Since 1990
We are committed to assuring a clean environment and healthy economy for citizens of coastal Georgia.
Our Mission
A safe and healthy place to raise our families.
Our Vision
Our History
The Glynn Environmental Coalition (GEC) was formed in 1990 by concerned citizens wanting to know how our community became so polluted, why we continue to have health-threatening pollution, and how we could develop an action plan to correct the problem. Since our organization's inception, the Glynn Environmental Coalition has worked diligently to make Glynn County a safe and healthy place to raise our families.
The need is great as Glynn County is home to 17 identified hazardous waste sites, four Superfund Sites, and four actively polluting industries. We work for you through community organizing, educational presentations, technical assistance, submitting comments, and requesting public hearings. The focus of the GEC has expanded to include governmental oversight and environmental justice.
We empower citizens by providing technical assistance at our four Superfund Sites by administering EPA Technical Assistance Grants, which provide our community with answers and an independent review and analysis of site documents. We also submit comments on clean-up plans and "permit to pollute" requests. Since the inception of the GEC, the focus has been on Glynn County, but we increasingly collaborate with local, state, and national organizations to address the environmental quality of life in all of coastal Georgia.
The Glynn Environmental Coalition Board of Directors
Tony started attending Glynn Environmental Coalition 1st Friday lunches and over time became a valuable volunteer and wealth of knowledge about rural, water, and agricultural issues. Tony lives in north McIntosh County and helps serve the area, and plan Glynn Environmental Coalition meetings and events.
Tony Robinson - President
Bonyetta Brison-Kitts - Vice President
Bonyetta Brison-Kitts is the owner and founder of The Brison Group, a boutique public relations firm. Bonyetta also owns Source 21, an employment agency, with her parents, which serves the Golden Isles and surrounding counties. Bonyetta currently serves on the City of Brunswick's Audit Committee, is the Chair of the City's Tree Board, and is a founding member of the Urbana-Perry Park Neighborhood Planning Assembly.
Dr. Pfister practiced medicine as a Surgical Pathologist, Clinical Pathologist, and Medical Laboratory Director for 43 years, mostly in Georgia. He was a Diplomate of the American Board of Pathology (1979) and was a Fellow of the College of American Pathologists and a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. Dr. Pfister also was the senior partner and managing partner of Tifton Pathological Services, a multimember pathology group serving several hospitals in southwest Georgia for 34 years. He became a full-time resident of St. Simons Island in 2012. Dr. Pfister retired in 2017. His current interests are environmental and climatic preservation, mathematics, physics, and cycling.
Dr. Chip Pfister, MD, MBA - Treasurer
Sam Frazier
Sam joined the GEC during community organizing activities around the LCP Chemicals Superfund Site. Until recently, Sam worked at the Georgia Pacific Gypsum Plant, which was closed due to the economic slowdown. He lived in the neighborhood adjacent to the LCP Chemicals Superfund Site until it was bought by the pulp mill and razed. Sam keeps in touch with the former residents, has reluctantly retired to spend time with his children and family, and is active in his church.
Kent Goering - Secretary
Kent Goering is a retired research civil engineer. His professional career was with the U.S. Department of Defense and private industry in Alexandria, VA. He has expertise in structural dynamics and geotechnical engineering and has always been an advocate for environmental issues. He joined the GEC after coming to St. Simons in 2015. He represented the GEC as a judge in regional science fairs and became a member of the Board in 2018.
Cherise Cartwright
Cherise Cartwright traded in her flip-flops for boots after moving from Wellington, FL to Atlanta, GA in the Fall of 2005. Since then she has called Atlanta, Macon, Savannah, and now Saint Simons Island, GA her home. Cherise founded Oglethorpe Construction Group after deciding that in addition to a Realtor she also wanted to be a Developer. She’s worked diligently in a male-dominated industry to break traditional stereotypes while learning from the best in the business. When she’s not working in her field, she is very actively involved in her community and serves on professional boards that promote diversity, equity, and Inclusion, also Non-Profit Boards that deal with the environment, housing, and student success.
Glynn Environmental Coalition Personnel
Rachael Thompson
Executive Director
After obtaining her B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of Rhode Island, Rachael traveled to Georgia to serve as a Marine Science Instructor for the University of Georgia on both Jekyll and Tybee Islands. The next 5 years she spent educating and inspiring people to protect Georgia's most special places: working as a Naturalist at The Lodge on Little St. Simons Island and as the Watershed Outreach and Development Assistance with the Satilla Riverkeeper. Rachael started her tenure with the Glynn Environmental Coalition to facilitate the first leadership transition the organization had seen since its inception in 1990. In 2019, she was promoted to Executive Director and has since been nationally recognized for her community organizing work by being awarded the 2019 National Notable Achievement Award for Citizen Excellence in Community Involvement.
Martha Dismer
Seafood Outreach Assitant
More coming soon!
Jan McGoldrick
Senior Project Director
Jan McGoldrick is a Senior Project Director at GEC with expertise and decades of experience in environmental policy development and implementation. After spending most of her career in Washington DC working on issues with the Environmental Protection Agency, state drinking water authorities, a national conservation organization, and others, she relocated to the Georgia Coast in early 2021 and began working with GEC providing strategic direction to project design and execution, as well as organization development.
Frank Anastasi
Technical Advisor
Frank Anastasi is an independent environmental consultant who has worked on a wide variety of environmental cleanup projects since 1981. He is a licensed Professional Geologist in North Carolina, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania. Frank is supporting the Glynn Environmental Coalition and the Brunswick community as Technical Advisor under US EPA's Superfund Technical Assistance Grant program. He provides technical support to other groups of concerned citizens, as well as to private-sector and government clients.