Mark Darling
President, Founding Board Member (2007)
Mark Darling is Sustainability Programs Coordinator at Ithaca College.
While working as an employee of the Physical Plant Department at the College he attended
classes, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1997. Mr. Darling has been responsible for
the waste management programs at the College since 1995. He has presented on composting,
recycling and waste reduction at state and national conferences. He received the New York
State 2000 Governor’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Program Innovation Award. This award
was presented in recognition of creativity and innovation in diverting waste from disposal
by implementing waste reduction and recycling initiatives at Ithaca College. He is also
currently serving on the City of Ithaca Board of Public Works and as the Chairperson of the Steering Committee of the National Recycling
Coalition College and University Recycling Council.
Barbara Eckstrom
Founding Board Member (2007)
Barbara Eckstrom is Solid Waste Manager at Tompkins County Solid Waste Management Division.
Ms. Eckstrom has been the Tompkins County Solid Waste Manager for more than two decades since
receiving a Masters of Science in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University. Under her
leadership, the community has reduced the volume of its waste stream by almost 60% since adopting
a comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan in 1995. This has been accomplished through programs
for recycling, composting, reuse and waste reduction. Her goal is to continue to implement and
fund additional programs to reduce the County’s waste stream by 75% by 2015.
Tania Schusler
Secretary, Founding Board Member (2007)
Tania Schusler helped found Finger Lakes ReUse while environmental issues educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County. She now teaches in the Environmental Science Department at Loyola University Chicago. She holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Natural Resource Management from Cornell University and a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"For me, reuse is about local self-reliance. It's practical, economical, creative and inventive.
Bottom line, it's transformative. We not only transform materials. We transform ourselves, our
community and our economy as people learn the craft and skills of reclaiming, repairing and
reinventing to locally produce affordable, quality goods. All without destroying natural resources
or burning loads of fossil fuels moving goods across the globe."
Lynn Leopold
Board Member (2008)
Lynn Leopold served as the former Recycling Specialist for the Tompkins County Solid
Waste Management Division, providing outreach and education on reuse, waste reduction
and recycling. Prior to that, she served as the Education Coordinator for 5 years for
the City of Ithaca's recycling program, Ithaca Recycles. She came to Ithaca in 1979
and in 1983 received a MS from Cornell University in Science and Environmental Education.
She presently serves as a board member of Finger Lakes ReUse, Inc. and is a trustee of
the Village of Lansing, and in 2011 was awarded the NYSAR3 Recycler of the Year - Lifetime Achievement Award.
“Reuse is the ultimate waste management tool and for me, it just follows that
reuse--creative, adaptive or otherwise--is the most sensible way to manage our
precious resources while rerouting wealth back into our community. Keeping useful
goods in circulation goes way beyond just sensible resource management. It can
provide meaningful work for many and get us off the buy, use up, and dispose
treadmill to nowhere.”
Sharon Tregaskis
Board Member (2010)
Sharon Tregaskis is a freelance magazine reporter and editor who covers health, the environment, and agriculture. She and her partner apply ecological principles as they integrate a wide variety of perennial and annual crops, laying hens, and pigs at Tree Gate Farm in Ithaca. She is a Tompkins County master composter and past president of the board of Telluride Association, an educational non-profit that serves high school and college students. Growing up in a family where frugality reigned and repair trumped disposal, Ms.Tregaskis learned early the joys of creative and adaptive reuse of materials—a mindset that turns out to make life on the farm loads more fun.
Patrick McKee
Board Member (2010)
Patrick McKee is the President of Challenge, a vocational services organization that shares a social entrepreneurial vision with Finger Lakes ReUse. He has been impressed with the progress made by FLR in a short period of time and hopes to be able to assist as it matures and grows. Patrick and his family reside in the city of Ithaca and see the FLR mission as critical to our community’s future.
Jennifer Estler
Treasurer, Board Member (2011)
After more than a year of dedicated service on the Finger Lakes ReUse finance committee, we welcome Jennifer Estler as our newest addition to the board of directors.
Lindsay Hahnes
Board Member (2013)
Jodie Herbert
Board Member (2013)
Howard Hartnett
Board Member (2013)
Jan Rhodes Norman
Board Member (2013)
Pedro Perez
Board Member (2013)
Marlene Sack
Board Member (2013)
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