staff

Donald S. Strait, Executive Director,
Ext. 103
Don has been Executive Director of Connecticut Fund for the Environment since 1992, and was Legal Director from 1990 to 1992. In 2004, Don guided the organization's merger with Save the Sound.

Prior to joining CFE, Don was a staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York. Don was one of the co-founders of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters. He serves on the board of directors of Restore America's Estuaries, based in Washington, D.C., and the Greenwich Land Trust. He is a graduate of Amherst College (B.A. 1981) and Harvard Law School (J.D. 1985).

Cynthe Aeon, Legal Resources Coordinator, (860) 524-1639

Eric D. Annes
Eric D. Annes, joined the Connecticut Fund for the Environment in September 2008 as the Peter B. Cooper Legal Fellow. He had previously had been an attorney at Wiggin & Dana. Prior to that, he had clerked for the Honorable Lawrence J. Block on the United States Court of Federal Claims. He received his J.D. from Pace Law School summa cum laude in 2006 where he served as a Contracts Dean Scholar. He received a Masters in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2006 and a B.A. from Connecticut College in 1999.

Karen Baar, Director of Grants, Ext. 106
Karen Baar joined Connecticut Fund for the Environment as Director of Grants in January 2008. A former health care activist, educator and administrator, she has a B.A. from New York University and a Masters in Public Health degree from the Yale University School of Medicine.

Before landing at CFE, Karen was a free-lance writer for more than 15 years. She has written hundreds of articles about women’s issues, health, science and medicine, and social policy for magazines, newspapers and Web sites; she has also written or co-authored several books. The mother of two grown daughters, Karen loves gardening, hiking and travelling.

Kierran Broatch, Volunteer and Outreach Associate, Ext 113
Kierran has been the community outreach associate for Connecticut Fund for the Environment since 2006.

Prior to joining CFE, he served as an intern for the Connecticut Audubon Society at the Coastal Center at Milford Point and spent three seasons with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection working as a Park Aide for the State Parks Division. He also spent time as a Resource Assistant for the DEP’s Inland Fisheries Division.

Kierran graduated Cum Laude from Eastern Connecticut State University with a degree in Communications and a minor in Environmental Earth Science.

An avid outdoorsman and conservationist, Kierran has a passion for fishing.

John Champion, Senior Director of Finance, Ext. 101
John Champion joined the CFE team in September of 2008. John’s extensive nonprofit experience includes five years as the Executive Director of the New Haven Ecology Project and three years at a Bridgeport charter school, where he established and maintained the school’s business office. John has an M.S. in Political Science from Southern Connecticut State University and is currently pursuing an M.B.A.

Chris Cryder, Director of Restoration and Stewardship, Save the Sound, Ext. 127
Chris Cryder joined Save the Sound in May 2007 as the Director of Restoration and Stewardship. He is responsible for the development and implementation of Save the Sound’s programs involving Long Island Sound Habitat Restoration, Stewardship, and Coastal Clean-Up programs. Chris will also focus on increasing public and volunteer involvement in these programs.

Prior to joining Save the Sound, Chris was a member of a citizen activist group, the Alliance for Sound area Planning (ASaP), which partnered with CFE in the fight to protect “The Preserve,” a 1000-acre forest and wetland area in Old Saybrook. For 21 years, Chris managed non-profit and for-profit retirement communities for a national management company. He has an undergraduate degree in biology with a concentration in genetics, and a master's in health services administration. Chris will be pursuing a master’s degree in environmental science at the University of New Haven. He is a board member of the Old Saybrook Land Trust.

Tisha Ferguson, Outreach Director, Ext 108
Tisha Ferguson became CFE’s Outreach Director after many years of volunteer service for conservation and environmental groups. She sits on the Fairfield Land Acquisition Commission, and is past president of the Friends of Hammonasset. She was a principal at Design Trust, a design & communications firm, for fourteen years. She holds a BFA from Tufts University/Boston Museum School, and studied Landscape Design at the New York Botanical Garden. When not engaging people about politics and the environment, she can be found designing and digging in the garden.

Curt Johnson, Senior Attorney and Program Director, Ext. 111
Curt Johnson received his law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law and was awarded a master’s in the Study of Law, Summa Cum Laude, focusing on environmental law, from Vermont Law School.

He was an attorney with the firm of Murtha, Cullina, Richter and Pinney for three-and-a-half years before joining Connecticut Fund for the Environment as an attorney in 1993. He is now Program Director and Senior Staff Attorney at CFE.

His undergraduate work was in field ecology and environmental education, and he was hired as the first urban park ranger helping that program mature in New Haven during the early 1980s. Curt was also the Governor’s first appointee to the Connecticut Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Fund, and has served on numerous environmental task forces. He co-teaches and leads the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Michelle LeMere, Assistant Director, Member Relations and Annual Fund, Ext. 104
Michelle came to CFE in November 1999. She attended Franklin Pierce College and Southern Connecticut State University. She is a past president of the Milford Jaycees and serves on the board of Bridges, the state-designated comprehensive agency providing mental health and addiction services to children and adults. Her interests include singing, kickboxing, crossword puzzles, gardening and spending time with her husband, Matthew LeMere, and daughters, Kaylie and Sarah.

Juliet Manalan, Communications Director, Ext 128
Juliet Manalan joined the CFE team in early 2008. She will be working to raise the visibility of the organization and bring the environmental message to the media. After having lived on both coasts, Juliet settled in Connecticut in 1996 where she continues to be active in politics, advocacy, and social justice. Over the past decade, she has worked on political campaigns in various communications and policy capacities, and served as a Legislative Aide for the House Democratic Caucus. Immediately prior to joining CFE, Juliet was the communications and public relations specialist for a national non-profit dedicated to alleviating child poverty.

Juliet graduated from George Washington University with a Bachelor of Science.

Julie Parr, Senior Director of Development, ext 109
Julie recently moved to Connecticut after an 18 year stint living in Center City Philadelphia. During the last ten of those years, she worked in development for the University of Pennsylvania – first at the Wharton School, then at Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital founded in 1751. She is a graduate of Penn State and of the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her Master's Degree at the School of Social Policy and Practice in Social Work with an emphasis on social and economic development. She is eager to meet supporters of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, explore our state and get to know our rivers, state parks and communities.

Roger Reynolds, Senior Staff Attorney, Ext. 105
Roger Reynolds has been directing and coordinating CFE’s legal casework since
2003. He is also an adjunct lecturer at University of Connecticut School of Law where he
runs the Environmental Law Clinic and teaches Negotiation.

Before coming to CFE, Attorney Reynolds was an Assistant Attorney General for
nine years and litigated numerous environmental, consumer protection and antitrust cases
on behalf of the state of Connecticut. He was also a law clerk to Justice Richard N.
Palmer and Chief Justice Robert J. Callahan on Connecticut’s Supreme Court. He
received his law degree from New York University School of Law where he was an
editor of the Environmental Law Journal.

Charles Rothenberger, Staff Attorney, Ext. 110
Charles J. Rothenberger joined CFE in August 2003 as a legal fellow. He was a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas G. West and the Honorable Joseph H. Pellegrino at the Connecticut Appellate Court in Hartford. He has been admitted to the Connecticut and Massachusetts Bar Associations, is a member of the ABA, and a member of the environmental and planning & zoning sections of the Connecticut Bar Association.

Charles did his legal internship at the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. during the summer of 2000, and his judicial internship in the United States District Court in New Haven under the Honorable Peter C. Dorsey. Charles is a 2001 honors graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he edited the Connecticut Journal of International Law.

He has a master's degree from Trinity College in Hartford, where he majored in Public Policy Studies, and a bachelor's in History from the University of Connecticut.

Leah Schmalz, Director of Legislative and Legal Affairs, Save the Sound, Ext. 121
Leah joined Save the Sound as its staff attorney in 2001. She is responsible for Save the Sound’s Advocacy Program, which includes legislative and legal work to address eminent threats to the health of Long Island Sound and to develop Sound-wise policies at the local, state and federal level.

She earned her J.D. and Environmental Law Certificate from Pace University School of Law in 2000, and her undergraduate study in sustainable architecture and design culminated in a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from the University of Louisiana in 1996.

Valerie Wormely-Radford, Administrative Associate, (203) 787-0646, Ext. 100