Our Staff

Having spent her childhood at her family’s garden center in central Massachusetts, Kate is well versed in the plants and ecological systems of the Northeast. A registered Landscape Architect with degrees from Cornell University and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, she founded Kennen Landscape Architecture in 2004 and Offshoots, Inc in 2012 to create practices focused on productive planting and ecological planning.  Her current research and teaching concentrates on productive planting design, phytoremediation (using plants to clean-up contaminated sites) , mycofiltration (using fungi to clean stormwater), and pollinator landscapes for the Northeast. She wrote the book: PHYTO, Principles and Resources for Site Remediation and Landscape Design, with Niall Kirkwood, which translates the science of phytoremediation into an easy-to-understand guide for design professionals and received an ASLA honor award in 2016.  Kate has been honored with numerous awards for Offshoots’ recent and ongoing planning and design projects including Somerville’s Pollinator Action Plan and Hood Bike Park in Boston.

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Shelby received a Bachelor of Environmental Science with a concentration in Ecological Design from the University of Vermont and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon. Her graduate thesis, which investigated the impacts of conventional parking lot design on urban sustainability (economic, ecological, and social implications) and explored site scale solutions to reduce potential disturbance in new parking lot design, was presented at CELA in 2014. Prior to joining the team at Offshoots Shelby worked in high-end residential design, taught planting design at UO, taught native plant identification at UVM, worked at a nursery in Vermont, and earned a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) through the University of Oregon. Shelby is a registered Landscape Architect in Massachusetts and Vermont.

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Terry Kinsler, RLA, has over 12 years of experience working on a multitude of planning, design and construction projects.  He brings a strong set of design skills to both the conceptual design and construction document phases, crafting details that hold the design’s concept together.  Terry came to Offshoots from Halvorson Design, where he worked on detailed design interventions on a wide-range of projects over a 5 year span.  Prior to Halvorson, Terry was with Carol Johnson Associates, focused on fast-paced international mixed-use development projects.

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Jack has spent his life working with plants and surrounding himself with the world of nature. He earned his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Northeastern University, after spending several years working at a wholesale nursery and farm. Jack brings to Offshoots his years of experience working on residential design projects at his father’s firm, both onsite and in the office. Jack’s work combines fine gardening sensibilities with strong focuses on ecological performance and production. He is passionate about promoting harmony between the built and natural environments and strives to do so by innovatively hybridizing natural systems with both contemporary technologies, and with traditional practices.

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Cristian holds degrees in Landscape Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and Cornell University. Prior to Offshoots, Cristian worked at Crowley Cottrell Landscape Architecture and interned at Agency Landscape + Planning. Drawing from his academic and professional experiences, he aims to create spaces that react and build upon to their social and ecological context. His down-to-earth approach in working with people and the land brings clarity to complex design challenges across scales in public and private realms. Off the clock, Cristian enjoys biking and photography.

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Julia brings her diverse background in visual art, disability nonprofits, and horticulture to her landscape design practice. Working for many years as a professional artist; she uses her expertise in research, community building, and native ecologies to implement sustainable and innovative designs across multiple project scales. Prior to Offshoots, Julia worked at Bolton & Menk and interned at Bryum in Basel, Switzerland. Julia received a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts from Bates College. Her master’s thesis, Being a Good Relative: Following Mni Into the Future was a collaborative effort with Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi to develop designs that support the restoration of Indigenous cultural and spiritual practices to contaminated landscapes.

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Kit grew up on Cape Cod working with her father in his landscape business. At Rutgers University she earned a degree in natural resource management and applied ecology. In the summers she helped maintain vegetable and cutting gardens, annual, perennial and shrub borders on an estate in Oyster Harbors, MA. After graduating, Kit joined the staff of the Somerset County Park Commission’s Leonard J. Buck Garden in Far Hills, NJ, maintaining 33 acres of woodland gardens at one of the premiere rock gardens in the northeast. Next she became a horticulturist at the Arnold Arboretum; amongst other work. Kit is a Mass Certified Horticulturist, ISA Certified Arborist and holds a Umass Extension certificate in Invasive Plant Management.

Ryan Corrigan, CERPIT, is an Ecological Restoration professional with more than 10 years of experience installing and managing complex restoration projects across New England. His project work spans the full scale of ecological restoration – from small residential sites requiring wetland remediation to DCR and Boston Urban Wild park installations, to diverse corporate/residential meadows, to a 20‑acre wildlife sanctuary restoration in Maine. Through extensive fieldwork and on‑ground testing, Ryan has developed strong technical expertise in Invasive Species Management, Green Infrastructure, Living Shorelines, and Meadow design and establishment. His approach integrates ecological science with practical, site‑based problem-solving to build resilient and productive landscapes. Ryan holds a degree in Ecological Design and Sustainable Planning from the Conway School of Landscape Design and a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science from Doane College in Crete, Nebraska. He began his career working in his family’s landscape design/build company, where he gained a foundation in design aesthetics and ecological systems – skills he continues to blend in his professional work to create balanced, functional ecosystems. He is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner in Training (CERPIT), a MA Certified Invasive Species Management Specialist, a MA Certified Horticulturalist, and a National Green Infrastructure Certified Practitioner (NGICP).

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Alex is passionate about working with plants and the concepts of sustainability and permaculture. His love of this line of work started 7 years ago at his hometown Bartlett office as a ground person and plant health care assistant. Since then he has worked in outdoor & greenhouse agriculture, landscape maintenance and install, and fine gardening. Alex is also passionate about conservation, having participated in several Trout Unlimited habitat restoration projects. He has helped design and create a community garden at Beverly High School and briefly ran a small CSA operation out of Ipswich utilizing rain collection, gravity powered irrigation, and solar power. Outside of work Alex enjoys canoeing, fishing, and playing music. One of his favorite plants is Mountain Laurel.