Staff
Staci Jasin, Executive Director
Staci believes in the power of place to transform lives and elevate individual and planetary health. She comes to COG as a trained landscape designer with experiences as a social entrepreneur and non-profit leader. For the past 15 years, her work has straddled landscape and environmental design, place-based education, and natural climate solutions, developing and managing programs that center community voice and participatory design. She is committed to co-envision, build, and create equitable systems where the benefit of green spaces is accessible to all.
Staci also holds roles as an educational consultant, adjunct faculty at Boston Architectural College and volunteer with Conservation Law Foundation. When Staci is not connecting others to build out their visions for wellbeing, she is restoring herself out of doors – paddleboarding, gardening with her two kids, and taking walkabouts in cities and nature. She also dreams of the wide desert vistas of her childhood home in the southwest. Staci holds a B.A. in geology and environmental studies, M.S. in landscape design, and Ed.M. with a focus on human development, environmental health, and policy.
Board of Directors
Hadley Berkowitz, President
A self described plant enthusiast, landscape designer Hadley Berkowitz creates ecological landscapes in the Metrowest suburbs and on Martha’s Vineyard. After a career in journalism, she attended the Landscape Institute and became a certified master gardener. In 2019, Hadley worked as a COG volunteer with fellow board member Christine Tullius on the Magnolia Street Garden project. Previously, she worked with Ellen Abdow and Katie Wilcock on the entrance garden design for the Fenway Victory Gardens. Hadley brings a passion for COG’s mission and a deep understanding of the important role native plants play in private and public space.
Christine Tullius, Vice President
Christine Tullius, certified landscape designer, joins the COG board after completion of the Magnolia Street Garden, a 2019 COG Project undertaken with colleague and board president Hadley Berkowitz. Prior to her career move into landscape design, Christine worked in the technology sector managing sales and marketing projects, resource allocation and fundraising. She started her own landscape design studio three years ago and after completing a restoration design for the historic Paul Rudolph House in Cambridge, expanded her efforts in landscape preservation. Christine attended Northeastern University, is a graduate of the Landscape Institute at the BAC and speaks fluent German. She is passionate about giving back and is currently working with “Every Mask Counts” to distribute sewn masks to homeless shelters, food pantries and marginalized communities affected by COVID 19.
Jean Krasnow, Treasurer, Higher Ed (Retired)
Jean Krasnow has volunteered with COGdesign since 2007 when she met Lucia Droby at the Landscape Institute at the Radcliffe Seminars. Prior to COGdesign, Jean taught at Brookline High School and was a faculty member at Wheelock College and Northeastern University. Her focus was history and, at the college level, she taught the history of education in America. She has been involved with several non-profits working to expand opportunity and life choices for urban youth. Jean lives in Jamaica Plain with her husband Jordan and adores time with her 11 grandchildren. And she loves to garden!
Roberta Gianfortoni, Secretary, Higher Ed., (retired)
Roberta comes to COGdesign with a wealth of experience and skills in higher education. At the Harvard School of Public Health for over 25 years, she served as Assistant Dean for Professional Education and previously as Director for Professional Education in the Office for Education. She was responsible for overseeing the Master of Public Health Program and with faculty developed the Summer Session for Public Health as well as the Professional Communication Seminar for international students. She is skilled in strategic planning and program initiatives, development and administration. She has a master’s degree in anthropology and a background in teaching. COG is thrilled to have Roberta bring her experience and expertise in public health and valuable insight to our organization. Roberta is concerned with the interrelationship of nature and community health.
E. Ricky Guerra, Project Manager
A longtime Dorchester resident, Ricky served on the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative Board (DSNI) for ten years and is Clerk on the Board of Dudley Neighbors, Inc. In 2015 she completed the Non-Profit Management & Leadership Program at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. With thirteen years of experience in community development in Dorchester and JP (with City Year, Dorchester Bay EDC, JPNDC, among other organizations), Ricky is deeply committed to amplifying the voices in her community and to leveling the playing field by providing equitable access to resources. She is currently the Real Estate Project Mgr. for Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp., responsible for the construction administration of the JPNDC Pitts Portfolio, a $91M 201-unit Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) development. She is an advocate for open space and in her ‘free time’ is pursuing a degree in Construction Management from Wentworth Institute of Technology.
Anne McHugh, Board Member and Chair of the Programs Committee