Brian Yerger
Brian Yerger is PDE’s Business and Operations Director. In this role, he works with all aspects of the Partnership to ensure the organization is performing in an efficient and effective manner. With over 25 years of financial and operational experience, Brian has a diverse background encompassing Chief Financial Officer, Renewable Energy consultant, Equity Analyst, and chairperson of a Delaware-based non-profit.Read More
Chesa Blom
Chesa Blom is PDE’s Philadelphia Community Programs Coordinator. In this role, she organizes public environmental events in the Philadelphia area, such as the annual Delaware River Festival. She also coordinates the storm drain marking volunteer program and dog waste reduction outreach work on behalf of the Philadelphia Water Department.
Cyndi Slothour
Cyndi Slothour is PDE’s Office Administrator. As such, she is responsible for assisting in the day-to -day operations of the company’s main office. Cyndi comes to PDE with a background as a professional administrative assistant for over 25 years in Wilmington, Delaware.Read More
Danielle Kreeger, Ph.D.
Danielle Kreeger, Ph.D., is an ecologist with more than 35 years of experience working as a research scientist and educator. She currently serves as Senior Science Director for the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE), where she represents the National Estuary Program’s scientific interests by crafting, leading and participating in collaborative science and technical teams that address the goals set forth by the organization’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.
Davian Higgins-Reeves
Davian Higgins-Reeves is PDE’s Staff Accountant. In this role, she assists with creating invoices, entering information into QuickBooks, and receiving checks. Davian worked with the Robert Half accounting firm before working full-time with Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. Davian has an Associate’s Degree in accounting and is currently in school for her Master’s degree in accounting.
Elizabeth Horsey
Elizabeth Horsey is the Development Director for Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. Her primary duties include fundraising, event planning, grant administration, and database management. Prior to joining PDE in 2008, Horsey worked as a technical writing editor for safety, health, and environmental standards.Read More
Ella Rothermel
Ellie Rothermel is PDE’s Urban Resilience Assistant Manager. In this role, she contributes to all steps in PDE’s scientific processes, from planning how to organize studies, to collecting information in the field and summarizing data for final presentation. Although Ellie mainly assists with restoration and living shorelines research, she helps facilitate wetland and shellfish data management as well.Read More
Erica Rossetti
Erica Rossetti (she/her) is the Urban Waters Program Coordinator at PDE, serving as the Ambassador for the Urban Waters Federal Partnership’s Delaware River Location. She brings several years of experience in environmental stewardship, education, outreach, planning, partnership, and collaboration. Prior to joining PDE in 2018 as an Outreach Intern, Rossetti served as an AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassador at Raritan Headwaters, where she taught students about clean water, conducted visual and biological freshwater stream assessments, and organized stream cleanups and tree plantings in her home state of New Jersey.Read More
Haley Burns
Haley Burns is the DELEP Coordinator at PDE. In this role, she assists in the coordination 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 PDE’s Coastal Collaboration Coordinator. In this role, Savini assists with the operation of the Delaware Resilient and Sustainable Communities League (RASCL), as well as several other collaborative partnerships and projects throughout the estuary. Before joining PDE, Savini was a zookeeper at the Philadelphia Zoo, where she was responsible for the well being of the many species of mammals, birds, herptiles, and invertebrates in her care.Read More
Jessica Klinkam
Jessica Klinkam (Jecy) is the current Restoration Specialist at PDE. She assists with Estuary restoration projects such as living shoreline deployment, and monitoring and support of PDE’s ongoing oyster shell recycling program. Jecy graduated in 2022 from the College of William & Mary with a Bachelor’s in Biology and a minor in Marine Science.Read More
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.Read More
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.
Kaitie Evers
Kaitie Evers is PDE’s Schuylkill Action Network (SAN) Coordinator. In this role, Kaitie assists with programs related to the SAN and Delaware River Watershed Initiative, among other regional collaborative initiatives to further clean water and healthy ecosystems. Kaitie joined the staff in October of 2021.Read More
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 Coordinator 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 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.
Kelly Faller
Kelly Faller is a Science Coordinator at PDE. Her main role is to assist with the design, development, and implementation of tasks and initiatives related to PDE’s scientific projects and programs (i.e., wetlands, restoration, and shellfish). Prior to joining PDE, Faller earned her Bachelor’s degree in Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources from Rutgers University in 2021.Read More
Kerry O’Connell
Kerry O’Connell is PDE’s Development Coordinator. In this role, she oversees the day to day administrative duties of the Development team and maintains grant and donor databases. O’Connell earned her Bachelor of Art Degree in Art from the University of Delaware and has over 10 years of non-profit experience.
Kristen Cooney
Kristen Cooney is PDE’s Schuylkill Action Network (SAN) Fellow. In this role, she assists with programs related to the SAN, and will be working on communications, events, and reports to support clean water and healthy ecosystems.
Kristen joined the staff in September of 2022.
Kurt Cheng
Kurt Cheng is PDE’s Senior Science Manager. He is charged with advancing research and restoration of freshwater and saltwater shellfish species throughout the region. During his 10 -plus years at PDE, Kurt has also been involved with wetlands monitoring and shoreline restoration projects.
Leah Morgan
Leah Morgan is the Senior Science Coordinator the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. Her responsibilities in this role largely include coordinating with partners and staff on the Mussels for Clean Water Initiative (MuCWI) and other shellfish-related projects at PDE. Morgan also works on National Estuary Program projects like the PDE Science Summit and the Technical Report for the Estuary and Basin (TREB), and largely coordinates activities with PDE’s Science and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC).Read More
LeeAnn Haaf, PH.D.
LeeAnn Haaf, Ph.D. is PDE’s Estuary Science Assistant Director. In this role, LeeAnn performs research on coastal wetlands and forests, helps manage a variety of research projects, and leads scientific reports on the status and trends of the health of the Delaware Estuary.
Martha Maxwell-Doyle
Martha Maxwell-Doyle is PDE’s Programs Director. In this role, she works with the science and engagement teams by managing Delaware Estuary Program projects that have received funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
Over more than 30 years, Maxwell-Doyle’s career has spanned numerous aspects of environmental protection, resource management, and climate risk mitigation.
Matt Gentry
Matt Gentry is the Assistant Science Manager at PDE. His focus at PDE is on the restoration of native bivalve shellfish in the Estuary and the assessment of the ecosystem services they confer. Matt manages field and lab efforts for various shellfish projects, primarily focusing on freshwater mussels.
Meghan Rogalus
Meghan Rogalus is PDE’s Schuylkill Action Network (SAN) Manager. In this role, she manages the daily operations of the SAN, supports the Delaware River Watershed Initiative efforts in the Schuylkill Watershed, and fosters the development of a collaborative network in the Lower Delaware River Watershed.
Nancy Nyamumbo
Nancy Nyamumbo is the Staff Accountant at PDE. Part of her work includes accounts payable, and helping with preparation of funding invoices. Nancy joined PDE in 2021 as an Accounting Associate. Previously, she worked at Capital One Bank.
Nancy moved from Kenya in 2016 where she worked at various Financial Institutions.