Board Members

​Katie Grillo, Chair
Board of Directors: 2018-2024
President: 2020-2022
​Phone: ​617.349.9368

Katie Grillo has a BS in GIS and Environmental Studies from Central CT State University. After graduating, she moved towards a career in environmental conservation and community development at a volunteer travel organization. Her role lead her to participate in numerous projects in Costa Rica, Mexico, Thailand, and South Africa. After a couple years of working in outreach and recruitment, Katie decided she missed her life as a MapGirl and wanted to turn her focus back to GIS. She moved to the Boston area and has been with the City of Cambridge GIS for over five years. As a GIS Web Technology Specialist she is involved in a variety of different projects, primarily focusing on Story Maps, Interactive Maps, and 3D data and visualizations.  She has been attending NEARC conferences since 2011, where she has done multiple presentations on Story Maps and her 3D work in Cambridge. She also served on the Host Committee when the Fall conference came to Falmouth, MA in 2016.

​Esther Olson-Murphy, Treasurer
Board of Directors: 2016-2022
Treasurer: 2018-2022
​Phone: ​​603.294.5013

Esther Olson-Murphy, GISP is the Sr. Integrity Management and Pipeline Safety Analyst at Unitil, a Gas and Electric Utility serving Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. She has been with Unitil for over 16 years where she has spent the bulk of her career working in the Engineering Department with GIS. In her role in integrity management she, with the help of GIS, performs all activities require to develop and implement comprehensive Integrity management programs, assists with the development of regulatory compliance and pipeline safety programs for construction, operation, maintenance, service and emergency response for the gas side of the company and provides oversite for the company’s leak survey programs. Esther holds a BA from The University of New Hampshire in Geography and a Masters of Professional Studies in Geographic Information Technology from Northeastern University.

Brittany Hoffnagle
Board of Directors: 2018-2021
​Secretary: 2020-2022
​Phone: ​508.495.6227

Brittany Hoffnagle has a M.S. in Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies from Coastal Carolina University. To complete her graduate degree, she utilized GIS and advanced analyses to assess geomorphological changes along the coastal shoreline and knew she wanted to incorporate GIS and advanced spatial data analyses in her career.  In 2015, Brittany joined Woods Hole Group in Bourne, MA as an Environmental Scientist. At Woods Hole Group she supports ecological risk assessments, creates cartographic visualizations & graphics and manages the GIS processing and QA/QC procedures for Woods Hole Groups’ climate change model and vulnerability assessments. She has been attending NEARC conferences since 2016, where she has moderated ArcUser sessions and presented on her climate change work. As a relatively new member of NEARC, Brittany is excited to continue to meet more people in the GIS field and learn how different GIS technologies and analyses can be useful in her career.

Emily H. Wilson, Past Chair
Board of Directors: 2014-2022
​President: 2018-2020
Secretary: 2016-2018
Phone: 860.345.5226

​Emily Wilson is a Geospatial Educator at the University of Connecticut, Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR). She has been with UConn since 2000 where she started as a remote sensing researcher. As an educator, she does a variety of tasks focused on making geospatial information available through websites and web mapping, short courses in geospatial technology, and presentations, blogs and webinars. She also writes and manages grants, conducts research and serves as a technical resource to many outreach programs. She holds a BA from Connecticut College and an MS in Forestry and Remote Sensing from the University of Maine.

​Pam DeAndrea
Board of Directors: 2020-2023
​Phone: ​802.793.7555

Pam DeAndrea joined the Vermont Agency of Transportation’s (VTrans) Mapping Section in 2021 as a GIS Professional, III.  Her primary duties include updating the Vermont Roads data and providing Town Highway mapping services to Vermont municipalities and transportation analysis and mapping support to VTrans and other state agencies.  Prior to her time in state government, she was with two Vermont Regional Planning Commissions: Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission (CVRPC) and Lamoille County Planning Commission (LCPC) where she was responsible for oversight of GIS and IT operations including but not limited to GIS program and project management, data management, spatial analysis, map creation, field data collection, web mapping and IT management and support.  Pam built her GIS skills in the environmental consulting field working for Bear Creek Environmental, Inc and Stone Environmental, Inc. where she completed numerous field data collection and desktop studies utilizing ArcGIS technology.  Pam holds a Master’s Degree in Water Resources from the University of Vermont where she first was exposed to GIS using ArcInfo as the teaching assistant for the Intro to GIS course.  Pam also holds a BS in Environmental Geology from SUNY at New Paltz.  

Erica Tefft
Board of Directors: 2020-2023
​Phone: ​774.261.1814 

Erica Tefft is the GIS Coordinator for Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation, Division of Water Supply Protection. She has been with DCR since 2017. In her role as GIS Coordinator, she is responsible for coordinating the direction of GIS in the Energy and Environmental Affairs secretariat with other Department GIS Coordinators, overseeing regional GIS staff, data development efforts, project development and management, administration of a mobile field data collection fleet and co-administration of a secretariat-wide ArcGIS Online account. Erica works directly with staff to develop and test field data collection solutions using Survey123 and Collector, and to develop decision-making tools for accessing and analyzing collected information. She also assists in the administration of the secretariat ArcGIS Enterprise system. Erica holds a BS from Eastern Connecticut State University in Environmental Earth Science and a Masters of Environmental Science and Management with a focus in GIS from the University of Rhode Island. 

Nate Ward
Board of Directors: 2020-2023
​Phone:  ​603.206.1180

​Nate Ward, GISP is the System Architect and GIS Administrator at Terracon, an engineering firm. He has been with Terracon since 2016. In this role, he serves to provide administration of the organization’s spatial infrastructure, systems, and data, while providing solutions and interoperability for projects, initiatives, applications, and client needs. He is also an FAA certified remote pilot and helps lead the organizations unmanned aircraft systems program. Nate holds a BA from the University of Vermont in Geography.
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William A. DiLibero, Esq., C.M.
Legal Counsel
Phone: 401.474.2904

William “Bill” DiLibero is the Legal Secretary and Legal Counsel for NEARC. He presently serves as the Executive Director of the Washington County Community Development Corporation in Wakefield, Rhode Island. He has previously served as the City Manager in Port Lavaca, Beeville and South Padre Island, Texas, the Town Administrator and Town Manager in Charlestown and Hopkinton, Rhode Island.

Bill was trained in GIS in 1987using ArcView Version 3.0. He became the first GIS Administrator for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. He formed the 501 (c ) (3) for NEARC in 1995 and established the organization as a non-profit in the State of Rhode Island during that same time period. He has served as Legal Counsel for NEARC since it became a non-profit organization.

Bill holds a JD from New England School of Law and is admitted to the Texas, Massachusetts and Rhode Island Bars. He has a Masters in Geography from Clark University and Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Miami. He received a Bachelor’s of Science from Worcester State College.