Patricia Gallagher

Patricia Gallagher is Professor Emerita of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at Drexel University. She earned bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering and geological sciences from Rutgers University, a master’s in civil engineering from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Virginia Tech. Her research expertise centers on geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering and sustainability. 

At Drexel, Trish taught courses in civil and environmental engineering, geology, and sustainability.  Her course in sustainability, titled “Incorporating Sustainability Principles in Design” was inspired by her desire to teach design from a holistic, regenerative perspective that restores ecological balance and health in communities and ecosystems. The course explores how the concept of sustainability is fundamental to the planning, design, construction, operation, and renewal of resilient and sustainable infrastructure.

Trish believes we need to work in our own communities to restore functional ecosystems in urban and suburban areas. She began volunteering with the Abington Township Shade Tree Commission (STC) in 2019, became an acting commissioner in 2021 and was officially appointed to the STC in 2022. Currently, she co-chairs the STC. Trish is happiest in nature and spends her free time hiking and backpacking around the globe.

John Kennedy

Since 2011 John Kennedy has been volunteering with the Abington Township Shade Tree Commission (STC) as an appointed commissioner and currently serves as co-chair. He has been an active Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Tree Tender since 2008. 

John regularly takes on a leadership role in formulating and delivering STC programs.  His volunteer emphasis has been with park and public space tree planting with the Tree Vitalize - PHS Tree Tenders bare root tree program.  Leading community volunteers to plant over 300 trees in parks and other public spaces in Abington Township. 

John’s commitment to the treescapes around us has inspired him to educate others of the importance of trees in our environment. Conducting hands-on training through demonstration and coaching on how to plant, prune and care for trees.

While employed fulltime in the food service profession John returned to school in 2006 as a part-time student to study horticulture and in 2015 completed his degree at Temple University’s School of Environmental Design in Ambler, Pennsylvania.  He also holds a Certificate in Horticultural Therapy.  

Professional Background

John’s profession for over 30 years has been overseeing dining programs in premier Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) and, as Senior Director of Dining Services, currently leads the dining program at Foulkeways in Gwynedd, Pennsylvania.  John leads a staff of dedicated culinary and service professionals serving over 900 meals daily in fine dining, retail, catering and health care settings to the residents and their guests, visitors and staff.   

Combining his expertise for high quality dining programs and his study of horticulture inspired him to make meaningful garden to dining connections with the residents he serves. Implementing in-facility greenhouse growing, culinary herb and vegetable gardens, beehives and memory gardens to provide culinary variety and unique and meaningful activities for residents while involving them in the shaping of the culinary palette of the community.

While at the Evergreens, a premier CCRC in Moorestown, NJ, he helped to re-establish this community’s resident gardens and greenhouse programs. Partnered with a local beekeeper to establish hives on site for honey production and initiated a culinary herb garden, both for use by the Evergreens chefs. 

Ari Miller, RLA, ISA Certified Arborist - Ari Miller is the director of design at Hinge Collective in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a public interest design firm that puts community engagement and public participation at the forefront of their practice. As both a landscape architect and arborist, Ari has always advocated for the integration and restoration of natural systems in urban design. Over the course of his 17-year career, Ari has worked as an arborist at Morris Arboretum, as a green roof design specialist at Roofmeadow, and has also led large-scale civic design projects at OLIN Partners. At Hinge, he uses this experience to help communities find design solutions that best support human and ecological health in their own neighborhoods through the enhancement of public space and community-led planning. Some notable projects include the Philly Tree Plan, Resilient Communities Stormwater Initiative, Unity Park, and Frankford Pause Park. Ari has also been adjunct faculty at the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson University.

Joe Lamb, founder of the Borneo Project, is a writer, activist, and arborist living in Berkeley, California. His poetry and essays have appeared in Earth Island Journal, The Sun, Caliban, Wind, Orion, and other magazines. His work is also included in the anthologies The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology, Robert Bly et al editors, and Veterans of War/Veterans of Peace, Maxine Hong Kingston editor.

Joe has degrees in biology, ecology, and film. He has taught biology and ecology in the United States and in Mexico. He worked as a field organizer on the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, and as a film distributor for The Video Project. For over forty years he has tended trees in the urban forest as co-owner of Brende and Lamb Tree and Shrub care.

In 1991, under the auspices of Earth Island Institute, Joe founded the Borneo Project, an NGO that helps the indigenous peoples of Borneo secure land rights and protect their forest. Honored by the Goldman Foundation as an “environmental hero,” Joe was featured in the San Francisco public television program, “Green Means.”

For over 30 years the Borneo Project has helped indigenous peoples map their lands, bring their case to the court of public opinion, and press for the preservation of their forests through legal action. Learn more about the Borneo Project – see the link below.

Joe is firmly committed to trees as an essential part of any realistic strategy to help the world limit and mitigate the potentially catastrophic consequences of climate change.

Kim Shearer is the Curator of Living Collections and Manager of the Haerther Charitable Trust New Plant Development Program at The Morton Arboretum. In her role as curator, Kim focuses on the development and maintenance of resilient living collections that provide a germplasm resource for researchers and plant breeders seeking to address the issues of climate change; while also working with the conservation community to identify priorities that can be addressed through collections curation and research. As Manager of New Plant Development Kim works with plant breeders and the nursery industry to select, evaluate, and develop new plants for the urban and suburban built landscapes. Kim completed her Bachelor of Science degrees in Horticulture Science and Plant Biology at North Carolina State University and her Master of Science degree in Horticulture Science with a focus in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Oregon State University.

Nykia Perez Kibler
Nykia Perez Kibler, co-founder of Philly Tree People (501c3), is an ISA Certified Arborist® with a Master in Environmental Studies degree with a focus on Environmental Biology from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). She also has a Master in Liberal Arts from Penn, a Certificate in Landscape Plants from Temple University, a Master of Library & Information Science from The University at Buffalo, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fine Art Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology. Her two capstones from Penn were: “Philly Tree People: A Case Study on the Formation of a Non-profit Community-based Tree Planting and Tree Care Organization" where she outlined the Pruning Club program and "Management of the Urban Forest: A Zip Code Level Approach" where she outlined the plan for a Green Skills Youth program both of which were heavily modeled after programs after UC (University City) Green in West Philadelphia. She was an intern at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve where she worked in their native plant nursery, participated in interpretation activities, led guided walks for families, assisted with grounds maintenance, marketing, and data collection. Nykia is generally interested in ecological restoration, urban ecology, urban wildlife, ornithology, wetlands, urban forestry, native plants, biological conservation, road ecology, environmental education, nonprofit leadership, urban orchards, food gardening, green walls, children’s play spaces/gardens, and citizen science. Professionally, she works as a library director and research librarian providing and developing research services for faculty and graduate students at Penn, supporting grants, and disseminating research results via websites and social media. She’s also a girl scout troop leader and engages youth in tree planting, pollinator gardening, camping, and citizen science.

Jacelyn Blank
Jacelyn Blank is an ISA Certified Arborist® with a bachelor’s in fine arts and a master’s in education with Pennsylvania teaching certifications in Elementary and Special Education. She is one of the three co-founders of the federally recognized not-for-profit Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Tree Tender organization, Philly Tree People. When Jacelyn isn’t volunteering her time with Philly Tree People she teaches preschool children part time at a not-for-profit play school in Fishtown called By My Side, where she focuses on child led play and interests, increasing students’ social emotional understandings through incidental teaching opportunities, as well as introducing students to a variety of environmental and art related educational experiences. She also co-founded the Friends of H.A. Brown, her local catchment public school where she completed her student teaching in 2011 and where her son currently attends.
Jacelyn launched her own small business; Blank Slate Trees and Gardens, in 2021 where she works with Philadelphia clients on landscape design, garden creation and maintenance, installation and care for trees and installation of plants for window boxes and planters with an integration of native plants. She is currently completing her Pollinator Steward Certificate through the worldwide organization, Pollinator Partnership. Her ultimate career goals are to combine her love of teaching, arboriculture, and horticulture by continuing Philly Tree People’s Green Corps, a youth employment, education and empowerment group hiring students living and attending school in the Kensington neighborhoods in order to encourage more urban youth to move into the Green Industry while caring for Kensington’s tree canopy and learning through hands-on experiences.