Our People

Pronouns: she/her

To Sarah, rural means a slower-paced, community-driven way of life–minimal traffic, cleaner air, open space, access to recreation and natural resources.

Sarah joined RCAP’s national office in March 2019 and has been involved in the water resources management and community development industry for the last ten years, more than eight of which have been within the RCAP network. She spent the two years prior to coming onboard at RCAP Solutions, the Northeastern and Caribbean RCAP, as the Deputy Director of Community Resources where she helped to oversee all regional water, wastewater and solid waste programming. Sarah also spent four years at another of RCAP’s regional partner organizations, RCAC, based in California, whereas a Rural Development Specialist II she developed and managed the flagship Agua4All program and was an active member of the Community Leadership, Median Household Income Survey and Regionalization teams.

Sarah has extensive experience in fund development, grants and contracts management, strategic program development and implementation, capacity building, professional facilitation, community outreach, communications, and adult education and training. She has been involved in the administration of federal and state funding programs and numerous smaller public and private grant programs for more than 10 years.

Sarah graduated magna cum laude with a BA in International Studies from Middlebury College with a concentration in Spanish/Hispanic Literature and Culture and a double minor in Russian and Political Science. She is a certified facilitator and environmental educator in both Project WET and Project Learning Tree. Sarah holds certificates of completion for participation in the following courses: Common Ground Mediation and Conflict Resolution, The Grantsmanship Center’s grant writing boot camp, The Croatan Institute’s series on Crowdfunding, Compass Point’s Instructional Design, OTTER participant based training techniques, Six Pillars of a Rural Development Specialist, and Facilitative Leadership for Social Change as well as ongoing water and wastewater technical, managerial and financial professional development.

Pronouns: she/her

To Diana, rural means small towns, off the beaten path, countryside with limited services.

Diana Carmenates joined RCAP in 2019 and is responsible for the organization’s meetings and events. Currently, she manages RCAP’s National Conference, Fly-In and regional convenings. With over 25 years in the meetings industry, she has successfully managed meetings and events with 30 to over 2000 participants for start-ups, trade associations and non-profits. Diana has been a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) since 2000 and a Certified Association Executive (CAE) since 2008. She received her Digital Events Strategist (DES) certification in 2020.

Diana holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Boston University and is fluent in Spanish. She currently resides in Miami, FL and enjoys attending concerts and volunteering in her spare time.

Emily has been on the DCS team since October 2019 and assumed the role of lead developer in May of 2020. In October 2022, she joined RCAP directly to continue her work on the DCS as RCAP’s Senior DCS Engineer. In her spare time, she enjoys playing, transcribing, and arranging music for the piano, modeling objects in CAD, tinkering with her 3D printers, and playing video games. She lives in Baltimore with her partner Lauren and Pumpkin, their calico cat.

Katherine Coviello joined RCAP in April 2023. Prior to joining RCAP, Katherine worked as a Project Manager for Roumani Consulting in the philanthropic sector supporting communication and strategy goals. She has also worked doing video production, graphic design, and journalism.

Originally born and raised in San Francisco, California, Katherine graduated from the University of California, Davis with a double major in communication and design. In her free time, she enjoys reading, drawing, and visiting museums.

Gregorio Esparsen, raised in the Inland Northwest, began his tech career in the Pacific Northwest with a passion for technology that connects people, insights, and ideas to create meaningful momentum. With a data-centric focus on the industries of event technology and water treatment, he has specialized in digital infrastructure on prem to the cloud, back-end development, data visualization, and beyond. Gregorio is proud to be continuing this journey at RCAP as the Data and Impact Manager.

Preferred Pronouns:  He/Him/His

David brings over 40 years of experience in nonprofit financial management to RCAP. He spent most of the first 20 years of his career working in municipal governments in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Vermont.  The second 20 years have been spent working for a variety of regional and national nonprofit organizations.

Graduating with a BA in Political Science from Grove City College he has also studied Public Administration at Cornell University’s Graduate School of Business and Public Administration and pursued continuing education in Accounting at the State University of New York at New Paltz.

He was born and raised in Catskill, New York and has lived most of his life in rural communities throughout the northeastern United States.  He married his wife, Joice, in 1984 and has two step-children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.  Travelling to National Parks and enjoying and preserving the beauty of the outdoors with his family is his avocation and passion.

Pronouns: she/her

To Lisa, rural means small towns, open spaces, vast natural resources and connection to the community.

Lisa joined RCAP in November 2020 as a Training and Technical Services Specialist, with a focus on curriculum development and training activities/support at the RCAP national and regional levels. She previously worked as a Senior Rural Development Specialist for one of RCAP’s regional partners, GLCAP, where she provided training and technical assistance to rural communities for project development, financial and administrative management and improved sustainability for water and wastewater utilities.

Lisa earned a BA from Alma College, and has over 20 years of experience in community and economic development through grant writing, grant administration, facilitation, training and project management. She has a strong familiarity with federal and state funding programs, and has administered projects funded through EPA, USDA, EDA and CDBG. She is a Master Trainer through Langevin, where she also received certification in Instructional Design and Training/Facilitation.

Lisa is a skilled communicator and understands the critical importance of relationship-building to build capacity. She has helped leverage over $100 million on behalf of municipalities, non-profits and private sector organizations.

Coye graduated from Temple University with a Master of Science in Development Communications, and Salisbury University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations. Prior to joining RCAP, Coye worked as a Community Outreach Specialist in the transit and gas industries, interfacing with numerous individuals on a regular basis.

Originally born in Fairfax, Virginia, Coye was raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland for much of their life and currently resides in San Diego, California. They enjoy playing Ultimate Frisbee and attempting to dance salsa when they can.

Pronouns: They

Owen Griffith joined the RCAP team in late April 2022 as the new Fund Development Associate. He has been dedicated to serving others through work the nonprofit sector over the past 12 years within many different roles spanning social work, grant writing, international development, marketing, logistics, and fundraising. Prior to joining RCAP, Owen spent six years building a first-time development department for a community organization in St. Louis, MO. He is now excited to bring a knowledge and passion for grant writing, fundraising strategy, and fund development to help advance the efforts of the RCAP network.

Scott is a long-term member of the water and wastewater community with over 38 years of experience in working and teaching the technical aspects of the water industry both as an operator, Manager, and a trainer. Scott was Appointed to the Water and Wastewater Primacy Board by Maryland’s governor Larry Hogan and was also, appointed to the Anne Arundel County Maryland’s Pension Board by The County Executive.

Scott has served as President of the Anne Arundel County blue collar Employees Union. In 2021 Scott’s training program was nominated for and won the Training Program of the Year Award by The National Rural Water Association.

Victoria joined RCAP in May 2023 as a Research Associate. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a Master of Science in Geography, and from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Anthropology. While in graduate school, she found her passion for research surrounding drinking water accessibility in small communities. Her thesis focused on the impacts of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 on water systems in Southeast Texas. She interviewed water operators about the difficulties that these smaller communities faced to obtain funding to repair their infrastructure. During her time as a student, she gained the skill sets to use both quantitative and qualitative research methods in her work, specifically with GIS and interview protocols.

Born in Japan but raised in South Florida from a young age, Victoria currently resides in College Station, Texas. In her spare time, she enjoys playing pickleball with her friends and hanging out with her cat, Juniper.

Kaitlin Harris joined RCAP in 2022 as an Environmental Program Manager. Prior to joining RCAP, Kaitlin worked with Indigenous community leaders on water access and infrastructure development across Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. Grounded in place-based partnership and contextual problem solving, Kaitlin has worked with rural communities, across the southwest and internationally, for over 5 years on creating access to water, electricity, healthcare, and voting rights.

Kaitlin graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology. She is energized by designing creative programs that center people first and support the future of rural communities.

Hailing from the corn-fields of small town Indiana, Kaitlin now calls central Texas home. She enjoys taking Portuguese lessons, buying last minute plane tickets, and learning to play the banjo.

Kaitlin is excited to bring her intersectional background and community-centered design experience to the team at RCAP!

Jodi Hilsabeck joins RCAP after spending the last six years with Midwest Assistance Program (MAP), the Midwest RCAP partner.  Jodi spent four of those years as a Technical Assistance Provider working with small rural communities in Iowa to help them build critical infrastructure, asset management, financial stability, and economic development.  For the past two years Jodi worked as an Internal Program Manager monitoring and reporting on state grants and contracts within a 9 state region.

Jodi looks forward to building relationships that support rural communities through RCAP’s Environmental Finance Center designation.  Her focus will be to help develop holistic ecosystems for rural communities around the nation.

Hunter specializes in advocacy issue areas pertaining to community and economic development as well as small business development.

Hunter is from the great lake state of Michigan where he also went to Albion College to study finance and public policy. Upon accepting a job at RCAP in May of 2020, he served a 2-year tenure in Washington D.C. before relocating to Seattle, Washington.

To Hunter, rural means impact. Rural towns offer their residents an opportunity to greatly shape and impact their community.

Seth Johnson joined RCAP in June of 2022. Prior to joining RCAP, Seth led digital communications at NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association and held other communications and marketing positions at associations and capacity building organizations in the Washington, D.C., area.

Originally from a rural area outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Seth graduated from American University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He enjoys following politics from a communications angle, binging podcasts, traveling, exploring new wineries with his wife, and spending time with his young daughter.

Ami Keiffer joined RCAP in April 2022 as an Environmental Program Manager with our training team. Ami has spent the past 3 years with RCAC, the western RCAP partner, as a technical assistance provider in both environmental and rural economic development programs. She has spent over 10 years in Community and Economic Development and has seen her career grow from the humble beginnings of being a Main Street manager of a rural community to infrastructure project management for state agencies to working in grant program management for RCAP.

Preferred pronouns: she/her/hers

To Laura, rural means an equal right to health and opportunity.

Laura started working with RCAP in May 2018 as a research and policy fellow and joined the team full-time in June 2019 after receiving a Masters of Environmental Management degree from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. As a research manager, Laura advances RCAP’s mission of supporting small and rural communities by identifying, understanding and sharing their needs and contributing to national environmental and economic conversations.

At Duke, Laura was involved in projects that influenced her desire to work on issues of access and equity in the water and sanitation space. These included a project addressing concerns of equity and environmental justice through a focus on wastewater issues in rural areas and another project studying water and wastewater system regionalization efforts by rural systems to better understand the benefits of regionalization and cooperation. Prior to studying at Duke, Laura worked for a social good consulting firm in Arlington, VA for 3 years. She worked on cost models for federal drinking water regulations and assessments of federal laboratory certification programs at the regional level. Combined with a BA in Economics and Environmental Policy with high honors from the College of William & Mary, these experiences have given Laura a strong background in research, writing, and statistical analysis, as well as a grasp on the unique challenges rural and small communities face.

Elias Mathes, Thriving Rural Communities Senior Program Manager, is based in Tallahassee, FL, and joined RCAP in July 2023 bringing more than a dozen years of post-graduate experience working with rural cities and counties in the areas of community and economic development, urban planning, and project management.

Prior to joining RCAP, Elias worked as a public sector consultant for five years providing technical assistance and support to communities around the country, specifically focusing on equitable economic development, affordable housing, and infrastructure financing. Elias has prior local government experience having been the Transit Planning & Operations Division Manager with the City of Asheville North Carolina and an Economic Development Specialist with the Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority. Over the course of his career, he has managed nearly $1 billion in federal funding, including two USDA block grant programs on behalf of the State of Florida.

Elias holds Master’s Degrees in both Urban and Regional Planning and Business Administration from Florida State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Valdosta State University. In his spare time, Elias serves as a volunteer firefighter and medical first responder in rural Franklin County, Florida.

Olga Morales-Pate, an accomplished and experienced leader on environmental justice and rural community development issues, became CEO of RCAP in October 2022, after spending 19 years at RCAC, the western RCAP. As RCAC’s Assistant Director of Community and Environmental Programs, she led a team of 48 and managed an annual portfolio of nearly $10 million in grants and contracts. Olga also developed and led RCAC’s regionalization work and authored legislation that established the New Mexico Colonias Infrastructure Fund which has secured $144.6 million for 263 infrastructure projects since 2011. She also served on the EPA’s National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC) as an appointee of President George W. Bush, where she established strong working relationships with the agency while leading advisory efforts on issues such as climate change, hydraulic fracturing, carbon sequestration, and harmful algae blooms and cyanotoxins among others.

Preferred pronouns: He/Him

To Andrew, rural means the landless crowded. Rolling hills, valleys, fields, mountains, small towns, often close-knit communities, and plenty of room to roam. Places that have not yet developed into a mainstream city, and often have room to grow.

Andrew Nordbye joined RCAP in February of 2019 as the Manager of Technical Services and Programs. He previously worked for one of RCAP’s regional partners, the Midwest Assistance Program, where he helped manage grants, contracts, reporting, the website, regional surveys, and print production. Nordbye has a Bachelor of Science degree in both Business Management and Marketing from Northwest Missouri State University. While in college, Nordbye was president of two organizations – The Northwest Fishing Club and Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU). Nordbye has really enjoyed working for RCAP, as the work done is very rewarding. You get to see firsthand how the work we do helps to make rural communities sustainable for the future.

Vicki Perry brings nearly 18 years of experience in developing and delivering in-person and web-based interactive training events for utility operators, boards, and clerks on managerial, financial, and technical topics to the national office. During her tenure as State Director of the Indiana RCAP, in addition to planning, promoting, and delivering training events, she also managed grant contracts and oversaw over $100 million in infrastructure funding secured for rural utilities. Perry holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University in Natural Resources & Environmental Science, with minors in Spanish and Political Science.

Lena joined RCAP in July 2022 to assist the research group. She brings a decade of professional work experience and has worked in three different countries as well as the American West. Prior to joining RCAP, Lena was working for the New Mexico Environment Department as Source Water Program Manager, which gave her a background on issues that rural communities are facing. Lena has also worked with flood forecasting and climate change effects on hydrology, stream health, and wildfire effects in the forestry sector and in wildlife management.

Lena’s technical experience ranges from GIS and remote sensing to statistical modeling and data analysis.

Her goal is to enhance access to clean and affordable drinking water and wastewater services in rural and tribal areas and use her research skills to improve their climate resilience and economic prosperity.

She has a Master’s degree in Geography from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and the University of Oslo, Norway. Lena is based in Colorado and enjoys spending time outside, exploring the mountains and valleys, and cooking food with local ingredients.

Sherry, Training and Technical Services Specialist, has a Bachelor of Science in Speech Communications from North Dakota State University.

Sherry’s municipal background in municipal operations is extensive after working as a small-town clerk and emergency manager for almost ten years.  She is also a certified water and wastewater operator and is knowledgeable in sample-taking and reporting requirements ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations.  Sherry has managed construction projects and their respective financial reporting for water and wastewater projects.  She is knowledgeable in funding applications, emergency response, disaster preparedness, and mitigation strategies.

Prior to joining RCAP, Sherry worked as a Technical Assistance Provider servicing small communities within the RCAP network.

Born and raised in North Dakota, Sherry enjoys wide open country, rodeo, and the beautiful scenery of the Badlands.

Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hers

To Blue, Rural means wild places, long, quiet evenings, and night skies dark enough to lay on your back and stare for hours at the stars

Blue joined RCAP in early 2022 as a Data Science Fellow and joined the team as a Data and Impact Associate in July of 2022. As a Data and Impact Associate, Blue supports RCAP’s mission by leveraging her experience as a programmer and data scientist to help support existing technical platforms, plan for the future, and examine available data to draw valuable conclusions about areas of need and impact relevant to RCAP’s core goals.

Prior to her work at RCAP Blue jumped between several majors at Portland State University, including Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Data Science. Her work there included a summer spent mentoring high school students in Arduino programming for a summer boot camp program, a summer spent managing the Electronic Prototyping Lab, and a year spent working as a researcher in the Power Engineering Lab developing prototypes for distributed energy resource aggregation to help with frequency control and peak shifting for solar and wind energy infrastructure.

Preferred Pronouns: he/him

Ted Stiger joined RCAP in 2016 and is responsible for the organization’s national policy, legislative, and regulatory efforts as well as assists with the overall management of the organization as a member of the senior leadership team. Stiger has also managed and secured multi-million dollar technical assistance and training programs while at RCAP. Currently, he oversees RCAP’s new Economic Development and Events Departments.

Previously, he was the Legislative Associate for the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), which represents local government-based regional development and planning organizations nationwide. He provided advocacy of NADO’s legislative priorities and policy development in the areas of rural community and economic development. Prior to that, he worked on Capitol Hill for U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow.

His experience also includes environmental and rural advocacy, including drafting legislation that has been secured in multiple Farm Bills, appropriations measures, and the Water Resources Development Act. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Albion College and hails from rural northeast Michigan. He currently lives in Maryland with his wife Nicole and dog Lenny.

Yosief Tecle joined RCAP in 2022, as Accounting Associate. He has worked for nonprofit organization for 9 years and is based in Washington DC. He has practical work experience of federal and state grants accounting, CFR 200 cost principles, single audit requirements, non-profit accounting guidelines and GAAP. Yosief Possesses M.A in Economics, Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Management, B.A Degree Economics/Accounting.