Staff - Community Opportunities Group, Inc.

Staff

Boston Office Staff

• Peter Sanborn

  A founding partner of COG, Peter Sanborn has over forty years of experience in community and economic development, historic preservation, project and construction management, site and project feasibility studies, and housing studies. Mr. Sanborn has in-depth knowledge and experience in program development, public design and construction requirements, labor standards compliance, downtown revitalization, affordable housing development, and housing rehabilitation. He has served as principal-in-charge and has had direct professional responsibility for the firm’s community development work in more than fifty communities, including several in Connecticut, and has served as principal-in-charge for the firm’s planning work in dozens more. Mr. Sanborn holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New Hampshire, with post-graduate studies there and at Boston University.

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• Wayne Darragh

  Mr. Darragh joined COG in 1993 and became a principal in 2000. With a background in business and environmental engineering, he serves as principal-in-charge of COG’s community development work in a number of Massachusetts towns where he administers housing rehabilitation and social service programs, and infrastructure, public facilities construction, and barrier-removal projects. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley, a Master of Urban Affairs from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University.

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• Roberta Mitchell Cameron, AICP

  Roberta Cameron, AICP, has over 20 years of experience as a planning consultant for communities throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Roberta has prepared community-wide master plans and targeted planning strategies in communities throughout the region. She is experienced with the issues of land use, housing, economic development and natural resource protection. Ms. Cameron is skilled at analyzing the impacts of growth and policy changes including market analysis, build-out projections, and fiscal balance. Ms. Cameron holds a Master of Urban Planning from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Music from Mount Holyoke College.

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• Jaime Rebhan-Buckminster

  Ms. Rebhan-Buckminster, Project Manager, previously served as Senior Program Manager for the Town of Wareham’s Community and Economic Development Authority, where she assisted in writing CDBG applications, managed and monitored CDBG programs, researched and pursued additional funding opportunities, and worked to forge connections among the town, its business owners, and its residents. Prior, she spent more than a year conducting public outreach initiatives and seeking supplemental funding for Wareham Public Schools. In the years encompassing her work in the public sector, Ms. Rebhan-Buckminster spent the better part of a decade in the media industry, much of the time in management roles that had her overseeing two to three editorial operations, managing multi-tiered projects, and finding creative solutions to challenges in the rapidly evolving world of 21st century journalism.

  She holds an A.A.S. degree from Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, NY, a B.S. from Emerson College in Boston, and a Graduate Certificate in Local Government Leadership and Management from Suffolk University in Boston.
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• Melissa Rodriguez

  Ms. Rodriguez has over twenty years of experience working in the planning and community development fields. She has worked with states, municipalities, boroughs, nonprofits, Native CDFIs, and tribal organizations to secure more than $59 million to support a broad range of projects. She has also led community planning and HUD Continuum of Care processes as well as designed and managed community-wide needs assessments and program evaluation projects.?Prior to joining COG in 2017, ?Melissa was a founding member of Gallegos| Rodriguez Consulting, LLC, an Alaska Native owned management consulting firm specializing in fundraising, grant writing, economic development, fisheries management, regulatory affairs, and analysis.?Melissa has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Brandeis University with graduate coursework in public administration.

   

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• Courtney Starling, AICP

  Ms. Starling previously served as a subcontractor on several of COG’s planning engagements. Prior to joining COG, she focused on GIS, zoning, and development analysis on behalf of communities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Ms. Starling earned a Master of Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Bachelor of Arts and Geography from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

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• Paula Stuart

  Ms. Stuart is a community development specialist with many years of experience in the?Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, HOME, and other federal and state housing?programs. At COG, she manages several community development programs including housing rehabilitation programs and commercial property improvement programs.

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• Diane Hansen

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• Mary Marquardo

  Ms. Marquardo joined COG in 2003 and works as COG’s bookkeeper and administrative assistant. She holds an Associate Degree in Business Management.

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Field Office Staff

• Catherine Bertolet

  Ms. Bertolet has several years’ experience in Small Cities CDBG Program grant management and serves in our Hampton, CT and Bellingham, MA field offices.

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• Christine Sullivan

  Ms. Sullivan has several years’ experience in Small Cities CDBG Program grant management and serves in our Abington, Avon, and Rockland, MA field offices.

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• Don Bucchianeri

  Mr. Bucchianeri, owner of Bucchianeri Management Services, is an experienced construction specialist and has worked with COG since 1996 as a subcontractor to provide ongoing rehabilitation specialist services for housing rehabilitation programs and clerk of the works services for public facilities, architectural barrier removal, and multi-unit housing rehabilitation projects. He holds a Master of Building Construction from the University of Florida and a Bachelor of Architecture from North Carolina State University.

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• Peter Kenefick

  Mr. Kenefick is a construction specialist with private and public experience and has worked with COG since 1995, first as a staff member and now as a sub-contractor. He has served as a housing rehabilitation specialist for housing rehabilitation programs in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and as clerk of the works for public construction projects. He has substantial knowledge in building construction methods and business practices, as well as negotiating and interpersonal skills as he works with property owners, town officials, and subcontractors.

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• Christopher Tennis

  Mr. Tennis is a construction specialist with decades of private and public experience. He has served as a housing rehabilitation specialist for CDBG-funded programs in Connecticut and as clerk of the works for public construction projects. Since 1988 Mr. Tennis has served as Project Manager to a statewide organization, supervising all contract work on their nearly 100 facilities. He brings this experience to COG’s housing rehabilitation and public facility work in Connecticut. Mr. Tennis holds a Master of Science from Eastern Connecticut State University and a Bachelors of Science degree from Charter Oak State College.

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