2025 Annual Meeting Board of Directors Slate of Nominees

Terms expire October 31, 2028, except as indicated.

First Vice President Kevin Howe

Kevin was first elected to the board in 2019. He and his wife Betsy Washington retired to the Northern Neck from Northern Virginia about eight years ago. He grew up in northern California, spending all the time he could hiking, backpacking, skiing, climbing, kayaking, hugging redwoods—anything outdoors. After pursuing biology in college in California (University of California, Berkeley), teaching high school biology for two years and graduate school in California then Oregon (Oregon State University), Kevin taught and did research in ichthyology and aquatic ecology at various universities in the Northwest and the South before ending up at the Smithsonian Institution working in environmental education. After some time, he left the Smithsonian to continue a family construction company from which he retired eight years ago. He has been a member of four state native plant societies since 1969–California, Oregon, Washington, and Virginia. He has held various board positions in all, including president of the Potowmack (1980s) and Northern Neck (2016–2017) chapters of VNPS. In retirement he has kept active in environmental groups including VNPS, Virginia Master Naturalists, Audubon, Northern Neck Land Conservancy, and Friends of Dragon Run.

Conservation Chair – No Nominee

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Chair – Aaron Kershaw

Aaron Kershaw has just completed one year serving in an at-large position on the board, where he volunteered as the vice-chair of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) committee and contributed articles to Sempervirens. He is a marketing and communications professional dedicated to advocating for the protection of nature. With extensive experience as a marketing and communications director, Aaron has worked as a journalist, freelance writer, and freelance marketing strategist for various environmental organizations.

From 2020 to 2024, Aaron worked for the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust, where he developed effective marketing strategies that resulted in record-breaking fundraising campaigns and enhanced the organization’s brand awareness and support. Additionally, he served as a staff lead for NVCT’s DEI, Marketing and Development, and Strategic Planning Steering Committees.

A Virginia native residing in Washington, D.C., Aaron is committed to protecting nature and fostering healthy, livable communities.

Education Chair – Maeve Coker

Maeve Coker is just finishing a one-year board appointment to fill an unexpired term. She earned her Bachelors in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology from California University of Pennsylvania in 2014. She spent several years working with nesting shorebirds for The Nature Conservancy on the Virginia Barrier Islands, and she currently works as a Biological Technician for the US Fish and Wildlife Service at the Eastern Virginia Rivers National Wildlife Refuge Complex. She is a life Member of the Virginia Native Plant Society, Northern Neck Chapter, and is an avid volunteer on the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck for a variety of citizen science surveys. Currently she serves on the Board of Directors for Friends of Dragon Run as its Citizen Science Chair. She coordinated the 2025 annual workshop and posts to the VNPS Facebook page. Maeve spends her free time birding and botanizing. She lives in Essex County with her husband Joey, and their rescue hounds Gypsy and Daisy.

Membership – Jennifer McCarthy

Filling an unexpired term that expires October 31, 2027

Jennifer brings years of non-profit experience to the role of Membership Chair. A resident of Lynchburg, she has been involved in the local Blue Ridge Wildflower Society chapter, having served as its Membership Chair, Secretary, and President. She has participated with the VNPS board as a chapter representative. This spring, she participated in the Flora of Virginia Ambassador training and looks forward to completing the final step this fall. Her commitment to native plants extends to her personal life, where she and her husband have been actively removing invasive species from their property. The positive results, including the emergence of new plants, insects, and birds, have been a constant source of inspiration.

Jennifer has enjoyed learning about the local and state-wide activities and initiatives of VNPS. She is a strong believer that anyone can participate in the VNPS mission, regardless of their level of plant experience and/or education. All that’s needed is a desire to learn and get involved!

Her passion for the work is matched by her professional background. Jennifer holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Old Dominion University and has a long history of service in her community. She currently works as the Resource Coordinator for Lynchburg Daily Bread, a program that serves the homeless and hungry. Jennifer is eager to share her knowledge and encourage new members to join the mission of preserving and restoring native plants.

Publications – Virginia Witmer

Virginia has served as Publications Chair since the beginning of 2021 and was profiled in the Winter 2021 edition of Sempervirens. Professionally she is the Outreach Coordinator for the Virginia Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program, a network of state agencies, localities, and non-governmental partners, headquartered at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in Richmond. For the last 28 years, she has been responsible for coordinating all facets of the program’s communication strategy, including publications, website management, media relations, exhibits and workshops. She particularly enjoys her work on social marketing campaigns focused on increasing native plant use and decreasing marine debris. Virginia worked with partners on the Eastern Shore to design the first regional native plant campaign and has since supported campaigns across coastal Virginia and into the Piedmont and Mountain regions. As part of the campaigns, she has collaborated with partners to produce marketing materials, including the regional native plant guides. Specifically, Virginia was the editor and graphic designer for the ES, NOVA, Capital/RVA, SEVA/HR, and Central Rapp guides. In her role with Virginia CZM, Virginia also initiated and is the current coordinator of the Virginia Native Plant Marketing Partnership, and she co-led development of the partnership’s Action Plan. Virginia designed and serves as the primary administrator of the Plant Virginia Natives website, which is home to the partnership and hosts some of the regional campaigns.

Virginia graduated from Allegheny College with a major she designed focused on the social, political, and economic factors influencing environmental protection. She attended the environmental resource policy master’s program at George Washington University. Married with two young adult daughters, Virginia loves to be outdoors, enjoys reading, sings in a choir, and wishes to spend more time with a camera.

Publicity – Ashley Moulton

Ashley has been serving as Publicity Chair for a few years, and she also initiated and administers the VNPS presence on Instagram. She was featured in the Spring 2020 issue of Sempervirens. She initiated and oversees the art contests for the popular Wildflower of the Year T-shirts. Ashley works for the Capital Region Land Conservancy as a land conservation specialist in Richmond and runs her own horticulture business, Moulton Hot Natives. As an undergraduate at Virginia Commonwealth University, she studied wetland seed-bank dynamics from seed collected at the VCU Rice Rivers Center. For her master’s degree at VCU, she worked on one of the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research study sites on the Virginia Coastal Reserve, studying how increased nutrient availability (expected with climate change) alters plant-community composition in a coastal grassland. During her graduate studies, she worked at Chesterfield County’s Extension office and realized that she had a passion for Virginia native plant outreach. She serves on the board of directors for the Flora of Virginia Project.

Director-at-large – Invasive Plants Educator – Jim Hurley

Jim is a retired organizational consultant who is completing his first term on the board. More than 20 years ago, concerned about the link between widespread degraded habitat and declining bird populations, Jim began working on introduced plant invasions in natural areas, first with private properties and public parks in Northern Virginia, and since 2013, on his and Susan Roth’s 156-acre property on the lower slopes of the main Blue Ridge in Greene County. The beautiful property had significant invasions of Japanese Stiltgrass, Multiflora Rose, Wineberry, Japanese Honeysuckle, Smartweed, Perilla, and others, largely in portions of 110 acres of forest, and more species in fields and open areas. Jim has taken the knowledge and experience gained in Northern Virginia projects and applied them on a landscape scale in Greene and used that experience to work on county and statewide scales with the Blue Ridge Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM).

In addition to his extensive activities with BR PRISM, Jim is a Master Naturalist, Tree Steward, and a member of the Virginia Noxious Weed Advisory Committee.

Director-at-large – Natural Heritage – Johnny Townsend

Johnny is Senior Botanist with the Natural Heritage Division of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and has served on the VNPS board for many years. His work as part of the division’s inventory team has focused primarily on rare vascular plants and their conservation. He was previously curator of the herbarium at Clemson University. As a co-author of the Flora of Virginia, his work included editing of taxonomic descriptions; editing of illustrations, ensuring that they accurately and truly depict key characters; and the provision of Virginia-specific information on status and habitat.