Board of Directors
Roger Christie, Chairman of the Board. Roger Christie is the grandnephew and adopted son of Rachel Carson. He is a software engineer in Massachusetts.
Robert K. Musil, Ph.D., M.P.H., President & CEO. Bob Musil joined and reenvisioned the Rachel Carson Council (RCC) as CEO in 2014 and is the former long-time Executive Director and CEO of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Physicians for Social Responsibility. He is the author of three environmental books including the prize-winning Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America’s Environment. Musil is a long-time, respected advocate on Capitol Hill and has led environmental and environmental health campaigns nationally and internationally on climate and clean energy, toxic chemicals, clean air and water, factory farming, and wood pellet production. Musil is also a leader in national peace campaigns on nuclear weapons and non-proliferation, the military budget and the arms trade. He is Treasurer and Past President of the Board of the Council for a Livable World and Chairman of the Board of Beyond Nuclear.
Martha Hayne Talbot, Vice President. Marty Talbot is a biologist, conservationist, ecologist, and explorer with experience in environmental research and advising in about 60 countries, including over 6 years of pioneering research on plainsland ecology in East Africa. She is past President of the Society of Women Geographers, Vice President of the Rachel Carson Council, Fellow of the Explorers Club, Member of the National Council of Defenders of Wildlife, Member of the Advisory Council for the National Parks Conservation Association, Council Member of Rachel’s Network, and Co-founder and Honorary Director of the Student Conservation Association (SCA).
Claudia Joy Wingo, MPH, RN, DMH, FNHAA, Secretary. Claudia Joy Wingo is an environmental health educator who serves as Department Chair of Health Promotion and Professor at Notre Dame of Maryland University, and faculty at Georgetown University Medical Center in the Department of Biochemistry, Cellular, and Molecular Biology. As a longtime member of the RCC executive board and a Governing Councilor for the ICTHP section of the American Public Health Association, she has an enduring interest in complementary, integrative, and environmental health. Trained in Australia as an ethnobotanist, registered nurse, and clinical herbalist, she has been in active practice for the past 45 years and has a special interest in remedial ecology and ecotherapy.
Richard J. Mandel, Treasurer. Rich Mandel is a retired Safety and Environmental compliance manager. Before retiring he provided his expertise to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Veteran’s Health Administration’s (VHA’s). He also served as Holy Cross Hospital’s Safety & Environmental Manager, ensuring compliance with Joint Commission occupational safety and health and environmental standards. In addition, he has conducted Institutional /Facility/ Operational safety audits at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) centers in support of the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, directing NASA – Goddard Space Flight Center’s Safety and Environmental Programs. Rich Mandel has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Rachel Carson Council since 2003, a member of the Sierra Club’s Montgomery County Maryland Groups Executive Committee, and, from 1993-1995, served as a member of the Montgomery County Solid Waste Advisory Committee. Rich holds an M.S. in Environmental Pollution Control from The Pennsylvania State University, a B.A. in Biology from New York University, and is a Certified Healthcare Safety Professional (CHSP) and Facility Management Professional (FMP).
Ross A. Feldner, Ross Feldner is the owner of New Age Graphics, a full service graphic design firm in Silver Spring, MD. He also serves as a guide at the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge and editor of the Friends of Patuxent newsletter as well as serving on the Friends of Patuxent Board of Directors. Ross Feldner also serves as Vice President of the Rachel Carson Landmark Alliance which supports Rachel Carson’s historic house in Silver Spring, MD where she wrote Silent Spring. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Rachel Carson Council since 2007.
Marilyn Fioravanti, R.N. Marilyn Fioravanti is a practicing critical care and eICU nurse in Virginia with Inova Health Systems in its innovative distance medicine program covering Alexandria, Loudon, Mount Vernon, and Fair Oaks Hospitals. She was previously an ICU nurse for twenty years on-site at Georgetown Hospital in Washington. She is also a long-time community environmental and environmental health activist with the RCC and other organizations.
Emily McAuliffe, Emily McAuliffe is Associate Director, Strategic Partnerships & Fundraising at Crooked Ideas, the nonprofit partner of Crooked Media. Previously, she served in the Biden Administration for all four years, holding positions at the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Prior to joining the Administration, Ms. McAuliffe worked as a Legislative Assistant on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Subcommittee on Environment. She graduated from Duke University where she studied public policy and environmental science. While at Duke, she spent two summers as a Stanback Fellow at the Rachel Carson Council, which fueled her continuing passion for the intersection of policy, environment, and social justice.
