Eric Sepenoski is a farmer, educator, and environmental steward with deep roots on the North Fork. He grew up in Orient and East Marion surrounded by the farmers, baymen, and tradespeople who make up the heart of Southold's working community. He and his wife Brenna own and operate Sep's Farm, a fourth-generation family operation in East Marion, where Eric and Brenna are raising their two sons.

Eric's educational path took him to Boston, where he pursued a doctorate from Northeastern University. His Ph.D. dissertation — "Land Claims and Community Literacies of the North Fork" — brought his two vocations of farming and writing together, exploring how the history of land and community on the North Fork shapes the people who live here. After earning his Ph.D., he returned to the North Fork to stay, where he now teaches at Ross Lower School in Bridgehampton.

Eric was first elected to the Southold Town Board of Trustees in 2021 and re-elected in November 2025. In his first term, he and his fellow Trustees focused on protecting public access to Southold's shorelines and waterways, writing code to protect sensitive waterfront areas from encroachment, implementing the policy of requiring non-turf vegetated buffers along waterfront properties to reduce nitrogen runoff, and keeping the pump-out boat program fully staffed.

Eric believes the Trustees' mission goes beyond permits and regulation — it is also about fostering in residents a sense of their own role as stewards of Southold's lands and waters, ensuring this community remains one where working people can thrive alongside the natural world they depend on.