CWC Board of Directors
The CWC Board of Directors meets the 3rd Monday of every odd month, 6 p.m. at the CWC Office. To contact a Board member please call the CWC office at (831) 464-9200 or email us.
 Chie Kawahara, Chair March 2010 |
Chie Kawahara is a retired information technology professional with experience in medical device industry, electronics manufacturing industry and software consulting firms in implementing and managing business information systems. She holds B.A. degree in Economics from University of Hawaii and Master of Business Administration from San Francisco State University. As a resident of Santa Cruz, she is pursuing her green building project to transform the 1922 Craftsman home to the super energy efficient Passiv Haus standard and is continuing to explore the ways to mitigate stormwater runoff. Chie enjoys running and hiking the various trails in the bay area. |
 Gary Peterson, Vice Chair March 2007 |
Gary Peterson has 16 years professional experience in sustainable agriculture and rural development. He works at the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) in Salinas to sustain program funding, oversee communications, and facilitate program monitoring and evaluation. Before joining ALBA in 2004, he worked at the Community Alliance with Family Farmers in Davis, California, where he helped diversify and design new program funding, including farm biodiversity and farm-to-school projects, buy local campaigns and member activity. From 1995-1999, he worked with the Center for Rural Affairs in Nebraska, grew its donor base by 50%, generated unprecedented media exposure and organized a $6 million endowment campaign. During his career, Gary has secured more than $15 million for a variety of innovations in sustainable food and farming systems, including ag water quality and habitat enhancement. He has a B.A. in Political Science from Minnesota State University Moorhead and a Masters of Public Administration from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Gary enjoys hiking, brewing and occasional glassblowing, and also serves as a board member of the Granary Foundation endowment fund of the Center for Rural Affairs. |
 Sierra Ryan, Secretary April 2010 |
Sierra Ryan graduated from UCSB with a BA in Environmental Studies in 2005 with honors and distinction in the major. After some time living and working abroad, she decided to do a Masters at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She graduated with an MS in Environmental Sustainability focusing on land-use/environment interactions and energy efficiency. In the Fall of 2007 she started working at Moss Landing Marine Labs and took over her current position as the Project Coordinator of the Central Coast Wetlands Group at the Lab in 2008. CCWG focuses on collaboration of different organizations around the Central Coast to get important work done on researching, protecting, restoring and monitoring wetland projects. Her job gave her a strong background in water quality monitoring and a deep understanding of the importance of getting the public involved in keeping watersheds healthy. It was for this reason that in April of 2010 Sierra decided to join the Board of the Coastal Watershed Council. In November of 2009 Sierra became the Board Secretary. She also participates in the Fundraising, Social Enterprise, and Agriculture subcommittees. |
 Conrad Seales, Treasurer April 2010 |
Conrad Seales graduated from UCSC in 1991 with a B.S. in Earth Science. After five years in the restaurant industry, he began a career in public accounting in 2006. He obtained his CPA license in 2003, and in 2008 became a partner at Meisser & Seales, LLP. Conrad enjoys working with exempt organizations as part of his accounting practice, doing both paid and pro-bono work for various local and international organizations. As a daily bicycle commuter, he sees the urban watershed up close, for better and for worse. He hopes to help improve it with his volunteer commitment to CWC. |
 Calla Schmidt, March 2010 |
Dr. Calla Schmidt is originally from Bellingham Washington. She holds a B.S. in Geology from the University of Oregon then moved to Santa Cruz in 2005 to work on a PhD. in hydrology at UCSC. Her dissertation research focused on understanding nutrient cycling during groundwater -surface water interaction. Specifically, she investigated the extent to which artificial groundwater recharge in the Pajaro valley could be used to reduce nutrient contamination of aquifers. At present she is a Delta Science Postdoctoral Fellow working with scientists at UCSC and the USGS to understand the impacts of nutrient loading on phytoplankton blooms in the San Francisco Bay- Delta. Calla enjoys her free time trail running, cycling, and hiking in the watersheds of the central coast. Both her recreation and scientific work are intimately tied to the health of these precious environments. |
 Heidi Guetschow, February 2011 |
Always fascinated by and at home in the mountains, Heidi began her career with a B.A and an M.S. in geology, then yodeled goodbye to rocks and went to law school. She is now an attorney specializing in intellectual property litigation in Silicon Valley. Her work with a municipality in the Hudson River Valley during law school galvanized her interest in the intersection of water and public policy. Heidi loves backpacking, traveling to exotic places, and her new daughter, Hazel. |
 Julianne Rhodes, August 2011 |
With a B.S. in geology, Julianne had no previous experience working with computers prior to joining Cruzio, a Santa Cruz-based Internet Service Provider, in 1996. After holding the position of engineering manager for 12 years there, she is currently pursuing a masters in Coastal and Watershed Science and Policy at California State University Monterey Bay. A long-time volunteer for the Coastal Watershed Council, Save Our Shores and the Ventana Wilderness Alliance, she recognizes that water is a precious, public resource used by all and protecting it requires vigilance, education and cooperation. Julianne has lived on the Central Coast for more than 20 years and is an avid hiker, backpacker and telemark skier. |
 Melissa Foley, February 2012 |
Melissa grew up in Minnesota and spent a large portion of her childhood on and in the many lakes, rivers, and streams near her home. She moved to Oregon to finish her undergraduate degree in zoology and south to Santa Cruz for her PhD in marine ecology. Melissa’s research focused on how the land and the sea are connected through the movement of nutrients and food into the ocean via rivers. She is particularly interested in how that relationship changes as natural and human activities—such as development, pollution, and wildfire—change our watersheds. Melissa is currently an early career science fellow at the Center for Ocean Solutions at Stanford University where she works with environmental lawyers to translate science into policy-relevant language and develop solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing the world’s ocean. Melissa is also a research associate with the Institute of Marine Sciences at UCSC and is currently investigating how large-scale wildfire affects the relationship of connectivity between the land and the sea. Melissa currently lives next to the San Lorenzo River and enjoys watching the river change through the seasons as she runs next to it in Henry Cowell State Park. |
