Phil Frank is a Certified Master Beekeeper, with credentials from both Cornell University and EAS. For more than 9 years he has been MCBA's webmaster, converting the membership process from all paper to all online. This has saved MCBA many thousands of dollars in postage alone. In the 'real world', Phil's 45+ year career as a science journalist let him share important facts and interesting stories via television (CNN, National Geographic, etc.), but beekeeping opened the world of giving in-person presentations, which he thoroughly enjoys. Phil's live bee-talk audiences range from elementary school kids to assisted living residents. Each spring a school bus of 1st graders visits his kitchen to view his hand-built observation hive. A video of his hive, as well his co-authored (with MCBA member Frank Linton) photo book "Hive Tour: The Insider's Guide to Honey Bees" can be seen here: https://montgomerycountybeekeepers.com/observation-hives/

Trina Sensenig I started my backyard beekeeping with the 2018 course and two nucleus hives. Successes so far: two walk-away splits, hive furniture that are square enough, and first-harvest honey that won state awards in 2019. My goals are to transition to 5-frame (nuc) hives (they are more my size—petite); progress to sustainable Integrated Pest Management; have a carefree pollinator garden that makes everybody happy, including neighbors who dote on their lawns; make fondant that stays soft; learn to rear queens; and eventually share what I have synthesized from my own experience and others’. After graduate school, I worked in international development and lived in the Philippines, Thailand, Zaire (DR Congo), Tanzania, and Utah. I retired from Bishop O’Connell HS in Arlington, and enjoy exercising--the mind (learning about everything), the body (zumba, yoga, walking, maybe weight lifting), the spirit (church & volunteer activities), and the emotions (being with family and friends, and people who care about the environment and bees).

Jim Fraser Jim Fraser is owner of Maryland Honey Company, a small, local, family-owned business located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Jim is a third generation beekeeper, who learned beekeeping from his father at a young age. Jim and his son, Andrew, manage around 150 colonies of honey bees and provide pollination services for local orchards and farms. As an Eastern Apiculture Society Certified Master Beekeeper since 2014. Jim believes that education is key to successful beekeeping.  Speaking to beekeeping classes, beekeeping clubs, civic groups, and customers at his shop allows him to share his knowledge about beekeeping. Jim is also a Certified Honey Show judge and a former President of the Maryland State Beekeepers Association