Staff and Trustees
2023-24 Doan Brook Watershed Partnership Board of Trustees
The Partnership’s 16-member Board of Trustees meets bi-monthly to discuss watershed issues and initiatives, funding resources, programs and actions for consideration. Meetings are open to the public and scheduled at varying locations within the Partnership.
DBWP Executive Committee
Chairman – Darnell Brown, At-Large Citizen Representative
President – Nancy Moore, Councilwoman, City of Shaker Heights
Vice President – Karen Knittel, Planner, City of Cleveland Heights
Secretary – Laura Gooch, At-Large Citizen Representative & Engineering Consultant
Treasurer – Curt Witchey, At-Large Citizen Representative
Trustees
Dorothy Adams – At-Large Citizen Representative
Joel Alpern – Chief of Education & Experience, Deputy Director, Holden Forests & Gardens
Chris Bongorno – University Circle, Inc.
Peter Bode – President and CEO, Nature Center at Shaker Lakes
Gail Larson – Councilwoman, City of Cleveland Heights
Jeri E. Chaikin – Chief Administrative Officer, City of Shaker Heights
Stephanie Howse – Councilwoman, Ward 7, City of Cleveland
Ramona Lowery-Ferrell – Commissioner, Water Pollution Control
Roberta Muehlheim – Museum Ambassador and Associate Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Alex Litofsky – At-Large Citizen Representative
Stacey Polk – At-Large Citizen Representative
Cisco Rivera – Affilitate Trustee, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
DBWP Staff
Maureen “Mo” Drinkard, PhD,
Executive Director
Dr. Drinkard is a Stream Ecologist who earned her Doctorate from Kent State University in 2012. She grew up along the Cuyahoga River in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and after living much of her adult life in the south, returned to Northeast Ohio in 2020. She settled her family of 7 in Shaker Heights in an old house amid the headwaters of the Doan Brook. After a wonderful career as an ecology professor, Mo moved into academic administration and later, non-profit administration. As an administrator, she developed many programs from idea to launch including a technical bachelor’s degree in Environmental Management, a MBA in Sustainability, and a nationwide scientific fellowship program placing thousands of scientists in research positions. Her ongoing research and professional interests include riparian, wetland, and watershed ecology, entomology, and sustainability. Mo is an avid gardener and permaculturist, a mad fermenter, and she loves working with data and statistics. Mo is grateful to be able to serve her community and watershed as Executive Director of the Doan Brook Watershed Partnership.
Emily Kao,
Watershed Program Manger
Emily received her B.A. in Environment and Sustainability from Cornell University, focusing on Urban Planning and Environmental Justice with a minor in Climate Change. Originally from outside of Boston, Emily relocated to Cleveland at the end of 2022 after graduating from college. Emily has worked with Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District as their Watersheds & Education intern and has also interned with the New York State Water Resources Institute, where she helped to design a climate change exhibit and conducted research to assess the feasibility of acoustic monitoring for measuring riparian recovery. In college, Emily spent her free time teaching outdoor education courses, collecting field data in nearby forests, and cross country ski racing. Emily believes that outdoor recreation and environmental education should be accessible to and inclusive of everyone and looks forward to serving the residents of the Doan Brook watershed as the Watershed Program Manager.