About Us Topics
- Our Mission
- Ecology Action Staff
- Board of Directors
- Awards
- Open Job Positions
- Directions to Office
- EA’s New Green Building
- Contact Us
Board of Directors
Jennifer Smith Grubb, Board Presdent
Marc Adato, Vice President
Sue Bowman, Secretary
Buddy Morris, Treasurer
Josephine Fleming
Joe Jordan
Ilse Lopes
Alan Schlenger
Celia Scott
Ellen Yeoman
Jennifer Smith Grubb, Board President
Jennifer Smith Grubb worked with colleagues to found Sustainable Silicon Valley as a non-profit, spinning it off from a California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) project in 2004. Jennifer served as the Founding President and Executive Director, then as Chair of the Board, and continues serving as a board member today. SSV is a business, government, and non-governmental partnership whose mission is to lead the Silicon Valley community to a more sustainable future. The initial focus is to reduce energy usage from non-renewable sources by targeting a 20% reduction in regional carbon dioxide emissions. The group is now expanding its focus to include water issues. SSV was recently recognized by Cool California, received the 2007 Governor’s Environment and Economic Leadership Award and was a 2007 Climate All Stars award winner. In 2006, SSV received the US EPA Environmental Award for Outstanding Achievement.
Jennifer worked with the Los Angeles region to establish the LA Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability, helping business, government, academic, environmental, labor and community groups build their own climate action network. She was recognized for her sustainability leadership work by the Multi-State Working Group on Environmental Performance (MSWG), and also by the Pacific Industrial Business Association. Jennifer has participated internationally with the United Nations Environmental Program Best Practices Network. Through her efforts, HRH Prince Charles and his Cambridge Business and Environment Programme now provide sustainability seminars for senior executives on the west coast of the United States. Nationally, Jennifer serves as a board member for MSWG, and locally, Jennifer serves as a board member for Ecology Action in Santa Cruz, California, where she lives with her husband and son. She received her BS degree from the University of California at Davis.
back to top
My love for the environment began when I was 10 years. I remember being coaxed to the base of Mt. Whitney on my first backpacking trip and marveling at the fresh water pooling at the base of the glacier. That watershed experience informed my direction and choices for education, employment, environmental preservation and recreation.
This early experience with our environment lead me to enroll at the University of California at Santa Cruz where I earned a B.A. degree in Environmental Planning and Architectural History in 1986. After a short stint building customs homes, my academic background was employed in the rebuilding of Santa Cruz after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. For over thirteen years I dedicated myself to working on downtown redevelopment and sustainable transportation issues as a Planner for the City of Santa Cruz. This work remains exciting because it combines design of our built environment with policy implementation and local politics.
I joined Network Mortgage in 2005 to pursue a career change that brought my talents in planning, program management and collaboration with strategic partnerships to the field of real estate. This was an opportunity for personal growth and development. I applied my shared solution philosophy to the affordable housing market and developed a new service that promoted shared property ownership through Tenancy in Common vesting techniques and fractional financing tools.
I have lived in Santa Cruz since 1975, and married my wife Nan Ferris in 1987. We enjoy the benefits of living in proximity to many great cultural and natural resources and enjoy travel, music and kayaking the Monterey Bay.
back to top
Sue joined the Board in the early 1980's, returning to Santa Cruz after 3 years on an organic farm in Oregon. Working with one of the earliest non-profit organizations in organic food certification, Oregon Tilth, a small partnership took a 600 acre cattle/logging ranch through the conversion process to grow, market and ship organically certified produce to the S.F. bay area. She currently works as a x-ray technologist, specializing in mammography/breast cancer detection. Other work experience includes 10+ years in management in Catalog/Internet sales for local boating retailer West Marine. A lifelong sailor, she values prioritizing the health of the marine environment and its crucial role in our global ecological systems. Sue earned her B.S. in Conservation of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley, and A.S. degrees in Horticulture (College of Marin) and Radiologic Technology (Cabrillo College.)
back to top
Buddy is the Director of Environmental Health and Safety at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a BS in Biology and received his Masters in Public Health from the University of Hawaii. He has been certified in the Comprehensive Practice of Industrial Hygiene since 1985 and has worked to implement safety and environmental programs on University campuses for the past 30 years. Buddy thoroughly enjoys his work in higher education but has also been a part of interesting projects such as the remediation of an Agent Orange pesticide dumpsite on the island of Kauai, and fuel farm asbestos abatement on Midway Island.
back to top
Josephine Fleming, Environmental Scientist and Owner
Ms. Fleming has over 15 years experience in the environmental industry. She has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and a Minor in Spanish Literature. Ms. Fleming began her career in research on constructed wetlands, compost, and field application of biosolids, and then moved into environmental site assessment and environmental remediation. From there, she began assisting individual companies with environmental compliance and policy. She worked with Seagate Technologies, PE Applied Biosystems, and Apple Computers. She soon wanted to help more than one company at a time and therefore took a public position with the County of Santa Cruz. There she started the Monterey Bay Area Green Business Program as well as a substantive pollution prevention outreach program. Soon, several Cities were requesting her services to coordinate the Green Business Program in their jurisdiction. As a result, she started Environmental Innovations to be able to serve more of the community. As of 2010, Ms. Fleming and her team have assisted over 200 businesses to become certified Green Businesses and held over 10 industry-specific pollution prevention workshops. Other ground-breaking programs that have been coordinated by Environmental Innovations and Ms. Fleming include the Fryer to Fuel Program, whereby waste fryer oil from restaurants is turned into biodiesel to power local public diesel fleets; and the Sharp Solutions for Home Medicines Program, a collection program to properly dispose of home-generated needles and pharmaceuticals. Ms. Fleming has won several awards including the Western Regional Pollution Prevention Network Pollution Prevention Champion 2003, the County of Santa Cruz “Gold” Employee of the Year Award 2004, California Water Environment Association Pretreatment, Pollution Prevention and Stormwater Person of the Year 2003, Department of Toxic Substances Control Office of Pollution Prevention Recognition for exemplary work in promoting Pollution Prevention 2003 and 2006. She is a CWEA Certified Environmental Compliance Inspector, performing duties for her local City of Scotts Valley. She has served on the Board of Directors for Ecology Action for almost a decade.
http://www.envirocentives.com
back to top
Joe teaches solar and renewable energy courses at San Jose State University and Cabrillo College, and provides green-jobs training (particularly in photovoltaics, or solar electricity) for a variety of corporate and non-profit organizations around the country. Joe has been a space and atmospheric scientist at NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute in Mountain View. He holds a B.A. Physics, Oberlin College and an M.S. Computer/Information Sciences, University of California at Santa Cruz. Joe served as a Public Works Commissioner for the City of Santa Cruz and as a science/math consultant on the Life Lab Science Program curriculum. He also serves as an astronomy/natural sciences teacher and hike leader for the California Academy of Sciences, the Santa Cruz City Museum, local schools, UCSC, and the Lyceum of Santa Clara Valley. Joe is an occasional contributor to the local radio series "Field Notes." Joe's passion is positioning Ecology Action for regional leadership in tapping the vast wealth inherent in our own clean, renewable energy resources (such as solar and wind) -- which he calls "sky power".
back to top
Prior to retiring in 2008, Ms. Lopes was the director of Physical Plant at UCSC. In her role as Director she was responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the facilities including buildings and grounds as well as overall utilities management. She oversaw conservation programs including energy conservation, recycling, integrated pest management, water conservation, “green” cleaning and was instrumental in creating the office of sustainability and overseeing the first campus sustainability assessment in 2007. Before assuming the position of Director of Physical Plant in 2001 she served as Director of Health and Safety at UCSC for ten years.
Before joining UCSC she worked for Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Service as the Program Manager for the Hazardous Materials and Solid Waste programs. In this capacity she implemented the first hazardous materials ordinance for the County, worked to create the first ongoing household hazardous waste collection center and countywide 24-hour spill response program.
back to top
Alan has been a retired information technology executive from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Alan is very well positioned in the community to incorporate environmental sensibility into community decision making. He serves on the Public Works Commission for the City of Santa Cruz, the Commission on the Environment for Santa Cruz County, the Integrated Waste Management Local Task Force, and on the Board of Directors for the Santa Cruz Community Farmers Market. He is also a computer instructor for the Senior Computer Center of Santa Cruz. Alan holds a BA from City College of New York.
back to top
Ms. Scott graduated from Oberlin College, Ohio in 1956 with a B.A. in government, and received her M.Sc. in Political Theory from the London School of Economics a few years later. She also received a Masters Degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961, and a Juris Doctor from Santa Clara School of Law in 1984. Ms. Scott has specialized in land use and environmental law and has over four decades of experience working with community based organizations and government within the Santa Cruz community.
During this time she was employed by; the California Coastal Commission, the Sierra Club, the California Court of Appeals in Santa Clara, and the County of Santa Cruz. In addition, she has served the community through membership on numerous committees, Boards, and elected offices, including the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission, the City of Santa Cruz Planning Commission, the Santa Cruz City Council (Mayor in 1998), the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District, the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District, the Affirmative Action Task Force, and the City of Santa Cruz IPM Task Force. Ms. Scott has also been active with numerous local groups, including the Citizens' Committee for the Homeless, Save the Coast, Save the Gray Whale Parklands, Friends of the North Coast, Friends of the Pogonip, the Open Space Alliance, and the Campaign for Sensible Transportation. She is a member of the Santa Cruz County Bar Association and Women Lawyers of Santa Cruz.
back to top
Ellen is an environmental specialist with diverse experience in policy, planning, impact assessment, research planning and implementation. She recently retired after 31 years with PG&E. During her tenure at PG&E Ellen was involved with numerous utility environmental issues including siting of renewable energy projects, pesticide management and pollution prevention. Ellen holds a BA in Ecology from UC Berkeley and an MA from San Francisco State University in Ecology and Systematics.
back to top
.