Staff
Jacqueline M. Carrera, President & CEO
Administration
Wayne Lawson, Director of Administration
Finance
Dekermu Nushann, Director of Finance
Erin Williams, Accounting Assistant
Development & Promotions
Kyle DeVaul, Development & Promotions Manager
Kathleen Dragovich, Campaign Consultant
Alexandra Kraus, Development & Promotions Assistant
Motivating Youth Programs
Monica Logan, Director of Youth Programs
Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Guy Hager, Senior Director of Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Mary Washington, Associate Director of Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Jeff Barrett, Community Greening Field Coordinator
Katelin Santhin, Schoolyard Greening Network Coordinator
Robert Cherry, BRANCHES Team Leader
Katie Dix, CGRN Coordinator
Mary Hardcastle, Environmental Education & Community Outreach Program Manager
Bernard Hood, Green Careers Training Member
Will Lam, Green Careers Training Leader
Sheron Lambert-Fields, BRANCHES Team Leader
Nicole McDaniels, Green Career Program Coordinator
Valerie Rupp, Community Greening Manager
Valerie Shane, BRANCHES and Community Grants Program Assistant
Desiree Shelley, Environmental Education Coordinator
Bryant Smith, Watershed Community Forestry Assistant Manager
George Trower, BRANCHES Team Leader
President & CEO
Jacqueline M. Carrera, President & CEO
Jackie Carrera is an advocate for strong communities with a special focus on environmental and recreational issues. Ms. Carrera has extensive experience working with volunteers, overseeing community planning processes, developing and administering programs and fundraising. Ms. Carrera currently serves as the President & CEO of the Parks & People Foundation where she oversees athletic and summer camp programs, natural resource management and environmental education initiatives, park restoration projects and a community grants program. Ms. Carrera guided the Foundation from a $500,000 annual operating program in 1993 to a $4 million annual program with assets totaling $8,000,000.
Read More ›
Administration
Wayne Lawson, Director of Administration
Wayne is a long time resident of the Baltimore metropolitan area and has been with Parks & People since August 2000. Wayne has many years of professional computing and administration experience spanning the government, education and for-profit sectors.
Finance
Dekermu Nushann, Director of Finance
Dekermu Nushann hails from Liberia, West Africa where he served on the Baltimore Sister City Committee. He moved to the United States in 1985 and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from California Lutheran University. He then moved to Baltimore and obtained an MBA from the University of Baltimore in 1991. Dekermu completed an internship at Parks & People when he attended the University of Baltimore and returned to us in 2007 as our Director of Finance. He has over 15 years of accounting experience with both for profit and non-profit organizations.
Erin Williams, Accounting Assistant
Erin resides in Marriottsville. Outside of work at Parks & People, she is in her community volunteering with children outreach through NAACP and church groups, acting as a playground group board member and treasurer, and is a custom steel executive board member. In her free time she also enjoys reading, going to the movies, travelling and listening to live music.
Development & Promotions
Kyle DeVaul, Development & Promotions Manager
Though most of her career has been spent at nonprofit arts organizations, Kyle is thrilled to be working with Parks & People to make Baltimore a healthier, more livable city. Kyle lives in Canton and enjoys sailing, hiking, mountain biking, paddling, opera, theater, great books and the beach.
Kathleen Dragovich, Campaign Consultant
Alexandra Kraus, Development & Promotions Assistant
Alex graduated from Syracuse University in 2009 and returned to her hometown Baltimore for work and play. Prior to finding her home at Parks and People Foundation, Alex interned with a local environmental nonprofit in Baltimore. She enjoys discovering what Charm City has to offer and loves taking in the outdoors as much as she can.
Motivating Youth Programs
Monica Logan, Director of Youth Programs
Monica has been with Parks & People since September 2000, and enjoys her work because she has the ability to further the development of our community and the participants in our programs. When she is not working, Monica is an avid sports enthusiast who can be found shooting hoops, playing softball, football or coaching her local middle school girls basketball team. She also enjoys reading books, photography, eating her mother's home cooking and exploring the many cultural and social offerings in our area. Monica is the youngest of three and was born and raised in College Park, Maryland. She hopes one day to travel all of the continents and to learn how to country line dance.
Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Guy Hager, Senior Director of Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Guy grew up on the West Coast, but chose to live on the East Coast, attracted to its large cities and seasonal changes. He obtained his Masters Degree in Public Administration in Urban Affairs from American University. Guy has extensive experience as an Urban Planner, Policy Analyst, Project Manager and Public Administrator. His prior positions include project management for the National Wildlife Federation and National Research Council and he served as Executive Director of the Baltimore Regional Council of Governments and as the Director of the Department of Planning and Zoning for Harford County and Chief of the Administrative Services Division, Department of Public Works for Howard County. While on active duty with the U.S. Navy, he served on board the U.S.S. Garrett County in Vietnam. Married with two sons, Guy is an avid genealogist, naturalist, historic preservationist, an active church member, and youth leader.
Jeff Barrett, Community Greening Field Coordinator
Jeff is a Baltimore veteran. He worked for the Department of Recreation & Parks for 25 years and prior to joining Parks & People, he was in charge of landscaping for City schools for 8 years. Jeff’s passion outside of work is rock music; he was a full-time musician on the side. Jeff also enjoys travelling and animals. He is a huge supporter of the ASPCA and North Shore Animal League. You can find him feeding our neighborhood cat in the mornings!
Valerie Rupp bio coming soon!
Katelin Santhin, Schoolyard Greening Network Coordinator
Katelin joins Parks & People Foundation as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer working to develop the schoolyard greening programs in Baltimore City’s Public Schools. Having spent time in Charm City as an undergraduate student at Loyola University Maryland, Katelin is happy to call Baltimore home. She looks forward to exploring Baltimore’s wonderful neighborhoods and city parks!
Katie Dix, Community Greening Resource Network (CGRN) Coordinator
Katie is a recent graduate from UMBC. While earning her bachelor’s degree in American Studies and Political Science, she developed academic interests in environmental, sustainability, and community studies and presented research on the use of environmental initiatives as a way to benefit urban neighborhoods. As an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Parks & People Foundation, she will continue the development of the Community Greening Resource Network (CGRN).
Mary Hardcastle, Environmental Education & Community Outreach Program Manager
Mary hails from central Illinois and spent her childhood playing in a city park.She combines her strong roots in the Midwest with her love of Baltimore’s urban landscape. Mary draws on an undergraduate degree in Botany and an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies to encourage an integration of nature and place-based education, sustainability, and social justice. In addition to sharing knowledge about the natural world, Mary volunteers as the Maryland Coordinator for the national non-profit Hooked on Nature and is a guiding member of the Greater Baltimore Children & Nature Collaborative, a network of individuals and organizations dedicated to connecting kids with nature. She is an avid vegetable gardener, and loves to spend time in the amazing city parks of Baltimore.
Nicole McDaniels, Green Career Program Coordinator
Nicole was born and raised in Baltimore. Prior to Parks & People, she managed an HIV/AIDS clinic for 5 years where she counseled newly identified patients and still volunteers by administering HIV tests, encouraging people to get tested and helping those with HIV find other sources of financial and emotional support. Nicole is a wife and mother of 2, who enjoys spending her free time with her family, taking road trips and experiencing every festival she possibly can that Baltimore has to offer.
Mary Washington, Associate Director of Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Mary joined the Parks & People Foundation in January 2007. Growing up in Philadelphia, a city with great parks and tree-lined neighborhoods, she and her 5 brothers and sisters spent many afternoons exploring the banks of the Schuylkill River. Mary earned her Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1997 and taught sociology at Lehigh University. In Baltimore she has held positions as the Director of Housing and the Interim Director of the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance.
Mary is the past president of the Abell Community Association and was a Construction Captain for "Our Playground at Stadium Place," a playground and green space project on the old Memorial Stadium site that created a safe and welcoming play park for the Stadium area children, families and seniors. Mary is excited to be a part of the Parks & People team and looks forward working on many projects that will make Baltimore a healthier, cleaner and greener city.
Desiree Shelley, Environmental Education Coordinator