Barnegat Bay Partnership Staff

Below is a short bio of each of the six staff members in the Barnegat Bay Partnership office.  The members of the Barnegat Bay Partnership staff are employees of Ocean County College, which is where the Partnership office is located. Find out how you can contact a member of the staff by clicking on any of the names below.

L. Stanton Hales, Jr., Ph.D.    
Program Director                                                                                                          

L. Stanton Hales, Jr., Ph.D. joined the BBP as Director on July 1, 2007. He brings a diverse background in education, research, and management to the BBP.  Before joining the BBP, Dr. Hales was a Senior Fish and Wildlife Biologist in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s New Jersey Field Office, where he coordinated planning and other activities in the Hackensack Meadowlands and authored The Hackensack Meadowlands Initiative: Preliminary Conservation Planning. Previously, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor and Assistant Director of the Coastal Conservation Research Program (CCRP) at Richard Stockton College. The CCRP was a collaborative student-based research program supported by many organizations, including the Wetlands Institute and the National Science Foundation.

 

Dr. Hales’ research activities have focused on growth, mortality, and movements of estuarine fishes, but also include published studies on ecotoxicology, population genetics, and reproductive ecology. He received his B.S. from Davidson College, his M.S. from the College of Charleston, and his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.

Martha Maxwell-Doyle
Project Coordinator

Martha Maxwell-Doyle brings a wealth of rel­evant experience in estuary protec­tion and restoration to the BBP. Prior to joining the BBP in 2009, Martha served as the Deputy Director of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE), another of the 28 National Estuary Programs. In that role, she managed the implementation of the PDE’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan and oversaw the science and resource management activities, including its ecosystem-based habitat restoration program.

Prior to working for the PDE, Martha served as an environmental-crimes investi­gator with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and co-coordinated the activities of the Ocean County Environmental Crimes Task Force, a multi-agency program estab­lished to investigate and prosecute environmental crimes.

Martha's current work activities at BBP focuses on developing New Jersey specific climate adaptation tools, the monitoring and assessing local coastal wetlands and providing technical asstance in hazards mitigation planning which has becoming even more criticial in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.. 

A graduate of Rutgers University - Cook College with a degree in environmental planning and design, Martha is also state-certified hazardous mate­rials response technician/CBNRE specialist. She along with her husband Larry are officers with the Berkeley Emergency Response Team, the regional response hazardous materials team for Ocean County. 

Mary Judge  
Program Assistant

Mary Judge began as a volunteer for the BBP in 2001 and started as the full-time Program Assistant upon the BBP’s move to Ocean County College in 2003.  She contributes to public outreach activities for the BBP by coordinating volunteer projects, maintaining a volunteer/interested party email list-serve, speaking to groups about Barnegat Bay stewardship, and attending numerous events on behalf of the BBP to distribute information and answer questions.  For many years she helped coordinate the Barnegat Bay Festival, the BBP small-grant program, and presently acts as the BBP representative on the Environmental Educators Roundtable.  Mary serves as chair of her local Environmental Committee and created and maintains a Children’s Garden as a joint project of the BBP and the Ocean County Library (Island Heights branch). 

Mary was born and raised in New Jersey, but spent 20+ years living in and exploring other parts of the country, including Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and California. Mary received a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Denver (1979), spent many years working in law firms throughout the west and brings years of office administration experience to the BBP.  

Karen Walzer
Public Outreach Coordinator

Karen began her career working for New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection as an Environmental Specialist. Her experience included enforcement of coastal land use laws and assessment of biological impacts of projects. More recently, she monitored water quality for Monmouth County Health Department as an Environmental Health Specialist, and worked for the New Jersey Forest Resource Education Center as a Seasonal Naturalist. In 2007-2008 Karen served in an AmeriCorps program as the New Jersey Watershed Ambassador for the Barnegat Bay Watershed. She coordinated public outreach efforts and presented educational programs throughout the watershed. She has also been an active participant in community outreach events as a long time volunteer for two local organizations, Ocean County Master Gardeners and Jackson Pathfinders.  

Karen received a B.S. in Biology from Bucknell University and earned New Jersey Teacher Certificates in both Biology and General Science.   She is also licensed as a NJ Registered Environmental Health Specialist. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening and exploring local trails. 

Betsy Hyle     
Special Events Coordinator 

Betsy Hyle, started her career in television journalism in Baltimore as a news and documentary producer, then transitioned to newsroom management with oversight of a 100-person, 24/7 news operation.  After 16 years in television,  Betsy stepped away to provide homecare for an aging relative while continuing to freelance both news and public relations projects.  A growing interest in senior care resulted in a MA in Aging Studies and a ten-year career with a national company specializing in construction and management of large-scale retirement communities where Betsy served as a Director of Health Care Services.  In addition to her position with the BBP, Betsy is also a lecturer at Ocean County College with the Academic Services Department teaching the first-year student success curricula.                                                                                                                    

Jim Vasslides
Program Scientist

Jim Vasslides comes to the BBP with a wide range of terrestrial, estuarine, and marine research and management experience. Before joining the BBP he was a member of the Rutgers University Marine Field Station, where he conducted research on New Jersey’s marine resources, primarily on the Barnegat Bay and near-shore coastal waters. Prior to that Jim worked as a Fishery Biologist II for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries in the Pamlico Sound, overseeing studies of the Sound’s juvenile and adult fish populations, as well as state-wide management of American eel and Atlantic Croaker. Before focusing on marine and estuarine issues, Jim was involved with wetland restoration and enhancement projects, threatened and endangered species surveys, and project planning and permitting.

Jim received his B.S. and M.S. from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and has published papers on fish community assemblages, feeding interactions, and early life history movements. His research interests include the role of estuaries as nurseries, the restoration of shallow water habitats, and climate change effects on species distributions and assemblages.