Vice President
Muriel Williman (start of term 12/2008)
Muriel has been in garbage for over 10 years and now works for Orange County Solid Waste Management as their Education and Outreach Coordinator. Prior to that she worked for Chatham County as recycling coordinator, the now defunct non-profit recycling company in Durham called SunShares as school recycling coordinator, and the NC Museum of Natural Sciences traveling the state using live animals for natural history instruction. Suffice it to say, she can talk trash. She is a naturalist and waste reduction specialist at heart and is particularly interested in sustainable community, local self reliance, art, music and the DIY movement. Muriel received her bachelorÍs degree in Environmental Studies/ Ecosystems from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1995, and is a 2008 fellow of the Natural Resources Leadership Institute at NC State University. She currently lives in Durham with a bunch of other animals.

Co-Secretary
Mesa Somer (start of term 8/2007)
I am a writer and teacher and mother. I have written and had published a children's book, a non fiction book, and was the editor-in-chief for Kidsville News for about eight years. I am currently working on a book that is a combination game/guide book for Belize. I have taught literally all ages, from adults to preschoolers, and have found ways to have fun with every age. This year I will be teaching writing at Durham Tech while I get my book printed and distributed. I also have done puppetry, storytelling, stained glass, and enjoy photography, hiking, anything and everything outdoors, birdwatching, gardening, and traveling. I've lived in about ten different states, but have settled with my husband and two daughters in a sweet bungalow on Lakewood Avenue in Durham for the last 12 years, where we happily play with our three doggers and spend hours making our backyard flowerful.

Co-Secretary
Peter Reintjes (start of term 6/2008)
After a career in Logic Programming (MCNC, Quintus, and IBM), Bio-Informatics (MCNC, IBM, Glaxo), and two Internet start-ups (NetSpeak, EtchStone), Peter has settled down to do what he really loves: building high-throughput molecular biology equipment and Inductive Logic Programming systems out of the junk that other people throw away — and teaching others how to do the same. He is now the Exhibits Engineer at the Museum of Life and Science.

Treasurer
Rebecca Currie (start of term 10/2006)
Rebecca Currie became involved with The Scrap Exchange in 2003 and since that time has filled many roles, including outreach staff worker, outreach events coordinator, newsletter editor, workshop instructor, tech support person, and resident floor cleaner. (She believes she is one of the only consultants in the country who both fixes computers and scrubs floors.) She lives in Old North Durham and makes her living as an independent software developer and technology consultant specializing in Filemaker Pro.

Members

Karimah Abdusamad (start of term 9/2009)

Anne Gregory (start of term 6/2008)
Anne worked as an independent designer in the fashion industry for 15 years. She launched her own line of women's apparel from the garment district in New Your and later moved her company to North Carolina. For the past nine years she taught art at the high school level. She has worked with at-risk teens, juvenile offenders, and emotionally disturbed youth. Recently she left teaching in order to pursue painting full time.

Jonathan Navarro (start of term 8/2008)
As a lifelong environmentalist and science educator, Jonathan Navarro works to inform and inspire the public to take positive action focusing on current environmental issues. Jonathan currently works for Triangle Tomorrow, a program of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership Foundation. Jonathan coordinates the Triangle Air Awareness Program serving the 13 county Triangle Region with outreach programs and materials. Prior to working on air awareness and land use management concerns with Triangle Tomorrow, Jonathan managed an experiential, hands-on (eco-friendly) workshop and education facility for children in Connecticut for three years. He received his BS in Earth & Environmental Science from Furman University, and his M.S. in Environmental Education from Connecticut State University.

Carrie Painter (start of term 6/2007)
Carrie is currently a Managing Director at Duke Corporate Education where she designs and delivers educational programs to meet clients strategic business challenges. Prior to her work at Duke CE, she worked at the Fuqua School of Business managing an executive MBA program. She received her MBA from Duke University. She lives in Durham with her husband, Rusty.

Megan Risley (start of term 3/2008)
Megan relocated to the Triangle 11 years ago from the Berkshires in Massachusetts. She currently resides in Durham with her husband and their four cats in a wonderful neighborhood in North Durham. Megan has a Master's degree in Social Work and has spent the past 10 years working at local non-profit agencies. She also has strong interests in gardening, crafting and sewing, and launched her business line, Batteries Not Required, three years ago to sell her interactive play quilts for children based on the classic game Memory. She also participates in area craft shows and sells her quilts and other fabric accessories on Etsy.com.

Renee Strnad (start of term 2/2010)
Renee came to North Carolina from Kansas in 1999, drawn to the outer banks by an environmental education position. Within a year, she relocated to Raleigh and NC State University, where she is the Environmental Educator for Extension Forestry in the College of Natural Resources. Besides working with her colleagues to provide information to landowners, her duties center around youth education focusing on natural resources. She is also the state coordinator for Project Learning Tree and was introduced to The Scrap Exchange during a workshop series on municipal solid waste she led in cooperation with a former TSE board member. Renee lives in Durham with her husband, Scot, who has supported and encouraged her efforts to make their home one that reduces and reuses as well as recycles.

Orla Swift (start of term 10/2009)
Orla is the director of marketing and communications for Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University . Prior to that, she worked for 20 years at daily newspapers, mostly as an arts critic and concert photographer but also including stints covering news and as an editor. She also enjoys Lomography and other alternative photography, and she makes jewelry and collage art (including Scrap ingredients) and is an avid online art-swapper. She got her bachelor’s degree in English from McGill University in Montreal and a master’s in liberal studies from Duke. She loves to travel and bring scraps home to play with.

Matthew Todd (start of term 11/2009)

Gregory Wellemeyer (start of term 11/2009)

Ari Zandman-Zeman (start of term 11/2009)
After studying business at the University of Northern Colorado and enduring the rigors of a Division 1 basketball career, Ari followed his dreams by joining the U.S. Peace Corps, where he was posted in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Following the Peace Corps, Ari continued his development quest by living and working on different cooperatives in rural Guatemala for three years. Restless energy and the need for a strength-training program in lieu of a gym were the deciding factors that eventually led to the creation of “Rubberbanditz”, Ari’s integrated fitness/exercise band business. As a proud supplier of TSE, he now resides in Durham with his fiancée, Shiran Zohar. Ari is an Alaskan-born gentle giant with an ice cream addiction.

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