Marissa Hartzler became the Executive Director of Schiff in July 2011. Before leading Schiff's staff, she was  the Program Director at the Duke Forest at Duke University in North Carolina, and was involved in stewardship, land acquisition, nature programming and fundraising. She holds a B.S. from Albright College, and a Masters degree in Environmental Management from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. Her prior experience also includes working with the Conservation Trust for North Carolina. She and her husband have a son, Jack and a dog, Colby. marissa@schiffnaturepreserve.org

Hope Coppinger is Schiff's Membership and Outreach Coordinator and also oversees the volunteer program. She holds a B.A. in English and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Before coming to Schiff, she worked as a graphic designer and copywriter and as a freelancer for various industries, eventually focusing on higher education and admissions. Hope's first assignment for Schiff came when she volunteered to help with the 25th anniversary documentary project and ended up writing the script for what would become Legacy of the Land. She lives in Morristown with her husband and son. hope@schiffnaturpreserve.org

Angela Gorczyca

Jennifer Wagar is a part-time Environmental Educator at Schiff and has lived on the nature preserve since 2001. She graduated from Richard Stockton College of New Jersey with a B.S. in Geology and attended Binghamton University in New York for graduate work in Fluvial Geomorpology. Her research focused on rivers crossing the Alpine fault in the western southern Alps of New Zealand's South Island. In 1997, Jen moved to Guatemala while her husband was in the Peace Corps. She took spanish classes and volunteered in rural schools. Upon returning to the States, Jen worked as a research assistant for Balmori Associates in New Haven CT, a landscape architecture firm associated with the Yale School of Forestry and the School of Architecture. Jen is currently teaching grade three at the Far Hills Country Day School in Far Hills, NJ. Jennifer and her husband Jonathan have two daughters.

Jonathan Wagar is the Director of Land Acquisition and Stewardship at Schiff. Jon holds a B.S. in biology from Richard Stockton College, and a Master of Forestry Degree from Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental studies. He has also worked for Care International in Guatemala, where he helped subsistence farmers to improve their forestry and agricultural practices. In Guatemala , Jon also taught botany and plant physiology at an extension campus of the National University. From 1999 through 2004, Jon was a member of the staff of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, where he served as Director of Stewardship and Assistant Director of Land Acquisition and Stewardship. Currently, Jon is the Vice President for Conservation Programs at Conservation Resources Inc. Jon serves as chair of the Mendham Township Open Space Trust Committee and a member of the Pinelands Forestry Advisory Committee. jon@schiffnaturpreserve.org

Michael Catania serves as President of the Schiff Natural Lands Trust. He is also the President of Conservation Resources Inc. and has been extensively involved with conservation, environmental and land use policy issues in New Jersey for the last 30 years. He began his career in 1974 by staffing various environmental committees of the State Legislature, where and drafted many of New Jersey's environmental laws. He later became the first Director of the Office of Regulatory Services at the NJDEP, and then Deputy Commissioner of that agency under Governors Kean and Florio. After teaching environmental law and policy at the Eagleton Institute of Rutgers University, he was the Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy of New Jersey from June of 1991 until July of 2003. Michael also served as a founding member and Co-Chair of the Stockton Alliance, and as Vice Chair of the Mendham Borough Environmental Commission. In 1998, he was the Co-Chair of the Coalition to Preserve Natural Resources, and, in 2003, he was the founder and Chairman of the Coalition for Conservation. He currently serves as Chairman of the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust. Michael, a resident of Mendham Township, holds a BA and MA in Political Science from Rutgers University, as well as a JD from the Rutgers School of Law. He has been admitted to practice law in New Jersey since 1981.


Ralph Rhodes serves as the Vice President of the Schiff Natural Lands Trust. Ralph is now actively retired after a professional career dedicated to environmental protection, environmental auditing and pollution control. He earned engineering degrees from Pennsylvania State University and the University of Michigan. Ralph previously served in the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the federal Environmental Protection Agency as well as at AlliedSignal Inc. in a variety of pollution control and compliance positions. He now serves as a Patriot's Path volunteer, an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Mendham, as Co-Chair of the Mendham Township Environmental Commission, and as a member of the Whippany River Watershed Action Committee.


Kathryn Kimber serves as the Secretary of the Schiff Natural Lands Trust and she is the corporate Secretary-Treasurer for Kimber Petroleum Corporation. Raised in Summit and New Vernon, Kathy has enjoyed open spaces, first as a young equestrian in the traditional fox hunt and then as a professional rider. Her home adjoins the Schiff Nature Preserve, where she enjoys running, hiking and cross-country skiing.




Joe Gomeringer has served as the Treasurer of the Schiff Natural Lands Trust since 2001 and is heavily involved in overseeing financial matters for the Trust. He is a Certified Public Accountant with offices in Chester, and has been active in community service in the Mendham area for many years. His volunteer work includes service as coach of several local basketball teams; Chairman of the Technology Committee and Member of the Building Committee for St. Joseph's Church; Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee of the ARC Morris County; and as volunteer firefighter and President of Ralston Engine Company No. 1 of the Mendham Township Fire Department.

Allen Barlow has a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He augmented his business studies with coursework in geology and environmental science. Allen held a variety of positions during his time at Elsevier Science Publishers ranging from financial analyst to global marketing controller. Allen left publishing in 1999 to follow his passion for nature and the environment. He worked briefly at the New Jersey Natural Heritage Program and since has assisted the NJ Endangered and Non-game Species Program with a variety of projects involving aquatic invertebrates. He currently works for the New Jersey Nature Conservancy as a Land Steward. He has combined his photographic and writing skills to produce a Field Guide to New Jersey’s Dragonflies and Damselflies.  Allen has also published a number of papers and articles regarding North American and East African dragonflies. Allen resides in Budd Lake with his wife Nancy and son Scott.

Laurie Beck has lived in Mendham with her husband Chris and two children Emma and Charlie, for 12 years. She was co- president of the Friends of the Mendham Borough Library for two years and has worked as a volunteer at both Mountain View and Hilltop Schools. Her role as a member of the Mendham Borough HAS was Chairman of the Cultural Arts Committee. She has also worked to raise money for the improvement of the playgrounds at both schools, the Mountain View Library Committee, and she has managed the Hilltop School Store. Prior to her move to NJ, she was on the Board of Directors of the Children’s Museum of Concord New Hampshire. She was also on the Board of Directors of The Children’s Place, a co-op for new mothers and children. Laurie attended Skidmore College from 1978-1981 and received a BA from Manhattanville College in 1992. In 2010, she completed the Rutgers Environmental Steward Program.


John Eade brings a wealth of financial and business experience to his new position on our board. A leader in financial research for twenty-five years, John has worked for the Argus Research Company since 1989; he became the company’s president in 1997 and its CEO in 2002. He received his Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and later earned an MBA from Columbia with a concentration in finance. A long-time resident of Mendham, John has made community involvement his priority by serving for eight years on the board of the Red Oaks Montessori School, with two of those years as president. He is also very involved in local youth sports coaching basketball, baseball, tennis and soccer teams, and is a member of the Saturday Night Games Crew of the Pastime Club’s annual Labor Day Carnival. He and his family also sponsor the Dismal Harmony section of the Patriot’s Path System.

Teresa Finlay has lived in Mendham Township with her husband and three sons since 1998. In 2000, Teresa and her husband established The Nickelodeon Fund, a 503(c)(3) whose mission was to raise funds, design and build a children’s playground in Mendham Township in memory of their son, Nicholas. The playground, Ralston Park, was dedicated in 2002 and has been enjoyed by the community ever since. The playground was awarded Best Recreational Design in New Jersey in 2006. Teresa served on the Board of Directors of The Mendham Cooperative Nursery School from 2005-07. She actively supports the performing arts through committee memberships at The Morristown Community Theatre, and at the NJ PAC in Newark. Prior to starting a family, Teresa worked in private banking at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in New York City, and at several contemporary art galleries, also in New York, before that. She received a BA in Art History and Classical Philosophy and an MBA in Finance, both from Columbia University.

John M. Pellecchia is a partner in the Morristown law firm Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti LLP. John concentrates his practice on litigation and regulatory matters and he also represents clients before the NJ Legislature. John is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and previously served as an Assistant Counsel to former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean. He holds degrees from Lafayette College and Tulane School of Law, where he was honored as a Senior Fellow. A committed volunteer, he is active in coaching local sports and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. John lives in Mendham Borough with his three children.

Bridget Poole moved to Mendham in 2001, with her husband Brendan and their 2 children, Fiona and Anna. While living in Mendham Borough, Bridget has become an active volunteer within the school district. She has been a board member and co-president of the Home and School Association, and chairperson of the Parent Council at both Hilltop and Mountain View schools. Bridget was also a co-president of the Friends of Mendham Borough Library. Sheenjoys spending her timehiking and traveling with her family, reading and gardening.

R. Fenn Putman has been a resident of Mendham Township since 1966. Fenn served on the Township school board for 6 years. He retired after 40 years in the municipal bond industry in New York City. Now president of Frost Valley YMCA, which is located on 6,000 acres in the Catskill Park in New York, he oversees an enterprise which runs year round and, in 2004, had 35,000 guests who enjoyed the summer camp, environmental training and adult education. Fenn is a graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Missouri and a former US Marine Corps Captain.




Jeanne Rice is a business writer and consultant with over 25 years experience in PR and journalism. Jeanne and her husband, Tom, moved to Mendham in 1996, where they have enjoyed raising their two sons, Nick and Matt. Jeanne has been active in the community, having served as co-president of the Friends of Mendham Borough Library, and as a Trustee and PR Chair for the Library of the Mendhams project. Jeanne and Tom founded Rice + Associates, a marketing communications company, in 1993. She holds an MSJ from the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, and a BS in communication from Slippery Rock University.

Bruce Taterka received his B. A. in Geology from Vassar College in 1984, M.S. in  Geology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1987, and J.D. from the Pace University School of Law in 1992.  He spent five years as environmental project manager at the Galson Corporation and worked as an environmental attorney for thirteen years with Latham & Watkins and Pitney Hardin.  In 2004, Bruce took on a new challenge as a science teacher at Mendham High School, where he is now the Lead Teacher of the Science & Technology Departments.  Bruce has studied trophic relationships in the cloud forest of Ecuador, kayaked in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and spent 17 days working aboard a NOAA research vessel during the BP oil spill in 2010.  Locally, Bruce has helped organize the Chester Schools Science Fair Committee, founded the Erica L. Taterka Scholarship Fund, and helped develop and co-lead Schiff's highly successful teen education programs, The Wildlife Project and the Raritan River Watershed Project.   


Mike Van Clef has a Ph.D. in Ecology from Rutgers University and 15 years of experience involving ecological research and stewardship of natural resources with non-profit conservation groups, government agencies, and private consultants. Mike's specialty is practically applying ecological principles toward solving conservation problems. His recent work includes developing measures of forest health to determine impacts of white-tailed deer, preparation of an outline for New Jersey's Invasive Species Strategic Management Plan, and quantifying habitat requirements for globally rare species including bog turtles and the Northern metalmark butterfly. Mike now resides in Great Meadows.



John Wicklow is a graduate of the University of Scranton with a degree in finance and history. He is President of a landscape and excavation company, Wicklow & Laurano, with offices based in Flanders New Jersey. His company employs 50 contractors and specializes in the design and construction of high-end residential landscapes and masonry projects. John is actively involved in the local community and established the Wicklow and Laurano Scholarship Fund which makes an annual award to two graduates from Mendham High School. John enjoys boating, motorcycling, golfing, skiing and spending quality time with his yellow lab, Miller. John was born and raised in Mendham and currently resides in Mendham Township.