our board

  • Bob is a recently retired business executive who has served in senior financial leadership positions in several industries including Investment Management, Healthcare, and Independent School Education. Bob and his wife Melody have been devoted residents of Warner for over 30 years, first as seasonal property owners and for the past decade as full-time residents. Bob has been actively involved in several organizations that are dedicated to conservation and has numerous outdoor interests and hobbies.

  • Ellie is originally from the Adirondack mountains of upstate NY and is guided by the desire to connect people meaningfully to land. She was a farmer for many years, mainly working for different educational institutions focused around small scale, diversified agriculture systems and hands-on experiential learning. In 2017, she moved to Bradford, NH and completed a masters program at Antioch University New England in Rural Community Conservation through their Environmental Studies department. She has a small pottery business and is also a librarian. In her free time she enjoys canoeing, swimming, doing basketry and fiber arts, and spending time with her husband, Alden and cat, Tilly.

  • Sophie grew up in the woods of Warner but spent the last 10 years farming vegetables, grains & grass-fed beef at Alprilla Farm with her partner, Noah on Cape Ann in Massachusetts. A love of Warner, all the family who lives here, and of the family farm where she was raised inspired a move back home to continue farming. The move was also influenced by housing and land access pressures felt in Massachusetts, and she's excited to be working with KCLT to help alleviate those pressures in the Kearsarge region. In the spare moments when she's not working with plants, she enjoys writing, long walks, and good coffee.

  • Ben Frost is a passionate advocate for affordable housing and inclusive community planning. He has applied his energies to the establishment of New Hampshire’s most progressive housing policies, including its workforce housing law, accessory dwelling unit law, and the creation of the state’s housing appeals board. While drawn forward by injustices, Ben is also a strong believer in the powers of empathy, compromise, and community engagement. He works as the Deputy Executive Director and Chief Legal Officer at New Hampshire Housing. Back home in Warner, he is the assistant town moderator and served for 12 years on its planning board, including seven as its chair. But with his heart in the mountains, Ben can often be found sitting at the very top of his Mink Hills property, listening to the wind blow through the pine trees.

  • Born and raised in Warner in the 80's Bret spent many years traveling and working his way around the world before returning to call the woods of Warner home again in the early 2000's. Bret, a sculptor by trade, has had a widely varied work background including many years of experience in property management and hospitality. Since returning to NH Bret has been focusing on putting his permaculture training to work on his family's land and in the community. Bret has helped start multiple service focused organizations including RISE Now inc, Warner Public Market, and KCLT. He is also on the board of Mainstreet Warner Inc. and volunteers in various town committees. In his free time he enjoys mixing shows for his radio spot on WNHN and getting outdoors with his wife and pup.

  • Jam moved to New Hampshire in August of 2023 after finishing her Masters in International Environmental Policy at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, with a focus on Natural Resource Policy and Management. Currently, Jam is the Development and Communications Manager at Five Rivers Conservation Trust. She is passionate about land trusts and recognizes the importance of community driven and community centric conservation efforts. Having spent time in both the US and the UK, Jam is excited to bring her varied experiences to New Hampshire!

    In her free time, Jam can be found running on local trails, spending time in the climbing gym, or exploring new hikes.

  • Nancy Martin has lived in Warner for 48 years. She is a dental hygienist who worked in private practice and for the NH Division of Public Health Services. Since retirement, Nancy continues to volunteer in NH schools providing dental care for students to prevent future dental disease. As a CASA volunteer, (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for abused and neglected children, Nancy has advocated for six years for one young boy who will soon be adopted into a “forever home.” She has been the Chairperson for Warner’s Conservation Commission for 15 years working to protect Warner’s forests, marshes, ponds, and local farms.

  • Kevin Porter is Principal of Resilient Capital Solutions, a consulting and advisory firm dedicated to scaling up financing for sustainability, clean energy and community development. Kevin has over twenty years of experience with various community development financial institutions (CDFIs), spanning single-family, multi-family and energy efficiency lending. Kevin served on the Board of Directors of Clean Energy NH for six years, including two years as Vice Chair.

    Outside of his consulting business, Kevin owns and manages several small woodlots and has earned certification under the NH Tree Farm program. These forestlands are operated with a focus on firewood production, ecosystem services and growing high quality timber sustainably. In his free time Kevin can usually be found hiking, biking, reading, or cooking for family and friends.

    Outside of ROC USA Kevin owns and manages a small woodlot, which has been certified under the NH Tree Farm program, with a focus on firewood production and growing quality hardwood timber. In his free time Kevin can usually be found hiking, biking, reading, or cooking for family and friends.

  • Neil Nevins is co-founder and President of MainStreet Warner, Inc, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
    foundation in Warner, New Hampshire, whose mission is to identify and address community
    needs in ways that build connections between education, the arts, food security, and ecological living practices, through supporting local organizations, businesses, artists, musicians, educators, and farms. The work of MSW includes scholarship and literacy projects as well as the Jim Mitchell Community Park and MainStreet Warner Stage and Amphitheater providing an outdoor venue for concerts and events. In 2020, MSW purchased the Harris Lodge, a historic 2,700 sq. ft. building in the center of the village that will serve as a year-round concert and performance venue as well as provide a commercial kitchen.

    Neil is co-owner, with Katharine Mitchell Nevins, of MainStreet BookEnds of Warner, a 100% solar-powered independent bookstore; Serves on Warner’s Economic Development Advisory Committee and Energy and Community Power Committees, accomplishing conversion of all town buildings and properties to 100% solar energy; and a retired Professor of Sociology after 44 years starting at the University of Connecticut and NH Technical Institute Community College
    in Concord, NH.

    As a long-time community organizer, Neil has also been active in worker self-management and community land trust movements.

  • Born and raised on Nantucket Island, Ruth grew up appreciating the natural splendor of conservation land, the great outdoors, and how to steward land by working in landscape gardening. She moved to the Boston area and started her own gardening business, Gardens by Ruth, focused on native species, edible plants, and creating ecologically functioning environments. After a few years of dabbling in farming, food justice, herbalism, and organizing, she grew to yearn for a rural setting and fate brought her to Concord, NH to help her partner grow his wine grape endeavor, NOK Vino. With her passion for regional resiliency through connection to land, she found herself more and more drawn to Warner, where plenty of wonderful things are indeed happening. Ruth brings experience from serving on the board of the Permaculture Association of the Northeast and a variety of other prosocial activities as well as an enormous love for land.

Advisors / community partners

  • Andy Duncan works in energy efficiency education and technical assistance, both at Lakes Region Community College and through his consulting business. He loves the Mink Hills!

  • Sherry is a citizen of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation who resides in Warner. Her English ancestors settled in this area in the 1790’s. Her Abenaki ancestors were created here from the Ash Trees and have persisted for 13,000 years in N’dakinna, here in what is now northern New England and southern Quebec. Sherry is an advisor to the Kawasiwajo Community Land Trust, and together with Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Band has supported the use of the traditional ancient name for this exciting project which shares values of teaching respect for the land, providing healthy food to the people in the community and allowing Abenaki citizens access to their cultural plants for food, medicine and materials to produce Abenaki cultural items.

  • Sarah is a farmer and small-business owner in Warner, NH. After moving to New Hampshire from Oregon nine years ago, Sarah immersed herself in the local small farming scene through her work with Kearsarge Gore Farm, a family-run organic farm in Warner, and Local Harvest CSA, multi-farm cooperative. As she continued her work with KGF, Sarah also recently helped start Warner Public Market, a multi-stakeholder cooperative focused on centering local food, creative arts, and community building in the local community. She hopes that small rural development initiatives can foster citizen engagement by bringing together a diverse group of people in order to provide opportunities for life skills development, land-based education, and creative problem solving.