OTA's Team

Find areas of expertise and contact information for each OTA team member.

OTA Director

Tiffany Skogstrom, Director
[phone]

Tiffany is OTA’s Director and has worked at OTA since 2013. Prior to her appointment as Director, she served as OTA's Outreach and Policy Analyst. She is also the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Administrative Council, a policy-making body that reviews proposed regulations and chemical policies to protect the health and safety of workers and the public at large and promotes increased coordination in the enforcement of toxics laws and regulations statewide. Her toxics use reduction and occupational health experience includes creating a program to improve the work environment for auto shop and nail salon workers through the Boston Public Health Commission’s Safe Shops and Safe Nail Salon Projects. Throughout her career, Tiffany has worked with various environmental and nonprofit organizations on waste reduction, recycling and pollution prevention campaigns. Tiffany graduated from the Boston University School of Public Health where she concentrated in Environmental Health and was awarded the William B. Patterson Memorial Award for Excellence in Environmental and Occupational Health. She is also a 2006 Environmental Leadership Program Fellow and 2011 Fellow of the University of California San Francisco Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment’s Reach the Decision Makers Program.

Business Assistance Providers

Jack Illingworth, Technical Staff Supervisor
[phone]
Industry expertise: Automotive, Chemical Manufacturing, Commercial Machinery, Computer Equipment, Furniture and Fixtures, Lumber and Wood Products, Powder Coating, Transportation Equipment, miscellaneous industries (SIC codes: 24, 25, 28, 33, 35, 37, 39, 75)
Other expertise: Debugging and scale-up of new chemical equipment, hazardous materials, hazardous waste management, air emissions, OSHA regulations, and spray coating operations

Jack has over 25 years of wide-ranging experience in the development and manufacturing of photographic chemicals, optical adhesives, and photoresists as a technician, production supervisor and operations manager. He has had experience with the installation, debug, and scale-up of both new chemical equipment and the processes to manufacturing facilities, hazardous materials, hazardous waste management, air emissions, and OSHA regulations. Jack is a certified Toxics Use Reduction Planner (TURP).

John Raschko, OTA Team Leader
[phone]
Industry expertise: Chemical Manufacturing, Concrete/Ceramics, Energy Generation, Measuring Instruments/Medical Devices, Petroleum Products. Polymer/Rubber Manufacturing (SIC codes: 283X, 29, 30, 32, 38, 49)
Other expertise: Energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies, hazardous materials, hazardous waste management, air emissions

John provides pollution prevention and compliance assistance to companies in the medical device, measuring instruments, concrete, ceramics, and petroleum product industry sectors, and those with energy generation and combustion operations.  He also is involved in assisting companies to implement energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, and reduce energy costs. In addition, John serves as OTA's liaison to the TURA program Science Advisory Board. Prior to joining OTA, John was involved in developing innovative environmental technologies for treating oily wastes and volatile organic compounds. He has had R&D experience in synfuels and wood gasification, and also has worked as a consultant on waste-to-energy systems and other solid waste management projects.  John has a doctorate in chemical engineering from Northeastern University.

Elisheva (Liz) Thoreen, Environmental Engineer
[phone]
Industry expertise: Food & Beverage Manufacturing, Electronics/Electrical equipment, Paper and Allied Products (SIC codes: 20, 26, 283X, 36)
Other expertise: Marine maintenance, defense industry, petroleum, power generation, HVAC/AC&R, internal combustion, Environmental Policy Act

Elisheva has over 36 years of experience as a licensed Environmental Engineer, Operating Engineer, and Kitchen Manager. She has experience as a shipboard engineer knowing all aspects of ship system engineering, and as air pollution engineer inspecting facilities as varied as waste treatment facilities and food processors. She also has extensive experience in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) where she was a subject matter expert for the US Navy, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and computer modeling. Her expertise is combustion, AC&R, chemical processing, NEPA, and food processing. Elisheva has a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mechanics Engineering from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Arts in Public Policy from Liberty University.

Policy and Outreach

Caredwen Foley, Communications and Policy Analyst
[phone]

Caredwen manages communications and outreach for OTA. She prepares the OTA annual communications plan; produces reports, fact sheets, case studies, guidance documents, and newsletters; and manages OTA's website and social media profiles. Caredwen provides policy, regulatory, and administrative support to OTA, the TURA Program Partners, the TURA Administrative Council, and the TURA Advisory Committee. Prior to joining OTA, Caredwen worked in education consulting, survey research and analytics, and data visualization. She holds a Master of Public Health in Environmental Health from the Boston University School of Public Health, where she studied environmental toxicology, risk assessment, and science communication. She was the 2021 recipient of the William B. Patterson Memorial Award for Excellence in Environmental and Occupational Health, and is a member of the Delta Omega public health honors society. Caredwen also completed a B.A. in Government at Smith College.

Kari Sasportas, Outreach and Chemical Policy Analyst
[phone]

Kari raises the agency’s visibility as a free and confidential resource for Massachusetts toxics users and coordinates OTA’s chemical policy development and research. Kari is a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) and has over 13 years of experience in state and local government and municipal and regional emergency preparedness. Kari previously served as the Public Health Director for the Town of Lexington, Manager of Community Resilience and Preparedness at the Cambridge Public Health Department, Health Officer at the Watertown Health Department, and Environmental Analyst at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In Cambridge, she participated in developing citywide and neighborhood-specific Climate Change Preparedness and Resilience plans, and led an effort engaging local youth in documenting climate change preparedness and outreach with vulnerable and at-risk populations. Previously, she served on the Advisory Committee to the Administrative Council on Toxics Use Reduction. Kari earned a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Environmental Health and a Master of Social Work (MSW) from Boston University.

OTA Staff Contacts by Industry Expertise

Industry Sector	OTA Staff Member
Automotive	Jack Illingworth
Chemical Manufacturing	Jack Illingworth; John Raschko
Commercial Machinery	Jack Illingworth
Computer Equipment	Jack Illingworth
Concrete/Ceramics	John Raschko
Electronics/Electrical equipment	Elisheva Thoreen
Energy Generation	John Raschko
Food and Beverage Manufacturing	Elisheva Thoreen
Furniture and Fixtures	Jack Illingworth
Lumber and Wood Products	Jack Illingworth
Measuring Instruments and Medical Devices	John Raschko
Miscellaneous Industries	Jack Illingworth
Paper and Allied Products	Elisheva Thoreen
Petroleum Products	John Raschko
Polymer and Rubber Manufacturing	John Raschko
Powder Coating	Jack Illingworth
Transportation Equipment	Jack Illingworth

OTA Staff Contacts by SIC Code

SIC Code	OTA Staff Member
20	Elisheva Thoreen
24	Jack Illingworth
25	Jack Illingworth
26	Elisheva Thoreen
28	Jack Illingworth
29	John Raschko
30	John Raschko
32	John Raschko
33	Jack Illingworth
35	Jack Illingworth
36	Elisheva Thoreen
37	Jack Illingworth
38	John Raschko
39	Jack Illingworth
49	John Raschko
75	Jack Illingworth
283X	Elisheva Thoreen; John Raschko