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Steve Blank
Steve
Blank has spent the last 29 years in California as a successful businessman,
conservationist and passionate teacher.
As a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Steve was part of/and founded eight
startups. After he retired, he applied the same pragmatic decision-making to
a new career in conservation and teaching. He is Chairman of Audubon
California, and is a member of the Audubon National board. Steve teaches at
both U.C. Berkeley Haas Business School, and at Stanford in the Graduate
School of Engineering.
Along with the Audubon boards, Steve sits on several private company boards.
He lives in Menlo Park with his wife and two daughters who attend public
school in Redwood City.
Additional biographies are available at:
http://www.audubon-ca.org/board.htm
http://www.stanford.edu/class/msande273/team/blank.html
http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/blank.html.
Dr. William
Burke comes to the California Coastal Commission with an exemplary commitment to
both public service and the environment. He served two terms as Chairman of the
California Fish and Game Commission and two terms as Chairman of the California
Wildlife Conservation Board. At present, he is Vice Chair of the board of the
South Coast Air Quality Management District, following his two-term tenure as
its Chairman. He has also been a board member of the Congressional Black Caucus
Foundation and was appointed by Governor Gray Davis to the California Air
Resources Board in April 2000.
Dr.
Burke earned a bachelor's degree from Miami University. While serving in the
United States Air Force, he attended Boston University and Harvard. He went on
to receive a doctorate of education from the University of Massachusetts. He is
married to Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and lives in
Los Angeles. He is the President of the City of Los Angeles Marathon, which he
co-founded in 1986.
Pat has a long and distinguished service in the real estate industry and is recognized as a leader in communications between the business industry and government.
Between 1978 and 1985, Pat served on the California Housing Finance
Agency (a statewide agency that issues bonds to finance low- and moderate-
income housing) and served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of its lending
committee. From 1981 to 1988, Pat was a director of the Federal Home Loan
Bank of San Francisco, which regulates the savings and loan industry. He was
first appointed under President Jimmy Carter in 1981 and then re-appointed
under President Ronald Reagan. Between 1984 and 1986, he also served on the
Federal Savings and Loan Advisory Council, which acts as a special counselor
to the Federal Home Loan Bank in Washington, D.C. Locally, Pat served on the
first Housing Commission for the City of San Diego between 1979 and 1982.
The County of San Diego selected him to serve as First Chairman of the
Housing Bond Finance Review Committee between 1984 and 1986. He was also the
First Chairman of the Regional Growth and Planning Review Task Force for San
Diego County. Pat served a six year term as a Board Director at Centre City
Development Corporation, which is responsible for all development activities
in the redevelopment area of downtown San Diego. Currently, Pat is a
Commissioner and Chair of the California Coastal Commission, which regulates
1,100 miles of California coastline.
Originally from Hingham, Massachusetts,
Dave Potter has been a resident of Monterey County since 1970, and is dedicated to
actively serving the community. Besides owning and operating Potter Construction since
1974, Dave has also served the local community in many capacities including: the City of
Monterey Architectural Review Committee (‘86 to ‘90), the Monterey City Planning
Commission (‘90 to ‘92), the Monterey City Council (‘92 to ‘96), the
Transportation Agency of Monterey County (‘93 to present), and as Chairman of the
Transportation Agency of Monterey County (‘95 and ‘96), the Fort Ord Reuse
Authority (‘93 to present), Chairman of the Monterey City Youth and Family Task Force
(‘96 to present), the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District (‘97 to
present), and was elected to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors for the Fifth
District , representing Big Sur, Carmel, Carmel Valley, Monterey, Pacific Grove, and
Pebble Beach in November of 1996. He was elected Vice-Chairperson for the Board of
Supervisors in January of 1997, and was appointed to the California Coastal Commission in
March of 1997.
In addition to serving as Supervisor to the constituents of the Fifth District of the County of Monterey, Dave also serves on numerous committees including: the Legislative Committee, Health Committee, Affirmative Action Committee, Mental Health Commission, Law Library Board of Trustees, the Monterey County Travel and Tourism Alliance, and the Health Insurance Review Committee.
Dave Potter and his wife Patricia have two children, Tyler, 15 and Sarah, 12.
Mike Reilly is a native Northern Californian and a twenty year resident of Sonoma County. In November, 1996, Reilly was elected as Sonoma County's 5th District Supervisor. The 5th District encompasses the entire 53 mile Sonoma County coastline from Marin to Mendocino Counties.
Reilly served as Administrative Assistant to State Assemblyman Dan Hauser from 1981 to 1985 in the 1st Assembly District which stretches from Sonoma County to the Oregon border along the north coast.
During his tenure with Hauser, Reilly was active on many coastal issues including the designation of the Lost Coast Sinkyone Wilderness area for public use; drafting the initial legislation banning oil and gas development in Northern California state waters and the restoration of the Point Arena pier as well as regional issues pertaining to fisheries and timber industries.
Reilly has been active in his community serving 13 years on local school boards and over a decade as Executive Director of West County Community Services, a local non-profit agency serving rural western Sonoma County communities. He has served in leadership positions on several county boards and commissions.
Reilly is a lifelong Democrat and lives in Forestville with his wife Judi.
Mary Shallenberger grew up on a dairy farm in northern Ohio. She graduated
from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts with a B.S. in Biological
Sciences and headed to California.
Ms. Shallenberger worked for several years as a research assistant in the Biology Department at Stanford University and Stanford Research Institute before returning to school for an M.S. in Engineering from Stanford University. Upon graduation Ms. Shallenberger moved to Sacramento and began a long public service career in environmental and natural resource protection. She began as a Planner at the California Air Resources Board during the development of the first non-attainment plans and the creation of the Air Conservation Program. She moved to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research where she developed administration policies on natural resource issues and programs. Ms. Shallenberger began work for the California State Senate in 1987 and was the Principal Consultant to the Senate Natural Resources and Wildlife Committee and then the Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee. From 1994 until 2005 she was the special advisor to the Senate Pro Tem on policy and political issues related to natural resource and environment. During her tenure in the Senate she was instrumental in nearly every major environmental bill that passed the Legislature
Ms. Shallenberger has balanced her work on natural resource protection with volunteer work with non-profit organizations dedicated to reproductive heath care for women, locally and around the world. She served as the Chair of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and of her local Planned Parenthood affiliate. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Guttmacher Institute, the Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte, and the Pacific Institute for Women’s Health. Ms. Shallenberger is Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum.
Sara Wan was married in 1962 to Dr. Lawrence A. Wan. They have two sons, Mark, married to Lisa, and Eric, married to Michele. Mrs. Wan has a B.A. in Zoology from Vassar College, an M.S. in Biology from Yale University, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. She and her husband live in Malibu where Dr. Wan was formerly the Mayor. Mrs. Wan taught Electrical engineering at California State University, Long Beach, and was founder and chief executive officer of Maric, Inc. Maric is an engineering firm that manufactures electronic timing devices for sports. Mrs. Wan sold Maric in 1992 to devote full time to environmental causes.
Prior to joining the Commission, Mrs. Wan had been a long time environmental activist. She worked extensively on land use, energy, oil, marine mammals and other environmental issues affecting the Coast of California. Mrs. Wan sat on the boards of numerous environmental organizations and was Vice Chair of the League for Coastal Protection.
In 1996, Mrs. Wan co-founded Vote the Coast, which is a Political Action Committee dedicated to helping the election of coastal friendly candidates.
Steve Kinsey was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He has
lived in western Marin County since 1978. After graduating from Arizona
State University with a B.A. in Architecture, Steve set up and operated his
own environmentally oriented design/build firm for twenty years. During that
time, he also volunteered in his community, working on land use, water
supply, and fishery restoration issues. He assisted his local school board
in their efforts to improve district programs and their campus.
Since his election to the Marin County Board of Supervisors in 1996, Steve has represented the geographically and culturally diverse Fourth District, including all of Marin’s coastal area. During his time in public office, Steve has concentrated on developing a sustainable vision for Marin County. His key interests include protecting coastal and riparian resources, strengthening and diversifying the county’s historic agricultural industry, advocating on behalf of the needs of children and families, and improving transportation.
Since 1998, Steve has been chair of FishNet4C, a coalition of six counties working to improve local government’s capacity to protect and restore Salmon and steelhead populations along our coast. He also serves on the Marin Agricultural Land Trust board, and he has served on Marin’s First Five Commission since its formation in 1999.
Steve is fully focused on the Bay Area’s vexing transportation challenges. Since 1998, he has represented Marin County on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the region’s transportation financing and planning agency. He chaired the Commission in 2003 and 2004. Steve has chaired Marin’s local transportation agency since 1998, leading the agency’s successful transportation sales tax effort in 2004. The tax program includes ongoing funding for the Stagecoach, providing daily transit in the coastal communities for the first time. He is leading efforts to make Marin a model for walking and bicycling.
Outside of his public duties, Steve enjoys running and hiking on Marin’s spectacular hills, including his annual participation in the century old Dipsea Race from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach.
Councilmember Suja Lowenthal was born in Madras, India in 1970. When Suja was five years old, her mother came to the United States under a federal nurse recruitment program which provided green card residency status to qualified nurses. To join her mother, Suja and her father immigrated to America two years later. Suja grew up in Los Angeles County and earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from UCLA, a Master's in Business Administration from California State University, Los Angeles and a Doctorate in Policy, Planning and Development from USC.
In 1993, Suja joined the City of Los Angeles Department of Aging. She
coordinated the Meals-on-Wheels program, prepared the departmental budget
and administered its grant dollars. Two years later, she joined the Los
Angeles City Attorney's Office as the Coordinator of its Domestic Violence
Unit, providing domestic violence education and training to thousands of
students and officials in Los Angeles schools, city agencies, community
organizations and law enforcement divisions. In 1998, she joined the Central
Basin Municipal Water District and West Basin Municipal Water District as
the agencies' Government Affairs Manager. For the past two years, Suja
served as the Chief of Strategic Planning & Initiatives for the Water
Replenishment District of Southern California.
In 2001, Suja was elected to represent the 3rd District of the Board of
Education in Long Beach Unified School District. During Suja’s tenure as
President of the District in 2003-04, Long Beach Unified School District was
recognized as the best urban school district in the nation by the Broad
Foundation. The award is given annually to a school district that has made
the greatest strides in narrowing educational achievement gaps across ethnic
groups and between high and low-income students.
Councilmember Suja Lowenthal was sworn in as Second District Councilmember
on June 27, 2006. She is currently serving the remaining two years of former
Councilmember Dan Baker’s term. In May 2007, Suja was appointed as an
alternate to the California Coastal Commission. The Coastal Commission plans
and regulates land and water use in the state’s coastal zone. It issues
permits for building construction, divisions of land and activities that
change the intensity of land use or access to coastline by the public.
Suja has been active in several local community organizations including the
Long Beach Affordable Housing Commission, YMCA of Long Beach, Long Beach
Area Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Council, Long Beach Downtown
Development Task Force, Los Angeles & San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council,
Aquarium of the Pacific Watershed Curriculum Steering Committee, Lambda Long
Beach, Long Beach Human Relations Project and the National Conference for
Community and Justice.
Councilmember Lowenthal lives in the Rose Park Historic District with her
husband Dan Lowenthal and son Avi.
Deborah Schoenbaum (for Mary K. Shallenberger)
Deputy Director, Marin Conservation Corps
Deborah Schoenbaum became Deputy Director at the Marin Conservation Corps (MCC) in October 2005. Her focus centers on refining the organization’s vision and raising the profile of MCC’s programs. Deborah cultivates relationships with partners, sponsors, elected officials and the general public. She oversees all nine (9) of the Corps’ programs and is responsible for staffing, program development and training.
For the past 12 years, Deborah has focused her professional and personal pursuits on issues related to conservation, environmental justice and social equity. Professionally, that focus began as a Government Relations Advisor for The Nature Conservancy where she worked on community outreach, partnerships and coalition building, particularly within communities of color throughout the State of California. One of her undertakings was expansion of The Conservancy’s public education program…reaching out to a more diverse constituency and encouraging all citizens to take an active interest in conservation issues that affect their quality of life.
Prior to joining MCC, Deborah was the Director of Bay Area Urban Programs for The Trust for Public Land (TPL), managing and expanding TPL’s Bay Area Community Parks and Playground Program, designed to help communities create quality public spaces to revitalize neighborhoods, link residents to nature, preserve diverse cultures and history, and create a sense of place. This program focused exclusively on low-income, underserved communities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
In addition to her work at MCC, Deborah sits on Marin County Superior Court’s Community Advisory Committee. In the summer of 2005, she began teaching at the Center for Whole Communities in Fayston, Vermont. The Center’s mission is to create a more just, balanced and healthy world by exploring, honoring, and deepening the connections between land, people and community. It brings together activists in a new land movement that integrates conservation, health, justice, spirit and relationship.
Deborah is a native Californian, with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration. She is also an alumnus of Leadership San Francisco (Class of 2006). She lives in Novato, California with her husband, Mark and two daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah.
Presentations & Speaking Engagements
Mr. Douglas is the third executive director in the Commission’s history. He was appointed in July 1985 after having served as Chief Deputy Director since 1977. Mr. Douglas co-authored Proposition 20 (The California Coastal Zone Conservation Act of 1972), a successful citizens’ initiative that established the California Coastal Commission. As a consultant to the Legislature, he was a principal author of the 1976 Coastal Act that made permanent California’s coastal management program. He also participated in drafting the first regulations implementing the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972.
Born in Berlin, Germany, Mr. Douglas immigrated to the United States in 1950. He earned a law degree from UCLA in 1969, with an undergraduate degree in psychology. Mr. Douglas has been a guest lecturer, presented University of California extension programs, written numerous articles dealing with coastal management, land rights, and environmental stewardship. He has provided technical assistance on coastal management issues to other countries and serves on the China-U.S. panel on integrated coastal management. He is a member of the first NOAA Science Advisory Board and previously served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science and Policy for the Coastal Ocean. A former local school board member, he also co-founded and chaired two successful non-profit community organizations. In 1984, he led a successful grassroots campaign to enact a special parcel tax to support public schools.
Mr. Douglas was the first recipient of the national Julius A. Stratton "Champion of the Coast" award for leadership in coastal management at Coastal Zone ‘95, an international, biennial symposium on coastal zone management.