Fisheries and Wildlife Board members are responsible for supervising and controlling the agency, and have the authority to make regulations, set policy, and oversee personnel appointments. By statute, the Board is composed of 7 members; it meets monthly and holds public hearings as part of the regulatory process.
Sasha Dyer
Sasha Dyer brings a professional career in aquaculture as well as a lifelong passion for hunting and fishing to her role as the appointee from the Central Wildlife District. Ms. Dyer is the Fish Health Manager at Great Falls Aquaculture, an indoor recirculating aquaculture facility in Turners Falls, where she has worked since 1995. There, she oversees the maintenance of fish health through routine diagnostic technique, in addition to performing fish examinations and water-quality testing and managing employee training in fish health, fish behavior, and biosecurity.
Ms. Dyer harvested her first deer and her first turkey at age 11 and has been an avid outdoorswoman and conservationist from an early age. Her interest in fish and wildlife led her to Unity College in Maine, where she received a bachelor of science degree in environmental science, with a specialization in aquaculture.
Ms. Dyer has a passion for bringing new people into the outdoors, and is a very active volunteer, including recently with Ducks Unlimited; as secretary of the Petersham Gun Club and an archery instructor for the club’s “Girls-Guns-Grilling” day, held in coordination with the Massachusetts Chapter of The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF); as a swim coach for the Athol Area YMCA swim team since 1995; as the NWTF Women in the Outdoors (WITO) Coordinator; as a member and instructor for Mass. Women of the Outdoors (WOTO); and as an evening program instructor for the Massachusetts Junior Conservation Camp, where she teaches fish anatomy. Ms. Dyer lives in Barre with her husband, three children, numerous beagles, and a bird dog.
Emma Ellsworth
Appointed from the Connecticut Valley Wildlife District and as the farming representative on the Board, Emma Ellsworth is currently the Executive Director of the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, a regional land trust with a 23-town service area in central and northern Massachusetts, based in Athol, having first served for a year as Mount Grace’s Deputy Director. Ms. Ellsworth’s work at Mount Grace encompasses land acquisition, habitat conservation, land stewardship, landowner outreach, fundraising, and support for nature-based recreation and of local and regional agriculture, as well as operations and board member relations. Previously, she worked for over 20 years as a labor negotiator and organizer, including as the international vice president and director of organizing for the New England Joint Board of Unite Here of Boston.
Ms. Ellsworth earned two master’s degrees from Yale University: the first a master of arts in the history of African art, and then a master of philosophy in the history of art. She earned her bachelor of arts from Wellesley College with a wide-ranging course load that included biology, botany, ecology, and art history.
With lifelong interests in conservation and the outdoors that are equally broad, Ms. Ellsworth brings personal and family history with outdoor recreation, conservation, and wildlife appreciation to her role as a Board member. With passionate, influential outdoorspeople in her family, she has loved to hike, camp, and race canoes since she was a child. Describing herself as an avid adult-onset hunter, Ms. Ellsworth lives with her husband and hunting dogs in Orange.
Ernest W. Foster IV
Appointed from the Southeast Wildlife District, Mr. Foster is a graduate of Marquette University with a bachelor of science in business administration. Starting his career as a commercial printer, he is now an established owner and marketing and branding executive with businesses located on the South Shore. His work in the printing and paper industries taught Mr. Foster to value the scientific and technical aspects of forest/habitat management. Tours of paper mills and timbering sites provided a hands-on education and also made Mr. Foster an advocate for the preservation of open space.
Mr. Foster's love for the out-of-doors was established early in life, with hunting, fishing, and shooting all strong elements of his family tradition. Mr. Foster is an active, life member of the Scituate Rod and Gun, the Old Colony Sportsmen's Association, the National Skeet Shooting Association, and the National Sporting Clays Association (NSSA-NSCA). He is a current member (and past chair) of the Ducks Unlimited Minot's Ledge Chapter and a member of the Ruffed Grouse Society, Pheasants Forever, and The Trustees.
Mr. Foster lives with his wife, four children, and three dogs in the Scituate home he has owned for over thirty years. In his rare leisure time, he enjoys casting a fly, training his bird dog, and shooting his bow.
Malcolm Haith
Malcolm Haith is appointed to the Board from the Northeast Wildlife District. A corporate and executive security professional throughout his career, Mr. Haith is the founder and CEO of an executive protection services firm based in Boxford. He is an alumnus of Northeastern University and has earned many professional certifications in the course of his career.
Mr. Haith brings a lifetime of rich outdoor experiences to his work on the Board, beginning with state-sponsored fishing events for kids during his early childhood in Connecticut and during family trips to his grandfather’s farm in North Carolina. There he learned about the importance of nature as a source of food as well as of recreational opportunities. While a student at Northeastern, he used MassWildlife’s maps and guides to explore fishing areas throughout the state and he expanded his outdoor interests after college to include hunting deer, waterfowl, upland birds, and big game, in New England and in North Carolina. After being introduced to the conservation benefits and joys of working with well-trained bird dogs, Mr. Haith became an avid hunting dog trainer and competitor and currently has two Field Champion Labrador Retrievers in the American Kennel Club (AKC) Retriever Field Trials.
His personal passion for retriever sports led Mr. Haith to contribute his leadership, organizational, and mentoring skills to AKC licensed Retriever Field Trials, acting as a volunteer, an Event Judge (8-point), and a competitor in licensed Field Trial Events across the country. In 2021, he founded the non-profit Black Duck Field Trial Retriever Club (Black Duck FTRC), currently the only field trial club based in Massachusetts. The club held its first event in 2022 with the help and support of District Manager Pat Huckery of MassWildlife’s Northeast Wildlife District, DCR’s Peter Luongo, and private landowners in Essex County.
Mr. Haith is also passionate about conserving both open land and biodiversity in the state and encouraging as many people as possible – of all ages, races, and ethnicities – to participate in all the outdoor opportunities the Commonwealth has to offer.
In addition to serving as the President of Black Duck FTRC, Mr. Haith’s many affiliations include membership in the National Amateur Retriever Club (NARC) and the National Retriever Club (NRC). He is a past member of the Ducks Unlimited Ipswich River Chapter, the Massachusetts Rifle Association, the Minute Man Sportsman’s Club, and the Reading Rifle and Revolver Club. With his Labrador Retrievers, Poncho and Clipper, Mr. Haith has qualified for eight National Championships, run in seven (the eighth canceled in 2021 for COVID), and was a Finalist with Poncho in 2022. His dog Scooter, also out of Poncho, is competing in the minor stakes. Mr. Haith makes his home in Boxford with his wife Barbara of 26 years who is originally from Turners Falls.
Kyla Hastie
Kyla Hastie serves on the Board as the at-large member who is a professional wildlife biologist. She has more than 28 years of federal and nonprofit fish and wildlife conservation experience. Ms. Hastie served as the Northeast Deputy Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where she worked with fish and wildlife agencies from 13 northeast states, Tribal governments, nonprofit leaders, local communities, and academia to protect and restore habitat and increase hunting, fishing, environmental education, bird-watching, and other wildlife recreation opportunities. She led 750 employees to implement and enforce federal wildlife laws like the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, to manage 82 national wildlife refuges and 13 national fish hatcheries, and to administer funds through the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act and Federal Aid in Sportfish Restoration Act. Ms. Hastie previously directed communications with news media, Congress, and partners. She also worked as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Georgia, and for The Nature Conservancy developing partnerships with landowners.
Ms. Hastie’s father was passionate about fishing and at an early age she was baiting a hook and cleaning her catch. Both of her parents instilled a love for the outdoors and a responsibility to conserve nature. She pursued her passion for natural resources conservation, earning a bachelor's degree in biology from Southwestern University in Texas, and a master of science degree in environmental science (ecology) and a master of public administration from Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
She and her husband Keith live in Shutesbury and are avid hikers and wildlife-watchers. Currently she is completing an MBA at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is honored to serve the Commonwealth, and to support science-based fish and wildlife management of the extraordinary biodiversity of Massachusetts.
Matthew R. Sisk
Matthew Sisk joined the Board as an at-large member interested in the protection and management of wild birds and mammals, and any endangered or MESA-listed species, and serves as the Board's liaison to MassWildlife's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Advisory Committee, where he is a full voting member. He currently serves as the Assistant Deputy Superintendent at the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office. Prior to working at the Sheriff’s Office, Mr. Sisk was Deputy Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, overseeing 450,000 acres of parks, forests, parkways, watersheds, beaches, and pools.
Mr. Sisk has a bachelor of arts degree from Assumption College in Worcester, where he majored in the Classics, and he has a history of service as a federal and a state government employee. He has worked for the U.S. Small Business Administration in the Regional Administrator’s Office, assigned to the Massachusetts District Office as an Economic Development Specialist. Mr. Sisk has also served as Senior Advisor at the U.S. General Services Administration and as Director of Board and Commission Appointments for the Massachusetts Governor’s Office.
An avid sportsman and conservationist, Mr. Sisk belongs to Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, the Ruffed Grouse Society, the American Woodcock Society, and The Trustees; has served as president of the English Pointer Club of New England; and is a Life Member of the Braintree Rifle and Pistol Club. A lifelong Braintree native, he resides there with his wife, Meghan.