STEVEN BELL served in various leadership roles for Northern Trust over a 36 year career. When he retired in 2019 he was President of the Wealth Management’s West Region for Northern Trust where he was responsible for the overall execution of the firm's strategic priorities to serve high net worth families and business owners in the western United States. Overseeing over 500 talented professionals, his team was unrelentingly focused on the client experience. Every day, they were committed to strengthening the trust and confidence of their clients in Northern Trust.

Steve’s leadership roles at Northern Trust included managing the Global Family Office Business for ultra-high net worth families and the firm's California’s private banking business. He was responsible for ensuring organizational and growth objectives were attained and clients considered Northern Trust their financial partner for generations. Northern Trust's broad and deep technical expertise, commitment to service excellence and unfailing integrity allowed him to assemble, develop and lead teams across fourteen markets in the western United States. The financial success of the West Region under his leadership was recognized at his retirement by a Board Resolution.

Connecting with the outdoors is Steve’s favorite pastime. He is often hiking and climbing with his wife, Susan, on weekends and holidays. He has taken extraordinary adventures around the world, and have witnessed unimaginable scenery in the Alps, the Himalayas, the Andes, the Rockies, the Sierras and the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. These treks provide him with the motivation to build a work environment where his teams are challenged, supported and collaborative to achieve the best outcomes for clients and shareholders.

Currently, Steve is consulting with various boards, companies and individuals while exploring options and the potential answer for "what's next?”. Steve joined the Audubon California board in 2021.

ANN BRICE has served in the role of Audubon California board chair since February 2022. Ann is the former Co-Executive Director of the Yolo Basin Foundation, a non-profit in Davis, CA associated with the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area and dedicated to wetlands education and conservation. In the early 1990s she ran the Psittacine Research Project at UC Davis and spent several years studying the Yellow-naped Amazon in Guatemala. From 1996 to 2000, she was the founding Executive Director of the Cache Creek Conservancy, a non-profit that grew out of a multi-year settlement with the aggregate producers on the creek. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District and the Northern California Water Association. Ann is the author of A Landowner’s Guide to Streambank Management on Cache Creek and Exploring Putah Creek from Monticello Dam to the Yolo Wildlife Area. She graduated from Brown University and has a PhD in ecology from UC Davis, where she specialized in avian nutrition. Her hobbies include birding, horseback riding and nature photography.  Ann joined the Audubon California Board in 2014.

EMMY CATTANI is a fifth-generation agri-business woman from Kern County, California where she and her family grow grapes, almonds and cattle. She represents her family on the Boards of the Famoso Nut Company and Farm Breeze International and on the Investment Committee of Belltown Farms. Emmy oversees family investments in businesses and real estate, primarily focused on the agricultural sector.

Ms. Cattani serves on advisory committees for the Pacific Institute, Stanford University’s Water in the West Center, Sustainable Conservation, Audubon California and the California chapter of The Nature Conservancy. She previously served on the Boards of the Sequoia Riverlands Trust and the Tejon Ranch Conservancy and on the Bureau of Land Management's Resource Advisory Council for Central California.

Prior to joining her family business, Emmy was a private equity investor with The Shansby Group and VMG Partners and worked as a management consultant at Bain & Co. She received her Bachelors degree from Harvard College and an Masters in Business Administration from Stanford University.

GREG DYER is an attorney in Sacramento. As a member of the State Bars of California and Nevada for over thirty years, he has represented a wide variety of clients in state and federal courts. His experience includes over fifty jury trials and several appeals in California, Nevada and the Ninth Circuit. He has negotiated large real estate transactions, wetlands water projects and tree trimming agreements with utilities. An avid outdoorsman, Greg has skied almost all the continents, competed in the 2000 Olympic Trials in Sailing and completed the 200-mile Tahoe Yosemite Trail. Greg has extensive hands-on experience with wetlands restoration and management. Greg received a BS in Accounting and Finance from the University of Arizona, a JD and an LLM in Business and Taxation from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Greg joined the Audubon California Board in 2019.

SALLY FENTON joined the Audubon California board in February 2020. Residing in Portola Valley, Sally has interests in art, birding, landscape design, land conservation, athletics and opera. She supports bird-related conservation issues, Stanford athletics, the San Francisco opera and educational advancement in underserved areas. Sally is a docent for the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, a position she has held for over 30 years.  A teacher for many years, Fenton has volunteered for the Stanford New Schools and sponsored students at Eastside College Preparatory School in East Palo Alto. Fenton is a member of the Garden Club of America and chairman of the Conservation Committee and on the board of the San Francisco Opera. She is also involved in opera education in San Francisco schools. Sally majored in history and received her bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College in 1963. She earned an M.A. from Stanford University in 1964.

TOM GALLO is the Vice President of Strategic Business Development for G3 Enterprises. Tom is responsible for key customer relationship management, marketing, advertising and community relations. Tom began his career at Gallo in 1976. Every summer during his junior high, high school and college years, Tom worked in various departments including customer service, shipping & receiving, warehouse, Livingston winery, engineering, wine lab, HR and the ranch properties. Tom is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Communications. In 1988, Tom went to work at Grand Street Printing Technologies working in various positions over the next 5 years, ultimately serving as the General Manager. During that period Tom worked to convert the business from a traditional commercial printing operation into a label printing operation in order to capitalize on the profitable label manufacturing market at that time within the beverage industry. In 2001, Tom led the transformation of GPST into what is today known as G3 Enterprises Label Division, serving as the Operations Director and General Manager. In 2007, Tom continued to advance within G3, being promoted to the position of Vice President of Sales eventually taking on his current position as Vice President of Strategic Business Development in 2009. 

In 2001, Tom and his wife Karyn worked together to design and open Galletto Ristorante in a historic bank building in downtown Modesto offering a rustic Northern Italian menu featuring the finest locally-grown produce and seasonal ingredients. Tom is active in community affairs including the Salvation Army and United Way. Tom also volunteers with the Modesto Chapter of the Knights of Columbus and San Juaquin River Wildlife Refuge. Tom resides in Modesto, California with his wife Karyn and their four children, Gianna (25), Julian (24), Will (21) and Tessa (16).  

JUDY GRADWOHL has more than 30 years of experience with the Smithsonian Institution. In 2016, Judy joined the San Diego Natural History Museum as the organization’s first woman president and CEO. She brought a passion for and a wide range of experience in natural history research, science communication, and museum management. Under her leadership, the Museum developed a new strategic plan that focuses on regional science, collections, education, and conservation.

A native Southern Californian, Judy received her B.A. and M.A. in Zoology from the University of California at Berkeley, where she also gained her first museum experience: developing and teaching classes at Lawrence Hall of Science, and dusting the case tops at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Interest in tropical bird behavior took her to the Smithsonian’s Barro Colorado Island in Panama and other parts of Central America and the Caribbean, where she conducted research for many years.

At the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., she produced science communication at the National Zoo, established the first substantial environmental program, and curated two major traveling exhibitions on tropical forest and ocean conservation. Her last position was as MacMillan Associate Director for Education and Public Programs at the National Museum of American History. She has published scientific and popular books and articles on animal behavior and ecology, conservation, and museum practice. Her favorite days at work are when she is in the field.

ERIC JOHNSON is a lifelong resident of California, having spent time in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and his current home of Sacramento. He works out of a home office on the second floor, with a view of a 70-foot pecan tree that harbors squirrels, crows, scrub jays and the occasional warbler. Mostly squirrels. When not birding, he is usually reading--alternating literary fiction with sci-fi and beach books--running, baking sourdough with varying levels of success, grilling dinner with much higher levels of success and trying to figure out how to make at least a little piece of the world a better place.

Eric has served on several non-profit and municipal commissions, beating back an effort to site a gas station in a residential area and updating the American River Parkway Master Plan. Eric graduated from Duke University with majors in Mathematics and Philosophy, and USC with a Master’s degree in Public Administration. 

MARION KRAUSE joined the California board in October 2021. While Marion was born in Hawaii, she moved to California when she was only 8 months old so she considers herself a true Californian. She was raised in Palo Alto and continues to live in Palo Alto today. Marion graduated from University of the Pacific and later earned an MBA from Santa Clara University. Marion had a varied career but the last twenty years were spent working for Palo Alto Unified School District as a teacher and Transition Specialist working with Special Needs kids in helping them transition from high school into whatever their next steps were after graduation. It was rewarding and fulfilling work.

Marion is a life-long birder and environmental activist. After retiring in 2013, she joined Environmental Volunteers (evols.org) as an environmental education volunteer. She believes that exposing young children to our natural world and teaching them the importance of a healthy planet, is a key component in producing the next generation of environmentalists. In 2016, she was asked to join the EV Board and was co-chair from 2017-2019.

In addition to her volunteer work, Marion and her husband have taken extraordinary adventures around the world, including treks in the Himalayas, the Andes, and the Southern Alps of New Zealand, fly fishing in Argentina and Mongolia and searching for polar bears above the Arctic Circle. She continues to be awed by the glory and beauty that our planet has to offer and the need to support organizations that are working to preserve it.

BRITA LUNDBERG works in Marketing & Publicity at Lundberg Family Farms, a family-owned and -operated business that uses organic farming practices to create thoughtfully crafted rice and quinoa products. In 1937, Brita’s great-grandparents—Albert and Frances Lundberg—left Nebraska in the wake of the Dust Bowl with their four sons, a Farmall tractor, and a flatbed Chevy truck. They saw how short-sighted farming techniques stripped the land of its topsoil. So, when they moved to California, they decided to do things differently by tending to soil, air, water, and wildlife as carefully as their crops.

As a fourth-generation member of the Lundberg family, Brita has boots-on-the-ground experience in the fields, where she learned the importance of working in partnership with nature—from managing weeds with water to providing habitat for hundreds of species. After growing up on the farm and gaining experience in different areas of the company, Brita studied literature at Pepperdine University, attended the Columbia Publishing Course, and spent several years honing her storytelling skills in the New York publishing world, most recently at Simon & Schuster. However, Brita’s favorite story to tell is her family’s. Now, as a resident expert on the brand’s rich history and heritage, Brita shares the Lundberg story with a broad base of eco-conscious consumers.

ROBERT SNOW was born and raised in Chico, CA. He received his BA degree in Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his PhD in Zoology from the University of Washington. Following a career in Neurophysiology at the University of Maryland Medical School and Tulane University Medical School, Robert joined the fledgling GPS industry in Anaheim, California. He worked for 24 years in that industry, defining GPS systems for precise applications such as timing, geodesy, surveying, and mapping. He currently chairs Special Committee 104 of the Radio Technical Commission for maritime Applications, which defines message standards for Global Navigation Satellite Systems. Robert retired in 2009 and moved to Fresno in 2010 to be close to family and to enjoy the proximity to the mountains. Robert is currently Secretary of Fresno Audubon Society as well as the website administrator and the editor of the newsletter, The Yellowbill. He enjoys birding and hiking, as well as working in his native plant garden.

KENNETH SOBON is a life-long resident of Northern California and a science teacher of 25 years. He has been the science department chairperson at Nelson Avenue Middle School since 2000, the School Site Council president from 1998-2016, and is currently a member of the technology advisory committee. In addition to these positions, he was the school board president for Paradise Charter Middle School from 2007-2012. His  participation in those positions led him to be part of the Butte County STEM Advisory Council, a group that networks educators and administrators with business owners and leaders using science, technology, engineering and math in the daily operations of their businesses. In addition to these education focused leadership roles, Ken has held the Lands and Refuges position since 2014 and served as vice-president of Altacal since 2015. Finally, he has been the Director of the Northern Saw-whet Owl Research Project for the past three years.

DAVE TYRA is a native Californian, growing up in Santa Cruz.  His background is Operations and IT management for high tech companies in Silicon Valley, where he worked for 25 years. He ran his own video services company for 6 years, until moving from San Jose to Paso Robles in 2006.  He and his son had been casual birders for some time and joined Morro Coast Audubon in 2011. At his son’s request, they attended the National Audubon Conference in Stevenson, WA in 2013.  He has served as Treasurer and President at Morro Coast Audubon Society, and has been asked by the MCAS board to serve another term as President.  He has coordinated the California Brown Pelican survey and Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey for San Luis Obispo county. Dave joined the Audubon California board in 2017.

TAMMAH WATTS has lived a life devoted to serving people and communities in need. For over twenty-five years, she served as a Program Manager for a private, nonprofit Child Abuse Prevention Agency in San Diego County and was responsible for the establishment and operation of residential treatment facilities, school-based programs, mental health outpatient clinics and innovative family services. Tammah is a rare-breed native San Diegan and in addition to living primarily in Southern California, also lived for three years in Playas de Tijuana, Mexico, in the mid-80s to experience transborder live/work cultural immersion. She is passionate about birds and ideally, birding with her grandkids, nature conservancy and advocacy.  She is on the board of Buena Vista Audubon Society and a member of their Conservation and ED&I Committees. Tammah is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and received her MA in Counseling Psychology from National University. Her first book, Keep Looking Up: Your Guide to the Powerful Healing of Birdwatching, with Hay House Publishers, is due out in Spring, 2023. Tammah joined the Audubon California board in 2021.

Emeritus Members

MARIE BERGGREN is former Chief Investment Officer and Vice President for Investments at the University of California, was responsible for overseeing the university system’s investment portfolio until her retirement in 2013. Prior to joining the Treasurer’s Office in 2002, Ms. Berggren was Executive Vice President/Department Head of Venture Capital Investments for Bank One Corporation. While employed at Bank One and its predecessor organization, First Chicago Corporation, she was the Senior Vice President and Department Head of the Corporation’s Mergers and Acquisitions activity. Prior to that she was the Managing Director of Public Equities and Director of Research for First Chicago Investment Advisors (the predecessor to Brinson Partners). Ms. Berggren earned her MS in Management from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics from the College of New Rochelle. She joined the Audubon California board in 2014.

EILEEN FAGAN is the former VP of Corporate Responsibility for Intuit where she developed strategies and programs to power prosperity for “those who need it most” through jobs and skills, financial well-being and small business success. She also led Intuit’s Climate Change and Sustainability programs earning recognition for adherence to science-based targets and then exceeding those targets years in advance.

Eileen led Intuit’s Innovation and Transformational Change Programs, building companywide capabilities designed to increase innovation and strategic advantage. She led programs enabling speed and agility, adapting to technology shifts, building talent development capabilities as well as creating a culture of design thinking, experimentation and customer obsession.

Before Intuit, she co-founded Fagan Associates, a training and consulting company that delivered offerings designed to increase productivity and speed of product delivery through improving software quality and development processes. Over 14 years, they served over 100 Fortune 500 companies globally. Eileen started her career as a software engineer building mission control software for a satellite tracking system as part of the Federal Systems Division in IBM. She later brought her technical experience to the IBM Marketing team as a Systems Engineer in the telecom arena. She earned both a Computer Science degree and MBA from the University of Maryland.

Currently, Eileen advises companies and non-profits on innovation and transformational change to improve their products, business models and internal practices.  She is on the Boards of the Computer History Museum, Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation and Audubon California and volunteers with animal rescue and other environmental non-profits.

BARIS KARADOGAN is a consultant at Endless Inc, and the former CEO of Hip Digital Media. Prior to joining Hip Digital Media, Baris was a venture capitalist for ten years, at U.S. Venture Partners, a leading Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm and at Fuse Capital. As a VC, Baris invested in a wide variety of industries including digital media, telecommunications and semiconductors. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Baris worked in both engineering and marketing at 3Com/U.S. Robotics, where he developed software for the company’s networking and cable modem products. His efforts at U.S. Robotics resulted in a number of U.S. patents.

Baris served on the Board of Directors of “Friends of Anatolia,” a nonprofit that restored and renovated a number of on elementary schools in rural Turkey. He is also the founder of “Nature Turkey,” a nonprofit promoting conservation ecology in northern Turkey. Active in the Turkish business community, Baris has been a longtime advisor to the Turkish American Business Connection, the premier business organization in the West Coast promoting collaboration between the US and Turkey. Baris also is the Silicon Valley advisor to Turkcell, Turkey’s largest wireless operator, on matters of venture capital and the startup ecosystem. Baris holds an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar, and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from Lafayette College, where he graduated summa cum laude. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu.

DIANE ROSS-LEECH is the former Director of Environmental Policy at Pacific Gas & Electric. She supervised a department of ten employees that were responsible for overseeing environmental regulatory and legislative review and analysis, environmental justice strategies, developing habitat conservation plans for PG&E’s operations, implementing avian protection programs, analyzing renewable energy projects and policies, collaborating with federal, state and regional environmental regulatory agencies, and partnering with critical environmental non-profit organizations. Diane is currently on the Board for the California State Parks Foundation, San Francisco Bay Trail Project , and is an appointee to the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission. Diane attended both the University of California at Berkeley and the University of California at Davis. Diane served as the Board President of Golden Gate Audubon Society from 2008 through 2012, and as the Chair of the Management Board for the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture from 2010 to 2013. Diane was elected Chair of the Audubon California Board in February 2019 and served in that role until early 2022. 

FRANCES SPIVY-WEBER served as Vice Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board from 2007-2017 and is now retired. Prior to the Water Board, she was Executive Director of the Mono Lake Committee for ten years, National Audubon’s International Program Director for ten years (1983-1993) working in Washington, DC, and on the staff of the Animal Welfare Institute and the Society for Animal Protective Legislation for five years where she got her early experience with international treaties. Fran has a BA from the University of Texas and a Masters from Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in DC, and she also studied biology as a graduate student at San Francisco State University in the 1970s. Fran is originally from Texas, but has lived for many years in Southern California and Washington, DC. She currently resides with her husband, Michael Weber, in mid-town Sacramento, and they are trying to live in the whole State, going monthly to the LA Opera and Symphony, watching birds near the Salton Sea and the Sierra, walking and hiking, and reading. They also travel a lot in Europe and the US; Italy and Greece are favorite European destinations. 

HELENE MARSH is a climate change advocate, event organizer/facilitator and the owner/developer of one of the few LEED platinum homes in the country. She attended Harvard-Radcliffe as an undergraduate and pursued her master’s at UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. Early in her career, Helene worked in Europe for 8 years in international finance and business with Lloyds Bank and Euromoney Publications. While living in Prague in the 1990s, she started and managed a furnishing fabrics company and established a non-profit focused on corporate social responsibility. For the last 15 years, she has focused primarily on contributing to local and international climate change initiatives including working for Conservation International, and serving on the Boards of Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Cool the Earth. Helene is a strong believer in sustainable and responsible investing and a clean energy economy. She also served on the Marin County Civil Grand Jury during 2013-14. Helene has lived in the USA, England, Spain, and the Czech Republic and speaks French, Spanish, Italian and Czech. 

THERESE MOLINA served on the Audubon California board from May 2020 to June 2021. Therese is the co-chair of the Aztlan Athletics Foundation, a Pasadena area organization promoting community health and wellness programs. Therese served as the South Pasadena Tiger Booster Club Special Events Director from 1998-2008. Her professional career was in healthcare and she is a retired nurse of over 20 years. She is involved in various wellness activities that support youth wellness throughout San Gabriel Valley, as well as an avid runner who continues to mentor youth in the community. Therese is the mother of five health conscious, environmentally aware children, with a husband who follows suit. 

VIC LEIPZIG is a long-time leader of Sea and Sage Audubon in Orange County, leading field trips to the Salton Sea for over twenty years, and serving as Director, Conservation Co-chair, Vice-president, President, and now immediate Past-president.  A biologist and ecologist, he also served as Planning Commissioner, City Councilman, and Mayor of Huntington Beach, which is the location of the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, site of a major community-based conservation victory by local groups with support from Audubon.

PEDRO NAVA is an attorney, residing in Santa Barbara, engaged as a consultant, emphasizing government relations. Since 2014, he has served as the Chairman of the Milton Marks Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy (Little Hoover Commission), appointed by Assembly Speaker John A. Perez and re-appointed in 2017 by Speaker Rendon. In 2011, Mr. Nava served on the Fish & Wildlife Strategic Vision Blue Ribbon Citizens Committee. He is a former member of the California State Assembly (November 2004-November 2010) He obtained his law degree from the University of California, Davis, Martin Luther King Jr. Hall, School of Law and worked as a Deputy District Attorney in Fresno and Santa Barbara counties.  From 1987 until his election in 2004 Mr. Nava was a civil litigator. Mr. Nava also served on the California Coastal Commission from 1997 until 2004, appointed by then California State Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante and re-appointed by then Senate Pro Tem John Burton, where he earned the highest environmental protection vote awarded by the Sierra Club. Pedro served on the Audubon California Board of Directors from 2011-2020.

MARK MUSHKAT served on the board of Audubon California from 2013-2019. Prior to joining AC, he was a member of the Board of Directors of Golden Gate Audubon for four years, serving on the executive, finance and development committees. Mark is an independent investment consultant in Northern California. He has had leadership roles with multi-family offices and global private banks in New York, Connecticut, and California, assisting families with planning and philanthropy. In addition, he is a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) and has held numerous securities licenses related to his consulting and company oversight roles. He is a summa cum laude graduate of University of Cincinnati receiving a BA degree where he currently serves on a Board of Advisors; he attended the graduate program in clinical psychology at George Peabody College as well as an Executive Program at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Mark is also a volunteer with Sutter Hospice, the San Francisco Public School District, and organizations affiliated with Vipassana courses in California.

WILLIE BURNSIDE is a retired Senior Partner of The Boston Consulting Group, where he worked for over thirty years. Willie has been an avid birder since his childhood in Northern Ireland, a pastime he has continued during a career which has taken him to London, Boston, Chicago and, for the past twenty years, Los Angeles. He is a Board Member of the Executive Service Corps of Southern California, past Board Member of Occidental College, The French Foundation for Alzheimer’s Research and The California Club, and past member of the Finance Committee of Jesus College, Cambridge. In addition to birding, Willie enjoys photography, including bird photography, hiking, travel, fishing and golf. He obtained a degree in Classical Studies from Cambridge University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

SUSAN GOTTLIEB is the co-founder and co-owner of The G2 Gallery (www.theg2gallery.com) in Venice, California, a philanthropic art gallery which features wildlife and nature art exclusively. All proceeds from sales of work at the gallery are donated to conservation organizations. Ms. Gottlieb is dedicated to conservation and passionate about birds and wildlife. Both she and her husband, Mr. Dan Gottlieb, are talented wildlife photographers who travel around the world to capture photos of wildlife and nature. She also began a native garden in Beverly Hills in 1990 to save water with drought tolerant plants and attract birds. The garden has been designated as official Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation and featured in various newspaper and magazine articles. Ms. Gottlieb serves on the board of The Friends of the Ballona Wetlands and supports many conservation organizations. She lives with her husband and four rescued cats, which are able to roam their property and enjoy the outdoors safely and without threatening birds or other animals thanks to a special open air cat run they constructed on their property. Ms. Gottlieb was a member of the board from 2009-2018.

IYA LABUNKA, former independent film producer and Disney Film Studios executive, spent all her childhood summers tramping around the woods and fording the streams of Upstate New York. It was through these adventures and experiences that her immigrant parents imparted an enduring love and respect for nature. After meeting and getting married to filmmaker Wes Craven, this interest flowered into more direct activism, including serving on the Audubon California board from 2015-2018. Iya is deeply honored to have been invited to be a part of this great organization and looks forward to this new chapter in her life which is a direct connection to how it all began.

DAVID JENSEN has served as the president of the Mendocino Coast Audubon Society for six years.  He has been interested in birds his entire life and has been actively birding since he met the legendary David Gaines in 1977. At that time Jensen was working as a commercial fisherman and construction diver. He later returned to college and earned a Master’s degree in Entomology at U.C. Berkeley, where he studied the effects of selenium poisoning at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge. That led him to a career in environmental management, which has included hazardous waste enforcement, the cleanup of a former uranium processing plant, and his current role as Director of Environmental Health for Mendocino County. David’s diverse background and education have helped him to collaborate with differing factions.  As a regional stakeholder in the Marine Life Protection Act’s North Coast Region, David worked with commercial, sport, tribal and environmental groups to negotiate the protection of important seabird rookeries. Part teacher and part missionary, David most enjoys working with beginning birders, patiently answering their questions as he introduces them to the wonders of the avian world, passing on the legacy he inherited more than thirty-five years ago.

KRISTI PATTERSON, of Portola Valley, California, served on the Audubon California Board from 2007-2016, including four years as chair. She also served as a member of the National Audubon Society board. Kristi spent her career in the software industry, managing a team at Kana Communications and prior to that she worked at Netscape Communications and Bain & Company. Growing up in Santa Cruz and spending summers backpacking in the Sierras, Kristi has always loved the natural world and being active in the outdoors.  Along with being actively involved in her local community, she continues to enjoy exploring Northern California, as well as Western Colorado and Montana with her husband, Tom, and their two children.

DR. NANCY PIOTROWSKI is the Conservation Chair for the Napa-Solano Audubon Society. She is a long time photographer of birds and landscapes, as well as a seasoned environmental activist. Her interests in the environment and wildlife are based in an appreciation of the need to take care of water and air quality, as well as having a solid commitment to land stewardship. A 10 year resident of Solano County and 25 year plus resident of California, she is active in her profession as a psychologist and clinical and research professor, as well as community activities related to gardening with native and drought tolerant plants, historical preservation, and neighborhood safety. She also has over 40 years of experience writing letters about environmental issues, and over 10 years of experience doing advocacy to government officials at the local, state, and federal levels. She also brings several years of experience doing estuarian biology research earlier in her career, as well as current work in the area of environmental, population, and conservation psychology.

JACOB SCHUTT joined Parallel Advisors to help create a truly innovative wealth management firm founded on the principles of a disciplined planning process, an open architecture platform, and transparent reporting. Prior to joining Parallel, Jake worked for Morgan Stanley's Global Wealth Management Group. He achieved the Pace Setter's award and built his business providing advice to affluent individuals, families, and trusts. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Jake was a senior technology consultant for several web development firms serving the largest global non-profit organizations. Jake holds a B.A. in English from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is also the trustee of several trusts, serves as Chairman of the Board for Wilmon Timberlands, a timber investment and management company. He serves on the Finance Committee of Marin Headlands Center for the Arts, a non-profit organization that provides artist residency programs in Marin. He is also a board member at the Richardson Bay Audubon Center in Tiburon.

ROBERT STEPHENS of Soquel founded the Elkhorn Native Plant Nursery in Moss Landing, a wholesale and retail nursery providing California native plants and seeds for landscaping and restoration. The nursery also offers botanical consultations, planning and implementing restoration, erosion control and landscaping projects, and seed collection and seed cleaning. Robert also operates a commercial apple orchard in Soquel and serves on the San Felipe Ranch Board of Directors, a cattle ranch in Central California. He is an advisory board member of the O'Neill Sea Odyssey and the Elkhorn Slough Foundation. He is the past chair of the Audubon California board of directors. He has twin daughters and enjoys horseback riding, biking, fishing, kayaking, nature photography, and swimming.

ALLISON HARVEY TURNER serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Water Foundation. She oversees the foundation’s strategy, operations, and grantmaking and leads the staff in pursuing our mission to secure clean, reliable water for people and nature. As CEO, Allison supports philanthropy’s ability to convene, experiment with new ideas, and scale investment in transformative water solutions. The Water Foundation began in 2011 as a project of the Resources Legacy Fund and launched as an independent foundation in 2017. It has granted more than $50 million to organizations and coalitions to support safe, clean water for people, restored freshwater ecosystems, and climate resilience. To complement its grantmaking and build a broader constituency for water solutions, the Water Foundation also serves as a convener, field builder, and campaign strategist.

Previously, Allison was the Environment Program Director at the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, where she directed water and land conservation strategies, including managing the California Conservation Fund. She was also on the senior management team that grew the organization from ten to thirty professionals, managed a complex endowment, and guided more than $1 billion in grantmaking over ten years. Allison served on advisory boards for Audubon California, the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center, Sustainable Conservation, and the Water Solutions Network. She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.

NANCY WHITE  served on the Audubon California board from 2015-2018. Nancy is the Program Advisor on Water Issues for the Tomkat Charitable Trust. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of Estabrook Investment Advisors, LLC. Nancy practiced law in Denver and later founded and ran a national consulting firm, White-Scott LLC. She currently serves as an officer and trustee of the Schlegel White Foundation. Nancy received her J.D. from the University of Denver School of Law after receiving both her B.A. and her M.A. from the University of Massachusetts. She joined the Audubon California board in 2015.

In Memoriam: WES CRAVEN, who passed from this life on August 30, 2015, was a Los Angeles based filmmaker recognized for his genre-bending and innovative horror films. Best known for creating the iconic Freddy Kreuger in Nightmare on Elm Street and for directing the record breaking Scream franchise, Craven directed 30 feature films, over 20 television shows & movies of the week and published one novel, The Fountain Society (1999). Craven's work earned acclaim at festivals and award shows worldwide. Craven was born and raised in inner-city Cleveland, Ohio. He earned undergraduate degrees in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois and a masters degree in Philosophy and Writing from John Hopkins University. Prior to pursuing his film career, Craven taught humanities at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY. Two of Craven’s later feature films, My Soul To Take (2010) and Scream 4 (2011), were collaborations with his wife, producer Iya Labunka. Craven was a lifelong bird lover and was an Audubon California Board Member from 2010 until his passing in 2015.