Board of Directors:
Mary Jo Aagerstoun, Ph. D. - President (Palm Beach)
Mary Jo Aagerstoun’s expertise is in contemporary activist art and cultural production. She received her Ph.D. in art history from the University of Maryland’s Art History and Archaeology Department in May 2004. She founded EcoArt South Florida, Inc. (known from 2007-2010 as the South Florida Environmental Art Project, Inc.) in 2007. Dr. Aagerstoun lectures widely in South Florida on EcoArt, and has served on the West Palm Beach Art in Public Places Advisory Committee and the West Palm Beach Comprehensive Plan Update Committee. She was a voting member of the Boynton Beach Community Green Alliance that advised that city’s commissioners on approaches to sustainability and is a member of West Palm Beach’s Sustainability Advisory Committee where she chairs the subcommittee on Natural Areas and Water Conservation. She is also one of the founders of Northwood GREENlife, a grass roots community organization serving the north end of West Palm Beach, and dedicated to encouraging sustainability among residents and businesses there. She co-chaired, with Lucy Keshavarz, (2007-present) the Friends of Elders’ Cove a community action group formed to restore the first permanent EcoArt project in South Florida, Elders’ Cove in West Palm Beach’s Dreher Park.
Donald Porges, CPA - Vice President/Finance (Palm Beach)
Donald K. Porges, CPA has nearly 30 years of sole practice as a certified public accountant with clients in the US, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico and Brazil. He is licensed in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida. Mr. Porges is a member of the AICPA, the FICPA and Rotary International. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Boynton Beach, FL Chamber of Commerce, and is Treasurer of the Mizner Falls Homeowners Association. While residing in Connecticut, Mr. Porges served on the Board of Directors, Chelsea Groton Bank, Groton CT. Mr. Porges has served as an advisor to the following nonprofit organizations: Waterford Education Foundation, Inc., Waterford Rotary and Waterford Rotary Foundation, Temple Torah Foundation, Temple Torah Finance Committee, Foundation for Jewish Art, Solomon Schechter Academy.
Mauricio Giammattei - Vice President/Marketing and Outreach (Miami-Dade)
Mauricio Giammattei characterizes himself as a serial entrepreneur with a strong sense of passion for the things he does. Many times, that sense of passion gets ahead of him, and he has to build the concept to support his big picture ideas. These forces have been intertwining over the course of his 25+ years in building brands for blue chip companies like Coca-Cola, Exxon LTN, the Mayo Clinic, the Museum for Contemporary Art and more. This experience manifested itself into his branding firm Cre8tiv Juice Group, which he started with Kevin Kelsick in 1996. His most recent endeavors include MoK2, a sustainable brand strategy firm; Opt2Go, a greenhouse gas exchange; and EcoArt South Florida, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting ecological art and artists in South Florida. Mauricio’s plethora of roles includes partner, chief operating office, chief financial officer, manager, account executive, chairman, salesman, cheerleader, creator and therapist. In short: a brander.
Osvaldo Monzon – Vice President/Program and Structure (Martin)
Osvaldo Monzon is Deputy Director of The Elliott Museum, Hutchinson Island, Florida. He is active with the Arts Council of Martin County where he has served on the Board and as chair of the Court House Cultural Center exhibitions committee. He holds a BS from Tulane University and attended the Certificate of Museum Studies graduate program at New York University. He is a candidate for an MA degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies with a concentration in Art History from this university. He was the recipient of a Tinker Foundation Research Grant for travel and fieldwork in Cuba investigating the role of the museum in the formation of national Identity. He was director of the Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture in Miami and directed the visitor services department of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He has curated a number of art exhibitions and given presentations on various art topics.
W. Trent Steele, Esq., J.D. (Martin) – Legal Counsel (Martin)
Trent Steele practices law in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties and offers assistance to individuals and businesses in bankruptcy, foreclosure defense, real estate and estate planning. Trent has been committed to assisting local nonprofit organizations throughout his twenty-five year career.
Advisory Committee
David Barth AICP, ASLA, CPRP (Palm Beach)
David Barth is a partner with Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, a 120 person Community Planning and Design firm with offices in Atlanta, Orlando and West Palm Beach. Dave manages the West Palm Beach office, and specializes in community visioning and facilitation, parks and open space system planning and urban design. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Palm Beach Atlantic University.
Bonnie Beregszaszi (Miami)
Bonnie Beregszaszi is a designer based in Miami, working in brand design and visual communications for more than a decade. A multidisciplinary artist, she focuses on creating smart, relevant and innovative ideas. Bonnie has created award winning work with several South Florida agencies, including Cre8tiv Juice Group and Mok2. As a Miami native, she has been witness to the urbanization of South Florida’s wetlands, and since been committed to South Florida charities. She has participated in charity art auction events with Inner City Outings, as well as worked with organizations like Citizens for a Better South Florida, Miami Botanical Gardens and EcoArt South Florida.
Leah Brown (Broward)
Leah Brown is a practicing artist and the director of the 18 Rabbit Gallery. She received her BFA degree in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2004, and has since participated as one of the four inaugural artists-in-residence in the year-long Hub-Bub Artist Residency program (2006-2007) in Spartanburg, SC, as well as a residency with the theme “Accessibility: Sustainability” (2007) in Sumter, SC. She has exhibited throughout the continental US, worked as an Art Fabricator for a major New York based fabrication company, and volunteered for several Nature Centers and Environmental organizations. She moved to South Florida in 2008 where she co-founded 18 Rabbit Gallery, a contemporary art exhibition space located in downtown Ft Lauderdale, FL. Her own artwork is deeply influenced by nature, and her passion for preservation of the environment has played out in a curatorial role, including the January 2010 exhibition, “Environmentalism by Proxy”, involving 10 visual artists who are interpreting our present global situation and its consequences. Leah can be contacted through the gallery website, www.18rabbitgallery.com.
Pam Callender (Sarasota)
Originally from New Hampshire, Pam now lives in Sarasota, Florida. She is completing a Master of Fine Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Art with an Environmental Art focus from Goddard College, Vermont. Her undergraduate degree is in Visual Arts, minor in Human Development from Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida. Through rigorous study of ecological concerns related to art, and vice-versa, Pam is finding great significance in this relationship. As a Florida State certified educator K-12, my disposition is to inspire, encourage, and motivate people to investigate further into perhaps unfamiliar areas of concern. She plans to develop course outlines and syllabi in Environmental and Ecological Art. Pam has background and expertise in research and development and was founder of Spats Youth Dance Sport Foundation, Inc. in 1998. Pam is executive director of the organization, which is currently awaiting 501C3 status. In 2009,she served as key advisor to the director of The Common Walk Art Festival: Energy, Arts and Ideas in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire.
Robert Canellos (Palm Beach)
Robert is a LEED AP BD+C; is a design consultant and LEED certifying agent in South Florida with extensive experience in sustainable planning and design of high-performance green buildings with numerous architectural and consulting firms in Arizona and Florida. For the past five years, Robert has been Branch Chairman, Board Member and currently serves as Immediate Past-President of the U.S.Green Building Council, South Florida Chapter. Well-known and respected in the South Florida green building community for over 10 years, Robert’s extensive experience in ecological planning, development, and construction fosters intelligent and responsible design collaborations culminating in environmentally sensitive, socially responsible building design and community planning.
Christopher Cawley, RLA (Miami-Dade)
Christopher Cawley is a Florida registered Landscape Architect with over twelve years of professional experience assisting with projects in both the public and private sectors. The work of Christopher Cawley ranges from providing contemporary and ecologically sensitive designs for art deco and historic renovation projects to providing master planning services that strive to preserve large areas of South Florida’s natural landscape. Christopher Cawley maintains a professional consulting practice based in Miami, and the work of Christopher Cawley has earned awards from the Miami Design Preservation League and been featured in South Florida design publications. In addition to private practice, Chris is also serving in his third term as the Landscape Architect on the Architectural Review Board for the Village of Bal Harbour, Florida.
Debby Coles-Dobay (Palm Beach)
Debby Coles-Dobay is the Public Art Administrator for the City of Boynton Beach Art in Public Places program. She was hired in 2006 after dedicating several years of volunteer work spearheading the creation of a public art master plan and the 1% public art ordinance for the City of Boynton Beach Arts Commission. Debby also serves as board treasurer for FAPAA, Florida Association of Public Art Administrators, the first organization of its kind in the US. In addition to her City position Debby contributes to the City’s Green Task Force and Community Alliance. Debby collaborated with South Florida Environmental Art Project, Inc. president and founder, Mary Jo Aagerstoun, to present “Strategies for EcoArt Success.” at the June 2009 national Americans for the Arts conference in Seattle. She is working with the EcoArt SoFla to develop and implement an apprenticeship program for Palm Beach County resident artists to learn EcoArt skills that will prepare them to partner with building and planning disciplines to build green projects in South Florida. Prior to her work with public art, Debby’s career included marketing and advertising for International corporations in-house and her own company, Creative Marketing Impact, Inc. She graduated with an Associates from CUNY at Queens College, New York and a BFA from Florida Atlantic University.
Juan Carlos Espinosa (Miami Dade)
Juan Carlos Espinosa is a composer/sound artist who has written over 100 solo, chamber, choral and electro-acoustic works. The Miami-based composer’s work is informed by his travel to places from Antarctica to the Arctic (including the North Pole and Franz Josef Land), and by his concerns about the environment and the withering of human and cultural memory. Espinosa has most recently collaborated with artist Xavier Cortada, choreographer Heather Maloney, and NEA award winning choreographer Jimmy Gamonety. Espinosa is Associate Dean and Fellow at the Honors College at Florida International University in Miami.
Robert F. Hopper, RLA (Palm Beach)
Robert Hopper is a botanist and registered landscape architect, who has worked in both the private and public sectors of South Florida and is an enthusiastic supporter of the Florida Native Plant Society. He serves as the landscape chair for the Palm Beach County chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society. His native plant garden designs for the Mounts Botanical Garden, Grassy Waters Preserve and the Choko Lochi Learning Garden, which is part of the EcoArt project Elders’ Cove in West Palm Beach’s Dreher Park, are models for the creative use of native plants in landscape designs for parks, residences and businesses. Currently Rob is employed by the South Florida Water Management District as a Senior Environmental Analyst focusing on wetland and storm water management issues.
Kathleen (Kathie) Margoles (Broward)
Kathie Margoles has over 20 years experience in nonprofit and government administration. She is currently the Deputy City Managers for the City of Lake Worth, Palm Beach County. Since moving to Florida in 1993, Kathie has been the Parks and Recreation Director for two Broward municipalities. She served on the Florida Parks and Recreation Association Board from 2002-2009, most recently as Vice President of Advocacy. She has also been a Project Manager for the Broward Cultural Division Public Art and Design Program, primarily for Parks and Library bond projects. Kathie is an International City County Managers Association (ICMA) Healthy Communities Ambassador, focusing on how the built environment fosters active and healthy communities. She also serves on the Coral Springs Public Art Committee and the Neighborhood and Environmental Committee. Kathie has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from SUNY, College at Cortland and a Master of Science Degree in Human Service Administration from Nova Southeastern University.
Margi Nothard (Broward)
Margi Nothard is the Design Principal and founding partner of Glavovic Studio in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Margi and her partners have received national and international recognition for their innovative design-oriented solutions and creative thinking, integrating landscape, art and architecture into the urban fabric. Margi’s work and involvement in Architecture has been recognized by the Arango Foundation Award in 2001 and the 2008 Moretti Award for Artistic Achievement in cultural excellence in Broward County, along with numerous other awards. She also has many publications to her credit, regarding both built and unbuilt projects. Margi is a Founding member of Funding Arts Broward, a founding Board member of the Greater Hollywood Artspark Foundation, was Vice-Chair of the Public Art and Design Committee for Broward County Public Art, Chair of the City of Fort Lauderdale Historic Preservation Board and Vice-Chair of the Master Plan for Downtown.
Carolyn Pendelton-Parker (Palm Beach)
Carolyn Pendleton-Parker has 29 years experience in the practice of landscape architecture and landscape implementation. She works with the firm of Sanchez & Maddux Inc.- Palm Beach on projects throughout the United States and the Bahamas. Carolyn’s design philosophy integrates landscape architecture, green infrastructure and ecological art.
Matthew Schwartz (Broward)
Matthew Schwartz is executive director of the South Florida Wildlands Association – an organization founded to protect wildlife habitat and wilderness in the Greater Everglades. He is also Conservation Chair for the Broward Group of the Sierra Club and serves on the Sierra Club’s Everglades Committee and National Wildlands Committee where he has been active in promoting wilderness designation for national parks and citizen stewardship of public lands. Matthew holds master’s degrees in counseling and sociology and has worked as an educator, researcher and counselor. He writes frequently on Everglades topics, and his conservation work has been featured in many local and national newspapers, as well as radio and television. Matthew is also well known in south Florida for his guided “swampwalks” to remote sections of the Big Cypress National Preserve. Matthew is originally from Brooklyn, NY. He grew up fishing on piers throughout the greater New York metropolitan area and credits that experience with his lifelong devotion to wildlife and habitat. In his free time, Matthew enjoys dancing, music, photography, independent cinema and global trekking.
Steve Sauls (Miami-Dade)
Steve has spent much of the past 20+ years helping to build Florida International University (FIU), into a top public research institution. As Vice President for Governmental Relations for the the past 5 years he played critical roles in FIU’s winning efforts to establish both a law school and a medical school and funding to expand graduate programs. Through legislative initiatives, he obtained millions of dollars in research funds for the International Hurricane Research Center and operating funds for the Wolfsonian-FIU, FIU’s world class museum on Miami Beach. He is the author of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 which provides educational assistance to Mariel and Haitian refugees, and provided staff support to Governor Graham in the mid-80s when he resurrected the Everglades Coalition as part of the Save the Everglades program and the purchase of Fakahatchee Strand.
Howard Salus (Miami Dade)
Howard Salus has been a marketing executive for several decades in the Miami area. For 25 years Howard and Mavis Salus published the Entertainment News and Views, the area’s premier independent arts, dining and entertainment publication. In 2007 the Saluses sold Entertainment News and Views, and launched another “ENV” this time Environmental News and Views, a web publication and newsletter series that focuses on environmental issues, nutrition, healthful living and spirituality.
Jason Tapia (Miami-Dade)
Jason Tapia AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, CDT is a registered architect in the states of Florida and New York. Jason earned a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University in 1997 and a Master of Science in Architecture Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010. He has been practicing architecture for fourteen years and is a Principal at Building Center No. 3, a design firm that offers services in the disciplines of architecture, landscape and interiors. His areas of expertise include the design of buildings using life cycle assessment tools, building performance modeling and passive design strategies.
