Since 2004, Gay Nicholson has led Sustainable Tompkins in designing and implementing an integrated program to advance the creation of a more sustainable regional community. Gay emphasizes a systems approach to working with partners to build the infrastructure and social capacity for more sustainable ways of living and working. She has also been instrumental in the founding and development of the Green Resource Hub of the Finger Lakes, which focuses on expanding the regional marketplace for sustainable living. Gay serves as chair of the Finger Lakes Bioneers Steering Committee.

Gay left a career in sustainable agriculture to work in environmental advocacy and education with Cornell’s Program on Ethics and Public Life, and as executive director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust before leading the creation of Sustainable Tompkins. She has been an active volunteer in numerous community and environmental organizations, providing leadership from the local to the national level. Her B.S. in Environmental Science is from University of Virginia, and her M.S. and Ph.D. are in horticulture from Cornell University.

Miranda Phillips graduated from Cornell (1997) with a BA in English. Another core interest at that time was Jewish education. In 2000, Miranda received a Masters in Jewish Education (Hebrew College, Boston) with a focus on environmental issues. After eight wonderful years at a congregation in Newton, MA, Miranda took a break from synagogue teaching to explore more deeply her interest in sustainability. She spent a delicious sabbatical year shadowing garden teachers in Berkeley, CA. On returning to Ithaca with her husband in 2006, she enjoyed volunteering and organizing volunteers with Sustainable Tompkins, and joined Interfaith Action for Healing Earth – a local group exploring the overlap between sustainability and congregational life. Miranda was also excited to study permaculture design at the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute, and continues to enjoy redesigning her house and garden with these principles in mind. When her baby daughter Julia is old enough, she also looks forward to returning to synagogue education and school gardens.

Thomas Shelley attended Bowling Green University (Ohio) majoring in geology and chemistry. Most of Tom’s early working career was as a chemist doing analytical work in industrial labs.  He worked at Cornell University Environmental Health and Safety for 13.5 years, and held the position of Chemical Hygiene Officer for the last nine years of his career there.  Tom then worked part time for Cornell University Environmental Health and Safety and held other consulting and training positions for four years before his full retirement at the end of 2007.

In the ensuing years, Tom has become increasingly involved in the sustainability movement in Ithaca and Tompkins County.  He volunteers in various capacities for 12 different sustainability-related organizations including the Board of Directors of Sustainable Tompkins.

Marian Brown, special assistant to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Ithaca College, provides staff support for the College’s sustainability initiative, hosting educational events and documenting the campus’ sustainability progress. She supports numerous sustainability committees on the campus including the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment campus committee which is charged with developing the College’s climate action plan. She also provides logistical support for the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival.

Marian serves as secretary of the Ithaca Carshare Board of Directors and is a member of the Tompkins Renewable Energy Educational Alliance. Brown represents IC on the steering committee assisting Mayor Carolyn Peterson to implement the City’s Local Action Plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Brown, who headed IC’s purchasing department for many years, advised on the development of Finger Lakes Buy Green and is a member of the Finger Lakes Environmentally Preferred Procurement Consortium. Brown serves as president of the Southern Cayuga Scholarship Foundation.

Alex Colket first came to Tompkins County in 1996 as a student and quickly fell in love with the place. After graduating from Cornell in 2001 with a degree in neurobiology, he took a job teaching children at a local Montessori school. After three years there, he left that job to build his own business, A Playground for the Mind, which offers online games and exercises to sharpen your mind. Five years later, this is still his main professional focus.

Alex first started working with ST in 2008 as a volunteer cook, preparing meals for ST’s Equity & Sustainability events. He is the newest member of the board, having just joined in Fall ‘09 and is very excited for the opportunity to work with the other board members and the community towards a more sustainable Tompkins County. Some of Alex’s other interests include dancing, cooking, plants, permaculture, photography, science, games, yoga, meditation and the natural world. Around town, you’re likely to encounter him at the Farmer’s Market, Greenstar, Castaways, Grassroots, or just walking down a road, trail or creek.

Elizabeth Karabinakis serves as the Community Food Educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension where she works to re-regionalize a sustainable and equitable food system that is healthy for all people and the web of life that supports us. Liz received an Environmental Systems Engineering degree with a concentration on Sustainable Community Development from Cornell University.

Liz’s interest in sustainability was sparked while in Brazil as a solidarity worker with MST (Landless Peasants Movement) and living deep in restricted areas of the Amazon with indigenous river dwelling communities. In 2003 Liz returned to Ithaca to become the first Member Services Manager of GreenStar Cooperative Market where she formed the Co-op’s non-profit affiliate, GreenStar Community Projects, Inc. and continues as the Program Coordinator. Liz also serves as the Vice President of GIAC, is a facilitator for the Multicultural Resource Center’s Race & Racism Talking Circles, and co-organizes the Summertime Block Party. Liz’s interests include co-ops as an alternative model to profit-driven corporations, fostering food equity & sovereignty, and honoring the strong roots of sustainability with indigenous peoples.

Jan Quarles’ interest in sustainable living began in the 1960s “back-to-the-land” movement. After a Bioneers conference in 2006 inspired her to get more involved in local community efforts, she joined Sustainable Tompkins. She helped launch EECO (Energy Efficiency Community Outreach), organize their Green Collar Career Fair and annual events, and oversee their neighborhood mini-grants program. In 2003, she joined “Back To Democracy,” which she represents on the Cayuga Sustainability Council.

Jan and her husband Michael Dineen own an organic grain farm near Sheldrake Point in Ovid, where they grow more and more produce each year, and plan to operate a CSA soon. She is close to her daughter Havana Jorrin and son-in-law LaMarr Peters, who live across the lake. Jan focused on English and Psychology at Harvard College, and lived in France.

Since the Summer of 2009 Kitty Gifford became involved with Sustainable
Tompkins and was asked to help support raising the visibility and awareness for the work of Sustainable Tompkins. She is also working on the Finger Lakes Climate Fund project. Kitty is interested in utilizing social media and other online outreach tools to educate, engage and mobilize people to reach their goals of more sustainable ways of living and working.

Kitty graduated from Humboldt State University with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Environmental Science. She is a founding member and president of the Ithaca League of Women Rollers, co-organizes a science cafe: Ithaca’s Science Cabaret, and serves on the Light in Winter festival board. In her spare time she enjoys reading, gardening, sailing, and spending time outdoors.