Board of Trustees
Dennis Percher
Chairperson
chair@somocon.org
Joining the SMC in late 2001, Dennis has been board chair since January 2007. He enjoys encouraging the community to become Conservancy members, working with a great team of volunteers to maintain and improve the park and lead SMC programs, and getting people out into the reservation. Dennis is involved in all aspects of the SMC. He especially likes to plan and build new trails, improve the signage system, get rid of knotweed and aralia, and help run the Mayapple Trail Runs, SMR Family Campout, and seasonal night hikes. He often jogs the trails to see recent developments and check out problems. Other hobbies include photography and kayaking. Dennis’ professional background has been in management consulting and training. He has two grown daughters and has lived in Maplewood with his wife, Barbara Laub, since 1984.
John Verzani
Vice Chair, Trail Work Coordinator
trailwork@somocon.org
John Verzani is a long-term board member and co-organizer of the trailwork crew. You might find him and his dog Romeo scouting the Reservation for new trail opportunities.
Sarah Jane Jelin
Membership
membership@somocon.org
Sarah Jane has lived in the area most of her life and always viewed the reservation as her refuge…a place to hike, run, picnic or simply enjoy nature. After working with the South Mountain Conservancy trail crew, building and improving hiking trails she joined the Board. In her role as head of membership, she is striving to raise the profile of the conservancy in order to increase membership and engagement in conservancy activities. Sarah Jane operates her family manufacturing business in Clark.
Richard Inserro
Trailkeepers Coordinator
trailkeepers@somocon.org
Rich began volunteering with the SMC in 2017, coordinates the Trailkeepers and is active with the Chainsaw Gang. He joined the SMC board in 2018 and has spoken on behalf of the reservation at local government, Parks Department and Essex County Freeholder meetings. He is very involved with fellow board members to increase our membership and build our local presence. He tries to get his kids in the reservation as much as possible and on early weekend mornings you might see him running the trails with his dog Wrigley (another proud SMC supporter). Rich is a consultant in the financial services data and technology sector and has lived in Maplewood since 2004.
David Berry
Community Outreach, Trash Tacklers Coordinator
community-outreach@somocon.org
trashtacklers@somocon.org
A hiker in the Reservation since moving to South Orange/Maplewood in 1990, David become an SMC board member focused on Community Outreach at the start of 2020. Retiring as a program and camp director from the South Mountain YMCA in 2018 after 28 years has allowed David to spend more time hiking and volunteering for the Conservancy, especially as a Trailkeeper, Chain Saw Gang member, and other conservancy activities. As the Community Outreach liaison, he seeks ways to collaborate with diverse organizations and community groups looking for nature programming and volunteering opportunities in the Reservation. By working with these groups and SMC program coordinators, David attempts to find synergies between the Conservancy’s and their missions. David lives in South Orange with his partner Peg. He enjoys running into former Y campers and families in the Reservation and around town.
Craig Leisher
Craig is a social scientist at The Nature Conservancy who is happiest at the nexus of science and practice. Since moving to the area in 2006, his dose of Vitamin “N” (nature) comes from South Mountain Reservation. He’s run every trail, eaten wineberries in the summer, snowshoed in the winter, and counted tree rings on downed trees after a storm. He loves the reservation and its history.
Penni Malakates,
Operations Director
Penni started as SMC Operations Director in July 2022 and is responsible for marketing, our social media presence, store fulfillment, and general support of Conservancy programs. While most of her career was spent in the international art world, she has always made the outdoors a part of her life. Since leading outdoor adventure trips for kids across Maine at Bates College, she has remained close to outdoor organizations and activities. She is passionate about increasing access to the outdoors for people of all ages and backgrounds and believes in community building through volunteerism and time spent outside. Through her work with the Conservancy, Penni hopes to bring a greater awareness of the joys of the Reservation to the broader Essex County community. She lives in Maplewood with her husband and two kids. Penni conceived of the Hemlock Falls poster in the classic style of the national parks. She can be reached at opsdirector@somocon.org.
Program Coordinators
Citizen Science, Lori LaBorde, citizenscience@somocon.org
Chainsaw Gang: David Berry, chainsawgang@somocon.org
Family Campout: Lori LaBorde, Dennis Percher, familycampout@somocon.org
Forest Regeneration: Christy Zolty, Rich Rockwell, forestregen@somocon.org
Hikes: Bobbette Mannicotti, hikes@somocon.org
Mayapple Trail Run: Dennis Percher, Kim Levinsky, mayappletrailruns@somocon.org
Trailkeepers: Dennis Percher, Dave Berry, trailkeepers@somocon.org
Trail Work: John Verzani, Dennis Percher, trailwork@somocon.org
Trash Tacklers and Plogging: Amber Benezra, Dave Berry trashtacklers@somocon.org
Wildflower Sculpture Park Curator: Lisa Sanders, wspcurator@somocon.org
Hike Leaders
Lou Nocito, Bijoy Mechery, Kirk Barrett, Sharon Salmon, Dennis Percher, Gail Waimon, Dustin Dumas, Janine Beer, Linda Silver
IT
Paul Kerner, Rich Inserro, webmaster@somocon.org