Founder: Marcia Pagels
Board Chair Emeritus: Ruth Peterson
Board Chair: William Schulte
Vice Chair: Beth Bhatnagar
Secretary:
Treasurer: Tom Rounds
Board Members: Jason Bade, David Crabbe, Gladwyn d’Souza, Rosalyn Koo, Jeannene Minnix Kingston, Mike Pacelli, Rafael Reyes, Walter J. Ruzzo, Afsoon Shahrdar, Patrick Wooliever
Marcia Pagels
Marcia was Editor-in-Chief of the 2002 edition of the Indicators for a Sustainable San Mateo County; A Yearly Report of Our County’s Quality of Life. Marcia was a graduate of Stanford University and worked there as a Library Specialist for many years. Marcia also volunteered with the Foundation for Global Community. She was a bio-intensive gardener and landscape painter who donated many works to SSMC auctions. She passed away in 2010; a memorial gallery of her art may be seen here.
Ruth M. Peterson
Ruth is the owner and manager of Bovet Professional Center, a business that she started in 1981. The business is an executive suite designed primarily for attorneys and other professionals. She has been involved with SSMC for 12 years and was Chair of the Business Task Force prior to becoming Chair of the Steering committee. She led the effort for SSMC to become a stand-alone nonprofit in the fall of 2002 and has been the Chair of the Board since then. She has been recognized on many occasions for her community involvement which included six years on the Board of Shelter Network. In 2002 she was inducted into the San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame. Ruth attended USC for 3 years, moved to San Francisco and graduated from San Francisco State with a secondary teaching major. She decided to forego teaching when she decided she had an affinity for the business world.
William Schulte
Bill Schulte devoted 29 years to the California Public Utilities Commission, retiring in 2000 after heading its Consumer Services Division. After “retirement” he has been engaged as a regulatory and consumer affairs consultant for a number of public agencies and private industry. In addition to his own practice, he is a partner in Training Partners LLC, which provides consumer affairs and call center training to governmental agencies.
Bill has also conducted a number of poverty-reduction missions for the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Eastern Europe and West and South Africa. He is a member of the Board of Self Help for the Elderly, the Institute of Environmental Entrepreneurs (which created the Green MBA program at Dominican University), and a large private transportation company in California. He is also associated with the Center for Sustainability at Dominican. He holds a BS in Management Engineering from UOP and a MS in Civil Engineering from Stanford. Bill is a registered Civil Engineer in California.
Beth Bhatnagar
Beth Bhatnagar has retired from practicing law and teaching law at College of San Mateo. She earned her B.A. at Duke University, and M.A. in Linguistics at Northwestern University and a J.D. at San Mateo Law School. Beth is an active member of the League of Woman Voters. She has participated in various League projects, including a trip to Russia to set up workshops on democracy for Russian women to advice them on working together to making their government more responsive to their needs. With the League she has organized community dialogues to encourage civic engagement and dialogues to focus on educating students with limited English proficiency. Beth has been a long time volunteer of SSMC.
Tom Rounds
Tom Rounds is Treasurer of SSMC. He was in education for 20 years, beginning as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines. Upon return, Tom started teaching in San Francisco. Leaving education, he joined the CPA firm, Touche Ross, becoming a Senior Manager in the successor firm, Deloitte & Touche. He was also the Manager of Financial Planning at a major freight forwarder and Director of Finance at a start up. For six years Tom served as Treasurer of the California Youth Symphony, one of the country’s leading youth orchestras. Currently, he is Treasurer of another non-profit, Music at Kohl Mansion and cares for his orchard and garden. Tom has a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from Berkeley.
Jason Bade
Jason Bade is former deputy director, now principal and director of the Green Youth Alliance. Besides the GYA, Bade worked with the California Air Resources Board and the British Council’s International Climate Champions program, for which he represented the United States at the UNESCO World Youth Festival in Stuttgart, Germany in 2009. Bade was also a youth presenter for the Alliance for Climate Education and the Vice-Chair of the City of Foster City Environmental Sustainability Task Force, where he helped draft a comprehensive recommendation report for city officials.
In 2010, Bade received one of five annual Sustainability Awards from Sustainable San Mateo County, an award seldom given to individuals. In June, Bade was a recipient of the prestigious Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award, a $36,000 prize for his service to the community.
Bade is an undergraduate at Stanford University, where he founded Behavioral Economists at Stanford (BEAST) and is studying mechanical engineering design and behavioral economics. At Stanford, Bade serves on the Committee for Undergraduate Standards and Policies, the IHUM Student Advisory Panel, and the campus board of Engineers for a Sustainable World. In addition, he is particularly passionate about sustainable agriculture and the Slow Food movement.
David Crabbe
David Crabbe is an architect specializing in the design of affordable housing, custom homes and remodels. Among his current and former non-profit clients are Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco and the Human Investment Project in San Mateo. He is a founding member of SSMC and currently serves on the SSMC Board of Directors and is the Chair of the SSMC Indicators Report Committee. David lives and works in the city of San Carlos.
David is a member of the Sierra Club’s Sustainable Land Use Committee, a former mediator and facilitator for the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center, and a member of the California Native Plant Society. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a B.A. degree in 1965.
Gladwyn d’Souza
Gladwyn d’Souza is former chair of the San Jose Bicycle Advisory Committee, Los Gatos Trails and Bike-ways Committee, and Santa Clara Valley Traffic Safe Communities Network bike pedestrian work group. He was past president of Walk San Jose and served on the board of Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. He is VP of the Peninsula Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition and on the board of California Walks. d’Souza served on the Downtown Access Task Force and Pedestrian Component of the General Plan for the City of San Jose. He is presently on the Coyote Valley Task Force. Gladwyn is an electrical engineer. In 2004 he built a sustainable house in Belmont, CA that was recognized for its use of recycling, low energy, sustainable energy, and low toxicity design elements in the construction. He is a regular commuter by transit and bicycle.
Rosalyn Koo
Rosalyn (Roz) Koo was born and raised in Shanghai, China. She attended Mills College and received her B.A. degree (with honors) in Economics from U.C. Berkeley. A business executive, she retired as the Executive Vice-President of a major architectural firm in San Francisco.
Roz has been a volunteer and a social activist since 1977. She takes particular pride in being a Board member of Self-Help for the Elderly for the last 21 years. She was instrumental in helping to shepherd this eldercare agency into a $22 million operation. Additionally, she has central responsibility for managing Self-Help’s facilities in San Mateo County. When asked by the San Mateo Library Foundation, she formed the Asian American Committee to raise funds and improve the Asian collection for the new main library. Roz is also currently working with women in China to send 1,000 young girls from rural areas in China to urban areas to be educated. This project is now in its 5th year and is meeting great success.
Jeannene Minnix Kingston
Jeannene recently joined the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA), a joint powers authority that provides waste reduction, recycling, and solid waste programs to it’s twelve member agencies in San Mateo County (10 cities, a sanitation district and the County). The agency also owns and operates the Shoreway Recycling and Disposal Center in San Carlos. Jeannene’s primary role at SBWMA is to manage the office and provide support to the management team. Prior to entering the waste management industry, Jeannene was in marketing, specializing in promotions and outreach for a community bank. Jeannene’s experience also includes 3 years as the Chief Executive Officer for the Daly City-Colma Chamber of Commerce where her main focus was economic development and member services. Jeannene is a graduate of San Francisco State University with a degree in Liberal Studies and a minor in Theater Arts. She is the chair of SSMC’s Awards Event Committee. Her passion for being green has given her the nickname, “Green Jeannene.”
Mike Pacelli
Michael Pacelli is President of Bay Relations and has been involved in public relations and community organizations in San Mateo County and San Francisco for over 25 years. Mike currently serves on the Board of FNB Bancorp and First National Bank of Northern California, the Board of Trustees of the Seton Foundation as well as a member of other Boards and organizations. Mike is also a spokesman for the Serra Monte Shopping Center and Universal Paragon Corporation. He has extensive community experience and held many leadership roles in San Mateo County.
Rafael Reyes
Rafael Reyes is a member of the Sierra Club board of directors and Director of the Bay Area Climate Collaborative (www.baclimate.org). Launched by the mayors of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the Climate Collaborative is accelerating the regional clean energy economy and response to climate change to make the Bay Area a national model. Prior to joining the Climate Collaborative, Rafael was at ecoAmerica where his work included research on energy and climate communications, green jobs workforce development and higher education sustainability. As an award-winning volunteer leader with the Sierra Club he has led numerous initiatives there, including the national Cool Cities initiative which encourages local innovation to reduce climate impacts and spur the green economy. Rafael was born in Peru, is a graduate from UC Berkeley and his career includes 15 years of high tech project management, software architecture and business consulting. He lives in San Mateo and plays rollerhockey.
Walter J. Ruzzo
Walter is an Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) professional with over 30 years experience in private industry. After graduating from the Natural Resources Management Department at California State Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo, Walter did graduate study at Colorado State University. He then joined the world’s largest mining company where he worked for 20 years and was involved with diverse projects on 6 continents including providing EHS internal consulting and support services for large-scale mining and infrastructure projects, and implementing and auditing EHS Management Systems at over 60 sites worldwide.
Walter has spent the last 10 years as an EHS professional in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry with two multi-national companies. During that time, he has implemented programs to minimize exposure of the workforce to potent drug compounds in development, and coordinated the company’s global sustainability program in the areas of CO2 emissions, energy use, water use and waste generation.
Walter currently serves as an ex-officio member of the City of Foster City, California Environmental Sustainability Task Force and on the Natural Resources Management Department Advisory Council for California State Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo. He lives in Mountain View with his wife of 33 years Teresa, an artist and his high school sweetheart, and spends his free time vegetable gardening, reading, hiking, camping, and golfing.
Afsoon Shahrdar
Originally from Iran, Afsoon came to the United States to attend college, and has been a resident of the Peninsula since 1976. She graduated with Honors from UC Berkeley School of Environmental Design in Architecture. She began her Real Estate career in 1988 and is currently with Alain Pinel Realtors in San Mateo. Among her many professional designations, she is a recipient of the National Association of Realtors Green designation by the Green Resource Council. Afsoon has been a Grievance Committee member since 2006 and the Grievance Committee Chair for San Mateo Board of Realtors since 2007, is a panelist on the Professional Standards Committee at San Mateo Board of Realtors, a member of League of Women Voters of North and Central San Mateo County since 2003 and their Membership Chair since 2005. She has been a member of SSMC since 2009 and served on the event committee in 2010.
Afsoon truly believes the least she can do as a citizen of this planet is to make a difference in the betterment of her immediate surroundings. As every one contributes a small amount we will have a better world to leave for the next generation and they will learn from us how to do the same.
Patrick Wooliever
Patrick has worked as an environmental engineer for 20 years with small companies, multinational manufacturers, governments, and the United Nations helping organizations reduce their environmental impact, improve worker conditions and productivity, and reduce operating costs. He’s worked in California, across the United States, and internationally in Mexico, Japan, China, and Micronesia. Locally, he helped the City of San Francisco develop and implement policies for environmentally preferable purchasing, works with the U.S. EPA to advance sustainability initiatives, serves on the City of Half Moon Bay’s Sustainability Task Force, and advises the California Regional Progress Report in assessing sustainability issues across the state.
Patrick was born in Japan, grew up in the Bay Area, graduated from U.C. Davis, and has lived with his family on the San Mateo County Coastside for more than 15 years raising his children, traversing Montara Mountain and Tunitas Creek Road on various bicycles, and enjoying the natural beauty of the coastal region.