Summit Speakers

Keynotes

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla

Senator Alex Padilla, a progressive problem-solver, is the first Latino elected to represent California in the U.S. Senate. The son of immigrants, Padilla grew up in the San Fernando Valley and studied Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was drawn to politics in response to California’s anti-immigrant Proposition 187. Padilla was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1999 and the State Senate in 2006. As California’s Secretary of State, he oversaw a historic expansion of voting rights and voter participation. As United States Senator, Padilla has taken action to cut costs for families, combat the climate crisis, and help thousands of Californians secure millions of dollars owed to them by federal agencies. Padilla currently serves as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety. He is a member of the Senate Committees on Budget; Environment and Public Works; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Judiciary; and Rules. Padilla lives in the San Fernando Valley with his wife, Angela, and their three sons, Roman, Alex, and Diego.

Director Tracy Stone-Manning

In September 2021, Tracy Stone-Manning was confirmed as the 19th Director of the Bureau of Land Management. She has spent her career devoted to public service and conservation, bringing people together to solve the biggest challenges facing our lands and waters. Before coming to the BLM, she served as both a senior advisor for conservation policy and associate vice president of public lands at the National Wildlife Federation. Prior to joining the federation, she served as former Montana Governor Steve Bullock’s chief of staff, where she helped broker bipartisan legislation, including delivering healthcare to nearly 100,000 Montanans by expanding Medicaid and passing a water compact with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She also helped launch the state’s first Office of Outdoor Recreation. Before that, Stone-Manning worked as the director of Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality, overseeing the state’s water, air, mining and remediation programs. She served as a senior advisor and regional director to Senator Jon Tester during his first term, where she worked primarily on natural resource issues. Raised in a big, Navy family, she was guided into public service from childhood. She is an avid backpacker, hunter, and singer and holds a M.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and an B.A. from the University of Maryland.

Panelists

Matthew G. Adams

Matt Adams helps clients address environmental, natural resources, and public lands issues. He advises on a full range of transactional, regulatory, and litigation matters, with a particular focus on issues arising under state and federal environmental impact assessment, endangered species, and historic and cultural preservation laws. Matt also counsels tribal governments on environmental and land use issues affecting Indian country. He represents a variety of stakeholders on matters related to the protection of Indigenous cultural and historic resources, as well as tribal co-stewardship and co-management of public lands. In addition, Matt provides strategic advice and regulatory counsel on a variety of emerging issues relating to water, energy, and other climate-related sustainability and adaptation issues. 

Bridget Fithian

Bridget has worked in land conservation at Sierra Foothill Conservancy since 2009 and was selected as its Executive Director in 2015. She has since doubled the Sierra Foothill Conservancy’s operating budget and expanded its land acquisition and engagement programming. She oversees over 64,000 acres of conserved lands, specializing in creative solutions to achieve conservation goals and working landscape conservation. Recent projects have established and expanded Mariposa’s first publicly accessible preserve which is adjacent to local schools and protects the town’s water resource; creating the largest private nature preserve in the Sierra Foothills; connecting 27,000 acres of conserved lands in the San Joaquin River Corridor; and participating in the first Sierra Meadow restoration GHG and carbon sequestration cohort. Bridget also serves as the current board chair for the California Council of Land Trusts, Board President of the Sierra Cascade Land Trust Council, and President and Director of the California Conservation Action Fund. Bridget is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz. She lives in Mariposa with her husband and two daughters and enjoys a life filled with family and beautiful open spaces.

Dannielle Rey Frank

Danielle Frank is from the Hupa and Yurok tribes, located in Northern California. She has been deeply involved in the cultural and political aspects of her community from a very early age. Born during the beginning of a 20 year resistance to undam the Klamath River led by her tribal communities, Danielle grew up learning from strong Indigenous activists. Inheriting the knowledge of how to fight for her community from those who came before her, she has never known a life without activism. Danielle is currently working as the Native Youth Coordinator for the organization Native Americans in Philanthropy, where she is using her experience with grassroots organizing to help make more funding available for Indigenous communities through the development of young Native leaders. She is also a board member for Rios to Rivers and the Director of Development and Community Relations for Paddle Tribal Waters, where she works both in her local community providing resources for Native youth, and globally, advocating for environmental justice with a focus on free-flowing rivers and youth-led activism and investment. In 2022 Danielle was named Miss Na:tini-xwe’ (Nah-tini-way) of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, serving as a role model for young Native Women and as a Cultural Ambassador for the Hupa people.

Michelle Fullner

Michelle Fullner is an educator, California Naturalist, mother of two woodland sprite daughters, and host of the Golden State Naturalist podcast, which is now ranked in the top 1% of podcasts globally. Michelle holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Comparative Literature from San Jose State University and a Master’s in English: Composition and Rhetoric, from California State University, Sacramento. As an educator, she taught middle and high school English in California public schools for ten years before transitioning to her life as a full-time admirer of acorns, California newts, redwood sorrel, and tide pools.

Nurit Katz

Nurit Katz is an educator, sustainability professional, and urban ecologist who is dedicated to creating a more sustainable, resilient, and healthy region through cross-sector and cross-disciplinary collaboration. As Chief Sustainability Officer for UCLA, Nurit led the development of the university’s first comprehensive sustainability plan, award winning landscape plan and biodiversity commitment, and fosters collaboration across the leading public university to advance sustainability through education, research, operations, and community partnerships. For six years she also served as Executive Officer for Facilities Management. Nurit has over 15 years of teaching experience and is an Instructor for the UCLA Extension Sustainability Certificate Program. She has also taught for the UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability and prior to UCLA taught in environmental and outdoor education through a range of programs including Americorps Garden Education, Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation, and a farm to school program. She serves as the Outreach Coordinator for the Los Angeles Raptor Study, a community science based study of nesting raptors in LA, supported by Friends of Griffith Park, and is the faculty advisor for the Bruin Birding Club. Nurit was appointed by Mayor Bass and serves as Commissioner on the Board of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the largest public utility in the US. As Commissioner she led a major motion on biodiversity, access to nature, and nature-based solutions. She has served in a number of public sector and non-profit advisory capacities including on the LA 100 Advisory Group, Los Angeles County Climate Vulnerability Assessment Technical Advisory Committee and the Resilient Infrastructure Working Group for Resilient LA. She currently serves on the Biodiversity Expert Council for the City of Los Angeles, and the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Areas Steering Committee. She is also a member of the Technical Working Group for the Los Angeles River California Environmental Flow Framework (CEFF) Project. Nurit holds an MBA and a Masters in Public Policy from the UCLA, and a BA in Environmental Education from Humboldt State University. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA and was a Trainee in the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) Innovation at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS) program.

Kiana Kazemi

Kiana Kazemi is a multi-hyphenated environmentalist and data scientist, recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 for her interdisciplinary work. She’s the co-founder of environmental justice nonprofit Intersectional Environmentalist, and serves as founding CEO of Beaker, a platform empowering people with sustainability and ethics data. Kiana is additionally a member of the California Academy of Sciences' California Creators for Nature program, launched this year to initiate digital and in-person conversations about nature, climate, and environmental justice. 

Rosa Laucci

Rosa Laucci is the Marine Division Manager and Marine Biologist for the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation in northern coastal California. Upon her arrival to Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation in 2012, she established the Marine Division in the Nation’s Natural Resource department and has managed it successfully ever since. In her division, she monitors and conducts research on a variety of cultural keystone marine species, including surf smelt, night smelt, surfperch, mussels, clams, sea stars, seaweeds and plankton. She also monitors the health of intertidal habitats, the status of biotoxin levels in shellfish, the effects of sea level rise on intertidal species through 3D habitat mapping, human use of Tolowa beaches, and was instrumental in establishing the Nation’s first laws of marine resource management. The Nation is also a founding member of the Tribal Marine Stewards Network and Rosa’s division houses a program that trains tribal citizens in traditional stewardship techniques that will prepare them to take care of their ancestral territory. All of her efforts have established a strong foundation for resource management for the Tribe that will ensure conservation and sustainability for generations to come.

Emcees

Annie Burke

Annie serves as the executive director of TOGETHER Bay Area, a regional coalition of nonprofits, Tribes/Indigenous-led organizations, and public agencies all collaborating for climate resilience and equity. She led the reimagination of the Bay Area Open Space Council in 2018-2019 which resulted in the focused and inclusive coalition that TOGETHER Bay Area is today. Previously she worked for large and small nonprofits in various coalition building, fundraising, strategy, and change management capacities. She has produced films about partnerships between Native American Tribes and conservation organizations, the most recent being Umunhum. Annie has a Masters degree in Organization Development from University of San Francisco and a B.A. in psychology from Denison University. She serves on the board of The Stewardship Network and is the Co-Chair of California's 30x30 Partnership Coordinating Committee.

Wade Crowfoot

Wade Crowfoot was appointed California Secretary for Natural Resources by Governor Gavin Newsom in January 2019. Secretary Crowfoot oversees an agency of 19,000 employees charged with protecting and managing California’s diverse resources. As a member of the Governor’s cabinet, he advises the Governor on natural resources and environmental issues. Crowfoot brings over two decades of public policy and environmental leadership to the office, with expertise in water, fisheries, climate and sustainability issues. He most recently served as chief executive officer of the Water Foundation, a nonprofit philanthropy that builds shared water solutions for communities, economy, and the environment across the American West. Prior to joining the foundation, he served in Governor Jerry Brown’s Administration as deputy cabinet secretary and senior advisor to the Governor. In that role he led the administration’s drought response efforts and spearheaded several of the Governor’s priority initiatives to build California’s resilience to climate change. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996 and earned a master’s degree in public policy from the London School of Economics in 2004, where he graduated with honors.

Jenn Eckerle

Jenn Eckerle is the Deputy Secretary for Oceans and Coastal Policy for Natural Resources and Executive Director of the Ocean Protection Council (OPC). Jenn serves as a key advisor to the Governor and the Secretary for Natural Resources and directs policy, scientific research, and critical partnerships to increase protection of California’s coast and ocean. Jenn served as OPC’s Deputy Director from December 2016 to October 2022. Before joining OPC, Jenn spent eight years as an Ocean Policy Analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, where she conducted technical analysis and developed policy recommendations to advance ocean conservation. Prior to that, she was a Coastal Program Analyst for the California Coastal Commission and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Jenn earned an M.S. in Marine Biology from the Florida Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Vermont.

Megan Hertel

Meghan Hertel joined the California Natural Resources Agency in February 2024 as Deputy Secretary of Biodiversity and Habitat. In this role, Meghan leads the Agency’s efforts to conserve biodiversity and improve habitat across the state through the implementation of California’s 30x30 strategy and associated efforts including the Cutting Green Tape initiative and supporting the implementation of large-scale habitat projects. Before joining the Agency, Meghan served as North American Director for Land Life, a technology-driven, nature restoration company, and spent over a decade with Audubon California holding several positions including Director of Land and Water Conservation, where she led statewide conservation programs focused on inland water and working lands strategies. In her free time, you can find Meghan and her husband enjoying California’s incredible outdoors—backpacking, biking and paddleboarding—or trying to keep up with their foster dogs. Meghan holds a Master of Arts in Environmental Science and Policy from Clark University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Florida.

Workshops

Dr. Ana M. Alvarez

Building Our Collective Knowledge to Achieve 30x30 Biodiversity Goals

Ana serves as a Deputy General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District, the largest regional park system in the United States. She represents the Park District with state and federal agencies on policy and legislative matters to accelerate the pace, scale, and impact of climate-smart conservation. California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot appointed Ana to the California 30x30 Partnership Planning Committee representing the California Biodiversity Network (CBN) which serves as a critical partner in the implementation of an audacious environmental agenda. She was appointed to the CBN Steering Committee to contribute to the development of the California 30x30 Pathways Appendix D – Conserving California: Advancing Science in Support of 30x30, whichidentified research priorities including centering equity in the advancement of science. She was a leading Planning Committee member for the Indigenous Co-Stewardship of Public Lands: Lessons for the Future Workshop.

Sara Aminzadeh

Stitching a Funding Quilt for Durable Conservation

Sara  joined the California Natural Resources Agency in March 2023. As the Deputy Secretary of External Affairs, she leads federal relations with California’s Congressional Delegation and with other federal partners on the Agency’s behalf. She will be working to advance federal policies and investments that combat climate change, expand outdoor access, and protect biodiversity. Before joining Governor Newsom’s administration, Sara spent fifteen years working at the intersection of environmental policy and politics, on behalf of advocacy and philanthropic organizations, and the private sector. She has created and led numerous campaigns and initiatives to defend California’s rivers, bays, coast and ocean, and deliver climate resiliency and water equity for historically marginalized communities and working families. Sara served as a member of the California Coastal Commission from 2017 to 2023. In 2022, she ran for state Assembly in California’s 12th District in the North Bay Area. Sara lives in Marin and enjoys soccer, dancing, hiking, running, kayaking, and stand-up paddling with her partner and son. She holds a Juris Doctor from the University of California, San Francisco College of the Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Stephen Barlow

Cutting Green Tape Workshop

Stephen Barlow is an environmental scientist working in the wetlands permitting and enforcement unit at the State Water Resources Control Board. Stephen primarily focuses on restoration and transportation projects throughout California.

Dr. Anh Diep

Advancing 30x30 in California’s Coastal Waters

Anh joined the Ocean Protection Council (OPC) in June 2023. As 30×30 Program Manager, Anh leads OPC’s community/stakeholder and tribal engagement strategic priorities to help advance California’s 30×30 goal in coastal waters. Anh also manages OPC’s Tribal Small Grants Program as part of the Tribal Nature-Based Solutions (TNBS) Grant Program. Prior to joining OPC, Anh was a California Council on Science and Technology Science Policy fellow at the California Natural Resources Agency, working on 30×30, with the Biodiversity and Habitat Team, and on the Tribal Nature Based Solutions program with Tribal Affairs. Anh earned their PhD from UC Merced in Quantitative and Systems Biology, studying immune responses to Valley fever with the Hoyer Lab. Anh identifies as a queer, first-generation scholar and immigrant. Outside of work, you can find them reading in a cozy café, hosting elaborate dinner parties for friends and family, or thrifting another mug they don’t have any space for. 

Michael Esgro

Advancing 30x30 in California’s Coastal Waters

As Senior Biodiversity Program Manager and Tribal Liaison, Mike leads efforts to advance the Ocean Protection Council’s strategic priorities related to enhancing coastal and marine biodiversity, including implementing California’s 30×30 goal in coastal waters; protecting and restoring threatened ecosystems, including kelp forests; adaptively managing California’s statewide network of marine protected areas (MPAs); and enhancing engagement with California Native American Tribes. Mike earned a B.S. in Biology from UCLA and an M.S. in Applied Marine Science from CSU Monterey Bay. His graduate research focused on MPA monitoring and the role of “other effective conservation measures” in ocean conservation. Mike is an avid scuba diver and can usually be found underwater when not at work. Topside, he enjoys kayaking, cycling, and backpacking. 

Eli Goodsell

Leveraging Networks to Advance Tribal Partnerships and 30x30 Priorities

Eli Goodsell is the Executive Director of the Chico State Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve. Being born and raised in the forests of Paradise California, Eli has a deep connection with the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges and the role of fire within those ecosystems.  Since joining the Chico State Ecological Reserves in 2017, Eli has grown the program by over 1,000%, returned lands to two separate tribes, developed and coordinates the Interdisciplinary Master’s Degree in Wildland Stewardship, launched a Forest Therapy program which has served over 4,000 community members, and has reintroduced fire on thousands of acres in Northern California.  Eli’s purpose is to honor our natural environments through stewardship and to bring others to do so. He believes that the stewardship of our landscapes is a generational challenge and opportunity, which will require unprecedented shifts in education and investment.  

Dr. Jeanette Howard

Building Our Collective Knowledge to Achieve 30x30 Biodiversity Goals

Jeanette is the co-chair of the California Biodiversity Network. She leads The Nature Conservancy’s land science team for their California Chapter. The team focuses on developing and fostering a science enterprise to operate a climate-resilient system of protected areas that maximizes retention of biodiversity and ecosystem services; produces replicable models of best practice in stewardship; fosters strategic relationships; engages the next generation of conservation stewards; and drives innovation at the forefront of conservation, restoration, and science.

Dr. Megan Jennings

Building Our Collective Knowledge to Achieve 30x30 Biodiversity Goals

Megan is a Conservation Ecologist and Co-Director of San Diego State University's Institute for Ecological Monitoring and Management. Her research is primarily focused on informing conservation and management planning in terrestrial systems with particular interest in incorporating landscape dynamics into connectivity planning. She worked for over a decade as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service in San Diego where her years of experience in land management informed her perspective as a researcher.Megan strives to work at the interface of science and management, developing applied research to address management and conservation issues and communicating results and recommendations to decision-makers and managers. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at San Diego State University and serves as an advisor to the Climate Science Alliance.

Erika Lovejoy

Cutting Green Tape Workshop

Erika is the Director of Sustainable Conservation's Accelerating Restoration Program. Her team at this statewide nonprofit has been involved in helping agencies and project implementors develop efficient restoration permitting tools, such as programmatic permits.

Abby Mohan

Advancing 30x30 in California’s Coastal Waters

Abby joined the Ocean Protection Council (OPC) in June 2023 as a 30×30 Program Manager. She has recently worked for a climate change research firm on the intersections between coastal use, coastal policy, coastal science, and best practices in communicating these complex issues to the public both locally in the San Francisco Bay Area and internationally. Abby has been active in the maritime community for 15 years and has served as the Chair of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council and as a maritime recreation representative. Moving forward, she will serve on the advisory council representing OPC. She has served on numerous working groups and projects advocating for the ocean. Abby holds a BA in Geography and a MS in Marine Science from San Francisco State University. Abby is also a 100-ton licensed captain and enjoys being out on the water every chance she can get. When not working, you can find her out on the water on her sailboat or out at the beach with her bernedoodle, Finn. 

Dr. Steve Monfort

Building Our Collective Knowledge to Achieve 30x30 Biodiversity Goals

Steve is the Chair of the California Biodiversity Network. He also brings extensive experience as a conservation leader, principal scientific investigator, and senior executive to the role of Executive Director of the UC Natural Reserve System where he leads and manages the world's largest university-based network of field stations. In his previous role as Director of the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, he led a global interdisciplinary team in advancing scientific excellence in conserving wildlife, and teaching and inspiring people to engage in biodiversity conservation. He is an expert in wildlife health, reproductive biology, behavioral ecology, and conservation biology.

Kellyx Nelson

Cutting Green Tape Workshop

Kellyx is passionate about public service and building strong alliances to tackle thorny challenges. She has spent over 30 years in non-profits, government, and the private sector developing, implementing, and assessing programs and partnerships for environmental benefit and other public good. She has served as the Executive Director of the San Mateo Resource Conservation District since 2006 and was a founding member of the California Landscape Stewardship Network. She led the Network’s Cutting Green Tape efforts and was the lead author of Cutting Green Tape: Regulatory Efficiencies for A Resilient Environment.

Larry Notheis

Leveraging Networks to Advance Tribal Partnerships and 30x30 Priorities

In 2022, Larry was appointed Chief Deputy Director by Governor Gavin Newsom. He started his career in the California Conservation Corps (CCC) as a corpsmember at the Humboldt Fire Center where he was promoted to crew leader and worked as a firefighter and in salmon restoration. He left the CCC after two years to run a conservation crew in Australia. After leaving for a few years to travel, he returned to the CCC as a crew supervisor at the Fortuna Center where he worked his way up to District Director and then to Regional Deputy Director in Sacramento. He had the honor of being the operations chief for 140 Corpsmembers who went to Louisiana for hurricane relief. In 2005, Larry went to Pakistan to work on emergency response after an earthquake struck the nation, killing more than 100,000 people and displacing more than a million. He has worked with AmeriCorps since day one and with five different programs including: Watershed Stewards, Backcountry Trails, Youth Serve, Vet Fire Crews, and the Tooth Crew. Larry is currently the Chief Deputy Director assisting CCC Director JP Patton in formulating policies regarding project planning, budgetary decisions, and program implementation to achieve the CCC’s mission of enhancing and developing young adults through hard work and education. Under his leadership, he started the Nature-Based Solutions Tribal Youth Corps Program which has been extremely successful. He also consults with and directs staff counsel and eight Deputy Directors.

Jen Olson

Cutting Green Tape Workshop

Jen serves as the Statewide Restoration Permitting Coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Cutting the Green Tape Program. Since moving to California in 2012, she has served in a variety of environmental review and permitting roles at CDFW. She is grateful to be able to contribute to the agency’s ongoing efforts to expedite and streamline restoration permitting across the state. Jen has a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. In her free time, she enjoys birding, running, and backpacking with her dog, Dipper.

Jake Shannon

Cutting Green Tape Workshop

Jake serves as the Restoration Specialist for the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. In this role, he works to develop improved permitting tools and processes to better support restoration, and he’s always available to help find progressive yet practical solutions to regulatory barriers to restoration.

Patrick Spielman

Leveraging Networks to Advance Tribal Partnerships and 30x30 Priorities

Patrick Spielman is the Director of the Mechoopda Tribe’s Office of Environmental Planning and Protection. He has been working for the Mechoopda Tribe for five years serving in many roles, ranging from staff ecologist to farmer to wildland firefighter. He has over 10 years of experience working in natural resources, specifically in the areas of habitat restoration, regenerative agriculture, and field ecology.

Nick Van Vleet

Cutting Green Tape Workshop

Nick has been working in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Northern Region as an Environmental Scientist on the Cutting the Green Tape Team since 2022. He has been a part of project review, technical assistance, and permitting for landscape-level restoration projects and is excited about restoring ecosystem process and function in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Nick has coordinated with dozens of collaborating agencies and nonprofit organizations to build relationships and promote conservation on the north coast of California. He recently published a paper in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, and he enjoys spending his free time rafting, biking, hiking, baking, and foraging for wild mushrooms.

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