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.

Vice President: Betty Sanders (Class of 2005)

Lifetime Master Gardener

Betty had a career as a chemist and in marketing before 'retiring' to a life of gardening in Medfield. Active in the garden club world, she serves on the Board of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts. Betty is a National Garden Clubs certified flower show judge and a member of the NGC Garden Study Council and Landscape Design Council. In addition to reaching Lifetime MG status, she oversaw the design of the MG exhibits at the New England Spring Flower Show in 2007 and 2008 and the Boston Flower & Garden Show in 2010. She is also a gardener lecturer, and with her husband maintains a two-acre garden, which was chosen for the 2008 Garden Conservancy Open Days Tour.

Treasurer: Dick Hohmann (Class of 2007)

Certified Master Gardener

Dick has been an investment advisor for 35 years and has been treasurer of his local Boy Scout Council for the past four years, managing a budget of $1.3 million. As Council Treasurer, he sits on the finance and executive committees, the audit and budget committees and a 45 member board of directors. He is a member of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, New England Wild Flower Society and Boston Athenaeum, and he volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and Walk for Hunger. He is a 2008 recipient of The President’s Volunteer Service Award and is a Notary Public. Dick says he is “a vegetable gardener first, then everything else.” His favorite perennial is the hydrangea, and his favorite annual is the dahlia.

Clerk: Penni Jenkins (Class of 2004)

Principal Master Gardener

 Penni has recently retired from her position as an accountant working for a New York family office. 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 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. 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.

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.

Education Coordinator: Sonja Johanson (Class of 2007)

Principal Master Gardener

Sonja lives in Medfield, and has a B.A. in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic, 1995. She has spent 15 years coaching skiing at Lost Valley and Sunday River ski areas, and is a Professional Ski Instructor of America Level III certified coach. She has also spent six years as aquatics director for Jewish community centers in MA, and five years as garden coordinator for the Wheelock School Victory Garden in Medfield. Sonja’s garden interests include all forms of edibles and native plant propagation. She is currently at work indoctrinating three young minds and tending a large and prolific antique blackberry patch at her home in rural ME.

Communications Coordinator: Donna Lane (Class of 1997)

Lifetime Master Gardener

Dubbed by a Master Gardener buddy as the Duchess of Dahlias, Donna has managed several start-up marketing communications and publications operations. She currently works out of her home in Norwood as an interior designer, garden designer, lecturer and writer.  Her column, "Notes of An Addicted Gardener",  appears in several weekly publications.  She is an active member of many organizations including: The Rhode Island Dahlia Society (currently president), American Dahlia Society (garden dahlia committee and an ADS-certified dahlia judge). Donna is also the horticulture judges' chair for the Newport Flower Show 2009-2011, has been on the board of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, Inc. (GCFM) for eight years, is a member of the NGC Landscape Design Council, editor of the GCFM Yearbook, member of the New England Hosta Society, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the North American Rock Garden Society, the Norwood Flower Committee, and has served as past president of her local garden club.

Certification Coordinator: 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.