegetation, and regional development impacts. He enjoys fishing, clamming, exploring, etc. on the bays and barrier islands.