The Penn Forest Team
Nancy Chubb - Co Founder
Nancy was born and raised In the Washington DC area and came to Pittsburgh to go to Chatham College. Her love of Western Pennsylvania began in her childhood when she would visit her grandparents’ farm, Hidden Brook, in Coraopolis Heights during the summers.
Before creating Penn Forest Natural Burial Park, Nancy and Pete established a nonprofit in 2008, Green Burial Pittsburgh, to educate themselves and others on natural burial and to explore the possibility of launching a green cemetery in Pittsburgh.
In 2021 Nancy retired from a professional practice in psychology to oversee the operational responsibilities of Penn Forest due to the retirement of her husband and co-founder, Pete McQuillin. While always involved in Penn Forest, she has found it rewarding to be able to invest more time and energy into the land that she loves. Nancy loves to share this rewarding experience with others, promoting stewardship of the land while offering an earth-friendly burial option to her community. She has immense confidence in how this team of dedicated employees, volunteers, and community partners will guide Penn Forest into its forever future.
Pete McQuillin - Co Founder
Pete dedicated the last 14 years of his life to the creation of Penn Forest Natural Burial Park. His entrepreneurial talents and environmental passions were critical to establishing the first all-green cemetery in Pennsylvania. In May of 2020, Pete began training Laura, the current manager, on all things involved with managing and running a green cemetery, and then retired in early 2021.
Prior to Penn Forest, Pete was a member of local Kiwanis Clubs, Chambers of Commerce, and Community Development Corporations and often on the boards of these groups. He was an active member of several Unitarian Universalist congregations, most recently the Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church on the North Side and Sunnyhill in Mt. Lebanon. Pete’s passion for social justice led to his involvement with Pittsburgh United, Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network, Black and White Reunion, and many political campaigns. He had previous careers with PPG in international sales and product management, at Menasha Packaging in new product development, and as a consultant in executive team building with Fourth River Associates.
Click here to read Pete’s obituary.
Click here to watch the Zoom recording of Pete’s burial.
10/22/1944 - 1/8/2022
Jeff Hodes - Vice President
Jeff Hodes has forty-five-plus years of experience in the cemetery industry, beginning with his first role as the agronomist and assistant superintendent for a 340-acre cemetery in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. Since then, he has held key positions in major for-profit and nonprofit cemetery organizations. For the past fifteen years, he has provided coaching services to cemeteries throughout the United States, including pioneer cemeteries as well as 10 start-up natural cemeteries. Jeff has served in leadership roles on multiple state and national boards, including serving six years on the Board of the Green Burial Council.
Jeff earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biology with a focus on Environmental Science. This background sparked his deep interest in trees and ecosystems, an interest he has continued to cultivate through lifelong study through reading, classes and guidance from leading experts in the field. Before entering the cemetery profession, Jeff owned a landscape company, taught Master Gardener classes, and served as an instructor in the Horticulture Department at Allegany Community College. His love of the natural world began early, inspired by working alongside his father in the garden—an experience that shaped his career and passion for environmental stewardship.
He has been involved with Penn Forest since 2008, when it was just part of Pete's and Nancy's dream. Jeff's unparalleled knowledge of the nuts and bolts of running a cemetery is woven into all of Penn Forest's policies and procedures. He is fondly known for insisting we recall our high school math classes, showing how to apply the Pythagorean Theorem to a grave layout. Jeff's invaluable expertise in horticulture and tree care, continues to support Penn Forest’s commitment to sustainability.
Jeff lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Carol. He is just a call away and visits Penn Forest several times a year.
Laura Faessel - Manager
Laura holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Slippery Rock University, where she explored burial practices across five cultures. This research sparked her passion for green burial and deepened her appreciation for the diverse ways in which cultures honor and care for their dead.
Laura began her journey at Penn Forest in 2017 as the assistant to Pete McQuillin, the park’s co-founder and then-manager. As Penn Forest’s first full-time employee, she quickly grew into her role, demonstrating a commitment to sustainable practices and community care. Following Pete’s retirement in 2021, Laura stepped into the role of manager, where she embraces all aspects of operating Pennsylvania’s first exclusively green cemetery and all that it has to offer.
Laura has shared her expertise at prestigious events such as the Phipps Native Plant and Sustainability Conference and Green Burial Council Conferences. She has also been featured on KDKA’s Talk Pittsburgh and the podcast City Cast Pittsburgh. Passionate about educating and inspiring others, Laura continues to advocate for thoughtful, intentional end-of-life planning that supports both people and the planet.
Laura grew up in Allegheny and Butler counties and currently lives in Gibsonia with her two young adult daughters. She enjoys spending time with her family, playing board games, exploring the outdoors, and cooking a tasty meal to share.
Deanna Mance -
Deanna started her career as an abstract artist, creating works that explore the transmutation of death and rebirth, introspection of personal and ancestral history, and her relationship with spirituality and ritual. Over the years, she gradually applied her artistic practice to arts education and administrative positions at The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Sunburst School of Music, and The Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, Illinois.
In 2012, she integrated her passion for the arts with end-of-life care by becoming a life enrichment coordinator for those living with Alzheimer’s and dementia in skilled nursing facilities and rehabilitation centers. In 2014, she became a facilitator for Pittsburgh Death Cafes, building relationships with a rich community of death-positive, end-of-life care advocates. She became a certified death doula through Promise Hospice in 2018 and a founder of Pittsburgh Community Deathcare.
Deanna is passionate about destigmatizing death and dying as a radical form of celebrating life. She enjoys and cares deeply for nature and our impact on the planet. When she’s not working at Penn Forest Natural Burial Park, she’s spending time in her art studio making art alongside her studio mate and child, Violet.
Assistant Manager
Thom Wood -
As a lifelong tender of forests and self-described jack-of-all-trades, Thom Wood is very excited to join the team at Penn Forest. Recently, he honed his sustainable agriculture skills with Carbon Compost, a local composting startup. He brings over a decade of expertise in culinary sustainability, and he wears every hat, from pastry cook to restaurant and food truck owner.
When he’s not managing invasive plants or maintaining our equipment, he is probably building something, cooking with his two amazing kids, fermenting something, camping, or messing around with vintage synthesizers.
Grounds Manager
Dave Hoffman - “Dave”
Since 2011, when the land for Penn Forest was acquired, Dave has been the central force in creating our entrance roads, parking areas, restoring the old farmhouse, rebuilding the office, and overseeing the building of the barn, the Meditation Hut, the bridges on the trails, the outbuildings, and fences. No task has been too large, too small, or too difficult. When presented with a challenging task, Dave’s favorite motto is, “If they can put a man on the moon….”
While Dave is “retired,” you can see him around the cemetery when he isn’t golfing. He will happily tell you about all the wood used in rebuilding the office.
Dave is a native of Beaver County and previously worked in the timber and concrete industries.