2023 New Board Members
The Nantucket Shellfish Association is delighted to welcome five new members to our Board of Directors in 2023. Meet them below!
Cheryl Emery
Cheryl moved to Nantucket in the early 80's. She soon after started her business Nantucket Sewing and Design, which she ran for 30 years before "retiring" to start an organic farm. Even though she grew up in Oklahoma, she always knew that she wanted to live by the sea. Her love of ocean activities - including sailing, clamming, fishing, and snorkeling for scallops - are all part of what makes her a strong advocate for clean water and healthy oceans. She hopes to be part of the solution to ensure good water quality for future generations.
Sofia Flores-Boynton
Sofia is from southern Maine and visited Nantucket as a child. Since 2017 she’s worked on the island and now resides as a year-round resident. Career wise Sofia has a background of customer service, hospitality, transportation and logistics. In her free time you can find her homesteading on island; raising honey bees, chickens, ducks and turkeys.
She believes, “The choices we make, about the lives we live, determines the legacies we leave.” Sofia served on the 2022 Scallopers Ball Host Committee and is thrilled to join the Nantucket Shellfish Association Board of Directors to be part of the ripple effect the NSA is making in our community.
Tanya Forman
Born and raised in Texas, Tanya McQueen Forman found her way to Nantucket some 18 years ago and has returned every year since. Now, she spends the majority of her time in Siasconset and waits patiently through winters in Los Angeles. She is mother to four children and two Norwich Terriers named Never and Roux.
Professionally, Tanya has combined her passions for design and communication, hosting home renovation television series for ABC, Lifetime, CW, A+E, and more. Her proudest professional accomplishment: winning a pair of Emmy Awards while building more than 300 homes for deserving families as a co-host of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Tanya was a board member of RCISD for 8 years while her children were in school and is also a longtime Habitat for Humanity volunteer.
Having been raised in a small town, Tanya cherishes Nantucket’s sense of community, where change is possible and neighbors pitch in. She is beyond thrilled to join the NSA Board and looks forward to doing her part to advance its mission and legacy.
Dr. Jennifer Karberg
Jen is the Director of Research and Partnerships for the Nantucket Conservation Foundation (NCF) and supervises the Foundation’s extensive ecological research program. Jen’s personal research interests include fresh and saltwater wetland ecology and restoration, climate change and coastal resiliency, rare plant ecology and disturbance ecology. Initially from the mid-west, Jen first studied plant ecology at the University of Michigan and then attended graduate school at Michigan Technological University in wetland ecology and rare species conservation genetics. In her 15+ years on Nantucket Island, Jen has been the co-chair of the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative Research Conference, served on the Nantucket Conservation Commission, and various boards of the Society of Wetland Scientists. Jen is a recent advisor and reviewer for the Envision Resilience Program. She currently represents NCF on the Nantucket Coastal Resilience Advisory Committee, is Chair of the Women in Wetland’s section of the Society of Wetland Scientists.
Dylan Wallace
Nantucket native Dylan Wallace grew up in a scallop fishing family. He owns and operates Eat Fire Pizza, a wood fired pizza business out of his commissary kitchen as well as Eat Fire Farm, a specialty farm growing herbs, fruit and making Nantucket Sea Salt with his fiancé Caroline Borrelli. In 2022, he ventured into his rookie season bay scalloping commercially after spending two years going through the apprentice program. It proved to be a good year to buy a boat as he enjoyed a long season of full limits! Dylan looks forward to working with the Nantucket Shellfish Association to continue the work of preserving our harbors and protecting our rare bay scallop fishery.
