Barnstable Land Trust2012 Board of Directors
Officers
Lee Ann Hesse, President
West Barnstable
Lee Ann Hesse is a native of Maine who joined her husband on Cape Cod 18 years ago. After graduating from Bates College in Lewiston, she worked in Boston at Scudder Stevens and Clark, and at Lord & Taylor.
Upon moving to the Cape, Lee Ann was the Operations Manager and Treasurer at the CCB&T Investment Company and subsequently the Director of Human Resources with the former Cape Cod Bank & Trust Company. Currently she manages the human resource function, coordinates marketing and is actively involved with public and investor relations at Bank of Cape Cod in Hyannis. Lee Ann resides in West Barnstable with her family.
Sheila Place, Clerk
Marstons Mills
Sheila Place attended Niagara University and the Rochester Institute of Technology. She worked for 20 years as an administrator in multi-disciplinary ambulatory health care facilities and was a consultant surveyor for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Ambulatory Health Care facilities. She also participated in a health care management fellowship, sponsored by the Group Health Association of America.
Sheila is a longtime volunteer, having served on the boards of the Cape Cod Chorale, The Indian Ponds Association, and the Academy for Lifelong Learning; she currently chairs the Green Sanctuary committee at the Barnstable Unitarian Church. Over the years she has developed a keen interest in environmental issues and considers conservation to be absolutely critical. Sheila has lived on Cape Cod with her husband Jerry for 17 years. She has three daughters and two grandsons.
Thomas K. Burgess, Assistant Clerk
Cotuit
Thomas K. Burgess has been an educator throughout his professional life. He was an instructor of Greek and Latin as well as Modern Languages and Ornithology first at St. Stephen's School in Rome, Italy and then at Brooks School in North Andover, MA, where he also chaired the departments of Classics and Modern Languages and served as Academic Dean. After retiring in 2004, he has continued to work as a substitute teacher of Classics and English at Cape Cod Academy in Osterville. He received a BA cum laude in the Classics from Harvard College and a Master of Philosophy in Classics and Ancient History from University College, London. Tom speaks Italian, Dutch, French, and Greek and reads German and Spanish.
A life-long resident of Cotuit, Tom continues to race his 65-year-old skiff every summer under the auspices of the Cotuit Mosquito Yacht Club, where he has served as Chairman of the Race Committee. A nature enthusiast, he received a diploma in Ornithology from Cornell University and a Bird Bander’s Certificate from the Wing Island Bird-banding Station in Brewster. He is a member of the Cotuit-Santuit Civic Association (Secretary, Executive Board), Historic New England, Trustees of Reservations, Association to Preserve Cape Cod, Massachusetts Audubon Society, and the Cape Cod and Brookline Bird Clubs. Tom is a steward of Cotuit’s Eagle Pond Sanctuary. He and his wife, Pieter, have a daughter and grandchildren in San Francisco.
Wendy Barker, Treasurer
Marstons Mills
Wendy Barker is Senior Vice President & Senior Trust Officer for Rockland Trust, and manages the Client Service Team for Rockland Trust’s Investment Management Group. She has over 20 years of experience in personal trust administration, estate planning, fiduciary and tax law, and business development. Before joining Rockland Trust, Wendy was Vice President and Trust Administrative Officer for MNB Investment & Trust Group of The Milford National Bank. Her career also includes Trust Officer positions at BayBank, State Street Bank and BankBoston.
Wendy earned a BA from Elmira College, is a graduate of the New England School of Banking at Williams College, and attended Trinity College, University of Dublin in Ireland. She is a member of the Cape Cod Estate Planning Council and the Cape Cod Planned Giving Council. She has helped with fundraising activities for the Cape Cod Hospital Foundation, The Last Gasp Charity Bike Tour, and United Way events. She has lived on the Cape for over 30 years and currently resides in Marstons Mills.
Board Members
Polly Dana-Schumacher
Barnstable
Polly Dana-Schumacher lives in Barnstable with her husband Bill and dog Molly. She is a graduate of Cape Cod Community College and Greensboro College in North Carolina. She has 39 years in volunteer management in not-for-profit organizations; in 2007 she retired from Hospice & Palliative Care of Cape Cod where she was Director of Volunteers.
Polly and her husband became BLT members in 1988 and have been regular volunteers at the annual Gifts From the Sea fundraiser. Polly also volunteers in the BLT office once a week, supporting staff in the management of volunteer services.
Susanne Lavoie-Lagace
Cotuit
Susanne Lavoie-Lagace manages her own company, Identity Marketing, focusing on fundraising and event management. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she pursued a career in marketing communications and has held various marketing and advertising positions including Executive Director for Corporate Identity and Branding for DeSola Group New York City and NYNEX/Bell Atlantic/Verizon.
Currently she has a leadership role in several political and community organizations and serves as the Executive Director of the Wharf District Council in Boston and as the Treasurer for the Committee to Elect Boston City Councilor Mike Ross. Susanne is also on the Board of Directors for the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy. She is a former trustee and board chair for the Harbor Towers Condominiums and a past director of the Friends of Christopher Columbus Park in Boston.
Susanne and her husband Ken live in Cotuit. She has been a supporter of Barnstable Land Trust since 1996
John Miller
Hyannis
John Miller has owned J Miller Pictureframer and the J Miller Gallery in Mashpee since 1999, following successful careers in the broadcasting, advertising and marketing, and software industries. A Pennsylvania native, John came to Cape Cod in 1970 after majoring in Finance at Rider University in New Jersey.
A committed volunteer, he served on the boards of the United Way of Cape Cod, Cape Cod Symphony, Cape & Islands Chamber Music Festival, Cape Cod Conservatory, Elder Services, the Latham School, Yarmouth and Mashpee Chambers of Commerce, and the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association, among others. He is on the board of the Cape Cod Community College Educational Foundation, having served as chairperson and interim executive director. A former member of the Dennis and Mashpee Conservation Commissions and the Dennis Water Quality Advisory Committee, he is a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International.
John is a Hyannis resident, has two grown daughters, an 11-year-old granddaughter, and a 9-year-old son.
Tom Mullen
West Barnstable
Tom retired after 15 years as the Director of the Town of Barnstable Department of Public Works, having worked previously as Superintendent of the Barnstable Water District. He has brought his extensive knowledge of water supply protection in the Town of Barnstable to bear on BLT’s Land Acquisition and Stewardship Programs. Tom’s active interest in environmental protection is evident in his love of woodland walkways.
For the past 6 years, Tom has worked on the extension to extend and maintain the countywide Cape Cod Pathways trail system through the town of Barnstable. Many trails have been created and linked with preexisting trails. The entire system has been marked with Pathway tags, and map kiosks are in place at all major decision points along the trails. Maps are also available on the Cape Cod Commission web page as well as Town of Barnstable and BLT's individual web sites. Tom and his wife Evelyn live in Barnstable Village.
James C. O'Conor
Centerville
Jim O'Conor is originally from East Hampton, NY, and has lived on Cape Cod for seventeen years. Jim is Vice President and Director of Residential & Consumer Lending at The Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank.
Prior to joining Cape Cod Five, Jim held management and lending positions with Cape Cod Bank & Trust and TD Banknorth. He is a trustee of The Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank Charitable Foundation Trust, is a current member of its Youth & Education Donation Advisory Committee, and also serves on the Advisory Board of St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School. Jim lives in Centerville with his wife, Sonja, and twin daughters.
Rob O'Leary
Cummaquid
Barnstable resident Robert O’Leary is a longtime community leader, educator and environmental advocate. Rob, who holds a doctorate in history, began his career as a public school teacher and is a professor at Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
He was elected County Commissioner in 1987; from 1988-1990, he helped garner voter approval that led to the adoption of the Cape Cod Commission Act. Elected State Senator in 2000, his commitment to the environment followed him to the State House. He was a strong supporter of legislation that put Massachusetts at the national forefront of energy efficiency, carbon emission controls, and renewable energy. A key force in the development of the Cape Light Compact, Rob helped combine energy conservation, green energy incentives and consumer protection to change the way the region generates and consumes electricity.
His work on the Cape Cod Land Bank made environmental and open space preservation a priority and established a model used by communities across the Commonwealth. In recognition of Rob’s extraordinary efforts, he was the 2010 BLT Founders’ Award recipient.
Terrie Reilly
West Barnstable
Terrie Reilly has lived in West Barnstable with her husband Mark Wirtanen for 13 years. Terrie joined Robert Paul Properties in January 2011 after more than 13 years of experience successfully selling real estate. Her clients appreciate her honesty, integrity, straightforward manner and refinement. She moved to the Cape from Manhattan after a long career as a senior executive in the fashion industry. Terrie has extensive knowledge of the area both personally and professionally and enjoys the national parks, beaches, cultural institutions and historical significance the Cape has to offer from Bourne to Provincetown.
Terrie is a member of the West Barnstable Civic Association, Friends of Barnstable Harbor, Massachusetts Board of Realtors, National Association of Realtors, Cape Cod and Islands Association of Realtors, and Barnstable Land Trust since 1999.
Mary-Gaines Standish
Osterville
Mary-Gaines and her husband Peter were always interested in land conservation when living in western Pennsylvania. When they moved to Cape Cod fourteen years ago they became ardent supporters of the Barnstable Land Trust. Peter passed away several years ago, but Mary-Gaines has continued to be involved with this very worthwhile organization. She also volunteers at a soup kitchen in Hyannis and is making arrangements to volunteer at Hospice.
W. Bruce Wallin
Cotuit
Bruce Wallin is a graduate of Fordham University, The Wharton School, and Iona College, where he received an MBA in Organizational Behavior. His professional background includes Senior Vice President of PHH Homequity, the world’s largest corporate relocation company; President of Broker Services at Cendant, where he was responsible for creating, developing and enhancing the value of the company’s residential real estate broker-broker referral network with annual sales volume of over $3.3 billion; and Senior Executive Consultant with Realogy Corporation.
Bruce has also taught subjects such as Real Estate Appraisal, Human Relations and Economics at Western Connecticut State University, University of Connecticut, and Norwalk Technical College. Bruce lives in Cotuit.
D. Joseph Wood
Hyannis Port
Joe Wood has an extensive financial background. He was a vice president at the World Bank, where he was responsible for the Bank’s financial policy for over a decade. In addition, he led the staff work to create the Global Environment Facility, and was in charge of the Bank’s operations in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.
He retired in 1998 after 31 years at the World Bank and co-founded the Bridge Fund, a non-profit organization that runs development projects (education, health, water) in Tibetan communities in Western China. Joe recently stepped down as chairman of the Fund, and currently serves as treasurer and board member of Unnitti Foundation, which supports empowerment projects for women in India and Nepal.
Joe has an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Yale and an advanced degree Economics from Oxford. He and his wife Kathleen (Sinclair) reside in Hyannis Port, where Kathleen’s family has had a home since 1911.
Robin Young
Osterville
Robin Young received a BA from the University of California Berkeley and an MBA from Boston College. He has been working in the greater Boston area for over 30 years; his professional experience includes Price Waterhouse, W.R. Grace, Computervision and his own company, BSC Supply of Waltham, MA.
His interests include land use and hydrology. He believes that the changing land use of the Cape will force Barnstable residents and all Cape Codders to be increasingly environmentally focused in order to maintain our quality of life. Robin resides in Osterville with his wife Laurie.