Staff & Board of Directors

Raised on the Vineyard, Sam developed an early and lasting love for the outdoors and a deep respect for the landscapes that shape our communities. She attended Swarthmore College, where she studied English and Environmental Studies. A lifelong horseback rider, after college Sam built and ran Crow Hollow Farm, where daily work with students, animals, and the land reinforced the importance of time spent outdoors, the deep connections possible with the non-human world, and land stewardship rooted in care, patience, and attentiveness to natural rhythms. In 2010, Sam joined the VCS Board of Directors, motivated by a desire to bring more scrutiny to the rate and scale of development and protect the Vineyard’s unique character and ecological health. She transitioned to the organization’s staff in 2014, focused on education and advocacy, particularly around waste reduction and single-use plastic pollution. She became the Executive Director in 2023. Sam’s work is driven by the belief that strong communities and healthy ecosystems depend on one another and that thoughtful conservation builds needed connections, recognizing and celebrating the interdependence of all things.

Born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Jeremy has lived in Chilmark ever since washing onto our island’s captivating shores in 2006. Prior to that, he resided in western Mass and downeast Maine, where he completed his Ph.D. in Neuroscience & Behavior at UMass Amherst. That followed undergraduate work at the College of William & Mary, where he double majored in Environmental Science and Biological Psychology. Jeremy first became part of the VCS team in 2011, working on a grant-funded project reporting on the impacts of climate change on the Vineyard. He soon joined our regular staff, initially focusing on communications before transitioning into his current role emphasizing  regulatory, planning, and policy advocacy. Throughout, his academic training as a behavioral ecologist has informed his approach to problem-solving and scientific communications, emphasizing uncertainty, contingency, and the interconnectedness of forces and actors in the natural world.  

Signe Benjamin was born on Martha’s Vineyard and raised with a strong environmental ethos and deep respect for the Island’s land and waters. After university, she sailed, traveled extensively, backpacked in the mountains, and immersed herself in wild landscapes, deepening her lifelong love of nature. When returning home to the Vineyard in 2002 to raise her family, she was concerned by the rapid growth and development pressure the Vineyard faced. VCS has allowed her to channel that concern into action.

At VCS, Signe does a little bit of everything. She supports the Executive Director, leads major community events including the Earth Day Beach Cleanup and Annual Meeting, and brings people together around shared environmental action. She initiated VCS’s Take Back the Tap program, expanding water bottle refill stations across the Island and helping reduce single-use plastic. Over the years, Signe has come to know—and truly value—many of VCS’s members, building lasting relationships that strengthen the organization and its mission.

Zada was born and raised on Martha’s Vineyard. She has been a farmer, writer, cater waiter, gardener, baker, and eventually fell in love with film and television production. She recently returned to the island after working as a producer across branded content, film, and TV. Her work has screened at NYC Docs, Tribeca, and Sundance, and has been released on platforms including Disney+, Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, CNN, ABC, CBS, and PBS. Much of her work centered on the intersection of culture and politics, so it was a natural transition to join the VCS team as Director of Advocacy and Community Organizing in 2023. She now leads campaigns at VCS for local policy change, environmental advocacy, and the creation of educational materials that seek to inspire adults and kids alike. She has a deep love for the island, its lands and waters, and the importance of fostering a culture rooted in appreciation, connection to, and respect for our environment.

Lucas Thors grew up on Martha’s Vineyard. His time spent outdoors, getting lost in dense stands of pines and tottering through salt marshes when he was young, eventually inspired him to pursue a career in conservation and environmental advocacy. Lucas’ background is primarily in journalism, and he received his bachelor’s degree in English and Multimedia Journalism from Keene State College in 2018. Upon returning to the island, he immediately began working for the Martha’s Vineyard Times. At the Times, Lucas’ reportage covered everything from municipal government meetings to education to car accidents. Environmental issues were what intrigued Lucas most, and his coverage included responsible land use, innovative renewable energy technologies coming to the Vineyard, local composting efforts, and more. His writing has also appeared in Bluedot Living Magazine, a homegrown publication focused on sustainability and positive, forward-thinking storytelling. Lucas joined VCS in 2025 as Programming and Communications Coordinator, overseeing programming across initiatives and managing the ICAN newsletter and social media channels.

Graduate of the Boston University School of Management, T. Ewell Hopkins has a demonstrated record of community service, advocating for housing, environmental protection, and sustainable economic development for the Island.

He has served on a variety of local and regional boards, including 18 years with Martha’s Vineyard Habitat for Humanity, including a stint as President.

Today, Ewell works in technology and business development at Oracle. Asked about his personal environmental ethic, he writes, “The interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part is a life principle by which I was raised. No societal issue is more important than our relationship with the natural world.”

Carolyn O’Brien is the leader of Carolyn O’Brien Consulting, LLC in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more than 15 years, Carolyn has developed sustainability solutions for social change organizations. Working with organizations large and small, old and start-up, she has partnered with nonprofit leaders to position organizations for the future through key leadership hires, strategic planning, and structural updates. Examining organizational culture, assessing infrastructure, and developing practical, effective strategies for change are hallmarks of her work.

She is a member of the Highland Street Foundation’s Community Impact Consulting group. Previously, she was the executive director of a coalition of 40 nonprofits and the head of communications and foundation fundraising for the Conservation Law Foundation. Carolyn spent the first decade of her career in Washington, DC, as a consultant and an early career member of the Clinton Administration. Her community service includes work as a volunteer, board member, or fundraiser for youth, the environment, the homeless, her college alumni association, and political campaigns. She has a BA from Williams College and a law degree from Georgetown University.

Jennifer Blum’s career in advertising and marketing led her to many homes around the world (New York, Chicago, Singapore, Hong Kong, California, Louisville) before becoming a Martha’s Vineyard resident in 2013. As a hiking enthusiast who has been visiting the Vineyard since 1989, she has long had an appreciation for the wondrous diversity of the Island’s conserved open space. Jennifer first became interested in the work of VCS through the plastic bag ban campaign and has since taken a great interest in the Take Back the Tap project, climate change education, efforts to reduce waste and improve recycling, and advocacy to protect open space.

Building on ten years of active work and leadership on the board of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation and her current service on the MV Film Society board, Jennifer comes to VCS ready to contribute great energy and ideas to these and other initiatives.

A VCS member for over 25 years, Jack Fruchtman and his wife Joanne live on Moshup Trail in Aquinnah, where they have been key partners in our decades-long effort to conserve the globally rare heathlands there.

Jack is a longtime board member of the Aquinnah-Gay Head Community Association and is a member of several other conservation organizations on the Island. Professor emeritus at Maryland’s Towson University, Dr. Fruchtman taught constitutional law and political science and served as the Director of the Program in Law and American Civilization.

Jeffrey Agnoli was an English teacher and Guidance Counselor at the MV Regional High School for 25 years, where he today continues part-time work post-retirement. Jeff and his wife Francine have lived on Island since 1988, raising three children here. A gardener, writer, and poet, he currently serves on the Edgartown Master Plan steering committee and as a Martha’s Vineyard Commissioner.

With his deep and abiding reverence for the natural world, and particularly concern regarding climate change, Jeff joined the VCS Board to help it continue to be a force for environmental awareness and positive change.

Ollie Becker grew up on Tisbury Great Pond, and like many children fortunate enough to live on Martha’s Vineyard, developed an enduring connection to nature at a young age. After graduating from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in 2003, he attended Bard College in the Hudson River Valley and later moved to Los Angeles in 2008. There, he spent a decade producing and writing unscripted television shows, though his longing to return to the Vineyard never faded.

In 2018, Ollie, his wife—also a Vineyard native—and their one-year-old daughter moved back home. Since returning, he has worked with the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival, creating short films that explore the island’s society, environment, and contemporary issues.

During his years away, Ollie noticed how much the island had changed—from busier winters and declining water quality in local ponds to erosion and development that have permanently altered the landscape. These transformations, both environmental and social, serve as a constant reminder of the need for balance and coexistence. Without a healthy ecosystem, the island and its community remain at risk.

What excites Ollie most about serving the Vineyard Conservation Society is its ability to bring nature’s voice into community conversations, ensuring that the island’s environment is represented and protected alongside human interests.

Retired neuro-radiologist R. Jonathan Cobb now teaches anatomy and physiology at William Paterson University in New Jersey. Since building a home on Chappaquiddick with his wife, Suzzanne Douglas, in 1993, he has taken a strong interest in preserving the traditional rural character of Chappy, as well as the larger Island. Our newest addition, Dr. Cobb came on board this August to more fully leverage his love and concern for Vineyard conservation.

Shelley Edmundson is the Executive Director of the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust, a nonprofit organization established to ensure the sustainability of the Vineyard’s commercial fishing community, its heritage, and its access to local seafood for generations to come. Her relationship with the Island’s fishing community began during her doctoral studies, which focused on the channeled whelk, locally known as conch, a marine snail that supports one of the largest commercial fisheries on Martha’s Vineyard.

She continues to collaborate with local fishermen in support of the common goal of sustaining healthy fish stocks and thriving fishermen, now and in the future. Our first multigenerational board member—her grandfather, Bud Vivian, joined the VCS board in the mid-1980s—Shelley brings a passion for open space preservation, plastics reduction, and a host of other issues.

Sarah Glazer is a journalist who has been coming to Martha’s Vineyard since 1984 and is now a year-round resident of Chilmark. Early in her career, she covered energy and environmental legislation for a bipartisan environmental caucus in Congress and later worked as a staffer for two congressional committees on energy conservation legislation.

She has written about health issues for The Washington Post and is currently a Contributing Writer for CQ Researcher, where she writes about environmental and health policy, among other subjects. She is a member of the Chilmark Conservation Commission and the Abel’s Hill Pond Committee, where she helped organize a campaign to persuade homeowners to stop using lawn fertilizer in order to protect the health of Chilmark Pond. As a cyclist, she feels a particular debt of gratitude to VCS for protecting Lambert’s Cove Road, one of her favorite riding spots.

Abigail Higgins grew up at Red Farm in West Tisbury and then traveled in Europe and South America. Since returning to the Vineyard, she has served on many boards, including the MV Agricultural Society, and as co-founder of You’ve Got a Friend, Inc. Today, Abigail and her husband Tony live in Christiantown, and she runs a gardening business for private clients.

The author of the MV Times Garden Notes column, Abigail brings her passion for protecting the Island’s biodiversity to the broader community. Describing her ecological outlook, she writes, “It’s about respecting all life and avoiding over-consumption, trying to find the most harmonious aspect, unencumbered by rubbish as much as possible. However you can, in all aspects of life, you have to try to find that harmoniousness.”

Alexis Moreis is VP of the Chappaquiddick Tribe of the Wampanoag Nation Corp, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, and a community relations and cultural consultant. She lives on Noepe (Martha’s Vineyard) as a traditional steward of the land, as her Indigenous ancestors have for 12,000 years.

Alexis’s work focuses on land rematriation and conservation, preserving traditional cultural properties, Wôpanâak language, and natural resources for Chappaquiddick Wampanoag people through advocacy for economic, social, and environmental justice for Indigenous, Black, and Brown communities. Her background in legislative work with the New York City Council has allowed her to build rapport and efficiently address complex issues in an intergenerational workforce and community. Additionally, she has worked for the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah and the Oak Bluffs School as an educator. Alexis is currently consulting with The Trustees of Reservations on a community project she developed to build a wetu, a traditional Wampanoag biodegradable home on Chappaquiddick for Tribal members. This project focuses on Indigenizing spaces, protecting rare priority habitat, and advancing Indigenous food sovereignty. Wampanoag people have practiced conservation through sustainable Indigenous traditions in food systems, including harvesting, prescribed burns, hunting, shellfishing, and fishing these lands from time immemorial.

Alexis’s ongoing research includes archiving Chappaquiddick Wampanoag documents and artifacts at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum and consulting with universities on Indigenous projects. She studied Education Policy at Brown University and sits on the Tribal Advisory Council. Other consulting partners include Stolen Relations: Recovering Stories of Indigenous Enslavement in the Americas, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Section 106 process of the NHPA, The Trustees of Reservations, Yale University Native Northeast Portal, UMass Amherst Resistance Studies Initiative, and the NAACP.

My focused interest in land conservation is centered around developing relationships of reciprocity with our natural resources. All living beings in our ecosystem here on the Island have had an impact on the landscape and will continue to do so. Moving forward we need to live in a sustainable way with the environment and acknowledge the validity of Indigenous knowledge in science and land stewardship.

Juliet Mulinare was a lifelong summer resident of Chilmark before moving to the Island full-time in 2013. Shortly after purchasing a home in 2014, she began a career in public service working for the Town of Edgartown, where she worked for 10 years before being appointed Dukes County Treasurer in early 2024. She is a member of numerous Edgartown committees, serving as Chair of the Edgartown Master Plan Committee and as the administrator for the town’s dredge department, where she has spent many hours working to protect and maintain the coastlines and waterways of Edgartown.

She has also served as Secretary for the Habitat for Humanity of Martha’s Vineyard Board since 2018 and was the transportation and infrastructure liaison for the Island’s Climate Action Plan. Juliet is passionate about preserving the natural elements that make Martha’s Vineyard so special and unique, as well as protecting the resources that sustain our thriving community.

Clark Myers has called Martha’s Vineyard home for the past 43 years, where he enjoys hiking, kayaking, biking, and sailing. He has worked in different facets of the construction industry, including as project manager for the MV Hebrew Center, Featherstone Center for the Arts, and many others, using green and sustainable building technologies.

He also served as a manager for The Field Fund in its effort to promote and maintain natural grass playing fields at Vineyard schools, and helped in the campaign to prevent plastic fields from being installed instead. It was the Island’s natural beauty that drew Clark to live here, and he now welcomes the opportunity to serve on the VCS board, help protect it, and conserve our special home.

Marc Rosenbaum is a student of low-carbon living, bicycle enthusiast, and mechanical engineer specializing in environmentally friendly, high-performance buildings and communities. Currently working with South Mountain Company, he has lived year-round on the Island for the last six years. Marc received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from MIT and has been recognized for his work on the design of energy-efficient, sustainable architecture projects.

His current projects include Passive House design, deep energy retrofits, and net-zero energy buildings. For thirty years, Marc has pioneered an integrated design approach to help create buildings that connect us to the natural world.

Warren Woessner is a poet, birder, patent lawyer, chemist, and seasonal resident of Edgartown. Originally from New Jersey, he earned a BA from Cornell and both a PhD in organic chemistry and a JD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has served in roles as disparate as Chair of the Biotechnology Committee of the American Intellectual Property Association and founder and host of a poetry program on Madison’s public radio station.

His diverse interests and expertise are reflected in his writings, which range from academic work in patent law, including The Evolution of Patents on Life – Transgenic Animals, Clones and Stem Cells, and chemistry, including Hexatriene-Iron Tricarbonyl Isomerizations, to publishing numerous books of poetry, including Clear All the Rest of the Way, and maintaining an active blog focusing on life sciences patent law.