Allison Hartman

As the Source Water Protection Manager for PDE, Allison Hartman manages the Schuylkill Action Network and the Delaware River Improvement Partnership. Allison has a degree in Marine Science from Stockton University and comes to PDE after spending the last decade in environmental education.

Brian Yerger

Chesa Blom

Chesa Blom is PDE’s Estuary Engagement Manager. In this role, she contributes to a variety of public engagement and education projects throughout the Estuary. This includes planning public and volunteer events in the Philadelphia area, such as the annual Delaware River Festival.

Cyndi Slothour

Daniela Perez

Daniela Perez is the Estuary Community Coordinator. In this role, she designs, develops, and implements community engagement projects focused on clean waters, healthy habitats, and fostering strong communities.
Before joining PDE, Daniela was Delaware State Parks’ Interpretive Communications and Exhibits Specialist, where she managed publications, community engagement initiatives, and assisted with exhibit design.

Elena Aughey

Elena Aughey is PDE’s Staff Accountant. In this role, she handles most accounting related procedures. This includes, but is not limited to, the entering and payment of invoices, financial reporting, deposits, and the art of billing to our partners.

Aughhey has worked in accounting for more than 17 years, and working for PDE allows her to use her skills to help others.

Elizabeth Horsey

Elizabeth Horsey is the Development Director at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, where she leads fundraising efforts in support of the organization’s mission. Her primary responsibilities include donor cultivation, event planning, grant administration, communications strategy, and database management.

Ella Rothermel

Eve Quinones

Eve Quinones is PDE’s Urban Waters Program Manager. In this role, Eve provides leadership for the Urban Waters Federal Partnership program and supports other outreach-based initiatives in urban areas located in the Delaware Estuary. Eve comes to PDE with a B.S.

Haley Burns

Haley Burns is the Delaware Estuary Program Manager at PDE. In this role, she assists in the management of the Delaware Estuary Program’s Steering Committee and Estuary Implementation Committees, PDE’s Board and Board committees, government affairs, and other activities. Prior to joining PDE, Burns earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees and spent time working in museum services and higher education.

Jana Savini

Jana Savini is the Coastal Collaboration Manager at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, where she leads coordination of the Delaware Resilient and Sustainable Communities League (RASCL) and supports a variety of collaborative initiatives throughout the estuary.

Jessica Klinkam

Joe DiDomenico

Joe DiDomenico is the Estuary Science Coordinator at PDE. In this role, he supports a wide range of estuary research, monitoring, and restoration efforts, with responsibilities spanning fieldwork, laboratory tasks, GIS applications, and statistical analysis. He helps organize and conduct coastal wetland and shellfish monitoring projects, manages data QA/QC, and assists in developing scientific products for the National Estuary Program.

John Harrod

John Harrod is PDE’s Engagement Director. In this role, he works with the science and engagement teams to help connect diverse audiences to the outdoors and affect positive environmental change. Prior to joining PDE, John worked in habitat and water quality conservation, community engagement, and environmental leadership for over 20 years.

Jonetta Lucas

Jonetta Lucas is PDE’s Finance Director.  In this role, Lucas is responsible for performing the month-end accounting transactions, account analysis, preparing monthly reporting and assisting in the year-end audit procedures.

Before joining PDE, Lucas lived in New York where she held accounting positions with several real estate and property management companies such as Tishman Construction Corp., Cushman & Wakefield, and Scholastic Inc. 

Karen Forst

Karen Forst is PDE’s Senior Grants Manager. In this role, she oversees the writing and management of PDE’s grants and other funding opportunities, and works with staff to identify current and future funding needs. Forst worked for PDE from 2006 – 2014 as the Development Director and the Director of Institutional Giving, and then rejoined the PDE staff in 2018 in her current position.

Kate Layton

Kate Layton is Communications Manager for Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. In this role, she promotes PDE and its activities to build awareness and engagement for protecting and enhancing the Delaware Estuary.

Before joining PDE, Layton served as the Public Outreach Manager for the Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization in central Delaware.

Kathy Klein

Kathy Klein is PDE’s Executive Director.

Kathy first joined PDE in 1997 and served as the Executive Director until 2007. Before her return to PDE in 2018, she was the Executive Director of the Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin and worked as a strategic planning consultant with the Philadelphia Water Department.  

Ken Williamson

Ken Williamson is a Restoration Specialist at PDE. In this role, he works in the Oyster Shell Recycling Program, facilitating oyster shell pickups from various nearby restaurants in northern Delaware and Philadelphia. In addition to helping maintain the oyster shell lots, Ken assists with the installation and monitoring of living shoreline projects and oyster shell bagging events.

Kerry O’Connell

Leah King

Leah King is the Grants Coordinator at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. She plays a crucial role in advancing the organization’s mission through grant writing and administration. With five years of experience in securing funding for non-profits, Leah excels in developing compelling proposals and managing grant-related tasks to support the Delaware Estuary Program’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP).

Leah Morgan

Leah Morgan is the Estuary Science Manager at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. Her responsibilities in this role largely include restoration project management, including oversight of PDE’s Oyster Shell Recycling Program and living shoreline project implementation, permitting, monitoring, and

Morgan graduated in 2019 with her Master’s degree in coastal sciences from the University of Southern Mississippi where she studied oyster larval recruitment limitation in the Gulf of Mexico.

LeeAnn Haaf, PH.D.

LeeAnn leads science programming at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE), where she oversees ecological research and assessments. LeeAnn performs research on coastal wetlands and forests, helps manage a variety of restoration projects, and leads scientific reports on the status and trends of the health of the Delaware Estuary.

Marguerite DiGiorgio

Marguerite DiGiorgio is PDE’s Engagement Assistant Coordinator. In this role, she supports the Schuylkill Action Network by facilitating the connection of partner organizations that are focused on source water protection and engages the public through PDE-organized stormwater education and community events.

Martha Maxwell-Doyle

Martha Maxwell-Doyle is PDE’s Programs Director.  In this role, she expertly coordinates and integrates both internal and external programmatic activities.

Nancy Nyamumbo

Nancy is the Assistant Manager of Finance at PDE.
Part of her work includes performing monthly bank account reconciliations, preparation of funding invoices, and processing of the biweekly payroll.

Nancy moved from Kenya in 2016 where she worked at various Financial Institutions.

Sally Ehlers

Sally Ehlers is PDE’s Science and Engagement Specialist. In this role, she works with the science and engagement teams to support freshwater mussel projects, public environmental events, and stormwater and dog waste management outreach.

Thomas Manning

Thomas Manning is a Restoration Science Specialist with PDE. In this role, he participates in science and restoration initiatives, including shellfish recruitment studies, water quality assessments, living shoreline and tidal wetland monitoring, as well as PDE’s oyster shell recycling program.