Staff

Chris Collins - Executive Director

A graduate of Holy Cross College and Albany Law School, Chris worked for 20 years as a litigator in both New York and California. He specialized in complex commercial litigation, environmental litigation, civil rights, securities, elder abuse and many other areas of the law. After leaving the law in 1999, Chris worked as a Director at Oracle Corp. and as a Director of Risk Management at Sapient. Born and raised in the NYC area, Chris moved to San Francisco in 1988 and returned to New York in 2004 to take the position of Executive Director at Solar One.

Chris has had a long history of working with non-profit organizations. He was a founder of New York City’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community Services Center and the Callan-Lourde Health Clinic. He served as Co-chair of the LGBT Center between 1985 and 1989. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force between 1991 and 1996 and served as Board Co-chair between 1994 and 1996.

Jamie Paquette - Operations Manager

Jamie studied geography at James Madison University and has been involved with the Solar One project since 2001 in various capacities. He started helping get the project off the ground by writing grants, reports and letters, creating marketing materials and working on a fledgling newsletter. Things have grown quite a bit since then, from the opening of the Solar 1 building in 2003 through the creation and expansion of Solar One’s unique set of programs. During that time, Jamie has been involved in many aspects of the organization from technology to fundraising to event planning to Solar 2. He now oversees much of the day-to-day operations of Solar One.

Fun Facts: Jamie has lived in Brooklyn for 8 years where he is a two-time Bocce league champion. His photo of a CSO at Stuyvesant Cove has become the Zapruder film of NYC water quality, appearing here and here, on the cover of a recent issue of City Limits Investigates, and elsewhere. Ask him about his near-death experience with a biodiesel generator.

Chris Neidl - Outreach and Advocacy Coordinator

Since initially gaining interest in renewable energy as a geography student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Chris has steadily increased his knowledge of and commitment to the subject through a number of volunteer and professional experiences. Before joining the Solar One Staff in March of 2005, Chris worked at the Solar Living Institute in California as an outreach intern, while receiving a hands-on education in photovoltaic installation.

Originally from upstate New York, Chris has lived in Brooklyn for the better part of the last 5 years.

Chris is currently pursuing his MA at New York University’s Gallatin School.

Melissa McDonald - Park Manager of Stuyvesant Cove Park

Melissa came to Solar One in October 2005 to take the reins of the most popular park on the East River between 18th & 23rd. Before becoming a part of the Solar One team and moving into the city, Melissa spent 6 years as the head horticulturist at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, a National Trust for Historic Preservation site. As a California native, Melissa obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Horticulture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, with a concentration in Public Horticulture.

When not at Stuyvesant Cove Park Melissa spends most of her time in Riverside Park in Harlem, where she has lived for the last two years with her dog Tender (see photo).

Tamar Rogoff - Arts Coordinator and Artistic Director

Tamar has curated hundreds of arts events throughout Stuyvesant Cove Park for Solar One, including helping to launch the inaugural season of the Solar-Powered Dance Festival in Summer 2005. As an artist, Tamar’s approach to performance ranges in style from site-specific, community- based work to film and more traditional dance theater. She is a four-time recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and has been generously funded and commissioned by Dancing in the Streets, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Rockefeller MAP Grant, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Harkness Foundation, and New York Theater Workshop’s Suitcase Fund.

Tamar also teaches at P.S. 122 and NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing, and has worked twenty years teaching arts workshops for Hospital Audiences Inc.

Sarah Manley - Educator

As a graduate of the Natural Resource Department at Cornell University, Sarah originally planned to be spending more time in the forest than in the subway, but she has opted to live a more energy efficient life in New York City.

Sarah joined the Solar One staff in February 2006, and holds the position of Lead Educator for Solar One’s energy and environmental education programs. Originally from Eastern Long Island, Sarah has worked in the natural sciences as both a research assistant and environmental educator, with special focus on marine sciences. Sarah’s interest in sustainability issues and renewable energy technologies was piqued while studying abroad in Latin America, a location she hopes to visit again soon.

Christopher Kennedy - Educator

Christopher Kennedy holds a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a M.A. in Environmental Education and Art from New York University. Chris has worked for a few different non-profits with environmental education, and he really likes the energy and comradery at Solar One.

“As an educator and artist, I believe in a holistic fusion of disciplines: design, art, ecology, and in providing the opportunity for students to experience the world fully through experiential learning and exploration.” Christopher now resides in Brooklyn where he makes art and takes every opportunity to teach, learn and explore the urban environment.

Evi Blaikie - Part-time Development

Evi came to New York in 1960, having lived in Paris, Budapest, London and Caracas. She studied languages at the University of Vienna, gaining her interpreter’s diploma. In New York, she married, and while raising her three children, studied fashion design and eventually worked for twenty five years on New York’s Seventh Avenue. In 2003 she published her memoir, Magda’s Daughter: A Hidden Child’s Journey Home. When Evi is not busy writing and being a grandmother, she helps out with a countless number of projects at Community Environmental Center and Solar One.

Maya Brym - Grant Writer

Born and raised in the local suburbs, Maya recently returned to the New York City area after several years in Philadelphia and joined Solar One in April of 2007. She holds a BA in Art from Yale University and an MFA in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania. She has worked in the non-profit world, as a writer and grant writer, since 2003.

Maya splits her time between Hell’s Kitchen, Stuyvesant Cove Park and Long Island City, where she has a painting studio. She recently exhibited her paintings in Philadelphia and has upcoming shows in New York. She is excited to be part of the Solar One community and enjoys working to support Solar One’s amazing projects.

Bill Weydig - Grant Writer

Bill Weydig is a writer and educator from Brooklyn with a strong interest in the natural sciences. A graduate of Duke University and Brooklyn College’s MFA Creative Writing Program, he has published fiction and poetry in a number of literary journals, including Brooklyn Review, Minimus and Flying Horse Review.

In addition to his duties as grant writer at Solar One, he currently teaches writing at LaGuardia Community College and New York Institute of Technology.

Dina Elkan - Office Administrator

Born and raised in Manhattan, Dina studied music at the High School of Performing Arts and comparative literature, astronomy, art history and political organizing at Barnard College. As a former downtown ingenue and low-level rockstar, Dina has performed all over New York City, the US and Europe. Highlights include performing for Joe Strummer on Valentine’s Day, recording and performing with the Dresden Dolls, playing with King Missile III at Slim’s in San Francisco, the Metro in Chicago, the Troubador in LA, Irving Plaza in NY, anywhere in Hamburg, Germany- and hanging out with rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson.

She has worked as an administrator, publicist, graphic designer, web designer and office manager in a variety of arts-related fields, and is excited to be part of the fabulous team at Solar One.

Marc Brodeur - Web Administrator

Marc came to Solar One as an intern in 2005 and has stayed longer than anticipated. He earned his undergrad degree in mathematics and economic theory at NYU. At NYU, he was the president of Earth Matters and deeply involved with the Earth Week Festival. He also played on the NYU baseball team. Self-taught in graphic design and web administration, he was the lead designer on the Solar One website, with lots of help from Dina.

He originally hails from the Philadelphia suburbs but now considers himself quite the New Yorker. When he is not running around trying to change every incandescent bulb with a CFL, he enjoys cooking, walking, and playing on the computer. Go Phillies.

Pauline Augustine - Marketing Associate

Pauline has had one foot in the corporate and one foot in the non-profit worlds throughout her career. She managed a 6- language European ad campaign for Disneyland in Paris, consulted on funding strategies for the International Red Cross in Geneva, produced a corporate funding package for Habitat for Humanity in Georgia, and did PR and marketing for a trade photo book publisher across the US and an eco-tourism company in Indonesia. Having lived abroad for 10 years and worked on projects in 15 countries, she relishes the diversity that is New York City -her favorite place to live.

Deeply committed to environmental issues, she feels that she now has her best job of all–helping to garner sponsorship for the jewel of green buildings - SOLAR 2 -New York’s first carbon-neutral, net zero energy use Platinum LEED building. And you can find out what all that means by going directly to SOLAR 2.