NLRA Welcomes Mirka Zapletal - Newfound Lake Region Association

Heidi Jeffrey

Heidi Jeffrey first came to know and appreciate the Newfound Watershed more than 25 years ago through summer visits with her extended family. After 17 years with Fidelity Investments, Heidi brings her professional experience and enthusiasm working with people to a new position that will get her outside and connecting with the Newfound community. She enjoys time on the lake (of course!) with her husband Gregg, spending time with her adult children Brendon and Mason, and taking walks with their yellow lab Gunner.

Mirka Zapletal

Mirka is a native of New Hampshire and began her career as a high school social studies teacher in New Hampshire and Vermont with a Master of Education from Harvard. She returned to school to focus on conservation and ecology, earning a Master of Science in Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England and a PhD in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She returned home after five years in Louisiana, where she missed the weather and mountains of New Hampshire every day. She believes that personal experience with science and research is crucial for both helping people access science and supporting conservation. Depending on the season, Mirka is following animal tracks, adding to her bird list, and visiting agricultural fairs, usually with her husband and two children in tow.

Audrey West

Audrey grew up in Alaska, a beginning that fostered a great appreciation for wild places. She moved to the East Coast and attended New England College, receiving a BA in Business Administration, and has lived in Alexandria since 2015. Audrey is dedicated to the well-being of the Newfound community and the protection of it’s unique resources. Along with her husband David and their son Sterling, Audrey enjoys kayaking, biking, skiing, and attending the many vibrant local events.

Paul Pellissier

Paul originally hails from Pennsylvania but knew he would call New Hampshire home after attending the University of New Hampshire and earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Environmental Science and Natural Resources. Paul and his wife spent five years in Wyoming, where he taught courses in environmental problem solving and collaborative decision-making at the University of Wyoming, before moving to Bridgewater in 2018. Paul is happiest in the outdoors and is committed to protecting the environment through inclusive processes and education. You can find him in the mountains climbing and backpacking, cycling the area’s byways, or out on the water sailing and kayaking.

Parker Griffin

Parker is a former chair of the Newfound Land Conservation Partnership, retired from a career in risk management, is a Camp Pasquaney alumni, board member of the Newfound Lake Region Association, and a landscape photographer with a specific interest in furthering land conservancy in the Newfound watershed.

Rob Moore

Rob grew up in New Hampton, Bristol, and Bridgewater, and has always loved Newfound Lake and its surroundings. He has spent his life working to protect the region and preserve its natural beauty and resources. As President of the Newfound Lake Region Association for over 12 years, he has helped to ramp up programs and partnerships to serve the organization’s guardianship mission. Watershed stewardship has become a cornerstone initiatives of that mission, and as a result, thousands of acres of land have gone into conservation to protect Newfound and its waterways. Rob is also on the board of the Mayhew Program, the New Hampton School and the Groton Community School.

Martha Twombly

Martha has been coming to Newfound to her grandfather’s log cabin all her life, and moved here in 2006. She is a founding member and coordinator of the Newfound Land Conservation Partnership, retired from the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, serves on the Hebron Conservation Commission and as a board member for the Lakes Region Conservation Trust and the Newfound Lake Region Association. She established the Forever Newfound Endowment Fund in 2021 and loves being outdoors.

Brian Hotz

Brian is the Vice President for Land Conservation for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. His primary responsibilities for the Forest Society are to oversee the Society’s Land Protection and Stewardship departments. Additionally, he is responsible for organizing and implementing the Forest Society’s strategic land protection initiatives including the Quabbin-Cardigan Conservation Partnership and Merrimack River Watershed partnership.

Rosemary D'Arcy

Rosemary is a former trustee and president of the Newfound Lake Region Association and current Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Minot-Sleeper Library in Bristol. Rosemary and her husband Herb D’Arcy have been active members of the Newfound Lake Region Association since its inception and Rosemary has served on the Newfound Land Conservation Partnership since 2012.

Dawn Ashley Lemieux

Dawn retired from a career in marketing and printing. She has served on the boards of New Hampshire Audubon, Friends of the Arts and D Acres Environmental Homestead. She is a current member of the Newfound Audubon Advisory Committee and is a resident in Groton, NH.

Roger Larochelle

Roger serves as Executive Director of the Squam Lakes Conservation Society, is a Hebron town moderator, a member of the Hebron Planning Board, a trustee of the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, a former board member of the Newfound Lake Region Association, and former Executive Director of the Mayhew Program.

Vincent Broderick

Vin was the director of Camp Pasquaney from 1997-2020, former president of the NH Camp Directors Association, former chair of the Circle Program Board of Directors, and was a high school educator from 1976-1997. He is an avid rower, canoeist, and hiker.

Dick Beyer

Dick is the retired treasurer of Camp Pasquaney and has been active in New Hampshire conservation organizations for over 40 years, including NH Audubon, Newfound Lake Region Association, Lakes Region Conservation Trust, NH Lakes, and the Lakes Region Advisory Board of the NH Charitable Foundation.

Rob Pinsonneault

Newfound Lake has been a central part of Dr. Robert L. Pinsonneault’s family for four generations and counting. Since the early 1960s, his family has come to this lake to recreate on, around, and in the lake’s clear waters. Rob’s emotional attachment to Newfound has always fueled a desire to explore and protect this place, but it was not until a fortuitous collaboration with Plymouth State University did his scientific interest in these waters gain purpose and momentum. Rob now leverages his expertise in molecular ecology to explore the natural history of the lake, and to develop new ways of understand Newfound that will have broad applications, particularly with respect to how New England is responding to changes in our climate.

Martha Twombly

Martha Twombly has been coming to Newfound Lake with her family since she was born, to her grandfather’s log cabin built in 1927 on the Lake, named “Owls Head.” She spent every summer at the lake and in the White Mountains, and winters skiing at Tenney Mountain. She began her career in archaeology (BA Anthropology Univ. of Colorado/Johnson State College) working for the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. Moving back to Vermont in 1972 she raised two daughters, both avid Newfound lovers and conservationists. The family lived in the same town as renowned wood-stove manufacturer, Vermont Castings, and Martha switched her focus to promoting sustainability and marketing hearth products, through technical writing, advertising and catalog publishing. While earning her MS in Environmental Communications and Science at Antioch Univ. NE, Martha began working with Chelsea Green Publishing, a back-to-the-land environmental and alternative energy advocacy publisher. Martha then worked as an environmental planner for the Cape Cod Commission on Cape Cod and finally returned to Hebron, NH with her husband in 2005. Martha is avid about the Newfound watershed and wildlife, and worked as Program Manager with the Newfound Lake Region Association from 2006 – 2009. She has been actively involved in land conservation initiatives, recently retiring from the Society for the Protection of NH Forests. Martha is a founding member of the Newfound Land Conservation Partnership, has served as Chair of the Hebron Conservation Commission since 2006, serves on the Newfound Audubon Committee, and serves on the board of the Lakes Region Conservation Trust. Martha is an avid gardener, kayaker, walker, bicyclist, wildlife tracker, and skier, and hates to be indoors when the sun is shining.

Bill Brady

Bill has been coming to Newfound Lake since 1996. He is passionate about climate change and conservation. He spends his days investing, managing, and growing renewable energy and climate technology companies. His current companies are focused on hydrogen energy and reducing the pollution of nitrogen fertilizer. Bill, his wife Nancy, their 4 children, one grandson, and golden retriever can be found on Newfound Lake in the summer and on Ragged Mountain in the winter.

Carole Tremonti

Carole Tremonti is a healthcare executive in the space of technology innovation. She is a nurse by training and has worked in academic medicine the majority of her career. She began her journey at the Mayo Clinic, conducted research at the National Institutes of Health, transitioned to running a research team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, then was drawn to focus her efforts in Oncology and spent the last 13 years at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she led product and business development, designing and building commercial software products that provide decision support to oncologists to determine the singular best cancer treatment for an individual patient. Recently, Carole left academic medicine to join the executive team of a healthcare startup focused solely on rendering actionable insights for cancer patients, and their clinical teams. After spending her academic tenure focusing on supporting the healthcare team, Carole’s passion and focus has narrowed to establish shared decision making and to connect the communication between clinicians and their patients.

Carole has been a lake girl her whole life. She spent every summer of her childhood running around barefoot with friends, swimming, sailing, and enjoying the peace and nature at her family lakehouse in upstate New York. In her adult life, Carole had always dreamed of having a place of her own. After being introduced to Newfound Lake by a close friend, Carole purchased her own property in 2014. She quickly fell in love with the beauty and pristine quality of the water, and was drawn to protect it. Carole has relished all of the wonderful activities the Lakes Region has to offer, and has named Newfound Lake her “happy place”.

Jennifer Berry

Jennifer Berry spent more than 30 years as an educator at New Hampton School, an independent boarding school located in central New Hampshire. Most recently, she served as the Director of College Counseling at Western Reserve Academy, located in Hudson, OH. Now, in her semi-retirement, Jennifer is the founder of J.S. Berry Consulting, where she helps shepherd private clients through the intricacies of the college process. She is a 1983 graduate of New Hampton School and completed her BA at Colby College in 1987.

Jen was raised in the Newfound area where she attended Newfound schools through eighth grade and was a camper for three summers at Camp Onaway in Hebron. She lives in New Hampton with her husband, Tom. Jen’s twin brother, Jeff, owns Shackett’s Store on the western shore of Newfound Lake. Her younger bother, Jon, is the founder and lead brewer at Shackett’s Brewing Company, located in Bristol Square. Jen loves the lake and wants to work to protect and preserve it.

Bequest Sample Language

“I bequeath to Newfound Lake Region Association, 10 N Main Street, Unit 1, Bristol, NH 03222 [the sum of __________ Dollars ($____)] or [ _______ % of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate], to be used for its general purposes.”

Legal name: Newfound Lake Region Association

Address: 10 N Main St Unit 1 Bristol, NH 03222

Federal tax ID#: 02-0398396