Staff
Edward Toth, Director
Edward Toth worked for the New York City Department of Parks for 36 years, beginning in 1985. He was the founding director of the Greenbelt Native Plant Center, a program of the Forestry, Horticulture, and Natural Resources division. The 13-acre nursery, greenhouse, seed increase and seed bank facility is the oldest and largest municipally-owned native plant nursery in the U.S. In 2012 he initiated the Mid-Atlantic Regional Seed Bank (MARSB) program within the GNPC, as a regional partner of the national Seeds of Success program. He is a prior recipient of Parks’ Thomas Stofka Award, and he was a 2018 recipient of the Sloan Public Service Award from the Fund for the City of New York. He is currently a member of the Committee on an Assessment of Native Seed Needs and Capacities of the National Academy of Sciences. Upon retiring from the City of New York in the summer of 2021, Ed committed to operating MARSB independent of the City of NY. In 2022 MARSB has incorporated as a not-for-profit in the state of New York. MARSB, Inc. will continue to jointly operate the physical seed bank with the GNPC at its facilities on Staten Island.
Email: etoth@marsb.org
John Price, Native Seed Collection Coordinator
John Price has worked in the environmental science field for nearly twenty years. Following several years spent honing skills in the nursery and landscape industry, John shifted his focus to ecological restoration. As an ecologist and project manager with Applied Ecological Services, he coordinated the enhancement and construction of dozens of habitat restoration projects across the northeast, specializing in wild seed collection, nursery seed production, and rare species studies. For over a decade, John supervised the ongoing establishment and maintenance of the Albany Landfill Mitigation, a critical 220-acre restoration project in the heart of the Albany Pine Bush. This mammoth effort restored connectivity between the east and west portions of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve and assisted in the recovery efforts of the federally endangered Karner blue butterfly. John holds a Bachelor’s in Plant Science from S.U.N.Y. Cobleskill.
Email: jprice@marsb.org
Megan Homison, Native Seed Collection Field Technician
Megan is a recent graduate with a Bachelor’s in Botany from Kent State University. Throughout her college career, she spent three years working in KSU’s herbarium and coordinating volunteers in the campus conservatory. Megan’s passion for conservation was sparked in her month of field work in the Peruvian Amazon with the Alliance for a Sustainable Amazon. This led her to an internship with the Student Conservation Association the following year, where she worked on the Native Plant Materials project in the Olympic National Forest. This sparked her interest in native seed collection, which led her to her position at MARSB.
Email: mhomison@marsb.org
Michael Butts, Grower Liaison
Michael is joining MARSB after 4 years managing the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (MT DNRC) Seedling Nursery. During his tenure, he expanded the facility’s production capacity to 1.1 million seedlings annually for post-wildfire reforestation efforts. Michael has focused his recent career in both the forestry nursery and native seed production industries, growing ecotypic seed for the Greenbelt Native Plant Center (NYC Parks) from 2014-21 and launching the Montana Native Seed Network in 2022. Prior to his time in the native plant nursery industry, Michael worked for the Botany Department of the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, where he conducted research projects on the flora of the Mid-Atlantic.
Email: mbutts@marsb.org
Amy Kousch, End User Liaison
Amy Kousch is a biodiversity communications specialist and a restoration ecology professional with a keen interest in understanding how human behavior, policy, science, and communications intersect in the complex, fascinating, and beautiful world of environmental work. Amy has worked in the regenerative agriculture and native plant sector for over a decade with her hands in the soil, in the lab, running a nursery and farms, teaching students, writing grants, and collaborating with community peers to find understanding and co-create resilient strategies. She holds a B.S. in environmental communications and an M.S. in agriculture extension education as well as engaging in plant and soil science doctoral studies. Born and raised in the Westfield River watershed of Western Massachusetts, she is passionate about the health of Northeast’s watersheds, plant communities, and greater ecology.
Email: akousch@marsb.org
Pam Skripak, Administrator
Pam Skripak, MARSB Administrator, has spent her career in the field of experiential education, leadership development, human and organizational capacity-building, and program design and development in the higher education and nonprofit sectors. Pam co-founded and directs Home Earth Alliance / IMAGINE Native Plant Farm in Glenmont, NY, an organization dedicated to inspiring people to cultivate outdoor spaces that support biodiversity, mitigate climate change, and promote environmental justice. Prior to that, she directed the Institute of Nonprofit Leadership and Community Development at the University at Albany and for five years ran the Emerging Nonprofit Leadership Accelerator (ENLA), an intensive, immersive six month long leadership development program. Pam holds a BA in English and Women’s Studies from Hamilton College and a Masters in Public Health, Population and Family Health from Columbia University. Pam served for two years in Peace Corps Ecuador.
Email: pskripak@marsb.org
Emily Gentry, Administrative Assistant
Emily Gentry has spent her early career working in the fields of environmental education, conservation, and restoration. In the last decade, her work has taken her all across the continental United States working with federal agencies, small businesses, farms, and environmental education programs. Most recently she supported and worked for the federal government with the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Resource Conservation Emily is excited to bring her project management skills to MARSB as they continue to expand.
Braden Skripak Gordon, Controller
Braden has spent the past 5 years working in the financials services industry after graduating from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Economics. He is currently getting his MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Braden’s affinity for the natural world started from a young age as he spent his summers wondering around the woods in the Adirondacks, and is eager to help MASRB manage their finances as they continue to grow and expand.
Email: cfo@marsb.org
Board of Directors
Timothy Chambers, President
Jeremy Le Pointe, Vice President
Elizabeth Johnson, Secretary
Janice Wiles
Everett Hart