May 7th, 2023 – MVYRADIO Reporter Joe Stickles interviews Karen Bissonnette from The Falmouth Housing Trust.
Click below to listen to the interview.
WMVY Person of the Week: Interview with Karen of the FHT
May 7th, 2023 – MVYRADIO Reporter Joe Stickles interviews Karen Bissonnette from The Falmouth Housing Trust.
Click below to listen to the interview.
Maro Titus has a deep connection to the Falmouth Community that dates back to her childhood, shaping her passion for the area. Leveraging her successful career in healthcare administration, Maro has transitioned her expertise to Kinlin Grover Compass Real Estate. As a dedicated agent, she strives to understand each client’s unique needs, bringing a wealth of marketing knowledge and enthusiasm to the real estate practice. With a background in executive leadership encompassing strategic planning, government affairs, and business development, Maro’s professional journey is marked by a commitment to excellence.
A former reporter at The Falmouth Enterprise, Maro now shares her insights on the real estate market as a freelance writer. Actively involved in various nonprofit organizations, Maro previously held a Commissioner role for the Town of Falmouth (Commission on Substance Use). Her dedication to giving back is evident through her numerous volunteer roles, including as an appointee to the Grievance Committee of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors®. Maro values the opportunity to give back to the world around us. Her grandfather Jack was a licensed broker in CT and MA for years, so her work honors his legacy while helping others enjoy an effective, positive realty experience.
Ms. Titus owned and operated MVT Healthcare Consulting, LLC, a Connecticut-based health insurance advisory practice serving pharmacy benefit managers, managed care organizations, and other clients throughout the northeast. In addition to her consulting clients, Maro did freelance writing for statewide publications on various industry subjects. Maro holds a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Smith College and a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration (MPA) from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Marie Bigelow retired in 2014 from Corporate Banking in Boston after 28 years, mostly with BankBoston, Citizens, and Santander Bank. Her banking experience is primarily as a Senior Credit professional with experience in diversified lending arenas including Non-Profit, Large Corporate, Middle Market, Asset Based, Leveraged Finance and Commercial Real Estate Lending. She brings strong financial analysis, real estate finance, and loan structuring experience to her new role at FHT.
She grew up in New Hampshire, and graduated from UNH’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics with a BS in Business Administration, and minor in Finance, having self-funded 100% of her college education. She also is a 2005 graduate of the Emerging Leaders Program of the Center for Collaborative Leadership, College of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The ELP, through a nomination process, brings 40–50 rising leaders from the corporate, nonprofit and government sectors in Boston together to build collaborative leadership capacity for their respective organizations, and to provide a transformational leadership development experience through the collaborative leadership model—a process built on teamwork, trust, and respect for diversity of thought.
For many years, she has been an active volunteer for both Falmouth Service Center and the Woods Hole Film Festival.
From 2016 through 2019 she was a Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Board of Women United, an affinity group of the Cape & Islands United Way. Women United engages driven, passionate women in philanthropy and service to identify and reduce the local achievement gap by promoting early literacy, contribute to the health and well-being of families with young children, and encourage career development and economic self-sufficiency for women.
She lives with her husband Larry in East Falmouth, where they have owned a house for 13 years, and winter in Clearwater FL., where she is a former President, and currently a Treasurer, of the Board of a 137-unit condo association.
David Sutkowy has lived in Falmouth since 2020.
Working in the Onondaga County (Syracuse, New York) government most of his life, David served first as Commissioner of the Department of Social Services, responsible for the administration of federal anti-poverty programs and of child and adult protective services, and then as Commissioner of the newly formed Department of Children and Family Services, responsible for child protective services, juvenile justice, children’s mental health, and community and school-based programs. He also has experience in the private, not-for-profit sector, working with a Syracuse-based agency to organize construction of housing and supportive services for low-income single parents.
While at Onondaga County, David also participated in initiatives such as expanding the county’s relationship with local homeless shelters to provide more stable funding and better system oversight, as well as working with county agencies to create and make operational a home of elderly persons needing end of life care.
David holds a Master of Social Work from Ohio State University and continued his education with course work at the Syracuse University Maxwell School of Public Administration.
David works closely with Belonging to Each Other, a Falmouth based not-for-profit agency that supports people experiencing homelessness.
He joined the Falmouth Housing Trust board in 2020.
Director, Addie Drolette, is a Falmouth native and makes her home in East Falmouth. Most of Addie’s professional career has been spent serving the mortgage financing needs of the community of Falmouth. She is presently a Senior Residential Loan Officer with Martha’s Vineyard Bank.
Addie was a member of the FHT Board of Directors in the 1990s and was instrumental in the creation of the Gerald Flynn House program. Addie was president of the Board of Directors from 2011 to 2017, and is once again serving in this role. She is passionate about homeownership and believes creating more opportunities for low to moderate income families to own their own homes will strengthen Falmouth. “Homeownership is the single most effective tool for middle class families to build wealth and create personal economic stability, and being a responsible lender has allowed me to help many young families in our community. FHT does much the same thing through keeping first-time home-buyer costs down, and I’m a true believer in the program.”
Savannah Fabbio lives in East Falmouth with her husband Jay and is a Mortgage Loan Officer for Shamrock Home Loans in Osterville. Prior to this she was an Assistant Vice President and Branch Manager for The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod and Assistant Manager at Citizens Bank.
Savannah teaches first-time home buyers’ classes, volunteers with WE CAN as a financial consultant and is an Associate Board Member and volunteer coordinator for the Mashpee Chamber of Commerce. She has worked with the Cape Cod Young Professionals membership task force, was on the Board of the Falmouth Elks and Treasurer of the Marston Mills Public Library.
She was honored as a recipient of the 40 under 40 award given by Cape and Plymouth Businesses and the first Leadership Award from The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod. When Savannah is not working or volunteering, she is running the Ruck4HIT race to raise funds and awareness for veterans and Heroes in Transition.
Dave Garrison and his wife, Lori, moved to Falmouth in 2014 after full and interesting careers in Washington DC. Dave was raised in the Boston suburbs. He has been coming to the Cape every summer since 1944.
Throughout his Washington career, Dave focused on housing and community development issues and, more broadly, on urban policy. He held senior positions at the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human Services. He also worked for the House Budget Committee, the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the National Academy of Public Administration where he is an elected Fellow and on whose board he served for six years.
During a twelve-year stay in Cleveland, Ohio, he directed an urban policy research and outreach center at Cleveland State University. While living in Cleveland Heights, Dave served on its Planning Commission for eight years including two years as Chair. He was on the board of a non-profit housing assistance corporation for eleven years.
He completed his career at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Dave has a law degree from George Washington University. He served for eight years (four terms) as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, in Washington, DC, representing the section of the Capitol Hill neighborhood where he and Lori lived. They have two grown children.
Dave is a volunteer with the Falmouth Service Center, a curler at the Cape Cod Curling Club, and a member of the Upper Cape Camera Club. He served for nine years as a member of Board of the Museum of African American History in Boston. He is a member of the Falmouth Charter Review Committee. He joined the Falmouth Housing Trust Board in July 2017.
After completing a 35 year career in marketing and communications, most recently as Senior Vice-President of Marketing for Dunkin’ U.S. – with previous marketing leadership roles at The Gillette Company and Ocean Spray Cranberries – Tom Manchester currently sits on the board and is an investor in a start-up business, The Mobile Locker Company and is also an instructor for Sports Marketing at Stonehill College.
Tom holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and completed Executive Management courses at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
A fourth generation Falmouth resident, Tom and his wife Barbara reside in North Falmouth and have two adult children. He is a member of the Cape Cod Church Executive Team and a volunteer assistant coach for the Falmouth High School girls’ soccer team.
Ed Monteiro was President of the Board of Directors of Falmouth Housing Trust in the ‘90’s, and we are thrilled that he is back.
Ed grew up in Falmouth and has been working in the community as a developer and real estate broker since 1985. He has worked on single-family homes, multi-family homes, commercial and light industrial projects. As a general contractor and developer he has installed water mains and water lines, sewerage systems and septic systems, and underground utilities. His single-family homes have included starter homes from 1,200 square foot to custom-built homes starting at 3,000 to 5,000 square feet. Ed’s development division develops raw land as well, building anything from two homes to twenty plus subdivisions. Ed has worked with the towns of Falmouth, Marion, Barnstable, and Mashpee. He renovated The Baird Center, a residential, day and summer school for troubled adolescent boys, and worked on a project for Habitat for Humanity here in Falmouth.
Ed re-joined the Board in 2021.
Sudie Gifford comes to our board with an extremely varied background in arts, education, finance, public relations, and charity work.
She graduated from Denison University in Ohio with a B. A. in International Relations and Political Science/Economics. Her focus was on France, where she studied abroad for a year, and on China, which she studied extensively at Harvard University Yenching Institute in Cambridge, MA.
Sudie went on to have an accomplished career in banking in both investment and securities at State Street in Boston. Outside of banking, Sudie has a passion for the arts and for education in the arts. In Reading, MA, she designed and implemented a town-wide annual Halloween parade for children, and served on the town Recreation Committee. Sudie has worked as an art dealer for Polly Latham Asian Art, as a tour guide for Friends of the Boston Public Garden, and as an educator and education outreach coordinator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Sudie currently manages all aspects of granting funds to charitable organizations via a family foundation to further education and the arts. Sudie joined our board in 2021.
Susan Roman is the Owner of Roman Retirement Planning, LLC. She grew up in Falmouth and attended Sacred Heart High School in Kingston. She graduated from Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1993 and earned her law degree from Boston College Law School in 1997.
After graduating from law school, Susan worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Boston and Philadelphia in their multi-state corporate tax consulting groups. Susan worked with a team to develop strategies for domestic and multi-national companies to minimize their state tax exposure in the United States. After leaving PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Susan moved back to Falmouth with her husband, Seth, who is also an attorney on Cape Cod.
Susan practiced law for twelve years before deciding to return to the financial industry. She is a licensed Investment Adviser Representative.
Susan resides in Falmouth with her husband and four children.
Troy Clarkson is an author and speaker with more than a quarter-century of experience in positions of leadership in government and public service. He has been actively involved in his beloved Falmouth since his teen years, when he wrote and published ‘The Cove Chronicle,’ a newspaper that he sold door-to-door for a quarter and that documented the lives of his friends and neighbors.
In his 20’s and 30’s, Troy served on the Falmouth Select Board, a position he held for twelve years. His journey in local government leadership led to positions as Town Manager in Bridgewater, Town Manager in Hanover, and Administrator for the Plymouth County government. He currently serves as Brockton’s Chief Financial Officer, a position he has held since February of 2019.
Troy has published two books and writes a weekly newspaper column in the Falmouth Enterprise in which he speaks candidly about many things dear to his heart including the issue of affordable housing. He holds a BA in Political Science from Boston College and a Masters in Public Administration from Bridgewater State University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Organizational Leadership at Adler University. Troy is the Founder and President of the Sober Living Foundation and also serves as President of the non-profit Carousel of Light, Inc. Troy joined the Falmouth Housing Trust board in 2018.
Kevin McCarthy joined the board of directors of the Falmouth Housing Trust in 2012. Kevin’s entire career has been spent pursuing various “oceans” related endeavors, first as a professional diver, followed by various senior level management positions at a number of oceanographic manufacturing companies, including Klein Associates and Teledyne Benthos. He holds a B.S. from Northeastern University and an M.B.A. from Suffolk University. In 2000, he joined Hydroid LLC, a startup subsea robotics company that was founded to commercialize the REMUS autonomous underwater vehicle technologies developed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. In 2008, the company was acquired by the Norwegian company, Kongsberg Maritime. Kevin retired from his position of Vice President of Marketing in 2010 to devote more time to his passion for wildlife photography. Some of his work can be viewed at: www.McCarthyNatureImages.com.
Kevin and his wife Brooke raised their three children in Falmouth, and Kevin’s wife still works in the Falmouth Public Schools. “Falmouth has been very good to my family, and I feel fortunate we made our home in such a beautiful place. I decided to join the Trust Board to give back to my community, and help other young families enjoy what mine did by living in Falmouth.”
Information coming soon.
Information coming soon.
Joanne O’Sullivan is a real estate attorney who has been practicing law in Falmouth since 1995. She is a self described “wash-ashore” living on Cape Cod for close to 20 years. Joanne grew up in South Boston, and graduated from the University of Chicago and Boston College Law School. Attorney O’Sullivan has been a sole practitioner for the past six years. She is married and her children are enrolled in the Falmouth Public Schools. Ms. O’Sullivan joined the FHT Board of Directors in 2009 and became Vice President in 2011.
Kenneth Buckland and his family; wife Nicolette and two boys, moved to Falmouth during Hurricane Gloria in 1985. They moved to town so that Ken could take the position as the Town Planner.
After completing master plans for land use, coastal resources, water supply, transportation, wildlife habitat, Main Street renovation, and affordable housing, while managing a boom in residential and commercial development, Ken moved into private practice. There he has consulted with towns and cities, state agencies and the federal government on projects throughout the US.
Locally, he completed the master plan for the housing project now known as Esker Place, and his previous firm, where he was a principal prepared the streetscape improvement plans for downtown Main Street.
Ken has also remained involved with Falmouth, with many activities including acting as chair of the Facilities Advisory Committee, election to the first Charter Commission, appointment to the Community Preservation Committee, and a Town Meeting member.
Ken has two Master’s degrees, one in the sciences and the other in geography/marine affairs. He is professionally accredited by the American Institute of Certified Planners and US Green Building Council [LEED], and is on the board of directors of the State chapters of the American Planning Association and the Association of Consulting Planners. Luckily, Ken’s youngest son and daughter-in-law were able to find a subsidized, affordable home in Falmouth where they are raising Ken and Nicolette’s grandson. In his free time, Ken is an avid ocean swimmer and bicyclist. Ken and Nicolette feel very fortunate to reside in Falmouth.
Joan Bates has lived in Falmouth with her husband, Robert, since 2002. Prior to that, the couple lived in Newton. Joan’s 25-year professional career was in special education and nonprofit management.
The Falmouth Housing Trust is a natural interest for her, especially since becoming a real estate agent in 2004. As the relatively high cost of living on Cape Cod makes it difficult to attract and retain workers on Cape Cod, and also makes it extremely difficult for many native Cape residents to afford a place to live, Joan believes the community must work to address this issue.
As a nonprofit manager off Cape, fundraising was always a part of her responsibility. Joan Bates previously served as co-chair of the campaign for the Falmouth Public Library, which successfully supported the renovation and expansion of the Main Branch of the Falmouth Public Library.
“I’m pleased to contribute my past experience in fundraising to create more work-force housing for Falmouth residents, and happy to support the Falmouth Housing Trust and join their Board of Directors.”
Beth Ciarletta grew up in rural New Jersey then moved to Raleigh, NC for eighteen years where she met her husband Michael, co-founded a business, married and began their family. She relocated to Falmouth in 2012 with her husband to raise their children in a smaller community-based town, and to be closer to family. Her husband’s family lives in Norwood, MA and vacationed in Falmouth and on Cape Cod for many years.
Beth has a business degree from Rider University and over thirty years in the learning and technology industries. She has held various positions with Technology, Pharmaceutical, and Global Learning organizations, and has been CEO of LearnCentral, the global learning solutions company she co-founded with her husband, since 1994. Her technology background dates back to 1982, and was awarded a silver medal award by Steve Jobs in 1984 for her sales of Apple computer products.
Mrs. Ciarletta brings a wealth of project management, problem solving, technology and automation skills to the FHT Board. Her ability to organize and lead multi-faceted teams is a strength FHT will capitalize on as we continue to collaborate with other organizations in Falmouth to creatively address the housing needs of our residents.
Beth has been an active member of the community since moving to Falmouth, volunteering in the Falmouth Public Schools and winning the VIPS award in 2016 for Morse Pond School for her dedicated volunteer contributions. She resides in North Falmouth with her husband and two children. “The Falmouth community has been so welcoming to our family and we feel blessed to have the ability to make this incredible town our home. Both my husband and I are interested in contributing our time and energies to make this community affordable for all of the families and to help create a sustainable workforce that can live where they work.”
Mark is co-founder of Stone Path Malt, LLC, a manufacturer and importer of specialty malts for the craft brewing industry. He is the Managing Partner of Sippewissett Capital, LLC, a structured finance company focused on providing capital and investment banking services to real estate developers, operators and business owners. Prior to founding Stone Path Malt, LLC and Sippewissett Capital, LLC Mark worked in the real estate industry for 28 years across a broad spectrum of disciplines that included private equity, investment banking, asset management, acquisitions, dispositions, lending and brokerage. Mark is a licensed real estate broker in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and held NASD Series 7 and Series 63 Licenses. Mark holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Rollins College, a Master of Arts Degree from Lesley University, and a Master of Business Administration Degree from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.
Carey Murphy lives in Waquoit with his wife of 31 years, Martha. Their three adult sons are all employed in the ski business, a sport that Carey loves to spend his winter months enjoying. They recently sold their retail business, Kensington’s at Mashpee Commons, after owning and operating it for 29 years.
Carey is a past three term, nine-year member, of the Board of Selectman in Falmouth. He served as the President of the Cape Cod & Islands Selectman’s Association representing all 15 Cape towns. He is the past Chairman of the Falmouth Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (EDIC), and was a long-time Town Meeting member from Precincts 7 and 8. Carey is currently employed by White Tie Limousine in East Falmouth. “I have enjoyed my time in public service in varying capacities, and the Falmouth Housing Trust allows me to continue to fulfill my desire to make a difference in people lives.”
Susan Lawrence spent every summer in Falmouth Heights as a child, so when she became a year round resident in 1980; Falmouth already felt like home. She and her husband David raised two children and established the Lawrence-Carlin Insurance Agency.
Mrs. Lawrence was a principal in the original Bean & Cod in the 1990s. She volunteered and participated on many levels within the community over the past thirty-six years. When asked about her tenure on the Board of Directors, Susan said, “In addition to my genuine belief in the mission of the Falmouth Housing Trust, I’m sincerely grateful for the opportunity it provided for a family member of mine.”
Susan lives locally and her two children are now adults, making their lives off-Cape. She is a realtor with Kinlin Grover Falmouth, and has three wonderful grandchildren who also spend summers in Falmouth.