Currently serving as President, Board of Directors, and Chair of the Business Environmental Awards, Laura holds a B.A. in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley. She worked for the California Air Resources Board before joining the staff of the Peninsula Conservation Center (Acterra's predecessor) as Director of Business Programs. In 2000 Laura left her staff position and joined Acterra's Board of Directors. During her tenure on the Board she has served as Chair of the Business Environmental Awards Program and the Development Committee. Laura currently enjoys raising her two sons and helping run the family's small business in Redwood City.
David graduated with a Ph.D. in Biology (ecology emphasis) from Stanford University. He worked on closed ecological system design for 20 years at NASA-Ames Research Center. David has served as an elected official for the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District and currently with the Los Trancos County Water District. David co-founded and served on the Board of Acterra's predecessor, Bay Area Action, from 1990-2000. David previously held the role of Acterra's Executive Director (2000-2002), as well as Secretary and President of the Acterra Board.
Bart grew up in Colorado and graduated from Lewis and Clark College. He spent 21 great years in Chicago, helping to found and build the directors’ and officers’ liability insurer Chicago Underwriting Group. Following the sale of the company he ended up in Palo Alto where he spends time on various development-stage businesses and learning about entrepreneurship that can be more usefully profitable to the world. He has belonged to the Acterra board since 2003, and currently serves as Acterra's Board's Treasurer.
Joanna graduated cum laude from Richmond University (London, UK). In the 1990s, while working in high-tech marketing, she took on a variety of volunteer projects for both Bay Area Action and PCCF, the two groups that merged to form Acterra. Before being recruited for the Acterra Board of Directors in 2003, she spent two years on the board of the trails advocacy/cycling organization ROMP. Joanna is currently the Board Secretary and serves on the Development Committee; she has also participated in the Marketing Committee and chaired key fundraising events for Acterra.
Linda joined the Acterra Board of Directors in early 2007 and she currently chairs Acterra's Development Committee. She holds undergraduate degrees in Economics and Environmental Studies, and an MBA. She is a certified Residential Energy Auditor and has experience in both residential and commercial energy efficiency programs. Linda serves as an Advisory Committee member for PG&E's Climate Smart program and participates in the Portola Valley Climate Protection Taskforce.
David graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UCSB and worked in the Valley for over 15 years. After this he worked in a small start up making controllers for electric vehicles. When this ended in 1999, David took some time off and volunteered for Bay Area Action and other non-profits until he took a job as building manager for the PCC, which houses eight environmental non-profits including Acterra. This kept David close to Acterra and the other non-profit organizations working in the area. David has also volunteered with the Bay Area Air Quality District, the Transportation and Land Use Coalition, the Foundation for Global Community, Conxtion's Sense of Place program, Palo Alto's Green Ribbon Task Force to reduce climate change, the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Committee and their Cool Cites program.
As a volunteer at Acterra and its predecessor Bay Area Action, David has taught a variety of classes on Sustainable Living Series over the past 10 years. He has also been instrumental in the design of various energy programs at Acterra including Green@Home, ACTerra Green and Cool-It!. Historically, David ran the Electric Vehicle program and created the SUV Ticket campaign.
Peter joined the Acterra Board of Directors in 2006, and is currently the mayor of Palo Alto. A long time environmentalist, Peter has worked with the Santa Clara County Water Commission, Lower Peninsula Flood Control Advisory Committee, San Francisquito Creek JPA and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. He is currently a volunteer rafting guide with Friends of the River, on the steering committee for People for Land and Nature and Environmentalists Against War and on the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter Water Committee. He enjoys singing with Voices of the Coming Tribe and is a member of the Palo Alto Book Club.
Andy Fenselau was the Board President for Acterra from 2003 to 2008, focusing on portfolio strategy, fundraising, and governance needs. He brings a rich depth of executive experience from high tech leadership roles in product management, marketing, business development, and venture capital at Symantec, Silicon Graphics, and Taproot Ventures. His passion for the environment began as a child at nature camp, and his commitment to sustainability and the social engineering solutions to reduce our carbon footprint has crystallized in the past 10 years. Other community leadership roles include Co-Chair for the California Clean Tech Open (2006-2007), and Advisor for Cambodia Tomorrow (2007-ongoing). Andy lives in Sunnyvale with his wife and children, and received his B.A. from Harvard and his M.B.A. from Stanford.
Jerry graduated cum laude from Stanford University with a dual degree in Anthropology and Honors Humanities. He has been an Upper School Teacher at Peninsula School in Menlo Park for over three decades. Jerry has also been involved with a number of environmental groups both on the local and national level, as well as sitting on numerous governmental advisory committees. He served as Acterra's first board President from 2000-2003 and Vice-President from 2003-2007. He received the Acterra Volunteer of the Year Award in 2001 as well as the CompassPoint Board Leadership Award for his service to Acterra.
Tom is an attorney with a long-standing commitment to environmental issues. He interned for the National Audubon Society and American Farmland Trust in Washington, D.C., worked for Natural Resources Defense Counsel as a resource economist for three years, and worked on a year-long study on California water resource issues funded through Stanford University's Center for Economic Policy Research. While in law school, Tom served as the President of the Environmental Law Society and Editor-in-Chief of the Stanford Environmental Law Journal. Tom and his family regularly explore parks and open space preserves on the Peninsula, and try to visit several national parks each year.
Leslie has been a pioneer in providing financial advisory services to Silicon Valley companies. He is currently co-founder of Murdock Martell, Inc. a finance and accounting services firm. Previously he was founder of Murdock & Associates / Horn Murdock Cole, which he sold to a private equity firm and is now known as Accretive Solutions. Prior to Murdock & Associates, Leslie held several positions with Ernst & Young in Silicon Valley and Dublin, Ireland.
Leslie serves on the Board of Acterra, the Clean Tech Open and the Irish Literary & Historical Society and is past-President of both the San Jose/Dublin Sister City Program and the San Jose Conservation Corps. Leslie has passed the CPA exam and is also a Chartered Accountant.
Geoff co-founded and served on the board of Acterra's predecessor, Bay Area Action from 1990-1999, seven years of which he was the Treasurer. He currently manages Acterra's website. He is also on the board of directors of Palo Alto Little League and is the treasurer of the Ohlone School Farm.
Judith joined the Acterra board in 2008 and she serves on the Development Committee. Judith has been active in community issues on the Peninsula for over twenty-five years. She was Executive Director at Hidden Villa for 10 years where she led a three-year, $9,000,000 campaign and oversaw the building of three sustainable buildings. Before coming to Hidden Villa, she founded Innovative Housing on the Peninsula, a program providing shared housing to low-income single parent families. She is a former teacher, youth employment counselor, and on the language teaching staff of the United Nations. She served nine months as Interim ED for the Committee for Green Foothills.
A lifelong interest in fighting racism and fostering multiculturalism and a love for environmental protection are her motivators. She also is passionate about politics and travel. She and her husband, Hans, built a sustainable house in Palo Alto in 2005. In 2001, Judith was one of the five finalists for the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits' first “Excellence in Leadership Award.” She was named “2002 Woman of the Year” for the 11th Senate District. In Summer 2002, Judith received a CEN scholarship to attend the Harvard Business School Executive Education program, “Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management.” In retirement she does some consulting to nonprofits and organizes travel aboard.
Charlie joined Acterra's board in 2004 and served as the board treasurer. Charlie has a long and deep background in the technology industry and currently is a Strategic Alliance Manager at Symantec Corporation. He was raised in Connecticut, spent all his summers in Canada out in the woods and has been an avid outdoorsman and environmentalist for as long as he can remember.
Alexandra joined Acterra's board of directors in 2009. She has an undergraduate degree in engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and most of her professional career has been spent in technology consulting. Before joining Acterra's board, Alexandra was the Co-Chair for Portola Valley Friends of Sausal Creek, which advocated and fundraised for the Sausal Creek restoration project. Alexandra has served on the Town of Portola Valley's Conservation Committee and Architecture and Site Control Commission and is currently on the Planning Commission.
If you are a former board member of Acterra, PCCF, or BAA, we want to hear what you've been up to! Please contact Michael Closson at
michaelc*acterra.org