Staff

Judy Jakobsen, Executive Director

Judy Jakobsen serves as executive director for the Commission. Jakobsen served as the Commission’s deputy director from 2017 to 2021 and prior to that, as policy and planning manager from 2008 to 2017. A Commission employee since its creation in 1993, Jakobsen began her service with the Commission as an environmental analyst. In this capacity she helped prepare the Commission’s original Comprehensive Land Use Management Plan and documents related to its SEQRA review process.

During her time at the Commission, Jakobsen has also served as senior environmental analyst and principal environmental analyst responsible for land use development project review and the transfer of development rights program. She also served as the Commission’s interim executive director in 2010 and in 2021.

Prior to her employment with the Commission, Jakobsen worked for 10 years in the private sector in the field of environmental consulting in groundwater remediation, solid waste management, pollution prevention and land use planning. Jakobsen also worked on developing and providing technical review of environmental legislation and reviewed project impacts on groundwater as an environmental analyst with the New York State Legislative Commission on Water Resource Needs of Long Island.

In her capacity as executive director, Jakobsen is responsible for the protection, preservation and management of the 106,000-acre Central Pine Barrens area as well as implementing the Central Pine Barrens Comprehensive Land Use Plan, managing Commission staff and defining and guiding the continuing evolution of the Commission.

She can be reached at director@pb.state.ny.us or by phone at 631-288-1079.

 

Samantha Acampora, Ecological Field Specialist

Samantha Acampora has served as ecological field specialist since March of 2022. Prior to her work at the Commission, Acampora served as an invasive species and forest health management intern for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Before that, she served as a forest technician for the DEC.

As ecological field specialist, Acampora assists with the planning and implementation of ecological management activities in the Central Pine Barrens, including various research and stewardship projects that foster biological biodiversity, natural resource conservation and ecosystem protection and restoration.

Acampora has served as an interior firefighter for the Port Jefferson Fire Department since 2017. She is a graduate of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Forest Resources Management and also earned an A.A.S. in Forest Technology from SUNY ESF Ranger School. While at Port Jefferson High School, she was awarded the Most Prominent Citizen Award, the Triple C Award for outstanding community service and the Historical Society of Greater Port Jefferson Award.

She can be reached at samantha.acampora@pb.state.ny.us or by phone at 631-563-2754.

 

Angela Brown-Walton, Administrative Assistant

Angela Brown-Walton has served as Administrative Assistant since November of 2020. Prior to her work at the Commission, Brown-Walton worked for more than two decades in various administrative positions for three different companies, most recently for Gordon L. Seaman, Inc., where she served as Executive Assistant for the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to her work at Seaman, Brown-Walton spent more than a decade at First Data Corporation, starting as Administrative Assistant and adding to her responsibilities the duties of Settlement Analyst and subsequently Senior Settlement Analyst. Prior to her work at First Data, Brown-Walton served as Executive Assistant for Henry Schein Company for five years.

As Administrative Assistant, Brown-Walton performs a variety of clerical, administrative and support duties including composing correspondence, scheduling meetings, preparing meeting minutes, preparing documents and reports, assisting in fleet administration, processing invoices, receiving visitors and helping to arrange events and seminars, among other duties.

Brown-Walton earned an A.A.S. Degree in Secretarial Science from Farmingdale State College.

She can be reached at abrown-walton@pb.state.ny.us or by phone at 631-563-0385.

 

Frank Carbone, Chief Enforcement Officer

Frank Carbone joined the Commission as Chief Enforcement Officer in September of 2022. A veteran officer with 38 years of experience at six different police departments, Carbone spent most of his career prior to joining the Central Pine Barrens Commission staff with the New York State Environmental Conservation Police, where his latest post was zone lieutenant/field supervisor after serving in the past as acting captain and administrative lieutenant.

As an Enforcement Officer for the Commission, Carbone is part of a three-member unit that conducts inspections of land use activities and development projects and helps to coordinate the several dozen agencies that have law enforcement, code enforcement and compliance jurisdiction within the Central Pine Barrens region. The unit also aids and supports law enforcement in protecting the region from illegal land use activities, such as operation of ATVs and dumping of waste.

Carbone earned an Associate of Criminal Justice degree from SUNY Farmingdale. He has also earned dozens of law enforcement certifications throughout the course of his career.

He can be reached at enforcement@pb.state.ny.us or by phone at 631-218-1188.

 

Sabrina Cohn, Ecological Field Specialist

Sabrina Cohn has served as Ecological Field Specialist since June of 2021. Prior to her work at the Commission, Cohn served in a variety of internships and positions centered on ecological stewardship, including as an intern for the Central Pine Barrens Commission. She also served as a research assistant assisting a PhD student with vineyard health study at Pindar Vineyards; as an intern for an Environment New York “Save the Bees” from harmful pesticides campaign; and as a student contractor for the United States Geological Survey as part of a genetics research project for deep sea biodiversity, among other positions.

As Ecological Field Specialist, Cohn assists with the planning and implementation of ecological management activities in the Central Pine Barrens, including various research and stewardship projects that foster biological biodiversity, natural resource conservation, and ecosystem protection and restoration.

Cohn has also served as a volunteer for the Long Island Native Plant Initiative, Early Girl Farm of Brookhaven and at Avalon Nature Preserve in Stony Brook.  She is a graduate of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where she earned a B.S. in Environmental Science with a concentration in Watershed Science.

She can be reached at scohn@pb.state.ny.us  or by phone at 631-563-9755.

 

Gary Enright, Enforcement Officer

Gary Enright joined the Commission as an Enforcement Officer in March of 2019. Before joining the Commission staff, Enright served 27 years with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police as an Environmental Conservation Officer. In this capacity, Enright was responsible for patrolling Suffolk County marine district and uplands, primarily on the South Shore of Long Island and in the Town of Southold. During his career with the DEC police, Enright received several awards and recognition for his dedication to duty, including being named New York State Environmental Conservation Officer of the Year in 1988.

As an Enforcement Officer for the Commission, Enright is part of a three-member unit that conducts inspections of land use activities and development projects and helps to coordinate the several dozen agencies that have law enforcement, code enforcement and compliance jurisdiction within the Central Pine Barrens region. The unit also aids and supports law enforcement in protecting the region from illegal land use activities, such as operation of ATVs and dumping of waste.

He can be reached at enforcement@pb.state.ny.us or by phone at 631-563-9752.

 

Julie Hargrave, Policy and Planning Manager

Julie Hargrave has served as Policy and Planning Manager of the Commission since 2021 after serving as Principal Environmental Planner for the Commission for 14 years. Prior to her work at the Commission, Hargrave held a senior planning position in the Southampton Town Department of Land Management, where she reviewed and presented commercial site plan and residential subdivision development applications to the town Planning Board.

Prior to her public service, Hargrave previously worked as an environmental scientist at AKRF, Inc., specializing in writing and preparing Environmental Impact Statements for municipal agencies and private entities. Projects she worked on included multi-billion dollar transportation projects such as the Second Avenue subway and the World Trade Center terminal for PATH service. She also prepared Environmental Impact Statements for the New York City Department of Health Adult Mosquito Control Programs and Westchester County Adult Mosquito-borne Disease Control Programs.

In her capacity as Policy and Planning Manager, Hargrave assists the Executive Director with day-to-day operations and staff management, while also continuing her duties principal environmental planner, which include review of hardship waiver (variance) applications; communication with applicants and municipal officials; preparation of SEQRA documentation for Commission review; conducting complex environmental and planning analyses; developing and providing reports and recommendations to the Commission; preparing public hearing materials; participating in meetings of the Pine Barrens Advisory Committee and credit clearinghouse; responding to interagency coordination, municipal agency referrals and jurisdictional determinations; researching emerging issues pertaining to potential plan amendments; presenting Central Pine Barrens updates to town officials; conducting permit compliance reviews of development projects and enforcement support; supporting and participating in ecological assessments; assisting in various Commission events; and participating in regional planning conferences.

She can be reached at landuse@pb.state.ny.us or by phone at 631-218-1192.

 

John Milazzo serves as special counsel to the Central Pine Barrens Commission. He can be reached at  631-288-1079.

 

Tim Motz, Director of Communications

Tim Motz has served as director of communications since August of 2016. Currently serving in a dual role as director of communications for both the Commission and the Suffolk County Water Authority, Motz has been employed by SCWA since 2010.

Beginning his career as a published intern for the Village Voice and subsequently as an award-winning reporter for The Southampton Press, Motz later worked as a reporter for the Naples Daily News and a reporter/columnist for the Waterbury Republican-American. He then served, successively, as a legislative aide in various capacities for the Suffolk Legislature, deputy director of communications and speechwriter for the Suffolk County Executive and director of the Public Information Office for the Suffolk County Police Department, where he supervised an eight-member staff and oversaw the creation of the department’s first civilian PIO. In addition to his Commission and SCWA duties, Motz is currently an OpEd columnist for the Press News Group and a partner with his wife in the strategic communications company Molehill Media.

Motz is responsible for all aspects of internal and external communications for the Commission and SCWA, including organizing press conferences; writing press releases; fielding media inquiries; drafting speeches, testimony and letters; designing ad campaigns; directing social media; and writing, editing and designing publications, among other duties.

He can be reached at communications@pb.state.ny.us or by phone at 631-563-0396.

 

Robert Panko, Fire Management Specialist

Robert Panko has served as fire management specialist of the Commission since October of 2019. Prior to his current position, Panko served 44 years in various wildland fire management positions, beginning as a basic wildland firefighter and rising to the elite position of Incident Commander Type 2.

Panko worked for 36 years at the U.S. National Park Service, spending 25 years as a law enforcement and emergency services ranger and 11 years as a wildland fire management officer. During his service at the Park Service, Panko was employed as a federally commissioned law enforcement officer, a criminal investigator, an advanced emergency medical technician, a technical search and rescue team leader and a wildland fire manager. One of only a small number of fire and aviation management officers nationwide to be graded at the highest level prior to his retirement from the Park Service, Panko has developed plans for and overseen numerous prescribed burns and has managed nationwide responses to wildfires and other emergencies.

As fire management specialist, Panko will oversee the development, implementation and management of the Commission’s prescribed fire program, which is designed to reintroduce controlled fire to the fire-dependent public lands contained within the Central Pine Barrens ecosystem.

He can be reached at rpanko@pb.state.ny.us or by phone at 631-218-1182.

 

Melissa Griffiths Parrott, Education and Outreach Coordinator

Melissa Griffiths Parrott has served as education and outreach coordinator since 2008. She has served in the environmental education field for more than 20 years.

Beginning her career with ABC/Kane producing natural history documentary films, Parrott later became a volunteer and environmental educator at El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach, California. She then changed careers and became a naturalist for El Dorado Nature Center and then an outreach coordinator for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.  After moving to New York in 1997 she became director of education and interim executive director of Sweetbrier Nature Center in Smithtown.

In 1999, Parrott became director of environmental education for the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, working directly with the governor and offer top officials to incorporate environmental education, particularly biodiversity, into the state’s learning standards. She also served on numerous environmental and education organizations and boards. In 2003, she began work with Cornell Cooperative Extension, implementing state of the art environmental education programs and projects.

In her capacity as education and outreach coordinator, Parrott is responsible for all of the Commission’s many educational and outreach efforts. Along with Brookhaven National Laboratory and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, she has spearheaded the renowned “A Day in the Life” of various rivers and estuary field research programs for local secondary school students, the very successful Barrens to Bay environmental summer camp and Discovery Day, the Commission’s annual Pine Barrens public education event.

She can be reached at education@pb.state.ny.us or by phone at 631-288-1079.

 

Jerry Tverdyy, Senior Environmental Analyst

Jerry Tverdyy has served as senior environmental analyst of the Commission since May of 2016, serving previously for the Commission as environmental analyst, where he began his service in 2011.

Prior to his work at the Commission, Tverdyy worked in the chemistry lab at a pharmaceutical factory.

In his capacity as senior environmental analyst, Tverdyy serves as data analyst for the Central Pine Barrens credit clearinghouse and its credit program, serves as GIS technician for the Commission office, prepares fire danger reports and conducts monitoring of fire weather, performs maintenance for the Commission’s weather station, assists with conservation easement monitoring and complaint investigations, provides support to the Science and Stewardship division and conducts field work.

He can be reached at creditprogram@pb.state.ny.us or by phone at 631-563-0352.

 

Polly Weigand, Science and Stewardship Manager

Polly Weigand has served as science and stewardship manager of the Commission since May 2018 and serving previously for the Commission as ecologist. Weigand also currently serves as the executive director of the Long Island Native Plant Initiative, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to protect the genetic integrity of the region’s native plant populations by ensuring the ready availability and use of genetically native plant materials.

Prior to joining the Commission, Weigand served the Suffolk County Soil and Water Conservation District for 13 years where she conducted a diversity of natural resource management activities including farmland planning, habitat restoration, shoreline protection, sediment and erosion control, pest and nutrient management and invasive species control.

In her capacity as ecologist, Weigand is responsible for conducting and supporting monitoring and management of the Central Pine Barrens in order to help maintain the ecological integrity of this globally rare ecosystem. Aiding in Southern Pine Beetle monitoring, suppression, and education, prescribed burning, invasive species mapping, management plan development, forest health monitoring, and grant writing are the current activities in which Weigand is most actively engaged.

She can be reached at stewardship@pb.state.ny.us or by phone at 631-563-0321.