Andrea McGimsey, Executive Director

Andrea has loved the outdoors since she was a child helping build the Appalachian Trail alongside her father. Later, when performing Shakespeare in college at MIT, it was fitting that she’d bring her love of nature to the stage by portraying Titania, Queen of the Woodland Fairies. During a brief sojourn in the corporate sector, Andrea was inspired by a climate scientist friend to switch careers, and she’s been working to help the environment ever since. A former member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Andrea has over twenty years of nonprofit leadership experience with organizations dedicated to conservation, historic preservation, and climate solutions. One of her proudest achievements was leading a grassroots campaign to protect 200,000 acres of rural land in Loudoun County from development. When Andrea isn’t outside impersonating a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) to teach kids about pollinators, you’ll find her in her home office beside a wall of houseplants and accompanied by her three cats, who make occasional appearances on camera in an attempt to contend with Haym for the role of Spokescat.
(Sorry boys, that job is taken!)

Kara Balcerzak, Organizational Strategist

Kara is our nonprofit virtuoso, who keeps Sustainability Matters’ recovering capitalists from potential lapses like issuing an IPO. She began her nonprofit journey as a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso, then an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in DC. She went on to become a professional grantwriter, a VISTA supervisor, and a federal grant administrator. Sustainability Matters is her first environmental nonprofit, as well as her first start-up, and she’s determinedly holding us to the standards of the “big dogs.” Kara’s volunteer activities have included teaching knitting to incarcerated women, facilitating an anti-racist book club, helping new refugees navigate U.S. culture, and co-leading her local chapter of National Novel Writing Month. She is the author of a dozen non-fiction children's books and was a proud Little Free Library steward in Minneapolis, before she moved back to her home state of Virginia and onto a dead-end country road. She and her partner live in Shenandoah County, where they’re learning from Sustainability Matters how to fight invasive trees and plant good ones. Her other creative outlets are increasingly ambitious knitting, playing the harp, writing novels, quilting, and preparing for battle each winter against the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) invading her living room. Kara campaigns tirelessly for Sustainability Matters to adopt spokesalpacas so she can knit from their fiber. We’ve promised we will, as soon as she secures a grant for this; now we live in fear she’ll succeed.

Kenny Barnes, Social Media Manager

Affectionately referred to as “that guy from the videos,” Kenny’s love for the environment took off indoors, where he grew an indoor jungle of houseplants during the COVID-19 pandemic. What began as a fun hobby quickly grew into an online passion project—sharing houseplant tips, jokes, and styling tricks on TikTok and Instagram. His videos cultivated a community of over 200,000 followers and sparked a deeper appreciation for the natural world beyond his windowsill. That love for nature eventually inspired a big lifestyle change: He now lives in a van, traveling across the country and soaking in Mother Nature’s beauty. As the social media manager for Sustainability Matters, he uses his storytelling skills to connect people with the environment and inspire individual climate action. (And yes, his knack for going viral carried over—one of SM’s Instagram Reels racked up over 21 million views!) When he’s not creating content, you can find him hiking, pursuing his passion for photography, watching NBA basketball, or hanging out with his two travel-loving cats, Kawhi and Cleo. His favorite plant? The Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), which he keeps an eye out for on all his desert adventures—although it’s still no match for the 200 houseplants he used to care for indoors. Turns out, there’s not much room for plants in a van!

Taylor Bates, Environmental Educator

Taylor Bates spent her childhood writing and playing beneath an American Beech tree and watching birds and bugs the way other kids watched TV. So naturally, she grew into an adult who has led kayak tours through mangrove forests (Rhizophora mangle), facilitated science-themed puppet shows, and performed surgery on sharks. Taylor found her calling in conservation through volunteering with environmental nonprofits, which led her to spend three years as the research manager of a conservation organization near South Africa’s Kruger National Park. There, she developed projects to mitigate human-wildlife interactions, ran community-driven research efforts, and played cat and mouse with leopards (Panthera pardus). (Taylor was usually the mouse.) After returning home, she earned a master’s degree in environmental education. Drawn to our goal of “seriously making sustainability fun,” Taylor is excited to share her global experiences and passion for the environment to grow new generations of sustainability advocates. As new Virginia residents, Taylor, her husband, and their ball-obsessed dog Cooper love exploring new places and look forward to visiting all the state parks in Virginia.

Lauren Galucki Hoade, Communications Manager

Lauren decided to become a vegetarian in kindergarten (and still is one), around the same time that she developed a plan to move all the deer in Maine into her backyard so hunters couldn’t shoot them. The pressures of adulting drove her to graphic design for Corporate America at Turner Media, but she eventually escaped, recently completing a Master’s in Sustainability. While in school, Lauren turned her mad skills toward building Sustainability Matters’ brand. Now that she’s graduated, we just couldn’t lose her from our team. Lauren’s hobbies include pottery, felting, knitting, tennis, and, of course, gardening. She and her multi-species family - including a no-longer-so-new puppy, a cat, a betta fish, and a South American wood turtle (Rhinoclemmys punctularia) - live in Atlanta. Lauren and her husband, who never wanted to move all the world’s deer into his backyard, perpetually debate eco-topics like converting their lawn to native habitat, recycling glass, and washing clothes in cold water.

Dan Ciesla

Dan began his career as a software engineer. Although he hated being stuck in a cube farm, he’s still a nerd at heart. These days, as Republic Services’ man in Richmond, he nerds out about all things recycling and waste management. To maintain his recycling geek cred, he serves on the Virginia Waste Management Board and the board of the Virginia Recycling Association, as well as a director of Sustainability Matters. Naturally, he is particularly excited to help scale up SM’s landfill-related programs, especially those that involve youth education. Dan is originally from upstate New York. Snow days in Richmond make him nervous because he worries about Virginians’ inability to drive in the slippery stuff. He lives with his wife, three children, two tiny dogs, two average-sized ferrets, and one very large gray cat, Luna. Dan is not a gardener, though we are trying to shake his conviction that he has a permanent black thumb. He does share many gardeners’ least favorite plant, the black walnut tree (Juglans nigra). While gardeners often dislike black walnut because the compound it secretes, juglone, is toxic to most plants, Dan dislikes it because it’s toxic to him: allergic to all nuts, he’s especially so to black walnut!

Rachel Lilly

Rachel literally found Sustainability Matters on the side of the road. While driving past Fairfax County’s I-66 Landfill, she noticed a sign for our Making Trash Bloom project. Intrigued, she turned to Google, got in touch with us, wrote an article about Making Trash Bloom for the STEM-focused children’s magazine she edits (SIGNAL Kids), and is currently sinking deeper and deeper into Sustainability Matters’ quicksand. Rachel’s professional career began in TV journalism, but she eventually transitioned into nonprofit communications, specializing in social media and education, and becoming a fount of useful knowledge, like that honeybees (Apis mellifera) can be trained to sniff out landmines. We appreciate Rachel’s random knowledge and comms insights, but we really love her for her hobby, epic sugar cookie baking. Sustainability Matters’ official spokescat, Haym, is patiently awaiting a frosted two-dimensional version of himself. Rachel lives in Alexandria with her husband, two children, and a mildly deranged dog, Nala, whose hobby is taste-testing exotic objects, like Rachel’s checkbook. Nala’s New Year’s resolution is to avoid induced vomiting at the vet. Rachel’s is to take her banking entirely paperless.

Michele McDonnell

Michele is an adventurer at heart and discovered the importance of protecting land and natural habitats through her travels. She is a finance nerd who excels with budgets, pivot tables, and making sense of the numbers. Most of her career was spent in financial services, until a few years ago when she began to learn more about climate and sustainability and started looking for ways to bring her finance skills to nonprofits. She has a passion for helping others fulfill their organizational missions and simplifying finances. Michele is excited to serve on the Sustainability Matters board as Treasurer and looks forward to learning more about pollinator habitats and native plants. Based in Charles Town, West Virginia, Michele enjoys hiking, biking, and exploring with her wife, Evelyn.

Elizabeth Merritt

Betsy serves as Deputy General Counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where she recently celebrated her 40th anniversary on May 1, 2024. During that time, she has been actively involved in hundreds of precedent-setting cases seeking to protect historic properties, in federal and state courts around the country. But she has an even stronger interest in using administrative advocacy to persuade agencies to make more preservation-sensitive decisions in the first place. Betsy is especially passionate about recycling, which includes the preservation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings in addition to traditional recycling. She is a native of Seattle, Washington, and graduated from Mills College and Harvard Law School.

Amanda Scheetz

A co-founder of Sustainability Matters, Amanda delights in the nonprofit start-up adventure, organizing Environmental Trivia Nights and fundraisers and pitching in with a wide variety of educational programs. A classically trained professional violist, violinist, and viola teacher, she also leads Sustainability Matters’ mostly vegan band, the Plant-Based Jam. In addition to her work with Sustainability Matters, Amanda volunteers with the Central Shenandoah Valley Master Gardeners, for whom she designed and maintains a historic garden at John Kline House in Rockingham County. Amanda lives in her own historic house in Frederick County with her husband David (the brave soul who scales extension ladders to hang Sustainability Matters’ banner at Earth Day), several rabbits and cats, a native woodland garden, and a slowly decreasing amount of Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum). She is an avid hiker, biker, traveler, chef, and European linguist.

Sonia Zamborsky

Sonia (she/her/hers) has been a garden geek since about the age of 7, when she discovered the magic of putting a seed in the ground and pulling food out. Most of her professional background has been in the for-profit sphere, wordsmithing for The Man (Marriott and Capital One) and helping make corporations more inclusive. After several years as a volunteer and contractor guiding Sustainability Matters’ communications and DEI strategy, she's thrilled to be joining the Board! Sonia's an avid traveler and fermentation dabbler, and is always looking for new ways to convert her suburban lawn into an edible landscape. Her Falls Church budding food forest includes lots of pollinator-friendly fare like milkweed (especially Asclepias tuberosa) and bee balm (Monarda fistulosa), as well as people-pleasing faves like cucamelons, Shackamaxon pole beans, and a wide variety of herbs.

Brent Barriteau

Brent’s natural resource management background literally spans the nation, from forester in California to his current position of Soil Conservationist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service, where he advises landowners on sustainable farming practices, improving natural resources, and habitat restoration. Working in the coast redwood forest for seven years was a magical experience for him, and an inspiration for how working landscapes can be managed sustainably. Brent is involved with multiple Sustainability Matters initiatives, including Making Trash Bloom and Get Paid to Go Green (cost-share funding for conservation on private lands). Brent lives in Frederick County and enjoys live music, growing plants, forest walks, and traveling with his wife and two children. He finds it hard to choose a favorite plant, but hoary mountain mint (Pycnanthemum incanum) wins by a hoar.

Hannah Bement

Hannah coordinates the training and research agenda for Sustainability Matters’ Science Team, which monitors the progress of our Making Trash Bloom meadows. She educates both adults and children for us, writes and illustrates the What’s Blooming at the Landfill blog, and has turned her artistic talents to a portrait of our spokescat, Haym. Hannah first connected with Sustainability Matters through her work at Mountain Vista Governor’s School, where she teaches biology and ecology. Her students there - our favorite sustainable teens - are actively involved in multiple Sustainability Matters initiatives. The daughter of a zookeeper and granddaughter of a wildlife rehabilitator, Hannah shared her childhood bedroom with orphaned squirrels and helped chase escaped emus through town. Her undergraduate thesis was on the use of positive reinforcement in alligator training (really). She has worked at the National Zoo and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, and on a research project involving anesthetizing black widow spiders (Latrodectus mactans) to harvest their silk for use by the Department of Defense (again, really). Hannah lives in Warren County. She is a Master Naturalist volunteer, a Master of Environmental Science from Yale, and the mother of two young naturalists, already skilled in turning over logs to look for cool critters. Hannah’s own favorite cool critters are salamanders, particularly the slimy salamander (Plethodon glutinosis), which grins as it exudes a glue that sticks your fingers together.

Janet Davis

If it grows in Virginia, Janet’s probably grown it. Her career began as an orchardist in Shenandoah County. Her love of native plants then inspired her to build a native plant nursery and landscape design business, Hill House Farm, close to the top of a mountain in Rappahannock County. A fan of SM since our early days, when she presented us with over 100 short-toothed mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) plants to rehome (some of us still have their descendants), Janet is thrilled that our programs have made it to her home county and looks forward to helping us stomp out more invasives at the Rappahannock landfill and beyond. She has difficulty choosing a favorite native plant, but marsh rattlesnake master (Eryngium aquaticum), which various Native American tribes used for medicinal purposes, is definitely near the top of her list. In addition to being the home of thousands (millions?) of plants, Hill House also accommodates Janet’s husband, Rob, the nursery’s “Mr. Infrastructure”; their daughter, Olivia, who inexplicably prefers horses to plants; and their two dogs, who spend all day among the plants and claim to be helping.

Jack Monsted

Jack curates native plants and meadows at the State Arboretum of Virginia (Blandy). Through our Making Trash Bloom program, he’s also helping Sustainability Matters create native meadows on far less exalted sites, namely landfill trash cells. Jack’s primary academic interest - subject of his Master’s thesis and recently published first scientific paper - is the intersection of human land use and plant communities. His favorite plants are woodland spring ephemerals like bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) and Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica). He also has a soft spot for Torrey’s rush (Juncus torreyi), a rather unprepossessing wetland native critically imperiled in Virginia, which he recently discovered in an urban park while on a fact-finding expedition for Sustainability Matters! Jack lives in Winchester with his wife Emily, who advises Sustainability Matters on development, and their bulldog Bagel, who provides moral support. Jack and Bagel enjoy rock climbing together, as well as playing funk and jazz on the sax and bass (Bagel mostly just listens).

Michael Neese

Mike is the Recycling Manager for the City of Winchester, where he inspires by example with a low waste lifestyle: producing as much as possible of his household’s own food (on an urban lot) and essential goods, and eliminating single use containers. His commitment to composting extends to having composted in his living room when he had no outdoor space available (hey, we’re not judging). Mike has worked on multiple initiatives with Sustainability Matters, including a composting webinar series, Preserving for the Perplexed zero waste education, and sustainable landscaping projects currently under development in Winchester. Mike is an active Boy Scout volunteer, has started many community gardens in the Winchester area, and served as a Director for the Lord Fairfax Soil & Water Conservation District. Originally from Shenandoah County, he lives in Winchester with his endlessly patient wife, two somewhat less patient teenage children, three spoiled rescue cats and dog, a school of fish, a worm farm occupying most of his basement, and recently acquired beehives. His new favorite animal is the western honeybee (Apis mellifera)...non-native, but oh, so sweet.

Mark Sutphin

As Extension Agent for the Northern Shenandoah Valley, Mark has been a friend of Sustainability Matters from the beginning, advising on a wide spectrum of horticultural and farm issues, educating at our community festivals and workshops, and performing vital tasks like helping us introduce the press to Virginia’s big bad new invasive insect, spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula; safely inside a peanut butter jar, naturally). In addition to the usual eco-qualifications, Mark has a decade of experience in the commercial landscaping industry and holds an MBA from Shenandoah University, which helps him help farmers make ends meet. Mark grew up in Frederick County and is now bringing up his own three children there. He can’t pick a favorite plant, but is inspired by all majestic old trees, especially sugar maples (Acer saccharum), for their unparalleled fall color and memories of climbing them at his great-grandmother’s house. Mark is an incorrigible bug nerd and and loves almost all arthropods, except spotted lanternfly. His favorite insects are the eastern dobsonfly (Corydalus cornutus), because of its huge size and general coolness in all lifestages, and lacewings (Chrysopa spp.), for their value as predators of agricultural pests and forethought in packing portable camouflage.

Matt Wolanski

Matt has been climbing trees since childhood, and has now reached the rarefied height of Senior Area Forester for the Virginia Department of Forestry’s Shenandoah Work Area. He has led and participated in numerous workshops for Sustainability Matters on topics including cost-share funding for conservation practices and fighting invasive trees. His favorite programs are our annual Winter Tree ID Walk & Holiday Potluck and the mushroom growing workshop using invasive Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) logs (where he got to show off his Tree of Heaven wood table). A Charlottesville native, Matt enjoys spending his free time exploring the backcountry on a mountain bike, the rivers in a kayak, and the flora on backpacking trips. His favorite tree is ever evolving, but aside from the classic white oak (Quercus alba), his current endorsement would be the lesser known American basswood (Tilia americana).