Staff
Sandra Jones
Director/Founder
Holderness, NH
Sandra Jones is the founder of the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative aka PAREI (Hip, Hip, PAREI). Driven by her concerns about the economic and environmental impacts caused by the overuse of fossil fuels, PAREI, since 2004, has been providing grassroots, community based and professional services to help the Plymouth area community reduce and produce energy one home, one building at a time. Best known for creating the solar thermal Energy Raiser model and their 1:1 approach with members to help them “Plan for their Energy Future”, PAREI has also played a major role in programs and projects such as Button UP NH, Weatherization Housewarmings, Efficiency Training Program, Plymouth’s Energy and Efficiency Community Block Grant, Plymouth Water and Sewer’s 121kW PV installation, Lancaster’s town installed PV projects, Regional Energy Hub and most recently NH Rural Renewables and NH Solar Shares. Sandra’s background includes directing electoral and educational campaigns, co-owning a bicycle shop and running a statewide career guidance program to help families move from welfare to work.
Robbin Adams
Office Manager
Campton, NH
Since 2008 Robbin has been the office manager for PAREI. Dealing with day to day scheduling of events, member relations and office communications and management. Her interest in solar energy goes back decades when she and her husband Peter started to invest in various solar projects including a thermal and grid tied PV system on their home. Along with multiple smaller DC systems on the property.
Peter and Sandra Jones co-created PAREI in 2004 and Robbin came on as office manager in 2008.
Robbin has her BFA from Plymouth State College in 1983 and still continues to work as an artist as time allows. She was instrumental in creating two thriving art coops in the region: Artistic Roots in Plymouth, NH in 2004 and Squam Lakes Artisans in 2006. From 1991 to 2002 Robbin and Peter owned and operated the Campton Inn a small bed and breakfast in Campton, NH.
Robbin has one son and she and her family enjoy cycling, hiking, sailing and snowshoeing.
Trip Anderson
Director of Development
Trip Anderson will be PAREI’s first ever Director of Development, working closely with Executive Director, Sandra Jones, PAREI’s Development Committee, and Board of Directors to enhance the success and sustainability of the Many Sides of PAREI’s varied fund-raising activities. Trip will be responsible for nurturing donor relations across individual members, business and institutional partners, foundations and trusts, as well as government entities.
Originally trained as an art historian and architectural designer at Harvard University, over the past decade Trip has directed fund-raising campaigns at Currier Museum of Art (Manchester, NH), McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (Concord, NH), AVA Gallery and Art Center (Lebanon, NH) and Worcester Art Museum (Worcester, MA). Additionally in this time-frame, he has been involved in the design and installation of several large scale institutional and municipal solar PV systems. In the first decade of the millennium, engaged in business development and project management activities with a variety exhibit designers and documentary film-makers, Trip was working closely with conservation, preservation and heritage experts at the National Park Service, US Green Building Council, Urban Land Institute, National Trust for Historic Preservation, NH Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP), Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA) as well as many regional conservation and preservation entities in support of renewable energy initiatives and environmentally sustainable land use practices. Trip is a passionate advocate for grass-roots outreach and the power it can generate for the economic and social vitality of our communities.
In his spare time Trip enjoys vegetable gardening with his wife and granddaughters, as well as hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing and golfing in New England’s mountain and lake regions.
Marianna Fishman
LFP Manager. LGE Project Manager
Marianna Fishman is one of LFP’s Co-Managers and also the Project Manager of Little Gardens Everywhere. Marianna grew up right here in Plymouth, NH and after graduating from Keene State, moved out West and lived in several places, but felt it was time to return home and moved back to the area in 2019. She holds a degree in Communication and Foods and Nutrition and has spent the last 6 years working in farming, nutrition, with farmers markets, and coordinating food donations and gleaning projects. She is extremely passionate about changing the world with food and is dedicated to helping the Plymouth area eat more local.
Tim Gotwols
Holderness, NH
Tim Gotwols started with PAREI at the first Solar Thermal Energy Raiser in 2005 and went on to host the 14th Energy Raiser in 2006 at his home that he shares with his wife, Director Sandra Jones. Tim has been an integral part of PAREI since its inception attending the majority of PAREI’s Energy Raisers as a volunteer bringing with him his creativity and expertise in construction and structural design. In 2007, Tim joined PAREI as a sub-contractor on PAREI’s professional crew installing the racking for solar collectors for members seeking professional installations. He joined PAREI as a part time employee in 2013 supervising PAREI’s team of part time employees that install solar racking structures. When not working with PAREI, Tim is busy running his own business, TG Design Carpentry. Prior to 2005, Tim owned and operated Bayside Bikes of Meredith and Riverside Cycles of Ashland for 15 years.
Sally Jensen
World’s Best Volunteer
I am currently teaching middle school students about LIFE, in the name of science at Waterville Valley Academy. When I am not teaching, I spend a lot of special time, playing my clarinet in the Plymouth State University Symphonic Band and a bari saxophone in the Big Band Jazz Ensemble. I also take voice lessons, as I am singing in the Pemi Choral Society, Mountain Lake Chorale and sing solos once in a while. I also work with teachers planning workshops on the current curriculum that is available with each mission exploring space. I am a NASA Solar System Ambassador and give presentations to the public and teachers on space exploration. In this adventure of working with teachers, I continue to find amazing connections in the world around me. Einstein said, “Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” Einstein has an eloquent way with words and gets at the very heart of it all. How fitting these words are with my work with PAREI, which I love. Another of my favorite quotes of Einstein is “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” How fitting as I continue my quest as a Solar System Ambassador and realizing how blessed we are on Earth as it is in the right place in our Solar System to sustain life and we need to protect that.
Michele Lacroix
Groton, NH
PAREI and LFP Bookkeeper
Michele has been with PAREI since March 2011. During that time, she has participated in a home button up project and been the site of an outdoor light Solar Energy Raiser. Originally from Penacook, she has lived in Groton for the past 22 years.building and fixing things.
Brandon Miller
Plymouth, NH
Assistant Manager Local foods Plymouth
Brandon Miller Co-Manager Local Foods Plymouth since 2015. Owner Lazy Acres Farm, Plymouth Soap Works and Plein Air glamping site. Passionate about preserving local agriculture and New Hampshire’s unique way of life. Likes dogs, goats, dairy products, skiing, hiking, building and fixing things.
Caryn Shield
Plymouth, NH
NH Solar Shares Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator
Board of Directors
Zak Brohinsky
PAREI, President of the Board
Pawtucket, RI
After interning with PAREI while in college in 2009, Zak arrived back in the Plymouth area in 2011 to help run PAREI’s Efficiency Training Program designed to build the ‘green workforce’ in New Hampshire. Zak’s role changed when he stepped down as an employee and became a member of the PAREI Board of Directors, and Local Foods Plymouth Advisory Committee in January 2015. In March 2018, Zak stepped into the role of President of the Board. He has the unique position of experiencing PAREI from intern to employee to board member to president of the board.
Currently, Zak works as an open space, recreation, and municipal planning consultant with various entities across the Northeast including land trusts, trail groups, state agencies and municipal governments. Additionally, Zak teaches at the university level.
Joan Turley
PAREI Board of Directors – Secretary
Plymouth, NH
-Owner/Consultant: GeoLinks, Technology and GIS Support Services for Natural Resource Managers
-Teacher/Lecturer: Plymouth State University
-Site of PAREI’s 10th Energy Raiser – AP30 Solar Water Heating System
Jennifer Highland
PAREI Board of Directors – Treasurer
Bridgewater, NH
-Osteopathic Physician, Clinical Instructor at University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine
-Owner of 2 PAREI commercial PV installations: 1.5 kW home PV system; 4.0 kW system at medical office, which powers minisplit heat system; home heated by masonry stove and passive solar design; home composting toilet
Kim Godfrey Lovett
PAREI Board of Directors
Holderness, NH
Kim is a passionate nonprofit executive who fell in love with the Squam Lake area in 2013 and became a year-round resident in August 2017. She is a co-founder of two nonprofit organizations that work nationally to integrate adolescent development research and practices into juvenile justice systems so youths receive the services they need to continue on the pathway to becoming healthy, productive and purposeful adults. She also is a passionate solar power advocate and proud owner of a solar array and battery backup system at home, thanks to PAREI. She serves as the executive director of the PbS Learning Institute and led the transition that created the nonprofit from a fully federally-funded project into an independent, financially stable and now thriving organization.
Dick Hage
PAREI Board of Directors
Plymouth, NH
Retired from 46-year career in higher education administration.
Pat & Dick’s home is the site of a PAREI Energy Raiser (AP 30 Evacuated Tube Water Heating System) in 2011, an 8.4 KW Solar PV System installation in 2011, and a complete home Button-Up project utilizing the Home Performance with Energy Star program in 2013. Installed a mini off grid solar light pole in 2016 made at a PAREI hands on workshop.
Enjoys volunteering for all things PAREI and conserving personal energy for all things gardening and grandchildren.
Sam Howe
PAREI Board of Directors
Holderness, NH
Sam joined the PAREI board after many months volunteering as a “bagman” and “runner” for Local Foods Plymouth pick up day and with a longtime interest in sustainable energy. PAREI rings many bells for Sam, who loves to help shape development processes for worthy organizations.
As a great-grandson of Rockywold-Deephaven Camps’ founder, Sam has been within the Squam Lakes summer circle all his life and now lives in Holderness year-round with his wife, Julie. Sam’s careers included secondary school English teaching, licensed psychological counseling, organizational development, and most recently college major-gift fundraising. Now somewhat retired, he has been a member of several boards but would rather brandish his ineffective flyrod over the wily trout and stripers around New England. Otherwise, hiking and biking keep him out of Julie’s hair. Sam and Julie have a daughter, Merra, a federal marine biologist and a son, Carter, a photographer and communications artist in Los Angeles.
Melissa Leszek
PAREI Board of Directors
Melissa has been a resident of New Hampshire since 2011 after she fell in love with the beautiful landscape, outdoor community, and sustainable lifestyle of the Plymouth area. She is passionate about non-profit work, energy efficiency, and local conservation that benefits both people and nature. Melissa currently works at The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire where she is responsible for donor communications, grant writing, fundraising, and relationship building. At PAREI, Melissa brings creativity and enthusiasm through her involvement on the development committee. In her free time, Melissa enjoys nature, music, art, travel, dogs, and always wants to make her community a better place.
Affiliations: The Nature Conservancy, Squam Lakes Association, Loon Preservation Committee, Plymouth State University, Antioch University of New England, Environmental Leadership Program, Association for Fundraising Professionals in New England
Len Reitsma
PAREI Board of Directors
Len Reitsma is Professor Emeritus in Ecology at Plymouth State University. He taught a variety of courses from 1992 – 2021 including Ecology, Conservation, Current Environmental Issues and several others. He has conducted bird research since the late 1980s on several species and in many locations including the Neotropics. He is still actively involved in avian ecological research and gives talks to a range of audiences. Len lives in Canaan, NH with his wife of 45 years and has two daughters and five grandchildren. He and his wife, Denise, spend much time with their children and grandchildren. Len and Denise have a solar array that produces about 60% of consumption, they heat largely with wood, have an electric vehicle and a hybrid and grow some of the food they consume. Len enjoys manual labor. Before completing his degree, he had a painting business and has continued to paint and do carpentry. His favorite past-times are birding, cross country skiing and walking in the woods.
Carl McNall
Sandwich, NH
On Wed morning March 11, 2020, we lost our long time board member and friend Carl McNall to cancer. Carl walked into our lives in 2006 when he learned that there was a hands-on group in Plymouth putting solar thermal systems on each others’ homes. Carl went on to host the first solar energy raiser in Sandwich in 2007 at his and his wife Milan’s home. From there he volunteered his leadership, plumbing and electrical skills at dozens of energy raisers in Sandwich and the Plymouth area through to PAREI’s last one in 2016. Carl served as board president and a board member for 13 years frequently citing his grandchildren’s future for his reasons for wanting to see our world transition to renewable energy. He was the constant voice of reason, a rock for our staff to lean on and had a smile and a sense of humor we will all sorely miss.
With the support of Carl’s family, the PAREI board of directors named the organization’s endowment fund the “Carl McNall Endowment Fund” so his passion for advancing the adoption of solar energy will live on in his memory.
