Provost

Sonoma State University

- Andrew Rogerson is the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs where he has the broad responsibility for ensuring the academic programs and faculty at SSU are of the highest quality. As the chief academic officer, he provides leadership for the administration, coordination, and development of all academic functions of the university. Provost Rogerson's Ph.D. is in Microbial Ecology from the University of Stirling, Scotland.

Chief Operating Officer

NextGen Climate

- Josh Fryday is currently the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for NextGen Climate, founded by Tom Steyer, a non-partisan organization focused on bringing climate change to the forefront of American politics by supporting those who will take bold action on climate change. Prior to this role, Fryday served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy (‘09-‘13) as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, and earlier as a political advisor and organizer on local, state and national campaigns, including the 2004 and 2008 Presidential elections. Josh received his law degree from the UC Berkeley School of Law, and clerked in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California as well as the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

State Director of California Rural Development

U.S. Department of Agriculture

- Dr. Glenda Humiston was appointed California State Director of USDA Rural Development by President Obama. Her career includes policy development and program implementation supporting agricultural, environmental and economic development goals. She served 1998 to 2001 as USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and earned her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in 2009.

Chair, First District Supervisor

Board of Supervisors, Sonoma County

Supervisor Gorin represents the First District, which is eastern Sonoma County. She is currently Chair of the Board of Supervisors. Ms. Gorin graduated from Sonoma State University in 1991, cum laude, with a degree in Political Science and Economics. In 1996 was elected to the Santa Rosa School Board and was later elected and served as a six-year city Santa Rosa council member and two years as Mayor.

Councilmember

City of Rohnert Park

- Jake is a veteran elected official and environmental activist in Sonoma County .He is starting his 19th year on the Rohnert Park City Council having served as Mayor 4 times between 2001 and 2012. He currently chairs the NCRP and the LGC, is Chair of GA's Public Policy Committee, and serves on MTC, ABAG Exec Committee, JPC, SCTA (twice past chair) and SMART to name a few. Obviously he collects committee and board assignments as obsessively as he does police procedural novels and jazz records & books. Married to Barbara Mackenzie, Jake graduated from Edinburgh University (BSc Hons Crop Science) and Oregon State University (MS and PhD Weed Science) and after 5 years working in the Ag chemical industry spent 30 years as a pesticide regulator with US EPA.

Coastal Planner

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

- Tim Doherty graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BS in Biology. After graduation, Tim served for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras from 98-00. Upon returning, he joined the National Park Service as a biologist in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. He received his MS from UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources and spent six years as a planner with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. He has been with the NOAA Office for Coastal Management since the summer of 2012.

Executive Director

Sonoma County Transportation Authority, Regional Climate Protection Authority

Suzanne Smith joined the Sonoma County Transportation Authority (SCTA) in October 1997 as the Executive Director. The SCTA is the countywide transportation agency responsible for coordinating regional, state and federal funding and administering Measure M, the local ¼ cent transportation sales tax. In 2010 the SCTA took on a new role as the Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA) and Suzanne serves as the Executive Director of that entity as well. The focus of the RCPA is to coordinate local activities, secure grants and strategically plan local efforts to reduce GHG emissions from all sectors.

4th District County Supervisor

County of Sonoma

- As the 4th District County Supervisor, James serves Northern Santa Rosa up to Cloverdale. He currently sits on the following : Long Term Roads Plan Committee, North Coast Air Basin Control District, Eeel River Commission and the Northern California Tribal Consortium. James served as Presidential Appointee as Assistant Chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). During this service, he led nationwide conservation efforts at the intersection of agriculture, business, and the environment. In an effort to enhance both a vibrant economy and protect our nation’s natural resources, James advocated for and led efforts to expand services in persistent poverty areas with underserved communities - leading to the creation and deployment of USDA’s persistent poverty initiative, StrikeForce for Rural Growth and Opportunity.

Program Director

Sonoma Resource Conservation District

- At Sonoma RCD, Valerie leads the LandSmart® Planning program, promoting productive lands and thriving streams through on-farm conservation planning. Plans will soon include carbon sequestration and soil health elements, helping farmers reduce GHG emissions and adapt to a changing climate. Valerie also serves on the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, and on Sonoma County’s Climate Action 2020 Stakeholder Advisory Group

Lead Scientist and Project Manager

Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District

- John Green has over 15 years of experience in developing and implementing resource conservation and habitat protection projects. Since joining the Gold Ridge staff in 2009, he has taken a lead role in implementing water conservation and fish habitat enhancement projects, including oversight of Save Our Salmon, a multi-year program utilizing rainwater catchment projects as a strategy for enhancing instream flows in Salmon Creek.

Conservation Planning Manager

Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District

- Karen Gaffney leads landscape scale initiatives related to watershed assessment, climate change and conservation prioritization. She grew up on a sheep ranch in Philo and her family farmed in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley in the 1800s. A graduate of U.C Berkeley, she has a Master’s degree in biology from Sonoma State University, is a Switzer Environmental Leadership Fellow and is the principal author of local and regional guides to watershed assessment and ecological restoration.

California State Director

American Farmland Trust

- Since 2003, Edward Thompson, Jr. has been California state director of American Farmland Trust, the nation’s leading agricultural resource conservation organization. During his tenure at AFT, Thompson has been involved in nearly every aspect of farmland preservation. More recently, he has spearheaded innovative policy initiatives like California Agricultural Vision, the San Joaquin Valley Greenprint and the Bay Area Food & Farming Fund.

Executive Director

Center for Climate Protection

- Ann co-founded the Center for Climate Protection in 2001. With over 25 years in community leadership, education and fundraising, she has been a sustainability planner for the County of Marin, commentator for TomPaine.com, human sexuality instructor at Humboldt State University, and real estate broker. She has a Masters in Public Health Administration and Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

Director of Health Services Health Policy, Planning and Evaluation (HPPE) Division

County of Sonoma

- Brian Vaughn is the Director of the Sonoma County Department of Health Services Health Policy, Planning and Evaluation (HPPE) Division, where he leads the County in developing and implementing strategies and policies to achieve Sonoma County’s goal of being the healthiest county in the state. This is accomplished in HPPE through the Health Action collaborative and its Cradle To Career initiative. HPPE spearheaded outreach of A Portrait of Sonoma County and is currently using the report to address key recommendations to target disparities, including developing plans for high-quality preschool across Sonoma County, strengthening tobacco policies, and place-based strategies in priority geographic areas highlighted in the report.

Director, Center for Sustainable Communities

Sonoma State University

- Tom Jacobson is Professor of Environmental Studies & Planning and Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities at Sonoma State University. Among his publications, he was principal author of Healthy by Design: A Public Health and Land Use Planning Workbook, co-author of Exactions and Impact Fees in California, and wrote the chapters on “Growth Management” and “Aesthetic Regulation and Design Review” in California Land Use Practice.

Vice Chair, Sonoma Ecology Center Board of Directors

Project Manager, Sonoma County Biochar Project

- David Morell, PhD, has many years of professional environmental policy experience, with expertise in regulatory compliance management, air quality management, facility siting, and environmental management systems assessment. Dr. Morell was EPA’s first National Coordinator for NPDES municipal permits. He then organized and directed the national Office of Transportation and Land Use Policy, Air Programs. Later, in EPA’s Region IX office in San Francisco, he directed EPA’s innovative Integrated Environmental Management Project (IEMP) in the Silicon Valley. He later served as Toxics Coordinator for Santa Clara County, CA. He was also Director of Policy for the California hazardous waste program and Vice President for Environmental Affairs for a global environmental management firm. Dr. Morell has extensive experience with the World Bank (in Mexico, Russia, Germany and Thailand). He holds a BA (Economics) from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD (Environmental Management) from Princeton University; and has taught at Princeton, Stanford, UC- Berkeley, UC-Santa Cruz, UC- Davis, and other universities. Currently he directs the Sonoma Ecology Center’s Biochar Project.

Co-Owner/Co-Founder

Community Soil & Community Soil Foundation

- Paolo Tantarelli is the Co-Owner of Community Soil and Co-Founder of the Community Soil Foundation. His passions fall in sustainable food production, water conservation, soil remediation and habitat restoration. His framework rests in the foundation of permaculture, bio-intensive method, and biomimicry. Since the conception of his business, his team has been working to create access and connection for communities, schools, and farmers in public spaces.

Emergency Manager

County of Sonoma Fire & Emergency Services

- Christopher Helgren has worked in the Fire & Emergency Services Department for the County of Sonoma for 15 years and served as Emergency Manager since 2011. His division manages the Homeland Security, Emergency Management and Urban Area Securities Initiative (UASI) grants, maintains the County/Operational Area Emergency Operations Center (EOC), manages a 135 member strong Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) volunteer program and coordinates emergency management activities with the cities in Sonoma County and Cal OES.

Executive Director

Local Government Commission

- Kate Meis is the Executive Director of the Local Government Commission. Kate is a recognized leader in combating climate change by advising on key state initiatives; helping to catalyze regional adaptation efforts (in Sacramento, Fresno and San Luis Obispo); and developing new statewide education and assistance programs including the first California Adaptation Forum, the California Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative and the CivicSpark AmeriCorps program.

Executive Director

Daily Acts

- Trathen Heckman, Executive Director, is the founder of Daily Acts, publisher of Ripples Journal and a backyard farmer. Former director of Green Sangha, he serves on the board of Transition US. Trathen inspires, educates and collaborates with communities, business and municipal leaders to harness the power of nature and inspired action to restore the health of our lives and communities. He lives in the Petaluma River Watershed where he grows food, medicine and wonder while working to compost apathy and lack.

Vice President

Brelje & Race Consulting Engineers

- In his 32 years with the firm, Richard has developed a broad client base including private businesses and public agencies. Richard’s engineering focus is exclusively designing and managing water and wastewater projects. Recipient of Wine Country Water Works Association’s Engineer of the Year, Richard’s recycled water projects have received several awards from the Water Environment Federation and the American Council of Engineering Companies. Mr. Ingram has managed over $25 million in capital projects for the Town of Windsor related to recycled water.

Environmental Planner

Brelje & Race Consulting Engineers

- Justin joined Brelje & Race in 1999 as the firm’s environmental planner. He conducts CEQA compliance and planning for water, wastewater and school projects. Justin has a BA in Anthropology and MA in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Planning from SFSU. He understands the effort required to plan, review, permit and implement infrastructure projects and the need for resilience in a changing climate.

Planner III

Comprehensive Planning, Permit and Resource Management Department

Amy has been with PRMD since 2005. Her work includes healthy communities planning, overseeing the Countywide Climate Action Plan, Aggregate Resources Management program, transportation planning (including bicycle and pedestrian), specific plan development, water conservation policy, tribal relations, and was a team member for the General Plan 2020 update. She holds BAs in Environmental Studies & Planning and Political Science from Sonoma State University.

Research Meteorologist and Director

Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD

- Dr. F. Martin Ralph is a research meteorologist focused on understanding the physical processes that create extremes in precipitation ranging from flood to drought, and on advancing associated observations, predictions, climate projections and decision support tools. A primary topic has been atmospheric rivers and their role in precipitation. From 2001 - 2013 he was Chief of the Water Cycle Branch at NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Colorado where he led the development of the Hydrometeorology Testbed. He also managed NOAA’s Science, Technology and Infusion Program, Chaired NOAA’s US Weather Research Program Executive Committee, and led the creation of NOAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program. In 2013 he moved to the University of California San Diego/Scripps Institution of Oceanography where he is Director of the “Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes” (CW3E). Dr. Ralph has published over 75 peer-reviewed scientific articles and championed the establishment of testbeds as a method to accelerate the development and infusion of new science and technology into weather and climate forecasting operations.

Graduate Researcher

UC Davis

- Daniel Swezey is a PhD candidate at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, where he studies how future CO2-driven acidification of the ocean will affect the growth and development of marine shellfish, including potential adaptation strategies. Dan has served as a consultant to The Nature Conservancy, helping the organization develop conservation plans for coral reefs under increasing ocean acidification, and he is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.

Executive Director

Pepperwood Preserve

- Dr. Micheli has over 25 years experience applying her technical, policy, and fundraising expertise to the design and implementation of ecological restoration, research and education programs. She completed her graduate studies at UC Berkeley as a NASA Earth Systems Research Fellow in 2000 and now focuses her research on relationships between watershed health and biodiversity. She is the co-chair of the Terrestrial Biodiversity Climate Change Collaborative (TBC3), a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Bay Area climate adaptation research initiative. She joined Sonoma County’s Pepperwood Foundation in October of 2009 as its premiere Executive Director.

Researcher, Center for Western Weather & Water Extremes

Scripps Institute of Oceanography, UCSD

Julie Kalansky received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University in Oceanography with a focus on Climate Science. Currently, she is a researcher for the Center of Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She has recently taken a leading role in the California’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) projects. In particular, Julie wants to understand what are the scientific needs of stakeholders to help them better prepare for and mitigate the effects of drought. This will then help guide her and her colleagues’ research towards information that is actionable and can influence decisions and policies.

Chief Engineer & Director of Groundwater Management

Sonoma County Water Agency

Mr. Jasperse is the Chief Engineer and Director of Groundwater Management for the Sonoma County Water Agency. Mr. Jasperse received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the University of California at Davis and a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of California. Prior to joining the Water Agency, he worked as an environmental engineering consultant specializing in groundwater resource characterization and remediation. He is responsible for the Water Agency’s capital projects program and resource planning and management activities. Mr. Jasperse has been a member of NATO and NSF delegations in Egypt and South Korea, respectively. He is an author of published journal articles and book chapters on topics such as surface water-groundwater interactions, natural filtration processes, riverbank filtration, and integrated water resource management.

Biologist, Research Program Manager

Sonoma Ecology Center

- Caitlin Cornwall has been at Sonoma Ecology Center since 1998. She is active with North Bay Climate Adaptation Initiative and North Bay Watershed Association. Her work focuses on communicating watershed health using indicator systems, creating multiple-benefit water/watershed projects with diverse partners, and integrating considerations of climate and ecosystem services into planning decisions, from the parcel to the region.

Garden Manager

Landpaths

- Jonathan Bravo has been dedicated to the field of education and involved in community action for many years. He worked as a math teacher for 17 years in Mexico. Here in Santa Rosa, he has taught GED classes at the JC, worked in construction and served as a Spanish-speaking counselor with the Salvation Army. Currently, he works at Bayer Farm, where he can express part of his life philosophy, "what you seed you will harvest." In his free time, he directs the community group, Hispanic Christian Center.

Environmental Manager

E&J Gallo Winery

- As an Environmental Manager for E&J Gallo Winery, John manages environmental and sustainable certifications, GHG Cap and Trade, carbon reporting, energy, water security, and ESA issues for vineyards and wineries. He is a member of the advisory committees for Santa Rosa Plain Sustainable Groundwater Plan, the 5th district representative on Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, the Sonoma County Climate Action Plan 2020 ag subcommittee and the Wine Institutes’ environmental working group.