Kellie Karolkiewicz
Vice President

Kellie graduated from Stockton State College with a B.A. in Business. Professionally, she is a specialty sales representative with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceutical and also serves on their Sales Advisory Committee. Kellie grew up in the Brant Beach section of Long Beach Island, enjoying the beach and local waters all year long. Her love of the Island and concern for the environment prompted her to join ALO in 2008 and dedicate her spare time and energy to a great organization. She chairs several committees and became vice president in 2009.

Kelly Quinlan
Treasurer

Kelly works in the environmental, health, and safety department of Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development. She is an environmental engineer supporting research labs and writing environmental risk assessments for pharmaceutical applications. Her favorite part of her job is planning the annual Earth Day Awareness Fair for employees. She works on achieving J&J’s Healthy Planet 2010 Goals and maintaining the Environmental Management System. Kelly graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Cook College, Rutgers University in 2006 and Master’s Degree in environmental science in 2009, with a focus in pollution prevention and public health. Before transferring to Rutgers her junior year, she studied to be a teacher and played soccer and basketball at Mary Washington College (now University of Mary Washington) in Fredericksburg, VA.

Kelly enjoys exercising, hunting for shells and seaglass, and planning her next vacation to a beach. Her latest challenge has been learning to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Although she lives and works in central NJ during the week, LBI is her weekend home and where her heart is. Kelly is inspired to share her love of the ocean with others as well as how we can conserve and protect our shore so that we can continue to enjoy it for generations to come. She chairs many ALO committees and became treasurer in 2010.

Genevieve "Gene" DiModica
Secretary

After earning a Bachelor of Science degree from Carnegie Mellon University, Gene moved to New York and worked in various aspects of quality assurance in the garment industry. She first learned to love the ocean and its creatures as a kid spending summers on the Connecticut beaches of Long Island Sound. She always wished to live in "a house by the sea" but rarely got back to the shore until she bought her weekend home on LBI in 1989. Once the Atlantic Ocean became her back yard, she developed an interest in birding. In 2004 she made Beach Haven her home and started a new career as a sales associate at Stevens Real Estate in Brant Beach. In order to share the LBI experience, Gene has launched a web site, www.BeachHavenCenter.com as a neighborhood networking site for the people who live (at least part of the year) or work on Long Beach Island. Gene joined ALO in 2008 and became secretary in 2009.

Board of Trustees

Larrell Brown

Larrell has lived on LBI since 1978 as a summer resident. Prior to that, her family owned a house on LBI since 1952. Currently resides with her husband, Chris, in Peahala Park. She earned B.A. in Business from Temple and worked for the State of New Jersey Casino Control Commission for 17 years.

She also owns a small business "Seabreeze Crafts" on LBI. She holds a valid NJ Real Estate License and Alternate Route Teaching Certificate. Larrell served as ALO Treasurer in 1991, as ALO Secretary from 1993 thru 1999, as ALO Vice President 1999-2001, and as ALO President 2001 - 2004. She is a volunteer with Monmouth County Check Out Hunger Campaign and Board Member of Beach Wheels Inc. In addition to being a volunteer with the St. Francis Sunday School Program, she is the Chairperson of the Environmental Ministry at St. Francis. She is planning to live at the shore all of her life and is committed to keeping our New Jersey beaches and waters clean and safe for our generation and the ones to follow.

Lori Castle

Lori was first introduced to the LBI area when her grandparents purchased a home in Barnegat in 1976. Her sister-in-law's parents own a home in The Dunes section of Beach Haven, and thus, she is lucky enough to enjoy both a mainland and island experience. She graduated with a degree in communications from Fairleigh Dickinson University and has spent her career as a writer, editor, and publisher. Her uncle worked for the USFWS for 30 years and helped teach her to appreciate the delicate balance of nature, particularly that of the wildlife sanctuaries on and near LBI.

Mary Ensminger

Mary's family has owned a house on LBI since 1982. She and her husband moved to LBI full time in June 2004, after he retired from teaching. She retired in April 2007, having worked for 30 years for AT&T and almost 10 years with NeuStar. They have been members of ALO for many years and has the time now to be more involved. While at AT&T, she participated in the company's recycling effort - a fairly new process in those years. She and her committee worked very hard to train employees about the environmental concerns associated with recycling, reducing, and reusing paper, cardboard and other types of office waste.

She authored a newsletter that was published monthly and included tips about how to begin a recycling program at home. The committee won an award from AT&T for its efforts. She also helped her father in his chairmanship of the Citizens Council for a Clean Potomac and served as the secretary for a time. Her dad was a pioneer in this field and the results achieved by this Council have been remarkable. Areas of pollution in the Potomac, as well as its tributaries, have been cleaned up and have stayed that way for years.

Michael P. Gross

Michael is licensed in New Jersey as a Registered Municipal Accountant, Certified Public Accountant, Public School Accountant, and holds B.S. from Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants and has 24 years of New Jersey Public School auditing experience as well as municipal auditing, non-profit auditing and tax return preparation experience.

Michael lived, as a child in Beach Haven from 1964 to 1967 when his family moved to Ship Bottom where he presently resides. He is a graduate of the Long Beach Island School District in 1974, Southern Regional High School in 1980. He is the principal in his own accounting practice of Gross & Company LLC. As part of his auditing work Michael has interacted with various local and state officials in regards to budgeting and financial aspects for governmental entities.

Jay Mann

Jay attended Mauna Olu College in Maui, Hawaii. He holds degrees in both English and Science, and attended graduate school in California and Mexico. He is now the managing editor for The SandPaper, The Beachcomber, The Tuckerton/Little Egg Township Leader, The Stafford Leader, and The Barnegat Leader. He also served on the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Tournament Committee. Jay has always enjoyed surfing and fishing New Jersey's coastal waters.

David L. Salvestrini

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and the University of New Haven, Connecticut, David is a retired college professor. He holds many professional awards, including Chef of the Year for Westchester and Lower Connecticut. He was also inducted into the American Academy of Chefs. David has owned a “shore house” since 1986 and has watched the water both in the bay and ocean get cleaner. An avid birder, David lives in a bay front home with his wife, Maureen. He has volunteered for ALO since ALO was in its Beach Haven location by manning tables at local events and running the ALO store. However, David most enjoys talking about birds, fish, clean water, and respecting the environment, whether it be on a beach walk or ecotour that he and Maureen have been conducting for ALO for many years.

R. Maureen Salvestrini

Maureen graduated from Western Connecticut State University with B.S. and M.S. degrees in education. She holds elementary and secondary science certification and retired after teaching secondary science for 32 years. She received many awards, including having her name read into the Congressional Record of the Congress of the United States for “outstanding efforts in the field of education” and being listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

Maureen began using flora and fauna found on and near the beaches in her classes after she and her husband, David, bought their first home here. She became involved with ALO because she fell in love with the bay and ocean and wanted to help. She covered the retail store next to the Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven at night. Later she got her husband to help with the ALO tables at local events. Maureen and David are ALO's top educators and she enjoys teaching about water chemistry, grasses, reproduction, surface tension, and more.

Staff

Elizabeth Burke

Elizabeth Burke became a member of ALO upon learning about it. With the current President, Tom Beaty, she helped revitalize the organization. She became the Executive Director in 2008.

Upon graduating from Guilford College in North Carolina, she acted as Grants Administrator at the Hudson River Foundation in New York, and worked closely with many grassroots, environmental organizations, as well as the Natural Resource Defense Council.

With a strong background in business and marketing, she is an expert in the field of contemporary art. As the founder and owner Clementine Galley, NYC (est. 1996), she is one of Chelsea’s “pioneer” dealers. For 12 years, the gallery exhibited emerging and established artists. Through her gallery she launched and established more than 20 artists' careers both nationally and internationally. She has curated and produced more than 100 exhibitions.

She is on the graduate faculty at The School of Visual Arts, NYC. She was a guest lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, the NYU Arts Administration graduate program, the New School University, Parsons School of Art graduate program and Hunter College’s MFA program. She also co-produced “ArtRock” on The Plaza at Rockefeller Center – an exhibition showcasing contemporary art to over 50,000 viewers per day.

Having grown up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Elizabeth has a deep appreciation of  barrier island living and is proud to call Long Beach Island home.

She is delighted to bring her professional experience and strength to the Alliance for a Living Ocean.

Kristin has lived in the area for many years and graduated from Rutgers in the spring of 2010 with a B.A. in psychology. In a previous job in sales, she signed ALO as a client and discovered what a great organization it is. She started volunteering and when the position of interim director opened up, she took it immediately. To date, she has directed three major cleanups and countless other events.