Accokeek Foundation Staff
Meet the team behind the Accokeek Foundation's mission.
Executive Leadership
Anjela Barnes
Executive Director
Anjela (Piscataway, she/her) is Executive Director of the Accokeek Foundation located at Piscataway Park, where she has the honor of actively stewarding and caring for the traditional homelands of the Piscataway people. She returned to the homelands in 2009 when she joined the Foundation, managing marketing and development campaigns until becoming Vice President of Operations in 2018.
Anjela earned her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing at the University of Maryland in 2004. She is a certified Master Naturalist and has led many volunteer and citizen science projects, including the National Park Service’s bi-centennial BioBlitz event in 2016. Her passion and interests are in addressing the intersection of food systems, health, disease, and environmental change through a community-centered approach.
Laura Ford
Strategic Philanthropic Advisor
Laura (she/her) served as the Foundation’s President & CEO from 2018 to 2022. During her tenure with the Foundation, she has been responsible for organizational advancement, including fundraising, communications, and strategic initiatives like the Foundation’s sustainable agriculture program.
Laura is the Executive Trustee with the Corina Higginson Trust, a grantmaker in the Washington DC metropolitan region. She has a special interest in justice, equity, environmental, and food systems work and is a member of the Washington Regional Food Funders and the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network. Laura is an advocate for families like hers who are affected by Huntington's disease. She also is a certified horseback riding instructor and owns a small farm with her family in Southern Maryland.
Administration & Visitor Services
Patti Canter Norment
Office Manager
Patti (she/her) manages the office and assists the CEO and senior staff, juggling administrative and financial responsibilities. She enhances the team’s work by her positive attitude and willingness to help wherever she’s needed. Patti has been instrumental in coordinating many innovative projects and programs since joining the team in 1992. “This is the farm I have always dreamed of having,” shares Patti. “It’s like my second home!”
MaryAlice Bonomo
Visitor Services Manager
MaryAlice (she/her) joined the Accokeek Foundation in 1998 as an Educator. Since then, MaryAlice has served as Director of Operations, as well as Programs Manager, Education Manager and now serves as Manager of Visitor Services. She also is the creative genius behind the Foundation's most popular events: Lattes with Lambs and Winter's Eve. When she is not busy being a superhero for the Foundation, MaryAlice enjoys long walks in the park with her best pal, Piper—a rescue black/ lab mix.
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Casey Harlow
Marketing & Visitor Relations Coordinator
Casey (she/her) joined the Foundation in 2012 as a volunteer with AmeriCorps and Volunteer Maryland. When her service year was up she couldn’t bear to leave, so she joined the team full-time in 2013. She loves anything artistic and learned how to spin wool into yarn using fiber from the farm's flock of Hog Island sheep. Casey is a Virginia Master Naturalist and when she's not marketing, you'll find her exploring the flora and fauna of Piscataway Park.
Tiara Thomas
Education and Interpretation Director
Tiara (she/her) is an enrolled citizen of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe. She is the current Vice Chair on the Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs (MCIA). She also is the Chair of the Education Committee for MCIA. She serves as the Chair of the Parent Advisory Committee for the Charles County Title VI Indian Education Program, is a Parent Liaison for the Charles County Educational Equity Taskforce and is an Admin for Charles County Rise. She is a traditional Indigenous artist and former Fancy Shawl Dancer. When not working she enjoys spending time with family.
Jeff Frederick
Stewardship Director
A well-traveled and nearly lifelong resident of Prince George’s County, Jeff (he/him) values the chance to live and work on Piscataway land. Jeff has a diverse and extensive background working in carpentry, construction, design, education, and mechanics. Jeff’s formal education led to a Bachelor of Art Degree in Industrial Design.
Jeff was drawn to the Foundation for the opportunity to steward the land, work with endangered livestock, and integrate practices of Indigenous peoples into the current practices on our unique site. You will often find Jeff tinkering, shooting photos in nature or keeping reptiles.
Administration
Administration
Marina Herrera
Senior Grants Manager
Marina (she/her) grew up on a small farm outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico where she gained an appreciation of land and livestock. Prior to joining the Foundation, Marina worked in nonprofit development in the higher education space and, before that, as a nurse in geriatrics and Alzheimer’s/dementia care. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Studies from the University of New Mexico. Marina spends her free time volunteering with a local animal rescue, buying endless amounts of toys for her pup, and poring over Chicano literature.
Nicole Watkins
Finance & People Culture Manager
Nicole (she/her) discovered the Accokeek Foundation during their Latte's With Lambs event and saw it as the perfect work environment after transitioning from being a gig worker in charge of her own finances to an office assistant to being a finance & people culture manager. When not on duty, she enjoys performing professionally in the DMV area, as well as crocheting, embroidering, walking her dog, and following the serotonin.
Leah Norris
Marketing & Visitor Relations Coordinator
Leah joined the Accokeek Foundation after working in visitor services with the Maryland Park Service for several years. When not at work, she enjoys reading, photography, and going on hikes with her dog, Juniper.
Education & Interpretation
Kaylin Beach
School Programs Manager & Volunteer Coordinator
Kaylin has always been told she was born in the wrong century, so when she heard about an opportunity to work at the National Colonial Farm, she jumped at the chance to go back in time. Her favorite part about working on the farm is researching how her character would have lived. She loves to do theatre, and you may have seen her in one of many local community theatre productions. In her spare time, you’ll find her reading, doing one of her many artistic hobbies, volunteering at her church, and spending time with her family.
Shemika Berry
Outreach Specialist
Shemika (she/her) has been with the foundation for almost 10 years. She is an USAF veteran, actress and storyteller. Her passion is humanizing history and telling the stories of marginalized people who history tends to ignore. Her greatest joys have been performing museum theater with her three children onsite.
Kate McGowan
Public Programs Specialist
Kate (she/her) has been with the foundation since 2015, and grew up in Southern Maryland. Kate is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University. Frequent visitors to the park may know Kate for portraying Mrs. Bolton on the National Colonial farm, for her work leading trail hikes and cooking demos, or for her shifts in the visitor center. Outside the park, Kate enjoys local history, hiking, and studying the Irish language, and she is working actor in the DC Area.
Kate Hanfling
Educator
Kate (she/her) started at the Accokeek Foundation as a volunteer. During the pandemic she created fun activities for children and families to do together at the park. Kate officially joined the team as an Educator in spring of 2022. She now plans and delivers school-age programs as well as story times for the youngest of park visitors. Thanks to her past experience as a children's librarian, she is also working to revamp the foundation's library.
Molly Klingman
Educator
A journalist-turned-educator, Molly (she/her) loves to dig into overlooked stories, both past and present. After covering the economic development beat with GSA Business Report and SC Biz News, she launched Common Éire, a cultural exchange podcast series, for the Consulate General of Ireland in Atlanta in 2021.
Molly’s dream office would be mostly outdoors and filled with books on history and niche agriculture. She’s in luck at Piscataway Park, where she gets the chance to learn and share stories about Southern Maryland’s rich cultural and ecological heritage. You might find her playing traditional Irish music at a DMV session or backpacking in the Carolinas during her free time.
Micah Selengut
Educator
As a lifelong non-Native resident of this area, Micah (he/him) is striving to be a good guest on this land by working to restore Piscataway cultural landscapes, uplift Piscataway history and culture, and support ongoing tribal initiatives. Building off anti-colonial work at Brown University to reimagine STEM curricula around Indigenous perspectives, he is committed to working with Piscataway partners to reorient our local education system. You can find Micah surfing the Potomac on his SUP, bopping out on his headphones, or throwing a ball for his dog. Micah is honored to join AF as we work to better preserve, protect, and interpret the traditional homelands of the Piscataway people.
Victor Settles
Educator
Victor (he/him) currently serves as an Educator for the Accokeek Foundation, and was inspired to do so after attending a foodways event at Piscataway National Park, which sparked his interest in how the park conducted education and interpretation on historic American narratives. Victor's passions include studying ancient history, religion, and ethnozoology. He also has recently started learning how to dance Salsa when his evenings are free.
Valdreace Williams
Educator
Valdreace (she/her) found the Accokeek Foundation while looking for areas to collect water samples for a research project. When she isn't learning about the history and ecology of the land, she is reading, dancing, painting and enjoying unique experiences that can be found in the DMV.
Linda Zufelt
Educator
Linda (she/her) grew up in Gettysburg, where she saw first-hand that history doesn't exist in isolation. The only way to understand where we are today is to know where we came from. She has worked in museum education at several historic sites and museums before coming to Accokeek. When she isn't at work, she is exploring the history and nature of the DMV with her family.
Natural Resources & Agriculture
Alison Hancock Bode
Livestock Manager
Alison's (she/her) family has a long history of farming in Southern Maryland, where she grew up on a tobacco farm raising cattle, hogs, and chickens. At age 11, she joined 4-H and started raising and showing her favorite farm animals—sheep. For the past 20 years she's had her own small family farm raising sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, and all kinds of poultry. Alison enjoyed her past experiences as an Educator and volunteer at the Accokeek Foundation, and now her husband and children find it amazing that she has a job doing exactly what she most loves to do—taking care of farm animals!
Risharda Harley
Natural Resources Manager
A PG County native, Risharda (she/her) believes that your food should be your medicine, and your medicine should be your food, and that the health of a person is bound to the health of the land and waters of where they live. She graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a B.S. in Natural Resources Management and enjoys helping others understand the natural world around them. Risharda enjoys movement and all types of arts and crafts, and can be found doing parkour on site, and in her free time cosplaying, bushcrafting, or rollerblading with her dogs.
Holly Kopecky
Site Manager & Caretaker
Holly's (she/her) background is an odd mix of the organic grocery industry, as well as previous contracting with the SK Ministry of the Environment, VDGIF, and the Duke Marine lab. She also lived in wetlands for months at a time, tracking pregnant raccoons. All that to say, she was drawn to the Foundation due to the unique combination of helping both the community and the environment, with a dash of sheep cuddling and cow milking thrown in. Holly lives on site with her human, furry, and feathery kids, and can usually be found out walking a goat or rooster if not on duty.
Pam Brumbley
Conservation Horticultural Coordinator
Pam (she/her) grew up in Southern Maryland and joined the Foundation in 2022. She has spent much of her life observing and photographing plants and wildlife in our local and regional ecosystems and has a special interest in propagating plants used by Indigenous peoples for fibers, medicine, food, and dye, as well as creating habitats for such plants to thrive. Pam enjoys learning historic and traditional gardening, seed saving, and land stewardship techniques. When not on the farm she is likely canoeing, camping, hiking, watching birds, digging into family history, or learning about local fungi.
Warren Murphy IV
Maintenance Assistant
Warren (he/him) started at Accokeek foundation in the summer of 2018 as an SYEP intern. He enjoyed his time working here so much he interned two summers in a row only to finally join us again as a full-time employee in 2022 as a Maintenance Assistant, doing work he loves outdoors. Warren is a lover of the natural world and enjoys walking the trails of the park and forest bathing. Fun fact about Warren: he loves R&B music and loves to cook.
Makhi Davis
Maintenance Assistant
Mahki Davis (he/him) started with Accokeek Foundation in 2015 as an SYEP intern. Makhi enjoyed his internship and decided to return the following summer before joining us again full-time in 2023 on the maintenance team. As a lover of both nature and history, Mahki felt like he landed in the right place here at Accokeek. He strives to build a deeper connection with nature through photography, one of his favorite hobbies, and believes that other natural beings are our relatives. He also happens to be a twin brother. Mahki dreams of traveling and photographing the world someday. He is an avid reader and currently resides in PG county, Maryland.
Zí Proctor
Stewardship Coordinator
Zí Proctor (they/them) is a Piscataway farmer, a dreamer and visionary, and budding indigenous land steward born and raised on their ancestral homelands in southern “Maryland”. Being raised close to their roots and family in the Brandywine area made for a strong connection to Earth. It was from their grandfather from Cedarville that they drew inspiration to becoming an ehakihet (or land protector/ farmer.) Their current curiosities, intellectual pursuits, and passion projects, are primarily dedicated to land justice, food sovereignty, indigenous-led conservation and stewardship, disability and climate justice, emergent strategy, and building and sharing skills necessary for collective survival and liberation. Zí is fiercely committed to creating radically honest spaces of learning accessible for all.
Justin Harmon
Livestock Assistant
Justin (he/him) loves working with the animals, and is fence-keeper extraordinaire. When he isn't working with the livestock, he can be found hiking, staring at clouds, and keeping things interesting.
Javier Brown
Groundskeeper
Originally from Costa Rica, Javier (he/him) joined the grounds crew in 2019. He helps maintain the over 200 acres of parkland that the Foundation manages. Javier, his wife Molly, and their two daughters split their time between his home country and a small farmstead in Bryans Road, Maryland.