Mary Lou Green, Executive Director at Brightside St. Louis

Mary Lou Green has been Executive Director of Brightside St. Louis since 1990. She’s a graduate of University of Missouri – St. Louis with a B.S. in Business Administration.

Under Mary Lou’s direction, each year Brightside and its thousands of volunteers invest more than 20,000 hours planting and maintaining gardens all across St. Louis. This is possible thanks to Brightside’s wonderful partners, most notably, City of St. Louis, Missouri Department of Conservation, Downtown STL Partnership and the St. Louis Master Gardeners.

Mary Lou is a proud St. Louis city resident who grew up in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood and now lives in the Lindenwood Park neighborhood.

Douglas Poynter, Graffiti Eradication Program Supervisor

Douglas Poynter has served as Program Supervisor for Brightside’s Graffiti Eradication program since 1990. Doug leads two crews removing graffiti from painted and unpainted surfaces. This team has worked together for many years and they take great pride in the service they are providing to St. Louis. If they can safely reach it, they will remove it.

Doug is married, a father of two and grandfather of three.

Gwen McFowland, Program Coordinator

Gwen McFowland has been with Brightside almost since its beginning. She joined the organization in 1984 and now serves as the Program Coordinator. Gwen is the first person most people reach when contacting Brightside and she takes great pride in serving the people of St. Louis. Gwen is the liaison with the City of St. Louis for the Graffiti Eradication program and works very closely with the volunteer Area Commanders and Block Captains for Blitz.

Gwen is the daughter of the late Daisy B. McFowland, former alderwoman of the 4th Ward. Gwen has one grown daughter.

Elysia Musumeci, Sustainability Education & Outreach Coordinator

Elysia joined the Brightside family in June of 2015.  She is a graduate of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with an M.S. in Environmental Science Management and Rockhurst University with a B.S. in Biology.  Born and raised in St. Louis, Elysia now resides in the Dutchtown neighborhood.  In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends, learning Italian and playing the piano.

Brightside St. Louis Board of Directors

The Brightside St. Louis Board of Directors is made up of very talented individuals who generously share their knowledge and energy to provide guidance and direction to the staff, ensure our programs are effective and that the organization remains fiscally sound. In short, they ensure we bloom annually!

Paul Liberatore

Paul is a Financial Advisor with Ameriprise Financial. He has been in the wealth management business since 1997 and has spent his entire career in the financial and accounting profession. Paul is a CPA and, for 25 years, was a partner in public accounting firms practicing in the areas of audit, income and estate planning, and consulting for individuals, businesses and not-for-profit organizations. Paul graduated from Saint Louis University in 1972 with a B.S. Degree in Commerce specializing in accounting.

Paul was one of the founding members of Brightside St. Louis in 1982 and continues to serve as Chairman of the Board. He has also served on the boards of Alexian Brothers Hospital, the St. Louis Bi-State Chapter of the American Red Cross, the City’s Industrial Development Authority, Planned Industrial Expansion Authority and the Employees Retirement System. Paul and his wife have been married for more than 40 years and have four children and four grandchildren.

Richard Eaton

Richard joined the Board after many years as the liaison between Brightside St. Louis and the Soulard Restoration Group. The Neighbors Naturescaping Demonstration Garden was initially located in Soulard and was planted and maintained by the SRG Beautification Committee. Richard serves as the Chair of this committee and is also a Brightside Area Commander and Block Captain. Richard participates each year in the plantings around City Hall.

Richard retired after 45 years with Missouri Public Schools, 39 of those with Ladue School District where he chaired the Counseling Department at Ladue Horton Watkins High School. Richard received the his B.S. Degree from Southeast Missouri State University, his Master’s in Counseling and Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and his PhD. in Counseling and Psychology Education from Saint Louis University. Richard served on the Board of the Soulard Housing Corporation, and currently serves as Lay Leader of the Lafayette Park United Methodist Church. He is a member of Mizzou’s Flagship Counsel, The Tiger Scholarship Fund and a sustaining member of the University of Missouri’s Jefferson Club.

Mary Stewart

Mary joined the Brightside St. Louis board in 1999. Mary is an active member of the Saint Louis Hills Neighborhood Association volunteering for many of the neighborhoods events throughout the year. Mary regularly participates in the Neighbors Naturescaping and Growing St. Louis plantings in the garden at Clifton, Murdoch and Locke and can always be counted on to plant annuals at City Hall and daffodils on the highway. In addition to her service to her neighborhood and Brightside, Mary is an award-winning volunteer with the Crisis Nursery and has worked with at-risk children since 1995.

Mary has been a practicing attorney for more than 25 years and received her J.D. from Saint Louis University in 1988. She currently works in private practice at the Brunton Law Offices after working for many years as an in-house attorney for the Hartford Insurance Companies.

Geoffrey Burton

Geoffrey is a service-connected US Army DAV (1994) who served meritoriously during multiple military campaigns including Operation Desert Shield/Storm.  He is a graduate of the University of Missouri-St. Louis (B.S in Business Administration 1988) and is pursuing an MBA from the Fontbonne University Evening Program.

Geoffrey is a Senior Account Executive with St. Louis Public Radio (Local NPR affiliate) and has been there since 2007.

Geoffrey volunteers with the Gala & Marketing committee for Lift for Life Gym.  He and his wife, Lynn, reside in beautiful Florissant, Missouri and he enjoys fishing and gardening in his spare time.

Matthew Ellis

Matt is a psychiatric epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, with an focus on prescription opioid and heroin abuse. His work has been featured in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and he has served as a panelist for the local PBS station here in St. Louis.  When Matt is not working with Brightside, he can often be found at 1111 Mississippi or 33 Wine Bar in Lafayette Square.

Nick Profancik

Nick is an Employee Benefits Consultant at Arthur J. Gallagher, a risk management firm with a focus in Group Benefits and commercial exposure. Nick and his wife, Katelyn, are residents of the Shaw neighborhood and enjoy everything that St. Louis has to offer. Specifically, you can always find them at food truck fridays, exploring South Grand or jogging through Forest Park.

Donna Andrews

Communications Director–Affinia Healthcare