President:  Gretel Anspach  (Class of 1998) 

 Lifetime Master Gardener

Gretel is a software engineer working for a major electronics company who resides in Hudson. She has also volunteered sporadically for the New England Wild Flower Society as an adult and children's guide. She considers her horticultural interests to be eclectic, which is to say she knows a little about a lot, and not very much about anything. Gretel is a member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's Board of Directors.

Vice-President:  Kathi Gariepy  (Class of 2000)

Lifetime Master Gardener

Kathi is a former special needs preschool and kindergarten teacher who has been gardening since she was a child. She is past chair of the Master Gardener Advisory Board, past president of the Attleboro Garden Club and past chair of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts’ Gardening Study School. Kathi is a Landscape Design Consultant and on the Gardening Study Council. She has worked with the Master Gardener training program and the Caterpillar Club, as well as being an active member of the MMGA Speakers’ Bureau and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.  Kathi lives in an old farmhouse with perennial borders, herb gardens, a vegetable garden, grapes, blueberries, raspberries and some very old apple trees that are still producing. Kathi has been known to bake a few cookies in her spare time.

Treasurer: Penni Jenkins  (Class of 2004)

Lifetime Master Gardener

Penni has recently retired from her position as an accountant working for a New York family office.  Currently, she is the treasurer of her church.  She is also an Overseer of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and volunteers in their Elm Bank office. In addition to serving on the boards of two garden clubs and the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, she is a consultant of the NGC Landscape Design Council.  Her volunteer experience includes terms as recording secretary for The Westchester (New York) Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless and board member for the White Plains Ecumenical Emergency Food Pantry.  Additionally, she served as vice president, treasurer, and secretary (separately) of another not-for-profit, and held many other board positions with this organization.    She loves flowers and hopes, one day, to have so many that there is no room for weeds.  Her garden overlooks a pond in Walpole.

Clerk:  Cheryl Monroe

Certified Master Gardener

Cheryl lives and gardens in Jefferson, where she is past president and acting Community Service Chairperson of the Holden Garden Club.  She is currently part of the MMGA Speakers' Bureau, and a dedicated volunteer at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston.  Her gardens are ornamental and whimsical, and she grows close to 100 climbing plants including multiple species of clematis.

Immediate Past President: Paul Steen (Class of 2005)

Lifetime Master Gardener

Paul is a retired engineer, physician (internist) and executive in the medical software industry who lives in Sturbridge, MA. He is an instructor at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on tropical plants, home/hobby greenhouses and shade gardening, and he is an Overseer for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Paul has been editor-in-chief of Worcester Medicine for the past five years.

Outreach Coordinator: Susan Varkas (Class of 2010) 

Certified Master Gardener

A  Boston girl from the beginning, one of Susan's early jobs was working as an assistant for Mayor Kevin White's administration.  She was then hired by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce to be a special assistant in a group dedicated to reducing health care costs.  She has been an avid gardener her entire life, starting by helping her dad in a city garden as a child.  Now she works throughout the Cape as the Cape Cod Garden Tutor, teaching garden restoration, pruning, organics, and sustainable gardening.  Susan is a member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and continues to expand her horticultural knowledge through courses and symposia.  Susan raised her family on Cape Cod and now resides with her husband there and in New Hampshire.  She has also been active in her community, fundraising for andwich High School and the Sandwich Junior Women's Club. 

Education Coordinator: April Daley

Communications Coordinator: Vivien Bouffard (Class of 1998)

Principal Master Gardener

Vivien has been a master gardener since 1998 and the Volunteer Coordinator for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society since 2009.  She has recently taken a position at the Franklin W.  Olin College of Engineering as the part-time Registration & Scheduling Coordinator.   Vivien was a founding member of the Norwood Evening Garden Club and is active in the New England Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society, which she joined for the seed exchange.  Her other activities include playing organ/piano at church and assisting her clergy husband in local ministry.  Horticulturally, she tries to grow everything and especially enjoys growing from seed.