Mark C. Whiting is a retired biologist with a B.S. in Zoology and an M.S. in Botany from Brigham Young University, and a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from Oregon State University. His research expertise spans acid rain, freshwater biology, water quality, fisheries restoration, and harmful algal blooms across coastal Oregon, coastal Maine, and Northern New England.

After 23 years with Maine DEP — including eight years in Site Location, Wetlands, and Stormwater licensing and fifteen years as a biologist for the Maine Salmon Program — Mark has served the Hancock County Soil & Water Conservation District for 14 years, including 13 as Board Chair. He has provided critical leadership during the District's transition to staff-directed operations and remains hands-on in watershed surveys, erosion control, stream crossings, Conservation Landscape Certifications, pH soil testing, and fish and wildlife conservation.

He regularly collaborates with contractors, homeowners, farmers, and partner agencies including DEP, DIFW, DACF, Bureau of Public Lands, and the Downeast Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Mark also serves on the State Conservation District Advisory Council for Hancock County.

Andrew Sankey has served several recurring terms as an appointed and elected supervisor of the District. His public service began with municipal roles in Gouldsboro as a member of the Planning Board and Chair of the Board of Appeals, before expanding to regional work with the Hancock County Planning Commission, its Brownfields Committee, and the Schoodic Scenic Byway initiative. He has also served as a volunteer steward with Frenchman Bay Conservancy for its Taft Point Preserve.

Since 2012, Andrew has served as Director of the Hancock County Emergency Management Agency and prior, served as Vice-President of Bar Harbor Bank and Trust and in Philadelphia, Wolf Block LLP and prior, Berger & Montague, PC, co-lead counsel in the Exxon Valdez litigation.

His public service record spans many elected offices, local fire departments, school boards, hospital committees, Hancock County Homes Foundation and other community organizations across Hancock County. In the early 2000’s he served on the committee to see the former NSGA Winter Harbor facilities on the Schoodic Peninsula transferred to the U.S. Department of the Interior and subsequent creation of the NPS’ Schoodic Education Research Center, “SERC.” He holds a lifetime appointment as Dedimus Justice, appointed by Governor John E. Baldacci.

Andrew has been an elected supervisor of the Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District since 2018.

For thirty years, David DePrez taught the sciences to high school students, with a particular focus on environmental systems science and the societal dimensions of human-caused climate change. His work included overseeing district-wide science frameworks, developing introductory science programs for incoming freshmen, and editing science content for national textbook projects from conception to adoption.

David earned degrees in science education, botany, and religious studies, alongside graduate studies from institutions including Princeton and the University of Chicago. He credits his years of solo travel by backpack and canoe through the wild places of Oregon, California, North Carolina, Florida, and Maine as the foundation of his conservation ethic.

His civic work includes leading the annual river herring celebration in Orland and advancing the environmental management goals of the town's comprehensive plan. David illustrates and paints in his studio, and he and his wife tend a kitchen garden in their 1820 Greek Revival home on the Narramissic River in Orland.

Antonio “Ant” Blasi’s life has been defined by a singular conviction: that communities have both the right and the responsibility to protect the natural world around them. That conviction was ignited on the first Earth Day in 1970, when Ant was a high school senior, and it has never gone out.

A musician, educator, activist, and public servant, Ant brings rare breadth to conservation work. His environmental advocacy spans decades, from his early work with Frenchman Bay Partners and Senator Damon’s Taunton Bay Advisory Group, where his water quality sampling contributed to a landmark 2008 Department of Marine Resources report, to founding Friends of Frenchman Bay in 2017. That organization, later evolving into Frenchman Bay United, successfully halted the Bar Harbor Port Authority’s cruise ship pier proposal and stopped the development of American Aquafarms, protecting the integrity of Acadia National Park. He currently serves as Secretary of Rights of Nature and Maine Citizens, a non-profit corporation founded to stop the East West Corridor and to protect water quality across Maine.

Ant spent 20 years as a public school music teacher, earning degrees in Music Education from the University of Washington and Northern Arizona University. Performing since 8th grade and as a professional, he has played in community bands, big band dances, The Grand Theatre Orchestra, and has held the bass clarinet seat in the Ellsworth City Band since 1995. For Ant, music and conservation have always been intertwined, both are acts of showing up for community.

His public service record is equally deep: 10 years as Hancock County Planning Commissioner; Hancock Town Planning Board (now in his 26th year as an elected member); eight years as Hancock County Commissioner including three as Chairman, and ongoing work rebuilding financial systems for both the county and the District. He established HCSWCD’s QuickBooks Online accounting system in 2023, and served 1.5 years as treasurer.

In 2022, Ant added Maine Guide to his credentials, earning Sea Kayak, Recreational, and Commercial Boat Operator licenses. He launched Hancock Point Kayak Tours in 2024 and achieved Master Sea Kayak Guide certification in 2025, bringing his naturalist’s eye to the waters he has spent a lifetime protecting.

Peter Jordan is a third-generation wild blueberry farmer and timber producer, and the owner of Blue Ridge Farms LLC in Waltham, Maine. For over 45 years, Peter has worked the same land his grandparents tended before him — fields where his family once pulled rocks with a horse and wagon to clear ground for the lowbush blueberry crop that has sustained the Jordan family for generations.

Working with USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service for over a decade, Peter pioneered a transition away from traditional field burning, implementing innovative practices including spot mulching, rock removal, full-field mulching, and forestry and wildlife management through EQIP. He has also integrated biochar as an emerging soil amendment and added a sawmill to Blue Ridge Farms — creating a closed-loop system where timber harvest byproducts become woodchip mulch for his blueberry fields, improving yields, soil moisture retention, and drought resilience.

Peter serves as an elected member of the Hancock County Farm Service Agency and was appointed to the HCSWCD Board of Supervisors in 2025. He hosts the District's annual Blueberry Field Day on his family farm, and his work was featured in USDA's Fridays on the Farm series in 2024.

John Sundberg, D.V.M., Ph.D., Dipl. A.C.V.P. became an Associate Supervisor on the HCSWCD Board in 2025. He received his B.S. in Animal Science from the University of Vermont (1973), his D.V.M. from Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine (1977), and completed his residency and Ph.D. at the Northeastern Wildlife Disease Center at the University of Connecticut (1978–81).

John served as Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, followed by a career at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor as Associate, Full, and Emeritus Professor from 1986 to 2024. He has volunteered with numerous patient advocacy and disease-focused nonprofit organizations throughout his career.

His interest in soil and water conservation grew from managing his Certified Maine Tree Farm with local foresters and NRCS grant programs. John brings substantial experience in grant writing and management, along with hands-on knowledge of forestry practices, to the HCSWCD board.

Jennifer Riefler brings a lifetime of dedication to conservation, education, and land stewardship to her role as Associate Supervisor. She previously served as Supervisor and Secretary from 2019 to 2025. Grounded in a college education in botany and forestry, Jennifer began her career with seasonal work for the U.S. Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy before spending 30 years in the classroom as a science teacher.

The last two decades of her teaching career were at Mount Desert Island High School, where she focused on Chemistry and place-based Outdoor Environmental Science, retiring in 2016. Jennifer joined Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust in 1995, years before the Trust owned land. When GPMCT acquired 4,300 acres in 2005, she stepped into an expanded role, and for the past 19 years has served on their Board as Chair of the Stewardship Committee, working alongside NRCS on cost-share funding that has significantly supported the Trust's mission.

Jennifer deeply values the outreach and education that HCSWCD provides to the people of Hancock County, connecting partners and supporting staff for event success.