Board of Directors

NTA Board of Directors

Director Bios

Tom Arbron is the founder of Arbron Media Associates located in Norwalk, Connecticut. He became interested in the Norwalk Tree Alliance through his work at Fodor Farm. Tom’s goals for the NTA are to grow the Urban Tree Canopy in Norwalk and to try and cool impervious surfaces in our most populated areas around the city.

Allan Broadbent hails from sunny California, where his love of trees began as a child during a visit to the Giant Sequoias of Muir Woods in northern California. As a youth, Allan spent countless hours climbing the California Live Oaks, Bigleaf Maples, and Coast Redwoods that were all throughout his family’s neighborhood. Since 2005, Allan has been working as a landscape architect in Connecticut, designing and managing many wonderful landscapes throughout greater New England. He is currently founder of Broadbent Design Studios out of Norwalk with exciting projects across the nation. He was previously practicing with Granoff Architects in Greenwich, and the Director of Design for The LaurelRock Company in Wilton.  Allan is married to the brilliant Corinne Broadbent, choreographer and director at the Summer Theatre of New Canaan. He and Corinne reside in Norwalk with their two nature-loving children. Allan joined the NTA in 2017.   

Deborah Burnaman was born and raised in Pound Ridge, New York. She has been a resident of the Wilton/New Canaan area for 30+ years and is a proud mother of four children that attended local public and private schools. Deborah is an avid tennis player, runner, and aspiring golfer. She is passionate about gardening, green energy, electric vehicles, and solar power. As a real estate agent, Deborah sees how trees add value to our properties and our communities. It’s her dream to make the world a greener place to live, one house at a time.

Rob Frazier as a young boy, would sit with his Dad on a winter day and, with the help of the Burbee seed catalogue, plan the vegetable garden for the next year. Walks in the woods identifying wildflowers and native trees wetted a lifelong love of the seasons and the relationship of nature and design. Training and an early career in Hospital Administration, a return to school in Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, segued into a career in New York City managing capital projects for numerous non-profit organizations. These included educational, religious, healthcare and arts and cultural clients. The sum of these life experiences has given him a greater appreciation of the inter-relationship of landscape planning, ecology, trees, and the human world. He figures a day is not complete without reflection on this web of connectivity and the development of at least 10 new ideas. Rob has been planting trees in Norwalk since 1996 inspired by the belief that “Planting a tree is a vote for a future. “ 

Jeff Scherr is a Landscape Architect at Granoff Architects. As a landscape architect, trees are important at his job, and they’ve also been childhood jungle gyms, kickball bases, hiking trail markers, and much more. Jeff grew up in New Jersey and has lived in Rhode Island, Shanghai, New York, and now in Connecticut. Since trees play such an important role in his life and career, as a new Norwalk resident it seemed like a no brainer to get involved with the city through its trees. Jeff is excited to see what Norwalk’s trees can be imagined into.

Susan C. Stearns Simmons and her husband moved to Rowayton, Connecticut in 1990 where they have lived happily since then. Her story here begins with a long career on Wall Street in the Foreign Exchange Market. After 25 years commuting to the City from Rowayton, Susan retired from the business in 2005. During her career she was always an avid bonsai enthusiast. In pursuit of this hobby she studied with Yuji Yoshimura, renowned Bonsai Master, for 10 years and much later earned her Master Gardener Certificate from University of Connecticut. In 2007 Susan became the Bonsai Assistant to the Japanese artist at Shanti Bithi Bonsai in North Stamford, Connecticut. Over the next 6 years she helped maintain the massive collection of trees, taught classes in bonsai design theory, assisted in New York Botanical Garden annual fall display, and sold many bonsai trees. The nursery closed in 2013. Since 2013 Susan has been busy in her own bonsai garden maintaining a collection with trees dating to her early years in the hobby – 1985. It is through the appreciation of bonsai that she has become an advocate for the tree canopy in Norwalk’s urban forest.

Paul Sotnik Paul is a Senior Civil Engineer in the City of Norwalk’s Department of Public Works (D.P.W.). In addition to being a licensed Professional Civil Engineer with the Department, Paul is also a Deputy Tree Warden. As a Deputy Tree Warden, he provides technical support to the Tree Warden and the D.P.W. Operations Division by doing property line research when there are questions about whether a tree is a City tree or a Private tree. He also issues Tree Removal and Trimming permits to resident’s Licensed Arborists for tree related work that involves City trees for new construction such as for driveways and sewer laterals. In addition, Paul is the D.P.W. Staff representative to the Tree Advisory Committee. Paul was elected to the Board of the Norwalk Tree Alliance (N.T.A.) in November 2007 and serves as the D.P.W. representative to N.T.A. (the City’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit partner for tree related activities). He manages the annual D.P.W. Capital Tree Planting contract, the City’s annual Tree City U.S.A. applications and the planning for the City’s annual Arbor Day celebration that is held each year at one of the City’s Elementary Schools.

Jennifer Wilcox is a newcomer to the area and was drawn by, among other things, the beauty of the trees in Norwalk. Jennifer loves digging in the dirt and gardening in her yard, including arranging flowers nestled in with clippings of green. She is a founding partner of a boutique law firm and is happy to watch the trees zip by during her train ride to and from New York City. She is grateful for this opportunity to volunteer with a great organization providing a visible service to the community.