Ashley Boren

Ashley has directed the strategy, growth and operations of Sustainable Conservation since 1997. Ashley received a 2007 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award for her unwavering commitment to innovative, balanced problem-solving to address a variety of critical environmental problems facing California.

Prior to Sustainable Conservation, Ashley spent eight years at Smith & Hawken, a mail-order and retail gardening company, where she worked in finance, new business development, inventory planning and retail merchandising. She began her career at The Nature Conservancy in program development and fundraising.

Ashley has a BA in human biology, an MA in applied economics and an MBA from Stanford University.

Aysha Massell

Aysha has over 20 years of experience working in sustainable agriculture, water reuse systems, and river restoration. Prior to Sustainable Conservation, Aysha served as the Director of California Integrated Water Systems for American Rivers, where she collaborated with agencies, farmers, and partner NGOs on projects and policies that combine sustainable groundwater management, flood risk reduction, habitat enhancement, and surface and groundwater quality improvement. Before that, she was the storm water permit manager for UC Berkeley, where she translated state and federal regulations into campus-wide policies and actions, and helped to initiate and complete several creek restoration projects. Aysha received her MS in Environmental Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley, and her BA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM. In her free time, Aysha likes to hike, bike and play music.

Bill Taylor

Bill supports the daily needs of the office with front desk and project support. He likes the constant challenges and the opportunities to be of service. His daily tasks include everything from logging donations and IT support to office maintenance.

After receiving a BA in History from the University of California at Davis, Bill attended the California Culinary Academy where he received an AOS degree in classical French cuisine. Bill is also a guitarist and a singer/songwriter and has performed in groups since the age of 13.

Charles Delgado

Christa Harader

Christa works with the Development and Communications team to create, refine, and execute the organization’s communication strategy. They manage a small team to produce an impactful, year-round suite of digital, print and multimedia collateral and fresh, timely messaging to inspire all our audiences to support our work and engage with the organization. Previously, they worked as a grant writer for the organization to craft proposals for institutional funding in close collaboration with program staff across the organization’s initiatives.

In their free time, they write and edit comics. They received a BA in English Literature from the University of Rhode Island and a MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in creative nonfiction from Goddard College.

Daniel Mountjoy

Daniel is a Senior Advisor to Sustainable Conservation. Previously, he led the organization’s water program to promote new approaches to conserve and replenish groundwater supplies for agriculture, communities and the environment. He works to integrate technical knowledge, decision support tools, and policy in support of groundwater sustainability and habitat restoration through collaboration with farmers, the agricultural industry, researchers, agencies and other non-governmental organizations.  

Prior to joining Sustainable Conservation, Daniel was Assistant State Conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) serving the California Central Coast and San Francisco Bay-Delta regions. During his 17-year career with NRCS he fostered partnerships with Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs), technical advisors, researchers and the agricultural community to promote water quality and habitat protection practices, and led efforts to integrate food safety with conservation practices.  

Daniel earned a PhD in human ecology from UC Davis for his research on strategies to improve cross-cultural communication for resource management with Hispanic farmers. He also holds a BA in agroecology from UC Santa Cruz and an MA in Latin American studies from Stanford University. Daniel has practical on-the-ground experience as a farm and land manager on rural properties in northern California and as a landscape contractor in Santa Cruz County. 

Elliot Grant

Elliot recently graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a double major in Economics and Environmental Studies, concentrating in Agroecology. At U.C. Santa Cruz he worked for the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) as a student assistant at the Chadwick Garden. Before that, he was a farm hand for Route One Farms, a 40-acre organic vegetable farm in Santa Cruz County. Elliot was raised in Marin County and currently resides in Santa Cruz where he enjoys surfing, fishing, and growing flowers.

Emily Waring

Emily joins the Dairy Team as the Agricultural Practice Impact Analyst. After receiving her MS and PhD in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering from Iowa State University, Emily moved to the Central Valley in 2022 to expand her research to more diverse, water-scarce systems. She has worked with nutrient and water data at many scales (field, watershed, regional) and in many agricultural contexts. She aims to address agricultural and environmental tensions through a holistic and grower-focused approach.

In her free time, she enjoys going to the mountains, live music, and spoiling her cats.

Eric Epstein

As the Communications Associate, Eric supports the Development and Communications team in sharing the stories of Sustainable Conservation’s programs to community members, industry experts, peer organizations, donors, and policymakers. Prior to joining Sustainable Conservation, Eric interned at the Illinois Green Alliance, where he first discovered his passion for environmental nonprofit communications through helping the organization connect with the community it engaged and advancing green building policy in the Chicago area.

He holds a BS in Journalism and Psychology as well as a certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University. Outside of the office, Eric loves to cycle and work on vintage bikes, surf, and make breakfast burritos.

Erika Lovejoy

Erika leads our Accelerating Restoration Initiative and is responsible for helping to acquire large regional and statewide programmatic permits and encourage other incentives to promote widespread implementation of restoration projects across California.

She has more than 20 years of experience working collaboratively with government agencies, the private sector and public interest groups on resolving environmental problems through both voluntary and policy solutions. Prior to joining Sustainable Conservation, Erika gained substantial policy and technical experience in habitat restoration and water quality protection while serving as an Environmental Scientist/Planner for California’s Water Boards, Coastal Commission, and Department of Water Resources, and for San Francisco County. Erika has also managed a major watershed planning effort for the South San Francisco Bay, leading environmental programs, mediating stakeholder conflicts, managing grants, and developing policy.

Erika acquired her BS in environmental policy analysis and planning from UC Davis.

Gina Pacheu

Gina Pacheu joined the Sustainable Conservation family in 2019 as their Director of Finance. She has worked in the field of accounting and finance for over 25 years. Prior to coming to Sustainable Conservation, Gina served as the Finance Director at Kids’ Country, a children’s non-profit organization based in the East Bay. Before her shift to working with local non-profits, Gina spent over half her career employed at both UCSD and UCSF, and credits the University of California for much of her professional success. Her most recent role there was in the UCSF School of Medicine Dean’s Office where she served as their Budget Director. She also worked nearly a decade at ADP, Inc., the world’s largest payroll service provider, in a variety of Financial Planning and Analysis positions, including Finance Controller of the National Accounts West Region.

Gina earned her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, San Diego and also holds an MBA from the University of San Francisco. Gina has lived in the Bay Area since 1993 and currently resides in San Ramon with her husband and their two children. Gina is an avid theater-goer and reader. She and her husband enjoy traveling and are big foodies and wine lovers. Gina and her family love the outdoors, especially skiing, kayaking and biking, and enjoy spending time in the mountains, especially in Lake Tahoe.

Hannah Nowakowski

Hannah leads Sustainable Conservation’s webinar series, special events, and monthly e-news program. As a member of the Development and Communications team, Hannah supports the organization’s digital engagement and fundraising efforts.

Prior to joining Sustainable Conservation, Hannah worked as an outdoor educator in Southern California where she facilitated team building and experiential learning for 4^th-12^th grade students. Before that, she gained non-profit experience as a campaign intern with Sierra Club and lab experience as a chemistry research intern at Mirus Bio. Hannah double majored in Environmental Studies and Chemistry and received a certificate in Gender & Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Hannah is based in San Francisco where she enjoys seeing live music, going on camping trips, and practicing yoga.

Jan Merryweather

Jan joined Sustainable Conservation in 2013 to further the development, promotion and implementation of initiatives that solve environmental problems in ways that make economic sense.

Jan brings 25-years of sales and marketing experience, at several early-stage companies, spanning consumer product, e-commerce, green building and nonprofit sectors. Her unique breadth of leadership experience – in sales and sales systems, product development and helping organizations drive positive behavior change – is well suited to advance our (and our partners’) missions.

A natural collaborator, Jan focuses on earning trust, building confidence and identifying shared goals. Most recently, Jan worked at California’s venerable land trust, Sempervirens Fund, conducting community outreach, implementing a speaker series, and managing a social media pilot.

Having held senior sales and business development roles at Aerobie, Koosh (now a Hasbro brand), EcoRebates and Positive Coaching Alliance, Jan brings a proven track record in partnering with some of the nation’s most-recognized names in the corporate and non-profit industries. In 1996 she founded ThinkingOfU, an online retailer, which she later sold to a venture-funded competitor.

Jan attended Amherst College (where she was captain of the tennis team, and ran track), before transferring to Stanford University and graduating with a BA in Communications.

Jane Lew

Jane is responsible for the daily accounting of Sustainable Conservation and supports the Controller with the overall finances. Jane has a passion for working with non-profits. It started when she worked at Edgewood Center for Children and Families. It was rewarding to work for an organization that provided services to people to help them in improving their future lives. Now, at Sustainable Conservation the reward is seeing the work that is helping California thrive. Jane has a BS in Accounting from San Francisco State University.

Joe Choperena

Joe is the Project Director of Water Resources for Sustainable Conservation.  Using his agricultural and water management experience, he partners with diverse stakeholders to design and implement groundwater recharge strategies, customized to their specific needs and local characteristics, to achieve interrelated benefits for their communities, environment, and agricultural systems.

Joe has over 20 years of professional experience working for private businesses, the federal government, and non-governmental organizations. His experience includes working in production agriculture, micro-lending, nutrient management, biofuels, renewable energy, integrated pest management, international business development, and water conservation and management.

Joe earned a Master of Science in International Agricultural Development from the University of California, Davis and a Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness and a Spanish Minor from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

John Cardoza

Katie Haldeman

Katie has more than 10 years of experience supporting the development and implementation of new expedited permitting pathways for restoration. Prior to Sustainable Conservation, Katie worked for Resource Conservation Districts on the Central Coast helping to steward natural and working lands. In the early 2000’s she implemented composting at an auto manufacturing facility as part of a “zero-waste to landfill” goal.

Katie earned her BA in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. She also conducted graduate work in Ocean Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, studying photosynthetic bacteria in the tropical Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

In her free time, Katie enjoys surfing along the California coast and finding ways to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

Kimberly Tsai

Kimberly (she/her) joined Sustainable Conservation as a Graphic Design Specialist.

She was previously a Visual Designer for a local French Patisserie, after making a career change from Biotech into the creative field of Design.

Kim graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Environmental Studies, with a focus on Policy, and a minor in Politics.

She’s interested in all things fashion, sneaker, beauty, and design related. In her free time, she enjoys listening to good music and going to outdoor music festivals with friends, spending time with her bunny and pup, and experiencing new restaurants and bars around the Bay.

Michael Behrens

Michael A. Behrens joined Sustainable Conservation in 2020 as Chief Development Officer to grow all areas of support for the organization and tell their unique and effective story. Michael is a business, media, and fundraising professional with 25 years of experience working with Boards and entrepreneurs to fund positive change. He believes in being present and helpful to this community, and is passionate about bringing strategic partners and donors together to maximize impact.

Over his seven years at San Francisco State University, he served as Senior Director of Development for the College of Science and Engineering, Director of Finance and Facilities for the College of Liberal and Creative Arts, and Director of the Documentary Film Institute. As part of the University’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign, Michael helped the team reach and surpass their goal of $150 million.

Before SF State, Michael launched the Professional Development and Filmmaker Services programs at the San Francisco Film Society, helping hundreds of filmmakers fund and execute their projects. He also mentored and supported filmmakers through his work with Film Arts Foundation.

Michael has served on nonprofit and for-profit Boards including Emergency USA, Playwrights Center of San Francisco, and Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council. Complementing his background in the philanthropic sector, Michael has worked extensively in the arts as an educator, director, and producer of live theater, television, and documentary film around the world.

Michael holds an MNA from the University of San Francisco, and a BFA from University of Idaho. He lives in Mill Valley with his wife and son and is an avid angler and golfer.

Modibo Keita

Modibo Keita (he/him) is a Project Associate for the Solutions in Our Soil Program. Prior to his current role, Modibo completed 2 years with Sustainable Conservation as a GrizzlyCorps Fellow. As a fellow, most of his work focused on analyzing water quality regulations and implementation of such policy including ILRP, CV-SALTS, and SGMA. Prior to joining Sustainable Conservation, Modibo received a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Resource Management from Penn State where he also played for the university’s rugby team.

A nomadic upbringing has made it tough for Modibo to call any one place home, but this has also helped him develop the capacity to adapt and feel comfortable anywhere. He grew up in Atlanta, DC, London, and Libreville, Gabon. However, his family now resides in Lagos, Nigeria. He is driven towards environmental work because of climate change and its consequences to food systems across West Africa and the world. Outside of work, Modibo enjoys watching or playing soccer and rugby, making music, biking around, and spending time in nature.

Olivia Naves

Olivia works across Sustainable Conservation to advance the organization’s corporate and foundation relationships. 

She previously worked at the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, where she provided programmatic support to the State Clearinghouse unit as well as technical assistance to government agencies working to comply with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review requirements. She has also worked at the California Strategic Growth Council, where she helped implement the agency’s communications strategy. 

Olivia holds a Bachelor of Science in Community and Regional Development and a minor in Psychology from UC Davis. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her dog, Simon, and playing guitar. 

Oscar Elias

Oscar Elias (he/them) is a second-year Grizzly Corps Fellow, joining the Sustainable Conservation team as the 2024-2025 Fellow. They grew up in Los Angeles and have lived in Merced for close to a decade now. Oscar Graduated from UC Merced with a degree in Public Health and has recently worked for UC Cooperative Extension Fresno County with their small farms team. Oscar has worked for multiple soil ecology and microbiology labs and has also been a Park Ranger in Yosemite National Park. He will be working with the Solutions in our Soils team to bridge connections with local RCDs, technical assistance providers, and other land and water management agencies in the San Joaquin Valley with Sustainable Conservation. Oscar hopes to better understand how the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices, specifically cover cropping, is being conducted in the SGMA era of land and groundwater management.

Pinky Keswani

Pinky joined Sustainable Conservation in 2022 as Director, People and Culture. In her role, she will be responsible for managing all aspects of human resources including talent acquisition, performance management, professional development and many more as they pertain to the organization. Pinky firmly believes in the “human” element of human resources and with her empathetic leadership style, strives to strike a balance between the human element and the organizational needs, while staying compliant.

Pinky transitioned to the non-profit sector in 2019 and has recently worked for another Bay Area based non-profit organization where she essentially built the HR department from scratch. With an MBA and dual specialization in HR and Finance, she brings to the table her nearly 13 years of strategic and tactical expertise across diverse national and international companies in various sectors like non-profit, education, hospitality, and IT industry.

Pinky is a PHR and SHRM-CP certified HR professional and is accustomed to wearing many different HR hats. The mission and values of Sustainable Conservation are deeply important to her, and she aims to stay aligned with the same in every aspect of her work.

Outside of work, Pinky enjoys spending her time with her husband, two kids and a fun-loving Labrador Retriever. When not exploring the Bay Area, she loves to get creative with baking and cooking.

Richael Young

With a background in economics, engineering, and entrepreneurship, Richael brings complementary skills for water resources management and policy. Richael’s career has been guided by her values of stewardship, excellence, and trust. She is passionate about driving impact in water sustainability and proud of her track record implementing trusted water policies and technologies across the U.S. West. 

Before joining Sustainable Conservation, Richael was CEO and cofounder of Mammoth Water, a company that developed software for water accounting and water trading. Richael has consulted on the design of demand management programs across the U.S. West, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Washington, and Wyoming. Following Mammoth’s acquisition, Richael served as a senior economist at ERA Economics, where she supported water agencies, environmental nonprofits, and agribusinesses with designing and evaluating cost-effective water policies and projects. Richael has presented her work at the White House Water Summit, Stockholm World Water Week, Techstars Sustainability Accelerator in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, and the Imagine H2O and Milken Institute’s California Water Policy and Innovation Challenge. 

In her spare time, Richael advises other entrepreneurs and enjoys walks and playing board games with her husband and family. Richael holds a B.S. degree in civil and environmental engineering and M.S. degrees in environmental engineering and agricultural and consumer economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

Rogell Rogers

• Vegetable Crop Production Manager for Dole Fresh Vegetables, Greenhouse Transplant Division in Salinas.
• Field Agronomist for Western Farm Services in Yuma, Arizona, Mexico and throughout Southern California.
• Field CCA/ PCA for Village Nurseries & as Director of Production/Head Grower for Agromillora, Inc. in Northern and Southern California growing ornamental trees and fruit and nut trees including almonds trees from in vitro rootstocks.
• Citrus Production Manager/Head Grower for Duarte Trees & Vines Nursery, where he focused on all types of citrus varieties from tissue culture production to finished 3-foot tall transplants ready for field planting.
•  Staff Agronomist for A & L Labs in Modesto, where he worked with the Laboratory analyst to determine data was statistically accurate before sending soil, water, and plant tissue test results to growers.

Roshni Katrak-Adefowora

Roshni joined Sustainable Conservation in 2022 with a passion for data analysis and presenting scientific material in an accessible and useful manner. Prior to Sustainable Conservation, Roshni worked for Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy in Los Angeles, where she applied her data science and communication skills to local conservation efforts.

Ryan Flaherty

Working out of our Modesto office, Ryan will lead the organization’s efforts to promote strategies for San Joaquin Valley dairies for managing animal waste in ways that benefit clean air and water. Ryan comes to us from Business for Social Responsibility, a non-profit that works with business to ensure a just and sustainable world, where he was a manager of advisory services working with the food, beverage and agricultural industries. Ryan has more than 15 years of experience in business strategy, supply chain management, sustainable agriculture, water stewardship and stakeholder engagement. He has an MBA from the University of South Carolina and a Bachelors of Arts from Tulane University.

Sam Williams

Sam Williams joined Sustainable Conservation to enhance the programmatic work of the Soil Health program. Soil health has the potential to play an outsized role in conserving and protecting California’s valuable water resources, but growers face many challenges to the adoption of soil health practices. Sam will bring his project management, communication, and convening background to bear to help California growers steward their land in ways that ensure clean and abundant waters for the communities who need them most, while increasing farm resilience to extreme weather and drought events.

Sam graduated from Colorado College with a degree in Environmental Policy and, following several years of work in large landscape and collaborative conservation in western Montana, later received an MSc in Environmental Management from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. With subsequent roles focusing on ecosystem services and safeguarding nature and people in large infrastructure projects in global biodiversity hotspots, Sam is excited to ground himself deeply California’s Central Coast and San Joaquin Valley agricultural systems. In his free time, Sam enjoys moving in the great outdoors, whether by skis, surfboard, bike, or rope.

Sarah Castle

Sarah joins us with more than 10 years of experience as a soil scientist working to understand land use and climate change impacts on soils. Prior to Sustainable Conservation, Sarah worked as a Research Scientist at the University of Minnesota, where her research was aimed at understanding dairy manure impacts on soil health and soil biology. Before that, she worked at the USDA Agricultural Research Service researching the impacts of crop rotation and nutrient management on soil microbial communities.

Sarah earned her PhD from the University of Montana in Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences. She holds an MS in Geological Sciences and BA in Environmental Sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Sarah Reuter

Sarah Reuter is a hydrologist with experience in hydrologic modeling, data analysis, coding, statistics, and GIS. She studied evapotranspiration and worked as a research assistant with a group at New Mexico Tech, building a water-balance model for the State of New Mexico. Her work involved investigating the relationship between rainfall, runoff, and aquifer recharge. She also has experience conducting research on rivers, and worked as part of the River Eyes program, conducting daily data collection along the Rio Grande as part of the effort to save Silvery Minnows during flow recessions. After graduate school she worked as a hydrologist for Daniel B. Stephens and Assoc. for three years where she was exposed to a large variety of projects all around the country. Much of her work involved modeling how contamination travels through groundwater and conducting statistical analysis on groundwater quality data. Sarah is from Fresno California, where she grew up hearing about groundwater supply and quality issues and she is passionate about working towards a sustainable water future for California.

Sarah earned a Masters Degree in Hydrology from New Mexico Tech and a BS in Earth Science from the University of California Santa Cruz.

Shayan Kaveh

Shayan is a recent graduate of the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management with a passion to create persuasive scientific communications that highlight environmental justice and marginalized voices. His graduate research with Conservation International and the Public Policy Institute of California focused on projections of international agricultural abandonment and identifying priority restoration regions on these lands in California and Brazil.

Before joining Sustainable Conservation, Shayan worked for the youth empowerment organization Amigos de las Americas, where he managed programs for 40+ youth from the US and Latin America to experience cultural immersion, food justice, and indigenous activism in host communities. As an undergraduate in Environmental Toxicology at UC Davis, Shayan worked at the university’s student farm and performed eDNA research with the Genomic Variation Lab on bat diets in the Sacramento Valley, post-fire pollination in the Sierras, and aquatic species surveys in the Suisun Delta.

When he’s not working, Shayan enjoys cooking, running, and exploring California by foot, wheel, or water.

Stephanie Falzone

Stephanie grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and received a B.S. in Environmental Science with a minor in Conservation Biology from UCLA before working as an outdoor educator in Ohio for two years. Stephanie then gained hands-on habitat restoration experience through an internship with Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed (STRAW), a project of Point Blue Conservation Science.

Before joining Sustainable Conservation, she earned a master’s degree from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UCSB with a specialization in Conservation Planning and a focus in Strategic Environmental Communication and Media. She started working at Sustainable Conservation in 2016 on the PlantRight program, and since 2018 she has been applying her project management and communications skills to the Accelerating Restoration program.

Susan Sheeran

Susan coordinates Sustainable Conservation’s mailings and email communications and provides stewardship to donors. As a member of the Development and Communications team, she supports and tracks strategy for the organization’s annual fundraising efforts.

Susan joined Sustainable Conservation in 2013. Prior to relocating San Francisco from New York City, she held the dual role of Office Manager and Development Assistant with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of NYC. She also worked for several years as a Photo Editor producing photo shoots at a variety of women’s magazines including Redbook Magazine, Lucky Magazine and SELF Magazine. Susan grew up in New Hampshire and received her BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, but could not be more at home on the west coast seeing the work that helps our Golden State thrive.

Thaïs Arjo

Thaïs supports Sustainable Conservation’s publicly funded work and contracts as the Grants and Contracts Administrator.

Thaïs grew up in the East Bay and now lives in San Francisco. She received her B.A. in History from UC Berkeley and wrote her thesis on community banking in 19^th century America. After college, she worked at the ACLU of Northern California in the Development department and then managed the operations of a consulting firm in Oakland. Following that, she joined the San Francisco Parks Alliance and worked with community partners across the city to implement public space projects such as murals, trail expansions, and native plant gardens. She is excited to support Sustainable Conservation’s important work of stewarding the natural resources of her beautiful home state. In her free time, Thaïs enjoys walking and taking public transit, eating pizza, and seeing all that the Bay Area has to offer.