Embracing Change: Goodbye & Hello
Cheers To Your Next Chapter!
After almost 2 years with Great Pond Foundation, Maria Ventura has decided to step down from the Director of Operations and Communications position.
Since joining GPF in April of 2024, Maria quickly became a valuable member of our team. She led our external communications with professionalism and attention to detail, managing key relationships and partnerships that helped strengthen the Foundation’s impact.
Beyond her communications work, Maria played a vital role in the day-to-day organization and administration of GPF. From coordinating meetings to creating newsletters and the annual report, her hard work and dedication kept operations running smoothly.
Maria’s positive attitude, reliability, Island knowledge, and collaborative spirit made her a true team player, and she will be greatly missed.
We are excited that she didn’t move too far… just down the stairs in the Duke County Housing Authority Maria is in her new role as the Finance and IT Assistant.
We’re incredibly grateful for all that Maria has contributed to the Foundation and wish her the very best in her next chapter!
Welcome Back!
After completing the 2025 field season as the seasonal Field and Laboratory Technician, Kendall has joined our year-round team and now serves as the Science Engagement Manger!
In 2021, Kendall came to Great Pond Foundation as a summer intern and helped launch the MV CYANO monitoring program. We were elated this May when she returned to our team as the seasonal Field and Lab Technician.
In this role, she led our microscopy program, identifying cyanobacteria and enhancing our microscopy catalogue, while also establishing a phycocyanin sampling protocol that included weekly collection and processing. These initiatives helped to advance our MV CYANO program and our ability to protect the ponds.
In her new, permanent role as our Science Engagement Manger, Kendall will become an adaptable and versatile team member taking on both science and administrative operations work including grant writing, managing donor relations, and continuing to run the microscopy and phycocyanin programs.
We are very excited for Kendall to have made her way back to us. Welcome to the year-round team!
