Greenway team expands in breakthrough 2021

DURHAM, N.C. - The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance made several impactful organizational breakthroughs during a record-setting 2021, including the addition of eight staff members and a new co-chair of its Board of Trustees, Maryland-based attorney Brandon Douglass. 

Additions to the East Coast Greenway staff in recent months include:

• Robert Barto, Florida Coordinator

• Elliott Caldwell, Virginia & Washington, D.C. Coordinator

• Luis Diaz, New York & New Jersey Coordinator

• Angela Hollowell, Content Specialist

• Mary-Paige McLaurin, Content Specialist

• Andrew Meeker, North Carolina Coordinator

• Jonathan Pauley, Active Events Manager

• Mary T. Rahe, Donor Relations Manager

Updates to the Alliance’s volunteer leadership include Douglass joining Larry Silver as co-chair of the board and current trustee Dick Woodbury assuming the role of secretary. 

Atiba Mbiwan, Atlanta-based executive director of the Zeist Foundation, rejoined the Board of Trustees after a stint on the Advisory Board. Mbiwan recently led a youth bicycling tour of the Gullah Geechee Corridor along the East Coast Greenway from central North Carolina to Northeast Florida. His expertise and experience will help the organization complete the Greenway throughout this crucial corridor and beyond, according to Executive Director Dennis Markatos-Soriano.

In addition, Azish Filabi and Vignesh Swaminathan joined the Alliance’s Advisory Board following their time on the Board of Trustees. 

Filabi is an associate professor of ethics and executive director of the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services at The American College of Financial Services. Swaminathan, who has amassed more than 1 million followers on TikTok as MrBarricade, is CEO and President of Crossroad Lab, a California-based innovative active transportation firm specializing in feasible protected intersections.  

“I am thrilled to welcome these incredibly talented and experienced individuals to the East Coast Greenway Alliance team,” says Markatos-Soriano. “Our organization is coming off a record-setting 2021, and these additions to our staff and volunteer leadership will help us build on that momentum to reach our goal of connecting the East Coast from Maine to Florida via a 3,000-mile accessible and equitable greenway system.” 

In their roles as regional coordinators, Barto, Caldwell, Diaz and Meeker carry region-wide responsibilities for all aspects of East Coast Greenway development, advocacy and volunteer state committee engagement. They support communities along the route in their respective regions as they plan, build and maintain sections of the Greenway. Barto is based in Brevard County, Fla., Caldwell in Washington, D.C., and Diaz in New York City. Meeker works out of the Alliance’s Durham, N.C., headquarters.

The East Coast Greenway’s first-ever active events manager, Pauley brings 30-plus years of event management experience to the Alliance staff. Based in Durham, he will work to maximize the impact of East Coast Greenway active events, including the annual New York City-to-Philadelphia Greenway Ride.

Working out of New Paltz, N.Y., Rahe brings more than a decade of fundraising experience to the Alliance’s new position of donor relations manager. In this role, she will connect with and inspire current and prospective supporters, including individual donors and corporate partners.

With a focus on producing professional in-house photo and video content, Hollowell and McLaurin joined the Alliance’s communications team in June 2021 and have made immediate and measurable impacts on the East Coast Greenway’s video reach, social media impressions and overall digital network growth.

“Our growing team is poised to make a tremendous and sustained impact throughout the East Coast Greenway corridor in 2022 and beyond,” Markatos-Soriano says.