Board of Directors
May you find balance between being and doing, stay optimistic and hopeful in times of uncertainty, find stability and roots during the coming upheaval and renewal, and use your personal power to create and shape the future.
~ Claudia Perry-Beltrame
Nathan Scott
Nathan Kumar Scott is the Executive Director of MassEnergize, a Massachusetts based nonprofit focused on engaging communities in taking climate action and supporting their transition to clean energy. Nathan has spent his career in nonprofit leadership, with close to 20 years as the Executive Director of a variety of organizations focused on climate change, sustainability and experiential education. Prior to MassEnergize, Nathan was the Executive Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Schuyler County, NY, where he oversaw the development of programs in climate stewardship, both residential and municipal clean energy transition, climate smart agriculture, youth development, and community based climate action.
Nathan holds an M.A. from the University of Washington, a B.A. from Oberlin College, and a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from Tufts University. He has been a Watson Fellow, a Fulbright Fellow, and is the co-founder of Global Climate Corps, a global youth training program focused on skill building for climate action.
Jaime Silverstein
Jaime Silverstein is a mom, yogi, environmentalist, and local food enthusiast. Living in southern Maine, she works as a Senior Associate at Croatan Institute. Previously, she has worked as a farm business advisor for NOFA-VT; crop R&D specialist for Freight Farms, a Boston-based urban agriculture start-up; program coordinator for Slow Money Boston; and senior research fellow at the Sustainable Endowments Institute, where she led research on responsible investing practices at colleges and universities. Jaime lived as a resident of Metta Earth for the 2014 growing season. Since leaving Metta Earth, she continues to stay involved, working on development and financial reports for the farm, institute, and community.
Jaime holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Boston University and an MBA from the University of Maine. She is also Kripalu-certified yoga teacher. She enjoys hiking, frequenting local farmers markets, and studying herbalism. She co-leads a local climate action group in Kittery, Maine.
Alice Leeds
Alice Leeds was an educator for over forty years, including twenty-five years at Lincoln Community School, down the road from Metta Earth Institute.
She taught in public and private schools in the US and abroad and at several colleges and universities. She holds a bachelor of arts in human ecology from College of the Atlantic and a master of arts in English from Slippery Rock University. Alice’s teaching practice integrated the human and natural resources in the local community as well as the literary, visual and performance arts.
Alice co-authored several professional publications. Her essays and articles have appeared in a variety of journals and periodicals. She currently coordinates and regularly contributes to the “Ways of Seeing” column in the Addison County Independent.
Alice brings a belief in the power and importance of local communities to MEI. In retirement she has the luxury of broader local involvement. She coordinates MEI’s Kitchen Soup Project. In addition, she volunteers with Have-a-Heart Food Shelf, Northeast Addison Television, Bristol Peace Garden, Project Independence, Bristol Social Justice Discussion Group, and Afghan Tutoring Network. Alice is also a member of the Vermont Ukulele Society.
Emma Radeka
Living in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, Emma bases her life off of the magnificent land around her and the turn of the seasons. She is a ski patroller at Jay Peak in the winter, and a member of their Diversity/Equity/Inclusion committee, she does local arborism work in the summer, and is a clinical/community herbalist year-round. A recent graduate from the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism, Emma brings her spirit of compassionate care to supporting clients in their health journeys and teaching various classes and workshops. Emma holds a B.S. in Environmental Studies and a certificate in Integrative Healthcare from the University of Vermont. She has also served as a wilderness guide in Alaska and an environmental educator in Burlington VT. She enjoys playing the mandolin, dancing, skiing, mountain biking, and archery.
Emma has partnered with Metta Earth in varying forms over the years: living on-site as an Earth Responder, coordinating the Herbal Skills Immersion program, mentoring UVM students working on the Metta Earth Herbal Handbook, and providing writing support for the Metta Earth website. She joined the Board of Directors in 2021 and is thrilled to be partnering with Metta Earth Institute in their mission for environmental and social justice.
T Hanson
T is currently the Co-Executive Director; Director of Philanthropy and Communications at Vermont Garden Network where she helps the organization teach Vermonters how to grow nutritionally dense food. Prior to joining VGN, T was the Executive Director at Cornell Cooperative Extension in upstate NY. At extension, T spearheaded a new land stewardship educational model. She led a campaign to purchase a 107-acre farm and launched it as the new staff headquarters and demonstration site: Hilltop Community Farm. The farm is used to demonstrate agricultural climate action techniques through improved soil health, cover cropping, rotational grazing and use of emerging crops like dryland rice and food forest edible nuts and berries. Included is an agrivoltaics (sheep grazing under solar panels) system, a beginning farmer incubator program and a watershed management series of ponds and riparian buffers.
After graduating from Boston University with a master’s in computer science, T started her career working for IBM as a Systems Engineer in Phoenix where she learned many business management skills. Her IT path took her to Dallas for technology planning and architecture at American Airlines/SABRE. Motherhood found her home caring for her four children. She found inspiration (and sanity!) exploring outdoor trails and parks where the kids could dig in the dirt and turn over rocks in nearby streams. She became a Master Naturalist and started leading local hikes and plant talks. T transitioned to non-profit work with National Audubon Society and Texas Trees Foundation acquiring many operational and fundraising skills. In 2018, T made her transition back to her Northeastern roots and moved to the Mad River Valley. She worked in Development at the Green Mountain Club and was a board member for Community Harvest of Central Vermont exploring many local farms through gleaning. A self-professed tree hugger and locavore, T can most often be found experimenting with native plants, hiking/biking or at a local farmers market.