Leadership

LeadershipGreg Panos2020-06-26T13:17:26-04:00

Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees

Tom Carroll

President

Brian Groetsch

1st Vice President

Mary McKenney

2nd Vice President

Doug McMain

3rd Vice President

Jeanette Block

Secretary

Lee Bellarmino

Treasurer

Trustees

Steve Steger

Trustee
Ioanna Iliopulos

Trustee
Wendy Collins

Trustee
Susan Zingman-Leith

Trustee
Diane Hutchinson

Trustee
Bernie Haas

Trustee
Chris Clemans

Trustee
Vicki Watson

Trustee
Jeff Elliot

Trustee

Staff Leadership

Jody Alessandrine

Director & CEO

Melissa Payne

Chief Operations Officer

Charles Kealy

Chief Financial Officer

Eliza Lotozo

Chief Outreach Officer

Mary Stewart

Chief Outreach Strategist

Steve Steger

Trustee

A 4th-generation leader of Steger Beach Services and business manager of Cape May Contractors, Steve Steger joined the Board in 2017. He currently serves on the Marketing Strategies Team.

Ioanna Iliopulos

Trustee

Joining the Board in January 2017, Ioanna Iliopulos is a consultant to the Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington, DC. She and husband Tom built and offered MAC the 2013 Designer Show House (on Washington Street across from the Physick Estate). She is an active member of the Succession Planning and Volunteer Teams.

Wendy Collins

Trustee

Wendy Collins is the co-proprietor of The Mission Inn bed and breakfast. She joined the Board in 2020 and is an active member of the Website, Marketing, and Social Media teams. She was also recognized as the Cape May MAC volunteer of the month in February, 2019, for her assistance with the organization’s new website.

Susan Zingman-Leith

Trustee

Suzie Zingman-Leith is the co- proprietor (with husband Elan) of Leith Hall Historic Seashore Inn. She has served on the Board since 2013 and is an active member of the Information Technology and Website Teams.

Diane Hutchinson

Trustee

Diane Hutchinson is a retired innkeeper. She is co-founder (with son Graydon) of the Craft Beer & Crab Festival. She has served on the Board since 2005 (including a 3-year stint as President, 2008-10, 2nd Vice President 2015-17) and was the recipient of the 2010 MAC Honor Award. Teams: Café/Tearoom Oversight, Strategic Planning, Social Media, Marketing Strategies and Membership Committee.

Bernie Haas

Trustee

Bernie Haas is the proprietor of Cape Publishing (Cape May Magazine, capemay.com) who served on the Board from 2008 – 2016 (including a 3-year stint as 3rd Vice President). He has served on the Membership Committee and the Marketing StrategiesTeam.

Chris Clemans

Trustee

Chris Clemans is the Broker Owner of Chris Clemans Sotheby’s International Realty and past State President of the New Jersey Realtors. Chris has served on the Board most years since 1995 and she and her husband, Dave, were recipients of the 2013 MAC Honor Award. Chris also serves as a Trustee for Atlantic Cape Community College.

Vicki Watson

Trustee

Vicki Watson is the co-owner of the Merion Inn. She is an active member of the Café & Tearoom Oversight Team and coordinates the annual Georg Mesterhazy Tribute Concert of the Cape May Music Festival.

Jeff Elliot

Trustee

Pastor Jeff began his ministry at Cape May Lutheran in September 2006. A graduate of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia for his Master of Divinity (’89) and Doctor of Ministry (’98) degrees, he is serving in his third call. He previously served Bethel Lutheran Church in Trenton, NJ (1989-1991) and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Brant Beach, NJ (1991-2006) as pastor. Pastor Jeff served for eight years (1998-2006)as a Naval Reserve Chaplain. He served as the secretary of the Board of Directors for the MidAtlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities before coming back as a current trustee. Pastor Jeff and wife Carol live in Cape May County near the site where his family’s apple farm once stood.

Tom Carroll

President

Tom Carroll is a retired innkeeper (he and his wife founded Cape May’s Bed and Breakfast community in 1971) and historic preservationist (he was a long-time board member and chair of the New Jersey Historic Trust; he currently is on the board of the New Jersey Cultural Trust and serves on the Cape May Historic Preservation Commission). Recipient of the 2000 MAC Honor Award, he has served 40 years on the Board (off and on since 1971), including two 3-year stints as President (1985-87; 1998-2000) and chairs the Development Team; is a member of the Investment Team, serves on the Lessons of History, Office Planning and Strategic Planning, Tour App Teams and coordinates Physick Estate groundskeepers.

Brian Groetsch

1st Vice President

Brian Groetsch is broker-manager of the Cape May office of RE/MAX at the Shore who was voted the 2012 Realtor of the Year by the Cape May County Association of Realtors. Brian has served on the Board since 2015 (serving as 3rd Vice President in 2017). He has served on the Nominating Committee, Marketing Strategies, Office Planning, Rental Property and Strategic Planning Teams.

Mary McKenney

2nd Vice President

Former Managing Director, Treasury Services, Deutsche Bank and current owner/operator of a Vacation Rental Business(Maryhouse.com), Mary McKenney has served on the Board since 2009 (holding positions of Treasurer then President during that time). Mary currently chairs the Audit Committee and serves on the Succession Planning, Lessons of History, Strategic Planning and Investment Teams.

Doug McMain

3rd Vice President

Doug McMain is the co-proprietor of The Queen Victoria Bed and Breakfast Inn. He has served on the Board since 2006 (including a 3-year stint as President, 2011-2013, Board Secretary 2016-17). He currently chairs the Audit Committee, and serves on the Lessons of History, Office Planning and Website Teams. He was the recipient of the 2014 MAC Honor Award.

Jeanette Block

Secretary

Joining the Board in January 2017, Jeanette Block is the Minister of the Cape May United Methodist Church. She is also an active member of the Cape May Kiwanis Club and serves on the Cape May Atlantic District Committee on Ministry. She is an active member of the Volunteer Team, and chairs the Membership Committee.

Lee Bellarmino

Treasurer

Recently retired as President & CEO of NJM Bank in Central Jersey and Senior Vice President of NJM Insurance Group, Lee Bellarmino has served on the Board since 2016 (serving as Treasurer in 2017). He currently chairs the Succession Planning Team and serves on the Audit Committee and the Development, Lessons of History and Strategic Planning Teams.

Jody Alessandrine

Director & CEO

Melissa Payne

Chief Operations Officer

Charles Kealy

Chief Financial Officer

Charles Kealy is a product of the Philadelphia Parochial School system. St. Louis Elementary, Monsignor Bonner High School and the, for good measure a BS from Saint Joseph’s College in Accounting. Now, Charles is a Certified Public Accountant and the Chief Financial Officer at Cape May MAC.

Charles’ family started coming in the late fifties as summer visitors and bought a house on Hughes St. in the early Sixties. Charles spent every summer until the eighties then and settled in West Cape May after getting married in 1985. His wife, Margaret Oleksiak, was also a summer visitor whose family bought a second home in Cape May. Charles has a son Charlie, who lives in New York City working as a data analyst and about to get his MBA from Pace University in July, 2020.

Charles is a member and Treasurer for the Cape May Kiwanis. What he enjoys most about working for Cape May MAC is feeling like he is doing something to maintain the character of Victorian Cape May.

Eliza Lotozo

Chief Outreach Officer

Mary Stewart

Chief Outreach Strategist

Mary Stewart began volunteering for Cape May MAC when she moved to Cape May in 1986 and joined the staff in 1987 as an assistant in the Communications Division. She had an undergraduate degree in art and a career in graphic arts which she put to work designing Cape May MAC’s publications (including their “This Week in Cape May” publication). From there, she moved to Special Events and eventually into grant-writing, marketing, Membership and development. She was a part of the team that launched the Music Festival in 1990 and arranged to bring visiting musicians into schools, which was the origin of Cape May MAC’s educational outreach program. In 2003, she earned a Master of Administrative Science from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Now that she semi-retired, she serves as the Chief Outreach Strategist and assists with outreach to a variety of audiences including Members, volunteers, the educational community and the business community. She’s served on the boards of the City and County Chambers of Commerce.