(By Rosanne Wolf, NCAP Board President)

With immense gratitude as well as sadness, the NCAP Board of Directors bids farewell to Co-Directors Ashley Chesser and Dominica Navarro Martinez. Both have been pursued to work for wonderful organizations in the environmental field. Dominica’s last day was March 31, 2022 and Ashley will work through early summer. They have been working closely with the Board to ensure a smooth and effective transition. 

Ashley became NCAP’s Executive Director in 2020 and transitioned to Co-Director with Dominica in 2021. Before moving into executive leadership, Ashley had been NCAP’s Communications and Development Manager, and has held several roles at NCAP over her eight-year tenure with the organization. She steps back from executive leadership to take a communications position with Wild Farm Alliance. She looks forward to spending more time with her young children during this next chapter of her career.

“I am extremely grateful for my experience at NCAP and the opportunity to help lead the organization these last few years,” said Ashley. “I’m excited to see where the next phase will take this amazing organization. The current team is well-positioned to successfully advance our campaigns and partnerships.” Ashley will also continue to support NCAP as a volunteer. 

Dominica joined NCAP in 2019 as the bilingual Healthy People & Communities Program Manager and stepped into the Co-Director role in 2021 after demonstrating skills in nonprofit management and systems administration. During her time with NCAP, Dominica grew the Spanish-language programming and our partnerships in the Latine community. Dominica is now the Deputy Director for the Organic Farming Research Foundation.

I thank Ashley and Dominica for their contributions. They are both fearless leaders and will be very much missed. Due to their leadership, the transition will be smooth. They have created a solid foundation for us to move forward with hiring new staff. 

Over the next few months, NCAP will conduct an analysis of our current staffing needs and begin the hiring process for new staff and leadership. We remain dedicated to fostering shared leadership among staff and supporting collective decision making. During this transition period, it is our priority to find new staff who will contribute to our leader-full team, while maintaining stable and effective programming. Our staff, Board and volunteers are committed to keeping NCAP progressing forward and you should not see any disruption to our programs. We will share a job announcement soon and ask for your help in identifying candidates who can help NCAP continue along our successful path. 

Again, we cannot thank Ashley and Dominica enough for the passion and dedication they have given NCAP. They will be greatly missed by the staff, Board and partners alike. We look forward to building on their successes and continuing to grow the pesticide-free movement along with your support. 

To help ensure a strong next phase for our organization, can you complete this brief survey for NCAP? One participant will be selected to win a "Go Pesticide-Free" tote bag, set of dandelion greeting cards, and a "Go Pesticide-Free" t-shirt (limited sizes available, see www.pesticide.org/store for details). THANK YOU!!