Composition of the Commission
The Martha's Vineyard Commission is made up of 21 Commissioners elected by Vineyarders or appointed by elected officials, of whom 17 are eligible to vote on regulatory matters.
- 9 are elected by Vineyard voters in Island-wide elections held every two years,
- 6 are appointed on an annual basis by the Boards of Selectmen of the Towns on Martha's Vineyard,
- 1 is appointed on an annual basis by the Dukes County Commission,
- 5 are appointed by the Governor or member of the cabinet, four of whom do not vote on DRIs or DCPCs.
Officers are elected on an annual basis each December by the full Commission. The officers are the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Clerk-Treasurer.
If you are interested in becoming a Commissioner, you can either run in the Island-wide elections held every two years, or you could be appointed by a town, the county or the Governor or a member of his cabinet. For further information, please contact the Commission Administrator.
Current Commissioners
Jeffrey AgnoliEdgartown - Elected member at large. Commissioner since 2021.
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Clarence (Trip) BarnesTisbury - Elected member at large. Commissioner since 2013. Trip is owner of Barnes Moving and Storage, the first president of the Vineyard House, and is a well-known auctioneer for a variety of Island causes.
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Christina BrownEdgartown - Elected member at large. Commissioner since 1997. Christina is retired from being the Assistant to the Edgartown Planning Board for many years. She is a former MVC Chair.
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Jay GrossmanChilmark - Elected member at large. Commissioner since 2021. Jay has been a seasonal Island resident for more than 20 years and year round resident of Chilmark since 2015. He is President of PuckAgency, a sports management company specializing in the representation of NHL players. |
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Fred J. HancockOak Bluffs - Elected member at large. Commissioner since 2010. Fred is self-employed as a technical director for corporate meetings. |
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Michael KimGovernor's Appointee |
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Joan MalkinCurrent Chair of the MVCChilmark - Appointed by the Chilmark Select Board. Commissioner since 2013. Joan has been a year-round resident of Chilmark since 2010 and before that was a seasonal resident for over 30 years. A retired attorney, she is on the Chilmark Conservation Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals. |
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Greg MartinoTisbury - Appointed by the Tisbury Select Board. Commissioner since 2022. Greg is an entrepreneur who co-owns the aquiculture farm Cottage City Oysters, as well as the audio/video production company A2D Productions. Greg serves on the board of Island Grown Initiative, is acting Treasurer for the Martha's Vineyard Farm Bureau chapter, a member of the Massachusetts Aquaculture Association and an appointed member of the Tisbury Waterways Committee. He also serves as a financial analyst for non-profits on Martha's Vineyard. Greg is a USCG licensed 50-ton captain, a part-time EMT and a volunteer fireman for his hometown of Tisbury. |
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Katherine NewmanAquinnah - Appointed by the Aquinnah Select Board. Commissioner since 2000. Kathy is a retired psychologist who has been living in Aquinnah since 2000. She is on the Conservation Commission and heads the Personnel Committee in Aquinnah. |
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Kate PutnamEdgartown - Appointed by the Edgartown Select Board.. Commissioner since 2022. Kate is an angel investor, mentor and instructor for I-Corps at MIT. She works with high growth startups and businesses across southern New England. Most of her board work has been in non-profits and private companies, She has been a seasonal resident of the Vineyard since the 1950's and year-round since 2015 when she sold the off-island custom machinery manufacturing business that she ran. |
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Ben RobinsonTisbury - Elected member at large. Commissioner since 2016. Ben is a member of the Tisbury Planning Board and is a graduate of the Syracuse School of Artchitecture. Being born and raised on the Vineyard, he feels that civic participation by residents is vital to the strength of the community. |
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Doug SederholmCurrent Chair of the Land Use Planning CommitteeWest Tisbury - Elected member at large. Commissioner since 2003. Doug is an attorney. He served on the Chilmark Finance Advisory Committee and is a former MVC Chair, most recently from 2019-2020. |
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Linda SibleyWest Tisbury - Elected member at large. Commissioner since 1992. Linda was the owner of the Vineyard Electronics. She is the longest-serving member of the MVC and a former MVC Chair. |
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Brian SmithOak Bluffs - Appointed by the Oak Bluffs Select Board. Commissioner since 2022. Brian moved to the island in 1995 and has served the island community in many capacities. He previously was the West Tisbury Select Board's appointee to the MVC from 2010-2014 and served as the Treasurer as well as Land Use Planning Chairman during that tenure. Brian also serves as a member of the Oak Bluffs Personnel Board, the West Tisbury Personnel Board and the Dukes County Personnel Board. |
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Ernie ThomasCurrent Clerk-Treasurer of the MVCWest Tisbury - Appointed by the West Tisbury Select Board. Commissioner since 2015. Ernie Thomas has worked in production control and planning, and is currently doing appliance repairs. He served on the Gay Head Fire Department and Dukes County Search and Rescue. |
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Christine ToddAppointed by the Dukes County Commission. MVC Commissioner since 2019. Christine has served as a Dukes County Commissioner since 2014. Her local advocacies include the Dukes County Health Council, Oak Bluffs Association, Real Estate sales, Oak Bluffs Downtown Streetscape Masterplan, among many other volunteer positions. She has lived on Martha's Vineyard since 2000. |
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Jim VercruysseCurrent Vice-Chair of the MVCAquinnah - Elected member at large. Commissioner since 2014. Jim works at South Mountain Company, and is a former MVC Chair. |
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Group photograph of Commissioners and portrait of Jeffrey Agnoli by Mark Lovewell, courtesy of the Vineyard Gazette. Portraits of Trip Barnes and Jim Vercruysse appear courtesy of the photographer, Ivy Ashe, and the Vineyard Gazette. Copyright Vineyard Gazette/MV Times, all rights reserved.