Margaret Miller Growe is the Executive Director of The Tamassee Group, which she founded in 2016 to promote cultural and environmental education via the conservation and preservation of significant historical and natural resources.
As one of the Tamassee Group’s projects, Margaret envisioned a documentary film about the history and future of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This current initiative builds on her life-long commitment to protecting the environment, and to her family’s legacy of activism.
Margaret draws on comprehensive organization-building experience in media and communications, in writing and voice-overs.
Her idea captured the imagination of PBS NC and of David Kasper, Oscar-winning film-maker. As Executive Producer, she and fellow Board members have used their extensive capabilities to tell the story of the unique, fragile Outer Banks through initial interviews and gorgeous photographic footage.
As the documentary enters the next phase, Margaret is partnering with foundations and donors to bring the film to fruition.
She lives on her family farm with her husband and animals, including horses she has rescued. Margaret, Bryn Mawr College class of ’84, graduated from NC State.
Monica is a global program manager and instructional designer with Cisco Systems. She has developed six human service programs from the ground up in fields ranging from schizophrenia treatment and special needs employment to IT apprenticeships and early years education. While working in early years education, she developed and delivered outdoor learning programs which included bringing a dead creek back to life and integrating conservation and restoration activities into educational curricula.
In addition, Monica managed components of large scale public interest clinical trials and drug development projects and has researched and written public policy for the government in Britain. She managed all of the work/life programs
for Duke University and Health system, where she created and delivered management training regarding how the factors that contribute to human happiness also drive organizational performance.
In addition to her rich and diverse professional career, Monica has circumnavigated the globe four times, most recently with her son in lieu of his sixth grade year in the classroom. Monica was a Morehead Scholar at UNC Chapel Hill, where she designed her own major in the field of medical anthropology. She also holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from the University of London.
Nerissa served in senior financial positions in her 30-year tenure at Duke University, where she oversaw several million-dollar budgets. She managed all aspects – purchasing, payroll, human resources, budgeting and planning – for the Undergraduate Financial Aid Office’s $2.2M budget. Additionally, she was responsible for Duke’s awards budget, which provides many types of aid to undergraduate students, including need-based aid, merit aid and athletic aid, totaling near $150M. This included nearly $50M of endowed and gift funds, which required compliance with endowment agreements and consistent communications with Duke’s Development and Endowment Administration.
Nerissa was also responsible for all federal codes dealing with Campus-based awards, such as Pell, SEOG, and Federal Work Study, which totaled about $6.5M. As part of her
oversight, she provided analysis to the Provost and the President on the effectiveness of Duke’s aid programs and how the university can improve or better meet the needs of the student population. In addition, Nerissa prepared all outside reporting on undergraduate aid for the University, using a variety of tools such as SAS, Access and Excel. All of these financial management skills, and Nerissa’s familiarity with regulations on spending for grants/contracts from both public and private entities, are of direct benefit to the Tamassee Group’s projects.
Nerissa graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1983; then completed her graduate work in Public Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in Alamance County, NC, where she and her husband are developing habitats for bees and native pollinators.
Errol is originally from New York City, and has lived in Chapel Hill since 1976. Most of his career has been at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in the Research Triangle Park, where, among other activities, he performed chemical mutagenicity research and designed, developed, and directed the U.S. National Toxicology Program’s genetic toxicity testing program.
Errol currently serves as an independent consultant for toxicology issues, with clients in industry, consulting organizations, U.S. and other governmental agencies, multinational organizations, and law firms. His main
interests lie in identifying chemicals that pose potential mutagenic and carcinogenic risks, whether they be from industrial products or from natural products, and putting those potential risks into a context that is compatible with personal choices and general societal wellness.
Errol has published more than 200 scientific articles and is an experienced speaker, able to communicate scientific issues to other scientists, regulatory authorities, and the general public.
Originally hailing from New England, Dan combines his background in environmental sciences and digital mapping to consult in the field of Geographic Information Systems in Bend, Oregon. Using cutting edge technology, he helps people solve critical problems in the fields of urban planning and land and resource management. When not thinking about how to better use maps to save the planet, Dan can be found adventuring—climbing, hiking, and biking—throughout the mountains of central Oregon and beyond.
Dan graduated from the University of Vermont in 2011 with a degree in Environmental Studies, where his thesis assessed the viability of using
carbon offset funding as a catalyst for ecological health initiatives for small-scale sugar producers in rural Honduras. From there he cultivated his love for Geography working as an Engineer at Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) in Southern California.
Through principle, passion, and positivity, Dan brings his skills and industry background to the table at the Tamassee Group to better help the Earth and the people on it.
Laura developed and led interdisciplinary, ecosystem-based research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 30 years. She is skilled in synthesis, strategic and project planning, mentoring, and creative thinking. Her many peer-reviewed publications and invited lectures explore connections across environmental science, urban design, and public health.
Laura helped to create EPA’s large, Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program, which has a strong emphasis on ecosystem services– the benefits that nature provides to society. She developed the high-resolution community component of EnviroAtlas (www.epa.gov/enviroatlas), an online national mapping, education, and decision toolkit based on the ecosystem services framework. Related leadership efforts include the interactive Eco-Health Relationship Browser (www.epa.gov/enviroatlas/enviroatlas-eco-health-relationship-browser), and geospatial research on the roles of community
green space in stress, physical activity, and children’s developmental health. Her roles in these and other projects have garnered professional recognition including EPA’s Russell Train Sustainability Award and two peer awards for innovation from EPA’s Office of Research and Development.
An alumna of Carolina Friends School in Durham, NC, Laura believes strongly in nature-based learning from an early age to set a lifelong course of appreciation for the natural environment and our integral place within it. Laura received her undergraduate degree in Biology/Psychology from Bryn Mawr College, a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a Ph.D. in Ecology, with links to epidemiology and city planning, at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. C.V. available upon request.
Lee graduated from UMass Amherst with a double major in Anthropology and Education. Lee has 32 years’ experience teaching in Wake County schools. Her teaching certificate is K-8, with special endorsements in gifted education, literacy, and mentoring. Lee loved serving in each of her various teaching posts, and brings a lifetime of excellence in education and mentoring to the Tamassee Group’s programs. Lee grew up in Liverpool, New York, where her family spent every summer (until the National Seashore confiscated their cottage) on a cliff,
next to a lighthouse, in North Truro, Massachusetts. She has a deep love for the sea, and for the preservation, whenever possible, of ecosystems, our oceans, shorelines, and the coastal way of life. Lee is married to Julio Alberdi, an acclaimed sculptor, who grew up between the Spanish Basque Country and London, England. Lee and Julio lived in Spain and Santa Fe, New Mexico, before building their home in Chatham County, NC.
Linda is experienced in management and leadership development, succession planning, mentoring and employee opinion survey initiatives. Prior to her retirement, she guided leaders in managing these processes as Assistant Vice President of Training and Organization Development at AIG United Guaranty in Greensboro, RTI International at Research Triangle Park, and the NC Department of Revenue in Raleigh. Most recently she spearheaded the frontline leadership program for staff managers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Linda holds a Masters degree in Counseling, and provided career and employee assistance counseling and training for over 35 years. She is certified to
administer and interpret the Myers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI), Strong Interest Inventory, DiSC, Center for Creative Leadership’s 360 feedback instruments, and multiple other programs.
Linda grew up in Duplin County, North Carolina on her family’s tobacco farm that has been in the family since 1774. Her first job after graduating from UNC-Greensboro was as the Agricultural Extension Agent for 4-H in Yadkin County. She now lives near the Haw River in northern Chatham County, where she swims, kayaks, and spends copious hours in her garden.
Margo is an attorney, grant writer, editor, project manager, technical writer, chef and metal sculptor. A native North Carolinian, Margo spent all her summers on the Outer Banks. Though she originally joined the Tamassee Group as a
volunteer on our documentary film about the Outer Banks, her executive and managerial experience has proved invaluable in many other areas and we are delighted to welcome her to the role of Associate Director of the Tamassee Group.