Nan Bartow was delighted to join the Board of the Urban Resource Initiative in May of 2005. In her earlier years she developed a deep appreciation for water, land, and nature in the marshes of Cohasset, Massachusetts, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the highlands of Yosemite National Park, the Alps of Switzerland, and the Sahel of Chad, Africa, where she served as a Peace Corps volunteer. A high school English educator, Nan spent most of her teaching years at the High School in the Community, one of New Haven's public magnet schools. She is actively involved in Friends of Beaver Pond Park, a group that is working to preserve the wildlife and to improve the natural beauty of the ponds and the park through the URI Greenspace program. Now in retirement, she wishes to combine her love for teaching and for land conservation by serving on the Greenspace and the Education committees of the Board of URI.

Claire Bennitt retired in January as board chair of the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority.  She was involved in the drafting and passing of the legislation that established the organization in the 1970’s.and served on the governing board since its inception.  She was part of the grass roots movement that was behind the creation of the land classification system identifying critical lands to protect water supplies.  At various time she has served as chair of the In Stream Flow Coalition, president of the Natural Resources Council of Connecticut and president of the Watershed Fund.  In 2011, Claire joined the board of URI.

Sara Ohly has lived in New Haven since 1968, and joined the URI Board in 2002.  After graduating from Vassar, she taught English as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkey, at the Cedarhurst School in the Yale Psychiatric Institute, and in New Haven Adult Education.  She completed her M.A. in International Relations (1986) and a Ph.D. in Anthropology (1994) at Yale University, then taught social cultural anthropology at Connecticut College and at Wesleyan.  Sara has been an active community member involved in neighborhood associations, helping with different networks and community support.  She has participated in Greenspace at Farnam Court Public Housing, in Wooster Square, and, from 2000 to the present, in Lenzi Park.  She shares many of the same passions of URI, including community building, environmental activism, and education, as well as urban anthropology.

 

Erik B. Pearson joined the URI Board in 2012. Erik is a Research Coordinator for Soundview Capital Management.  He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School with a J.D. and served as an attorney until 2008.  Prior to becoming an attorney, Erik was a psychiatric specialist for the U. S. Army for eight years.  Erik founded the Portland (Oregon) Chapter of the National Adult Baseball Association in 1993.  Erik has two children and lives with his family in North Haven.

 

Britton comes to URI through the Greenspace program working on Lenzi Park, off of Grand Avenue.  His work at Lenzi Park began as part of his community outreach as a concerned neighbor, as well as his Master Gardener certification process.  After studying architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, and some time spent abroad, Britton settled in New York City working for various architecture firms.  He arrived in New Haven in 2007, where he now works independently as an architect and garden designer, as well as doing some environmental design consulting work with Atelier Ten.  He has studied sustainable design/build strategies at Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, Vermont.  He enjoys modern art, photography, and cycling.  He builds terrariums and succulent gardens as a winter hobby when he can’t be working on his local community garden plot.  He is very pleased to be a part of URI and its work with trees and green spaces, as a way of helping New Haven’s physical and social environment.

Joe Ryzewski is a lifelong resident of New Haven. He has a background in electric utility design, operation and workforce development. He is a registered Professional Electrical Engineer and a Certified Project Management Professional and currently works at the United Illuminating Company, an investor owned public utility. He is a member of the Connecticut Urban Forest Council, whose vision, like URI's, includes creating and supporting a healthy urban forest in our neighborhoods. Joe is also interested in New Haven’s history, particularly in the lives and contributions of various statesmen, entrepreneurs and inventors.