Keep Durham Beautiful Staff

Tania Dautlick

**Executive Director**
Tania Dautlick actually started her tenure with Keep Durham Beautiful as a volunteer before becoming the Executive Director in 2012. She earned a Masters of Horticultural Science from NC State University. She enjoys meeting and working with members of the Durham community to help further the mission of KDB while helping partners transform their neighborhoods, parks, schools, and community spaces into clean, environmentally rich and people-centered places.
tania@keepdurhambeautiful.org, 919-354-2729

Dawn Keyser

**Program Director**
Dawn started with Keep Durham Beautiful as an AmeriCorps service member in 2017-18. After working on a part-time basis doing communications and grant coordination, she joined the KDB team full time in 2021. Dawn is an NC native, graduate of NC State University, and lover of all things outdoors. She enjoys working with volunteers, digging in the dirt, picking up litter, and generally making Durham a more pleasant place to live, work, and play.

dawn@keepdurhambeautiful.org, 910-315-4346

Alysha Weaver

**Intern**
Alysha has joined our Keep Durham Beautiful team as a work-study Intern, bringing her talents to us from September to December as part of the North Carolina Central University Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from NCCU and is on track to graduate with her MPA in December 2023. Originally from Rocky Mount, Alysha has called Durham home for eight years. Her passion for nonprofit leadership shines brightly!

Laxmi Mansani

**Salesforce Consultant**
Laxmi is originally from India and has lived in Connecticut for the past 15 years. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Computers from Osmania University, India. Laxmi joined KDB’s team as our Salesforce Consultant in 2023. As a IT Salesforce Professional, she plays a vital role in configuration setup, data management, automation, integration and successfully customizing the salesforce platform for KDB. Laxmi enjoys spending quality time with family and friends, exploring new recipes, and experimenting with flavors or baked goods. Growing flowers or vegetables is her most rewarding hobby.

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Keep Durham Beautiful Board of Directors

Melissa Amoabeng

Originally from Maryland, Melisa found a new home in North Carolina while studying Public Health at UNC Chapel Hill. After contributing two years of AmeriCorps public service, she returned to NC State to earn a Masters of Horticultural Science focused on pollinator habitat design and engagement. Melissa has ten years of experience in environmental education, working with all ages in diverse outdoor spaces from public gardens to educational farms. She is now pursuing a Master of Landscape Architecture at NC State where she is interested in public recreation spaces such as parks and greenways. Melissa is also currently an intern at the Natural Learning Initiative as well as the City of Durham. She is dedicated to building healthier communities by designing rich outdoor learning environments where children and families can connect to nature through play. You can find her playing outside with her toddler in Durham, NC.

Claire Cooney

Claire is Vice President of Development and Marketing & Communications at The Conservation Fund, where she supervises the fundraising and marketing teams to amplify the Fund’s mission and secure funding for projects and programs nationwide. She drives the Fund’s integrated messaging outreach to current and prospective donors by sharing the compelling personal stories of our work. Claire grew up in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in east Tennessee and has lived in Durham since 2018, where she enjoys spending time outside with her family, taking her adorable mutt on walks around Rockwood and frequenting Nuvataco, Thai Café, and Beer Study.

Sandy Demeree

Sandy is an active participant in KDB projects who is most passionate about community building in the places life leads her. The communities where Sandy lives and volunteers have been the recipient of many years' of KDB help! Sandy recently retired from the Center for Death Penalty Litigation where she was the Financial Controller for 22 years. Her favorite things to do are vegetable/pollinator gardening, helping the tree canopy along Durham streets, hiking at the Eno and Duke Gardens, and most of all spending quality time with the folks with and without developmental disabilities in the intentional community where she lives in downtown Durham.

Margaux Escutin

A proud Durhamite for 5 years, Margaux joined the board to create greener spaces in our county. She first collaborated with Keep Durham Beautiful through organizing her own trail cleanups. Her involvement with non-profits centers around conservation, the environment, and empowering women and marginalized communities. Driven by the belief that a greener Durham will lead to a just, equitable, and beautiful society, Margaux invites you to sign up for her favorite KDB activity- tree planting- to help make this a reality.

Tamette Farrington

Tamette is a native of Durham, NC and serves as a garden enthusiast, mentor and a professional leader with extensive knowledge and experience in effective execution and implementation of policy, procedure and programming. With over 10 years of experience in higher education, she has a passion for creating free thinkers empowered to impact the world. At North Carolina Central University where the motto is “Truth and Service” she plays an essential role as the Operations Manager of the Campus Community Garden in promoting food sustainability and healthy eating. Tamette’s passion is connected to seeing others do well. She loves becoming part of the growth process. Tamette enjoys gardening, spending time with her family and traveling. Tamette has a M.S. in Counseling and Adult Education and a Bachelors in Rehabilitation Services from East Carolina University.

Michael James

**Board Chair**
Michael has lived in Durham for 19 years and is a recently retired business executive. He came to Keep Durham Beautiful through the Tree Keeper program and volunteer pollinator garden opportunities. He is a beekeeper and also serves with other Durham community nonprofits. He asks that everyone help keep Durham clean, green and beautiful.

Joshua Khani

Joshua recently joined the Board of Directors for Keep Durham Beautiful in 2022. He moved to Durham in 2015 to pursue graduate studies, completing his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering and subsequent post-doctoral work at Duke University. He is currently working as an Informatics Scientist at OmniAb, Inc. He is passionate about waste reduction, environmental stewardship, and litter prevention. When he's not working or volunteering, he enjoys spending time with his two big dogs, woodworking in the garage, and traveling with his wife, Lali.

Chrissie Koroivui

**Ex-Officio**
Chrissie is the Solid Waste Manager for Durham County. Her team is responsible for providing solid waste services and litter control in unincorporated Durham County. She graduated from NC State with a Master of Science in Natural Resources. She has lived in Durham for 12 years.

Austin Moore

Austin Moore is a Durham native and is an owner of the Durham based commercial general contractor, Gateway Building Company. He graduated from NC State University in Resource Economics. Austin currently sits on other community boards, including Preservation Durham and SEEDS. In his spare time he enjoys designing homes, attending concerts, and the outdoors.

Rachel Owens

**Treasurer; Student Membership Mentor**
Rachel has been a board member for the Keep America Beautiful organization for a combined 10 years now, previously serving in Nash County, NC. She is a science educator with Durham Public Schools, and has been an educator for 23 years in NC and NY. Her passion for all things environmental has driven her to lead and join the efforts of many other groups that empower people to protect our great lands and waters, including the Climate Reality Leadership Corp and Reducing Waste in DPS/Don't Waste Durham. And then within her capacity as an educator she has led her students in countless extracurricular clubs and events that include environmental club, bioSTEM club, Envirothon, a solar schools initiative, summits, rallies, public speaking engagements, and her students have even won multiple state-level competitions, and multiple years of Keep America Beautiful Volunteer of the Year awards. Rachel herself won NC Environmental Educator of the Year for 2013. Rachel has lived in Durham for 3 years.

Diane Rupprecht

**Vice Chair**
Diane grew up in Durham. She is the Legal Counsel and Regional Risk Manager at DPR Construction. Prior to joining DPR Construction, she worked at Sunrock, and in private practice at Ellis & Winters, LLP. During her legal career, she clerked for the Honorable James A. Wynn on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the Honorable Henry E. Frye on the Supreme Court of North Carolina. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Smith College and Juris Doctor from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Diane and her husband, Todd, have three children.

Nadii Salaam

Naadii Salaam is a proud Durham resident and homeowner, who has always been passionate about the environment and litter prevention. Naadii focused her studies at UNC Chapel Hill in biology and marine science, but her career path led her toward IT project management. In 2020, Naadii spent much time outdoors picking up litter. She became aware of Keep Durham Beautiful and quickly signed up to be a Litter Leader and a Tree Keeper. Naadii has adopted and regularly maintains paths and parks in her local neighborhood, in an effort to raise awareness and bring litter prevention resources to underserved communities in Durham.

Connor Weiss

Sanford Board Leadership Initiative

Connor is a Master of Public Policy candidate at The Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. He serves as a non-voting board member through the Sanford Board Leadership Initiative, which connect Sanford students with the nonprofit scene in Durham.

Joseph Wilkins

Dr. Joseph L. Wilkins currently works as a Professor at Howard University. He earned a postdoc at the United States Environmental Protection Agency in the Office of Research and Development where he focused on remote sensing tools and air quality model development. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Atmospheric Science and minored in Physics at the University of Louisville, and later completed his M.S. and PhD in Meteorology at Saint Louis University. He is one of the leading researchers in the fire modeling community and communicates his research across many government and academic institutions globally.

Board Members Not Pictured:

Jarrod Ambrose, Secretary
Julianne Johnson

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