Select Board and Staff Biographies

From top left to bottom right: Ned Chatelain, David Whitney, Town Manager Peter Lombardi, Dr. Mary Chaffee, Kari Hoffmann, Cynthia Bingham, Assistant Town Manager Donna Kalinick

Cynthia (Cindy) Bingham

Cynthia (Cindy) Bingham has served on the Brewster Select Board since 2016 including two terms as the board chair. She serves as Select Board liaison to groups including the Brewster Housing Authority, Community Preservation Committee, Council on Aging, and Housing Partnership, and is a member of the Pond Property Planning Committee.

Prior to serving on the Select Board, Cindy was a member and past chair of the Brewster Golf Commission. An influential leader in the golf community, Cindy was a founding member and president of the Friends of Captains Golf Course and was president of the Captains Golf Course 18-Hole Women’s Association.

Cindy completed a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education at Northern Illinois University and then served in the Peace Corps, teaching in British Guyana. She taught middle and high school for 35 years in Framingham, Massachusetts, and coached high school field hockey, basketball, and softball. Cindy served on the Cambridge, Massachusetts, YWCA Board of Directors and developed “Safe Schools” workshops for school faculty and staff. She also attained graduate degrees from Northeastern University in health and physical education and Framingham State University in special education.

Cindy played all of the Cape’s municipal golf courses and bought a home in Brewster because of the Captains Golf Course. She lives in Brewster with her wife Judy, and their two dogs and two cats who occasionally appear on Select Board meetings via Zoom.

Dr. Mary Chaffee

Mary Chaffee has served on the Brewster Select Board since 2017 and as its chair during the COVID pandemic. She served for seven years on the Brewster Board of Health and also as its chair.

Mary served as U.S. Navy Nurse Corps officer for 27 years, retiring with the rank of Captain. She held a variety of clinical, policy and leadership roles including as Director of the Navy Medicine Office of Homeland Security. Following the 9/11 terror attacks on the U.S., she worked in the nation’s emergency operations center in Washington, DC.

A graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Mary completed bachelor’s degrees in nursing and public health and an internship at the Welsh National School of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales. In 1998 she received a masters degree in health policy and nursing administration from the University of Maryland Baltimore and interned in the office of U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI). She earned a PhD in nursing from the University of Maryland Baltimore in 2008.

Mary received a law degree from the University of Massachusetts School of Law–Dartmouth in 2017. She completed fieldwork with the Association to Preserve Cape Cod and the Buzzards Bay Coalition, as well as legal studies at Pepperdine University and comparative environmental law at Italy’s University of Insubria School of Law.

In 2017, Mary received a Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Scholarship for an article she published as a law student–one of only 10 students in the U.S. to receive the honor. She was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

A native of South Hadley, Massachusetts, the Cape has been part of Mary’s life since she was an infant. Her family moved to the Cape when she was in high school and Mary worked as a Town of Yarmouth life guard for five years. She became a part-time Brewster resident in 2004 while stationed in Washington, DC, and moved here fulltime in 2010 after her military retirement. She and her husband Don, a retired Navy Vice Admiral, have six children, four grandchildren, two cats and have restored a Brewster sea captain’s home and carriage house. Mary is an artist and open water swimmer.

Ned Chatelain

Ned Chatelain was born and raised on Cape Cod. He holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in theology from Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts.  Before moving ‘home again’ to Cape Cod, Ned spent 12 years working as a professional boat captain, a North and South American archaeologist, and an Outward Bound instructor.

Ned served as a member of the Brewster Planning Board and Brewster Housing Partnership, and currently serves as the Select Board's representative to the Affordable Housing Trust, Bay Property Planning Committee and Water Resources Task Force. He is co-owner of Chatelain Real Estate, a full-service family-owned Real Estate brokerage serving all of Barnstable County. Ned is also actively engaged in the broader Cape community, serving as youth advisor for his church and as a member of the Cape and Islands Board of Realtors Public Policy Committee.

Ned lives in Brewster with his wife and two children. He combines a local’s perspective with the sense of wonder of a transplant. He left, saw the world, and decided that there truly is no place like Brewster to live, work and play.

Kari Hoffmann

Kari Hoffmann has served on the Brewster Select Board since 2021. Prior to that she served on the Brewster Planning Board for six years including as its chair twice. Kari served on the Brewster Vision Planning Group and helped develop the 2018 Brewster Vision Plan, as well as serving as vice chair of Brewster’s Vision Planning committee. She is a Select Board representative to the Pond Property Planning Committee, and liaison to the Planning Board, Cultural Council, Recreation Commission, Vision Planning Committee, and Brewster School Committee. She also participates in the Cape and Islands Municipal Leaders Association. 

Kari earned a bachelor of science degree in education from the State University of New York at Geneseo, a master’s degree in family studies from Wheelock College, and a certificate of advanced graduate studies in school counseling and psychology from Fitchburg State College.   

Kari worked in the public and private sector as a teacher, school counselor, and special education team leader. As an educational consultant working with parents and school officials to improve educational services for students in need, she testified before the Massachusetts Legislature’s Education Sub-Committee and participated on the Governor’s Special Education Task Force.

Kari and her husband, Richard, a retired Superintendent of the Nauset Regional School System, have been homeowners in Brewster since 2004. Prior to moving to Brewster full time in 2009, Kari was a regular Cape visitor since the 1960s. Kari and Richard are the parents of two children, now grown. Their son lives on the Cape and their daughter and her husband, a U.S. Army veteran, live off Cape with their three daughters.                             

Kari enjoys many Cape activities including kayaking, sailing, shellfishing and hiking. She is dedicated to community service, working collaboratively with our residents to preserve all that is special about Brewster.

David (Dave) Whitney

Dave Whitney is serving in his third term on the Select Board and has been the Board’s chair twice. He was appointed to Brewster’s Government Study Committee in 2014, a committee tasked with evaluating town government and recommending improvements. Dave was the Brewster warden of elections and served on the town administrator search committee in 2015. He was active in the Brewster Parent-Teacher Organization and served as its treasurer. Raised in southern Connecticut, Dave worked in the energy industry for 27 years.

Dave’s love of Cape Cod began during summers he spent at the family cottage on Quivett Neck in Dennis. His wife, Karen, also grew up vacationing on the Cape. Their decision to raise their family here was an easy one. Dave is a member of the Captains Golf Course and enjoys volleyball.

Peter Lombardi, Town Manager 

Peter Lombardi has served as Brewster’s Town Manager since 2019. Prior to serving in Brewster, Peter was the Town Administrator of Wenham, Massachusetts. He had previously served as the City of Newburyport’s Director of Policy and Administration and as the Grants Administrator for Winthrop, Massachusetts.  While attaining his masters degree, Peter interned at the state house for his then-State Representative. Prior to his career in public service, Peter worked in the marine industry.

Peter holds a master of public administration from Suffolk University where he received the “Outstanding MPA Student” award. He is a member of Phi Alpha Alpha, the national honor society for public affairs and administration, serving as the Suffolk University chapter president for several years. He has a bachelor of arts in political science and history from the University of Vermont. Peter is a member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the Massachusetts Municipal Managers Association (MMMA).  He is committed to supporting the next generation of local government leaders, chairing the MMMA’s Future Managers Committee and serving in a variety of mentoring roles at Suffolk University.

Peter, his wife, and their three sons enjoy Brewster’s beaches, ponds, walking trails, and golfing, as well as sailing on Pleasant Bay. They feel proud and privileged to call Brewster home.

Donna Kalinick, Assistant Town Manager 

Donna Kalinick has worked for the Town of Brewster since 2011 including serving as Assistant Town Administrator/Manager since 2017. Donna holds a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She earned National Public Manager’s Certification through Bridgewater State University in 2018 and is a Massachusetts Certified Public Procurement Officer. Donna is a member of the Brewster Affordable Housing Trust and is the administrative liaison to the Brewster Recycling Commission and the Pond Property Planning Committee. She is part of Brewster’s Finance and Budget team, and is the Town’s Procurement Officer. She served one term on the Brewster School Committee.

Donna raised two children in Brewster who were educated in the Nauset Public School system. She has a passion for baseball and has volunteered regularly through the past ten years for the Brewster Whitecaps, including serving on their community outreach committee and being a host family for Whitecaps players. Donna spends her free time working an oyster grant on the Brewster Flats and walking trails with her dog throughout the Cape. 

Donna is very proud of her service to the Town of Brewster and its residents, particularly her work in expanding housing options and support services in the community.