Who We Are

Karen Charles is Commissioner of the Department of Telecommunications and Cable, where she serves as the principal communications regulator for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In addition to her duties at the Department, Commissioner Charles is Chair of the FCC's North American Numbering Council and former Chair and current member of the Committee on Telecommunications for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Commissioner Charles is also involved in broadband policy development and is a member of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute and the FCC's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. Prior to her appointment as Commissioner in 2014, Karen joined the Department as its Chief of Staff in 2011. Karen brings to the Department years of leadership experience in city and state government, having served as Chief of Staff for the Registry of Motor Vehicles, the Executive Office of Transportation, and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. Before joining the government, Karen was a producer for the award-winning news program Greater Boston with Emily Rooney on WGBH. Karen holds a B.S. and MBA from Suffolk University in Boston.

Michele served on the Department of Conservation and Recreation Stewardship Council from 2015-2019. She is the former Chair of the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America. Michele leads the Friends of the Houghton Garden, a private 10-acre garden established in 1907 and now owned by the City of Newton. Houghton Garden is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Michele and her husband Bob own Robert Hanss, Inc, a landscape construction company, and Landscape Collaborative, a landscape maintenance company.

Arthur “Art” Bergeron has practiced law for 46 years, and is now of counsel at Mirick O'Connell, one of the largest Massachusetts firms outside Boston. For the last 13 years, Art has focused on elder law, and he now has about 2,200 clients. He is especially interested in encouraging seniors to make legacy gifts a part of their estate plans. Art and his wife, Pat, spend most of their free time visiting state parks and forests as well as the properties of The Trustees of Reservations and others. He still lives in Marlborough, where he was born and raised and where he and his wife raised their children.

Jack works as a copywriter and project manager for Crackerjack Communications by day and teaches art history in the Clemente Course in the Humanities in the evenings. In addition, he has worked on archaeological digs in Turkey, Syria, and Sudan. When he's not writing, teaching, or traveling, he plays guitar with the Newton Family Singers and the Porch Rockers.

Zack works to build a more resilient environment for people and nature for The Pew Charitable Trusts’ U.S. conservation project. In this role, he partners with federal and state governments and community leaders to advance science-based conservation policies and outcomes. He formerly worked at Dewey Square Group where he engaged on a variety of federal, state, and local electoral races as well as issues such as improving health care education and siting utility-scale energy projects. He holds a dual bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and history from Northeastern University and a master’s in environmental law and policy from Vermont Law School.

MCV designated liaison (non-voting member)

Chuck has extensive experience on conservation issues in the legislative and executive branches of government; and in political organizing. For the last 20 years, he has worked as the managing partner at Durand & Anastas Environmental Strategies. He is the Chair of the MCV Board of Directors.

Betsy has a long career in conservation and historic landscape preservation issues. She founded the National Association for Olmsted Parks and numerous other organizations working to ensure the long-term preservation of the Commonwealth’s open space legacy. Her goal has always been to rebuild trust in the public realm, establish new stewardship models, engage Friends groups, institutions, and the corporate sector as partners, and pursue new sources of revenue for our public assets.