Mark Brownlee, Head Ecologist

Mark Brownlee leads our ecological restoration research program by inventing new methods to solve problems, discovering new plants/genotypes and discovering new uses for obscure species. Mark built the philosophical foundation of the Ecoregion-centric nursery model. He also leads our largest programs with state and federal agencies and leads our consulting and business/nursery planning services. Mark holds a BS/MS from Carnegie Mellon.

Fun facts: Mark planted his first garden at six years old and has been growing and propagating plants ever since.  If you cannot find him fiddling with plants, he’s probably in West Virginia or Virginia trying to save some obscure species.

Josh Schwartz, Project Manager

Josh is ArcheWild’s go-anywhere, do-anything guy that enjoys getting a good job done well better than almost anything else.  While Josh’s true love is building metal art sculptures, he expertly leads teams to tackle the most demanding aspects of our projects.  Strong as an ox and funny as a loon, Josh is the glue that helps keep everything together. Josh studied at the University of Colorado.

Fun facts: Josh is an accomplished wrestler and an experienced crew (rowing) competitor.

Rae Serfilippi, Restoration Specialist

Rae is an outdoor enthusiast with a passion for traveling; whether to remote West Indie islands or the Himalayas.

She has worked with a wide variety of wildlife including black bears, American kestrels, and sharks, but her love of flora and all things green has guided her in many of her experiences and studies.

Rae graduated with a B.S in Ecological Restoration from Paul Smith’s College.

Noah Schaner, Nursery and Propagation Associate

Noah is a life long adventurer and student of the natural world.

He is fascinated with learning the unique ways plants have adapted to thrive on earth.

His work in both lab and greenhouse settings have given him an intuitive understanding of the environmental and internal cues that direct plant development. He is eager to relate this to the propagation and production of native plants in the nursery at ArcheWild.

Noah obtained his B.S degree in Biology from the University of South Carolina in 2019.

Jenna Outwater, Ecological Restoration Specialist

Insatiably curious, Jenna is always striving to deepen her knowledge in wildlife, ecosystems, botany, and connecting people to the land.

Jenna has a B.S. in Wildlife Conservation Biology from the University of Rhode Island.

She has worked for various organizations across the country working in an array of restoration-oriented roles and is motivated by healing our planet.

Iveta Gigova, Principal and CFO

Iveta Gigova is one of our founding Principals and holds a majority stake in the firm.  Iveta focuses primarily on servicing our strategic nursery accounts while managing both the finance and accounting functions.  With multiple Bachelor’s degrees and a Master’s from Princeton, Iveta provides the intellectual and analytical foundation that helps us to continue growing.

Fun Facts: Iveta has consulted for the World Bank, and helped launch a successful American-style liberal arts college in Europe.

Toni Becker, Client Manager

A graduate of Kutztown University with a BA in English, Toni is a part of the Client Management team.

She’s energetic, excited about the work being done at ArcheWild, and always eager to help match customers with services that perfectly meet their needs.

Call me anytime to learn about the great new plants that we’re growing!

Anna Reibson, Production Manager

Anna received a BS/MS degree from Penn State University in biology and horticulture.

She has spent the last ten years in the field of plant breeding working with oil seed and vegetable crops. She has done extensive research in the lab, greenhouse and field, and is excited to apply that experience to the native plant industry.

In her spare time Anna enjoys hiking, baking and spending time with her family.

Fun fact: Anna grew up helping out on her grandparent’s dairy farm and collecting wild edible plants with her mom.

Zach Haake, Restoration Specialist

Zach has traveled across the county working on different restoration projects from wetland delineations in Yellowstone to beachfront restoration in Massachusetts. Zach has deep knowledge of invasive plant removal and control techniques, which is a critical aspect of habitat restoration. Zach studied ecology at the University of Akron and enjoys plant identification while hiking in the mountains. At the age of 16, Zach started working on a Christmas tree farm and has loved to work outdoors ever since.

Ashley Randolph, Seed Specialist

Hi, I’m Ashley. I joined ArcheWild because I believe in the mission to apply sustainable landscape design principles to the everyone’s yard.

My role is to help our team walk the fine line between “wild” and “garden.” Every client is different and I help make sure that your WildLawn achieves just the right balance.

I’m currently managing ArcheWild’s seed inventory and its a lot of fun.