Advisory Committee

Sara Azat is a Fish Biologist at the National Marine Fisheries Service. She has extensive experience in fishery regulation and management and the evaluation of habitat restoration projects. She has served lead coordinator for interagency groups and work groups involving the public.

Chris Barton is Restoration Projects Manager with the East Bay Regional Park District. He has over 20 years of public agency experience planning and implementing habitat restoration projects, bringing expertise in disciplines such as land use planning, regulatory permitting and compliance, vegetation management, cultural and historic resources, and green infrastructure design. 

Erik Buehmann has more than a decade of coastal management experience. He currently oversees a team of planners working on projects aimed at protecting and enhancing San Francisco Bay. He previously served as BCDC’s Bay Resources Permit Program Manager, where he led the permitting for projects in and along the San Francisco Bay shoreline, including proposals for habitat restoration and enhancement, and served on the BRRIT Policy and Management Committee. 

Alba Cárdenas is the Resilient Education Program Manager for Climate Resilient Communities and is an activist and educator by heart. Alba obtained her BA in Spanish from San Jóse State University and minors in photography and Mexican American Studies. She is passionate about her work within the community, building bridges through language and education. Alba loves to go to community events and empower community members and their youth to voice and advocate for their wellbeing in various capacities. 

Erika Castillo is Regulatory & Public Affairs Director for the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District. She would like to contribute to the success of marsh restoration projects in the Bay Area by ensuring that public health and the perception of wetlands are not negatively impacted by an increase in mosquito populations.

Adrian Covert is Vice President for Public Policy at the Bay Area Council, the region’s largest multi-sector business advocacy association. He has led the Council’s water supply and climate resilience initiatives for over seven years, including co-chairing the Measure AA campaign, and he co-authored a 2015 report on the Bay Area’s economic vulnerability to extreme storm events.

Paul Detjens was a Senior Civil Engineer for the Contra Costa County Flood Control District, where he served as the Capital Projects Manager and the point person for sea level rise issues. He worked for the CCC Flood Control District for over 30 years and retired in 2023. 

Laura Feinstein is Resilient Landscapes Program Director at the San Franciso Estuary Institute. She holds a doctorate in Ecology from University of California, Davis with a focus on wetland ecosystems, served as Sustainability and Resilience Policy Director at SPUR, and was a Science and Policy fellow with the California Senate Committee on Environmental Quality. 

Heleine Grewe is a student at Menlo College and was part of the San Francisco Estuary Partnership’s Estuary Youth Council. She has worked with Youth United for Community Action, 'Anamatangi Polynesian Voices, and Nuestra Casa, which provided her with experience in community engagement, environmental justice, and addressing climate change in vulnerable communities. 

Jake Hanft is Program Manager at Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, where he executes grants for ocean conservation, including for coastal restoration and living shorelines. He brings ten years of grantmaking experience, an eye for detail during project review, and a collaborative disposition.  

Lil Milagro Henriquez is the founder and Executive Director for Mycelium Youth Network, which has been named as one of the only organizations preparing young people for climate change in the United States by the International Transformational Resilience Coalition. Lil Milagro has 20 years of experience in social justice organizing and was recently recognized by Marin Magazine as one of the top 15 Eco-Warriors of 2021. 

Lee Huo is a Senior Planner with the San Francisco Bay Trail Project and has over 20 years of experience in Bay resources, shoreline trails, open space, and public access planning including work with the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project. His interests focus on the successful melding of public access and restoration projects to ensure that generations of people will have the opportunity to experience and learn from the many Bay restoration projects.

Dulce Jimenez is a Planning Assistant with the Solano Transportation Authority and is involved in the Solano Electrical Vehicle (EV) Transition Program to expand EV infrastructure in the county. Dulce also serves on the Solano Land Trust’s Land and People Committee, representing her community to increase outdoor access for youth through events and partnerships. 

Maria Katticaran is an architect and urban designer with HDR Inc, where she works on urban projects that prioritize sustainable and resilient development, accessibility, and restoration. Maria participated in the Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy, serves on the San Francisco Estuary Partnership’s People & Wetlands Workgroup, and has a background in grassroots community planning.

David Lewis is Executive Director of Save The Bay. He has 19 years of experience in advocacy for Bay marsh habitat acquisition and restoration and associated state and federal funding, as well as advocacy for regulatory policies and funding to reduce trash and marine debris.

Jessica Martini-Lamb is an Environmental Resources Manager at the Sonoma County Water Agency. She oversees environmental regulatory permitting and compliance, and biological and water quality monitoring for her agency's restoration, water supply, flood control, and sanitation projects. She serves on the San Francisco Estuary Partnership Implementation Committee and manages her agency's Russian River Estuary Management Program.

Kelli McCune is the Coordinator of the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture, the public-private partnership that coordinates, informs, tracks and inspires the protection and restoration of wetlands and other habitats to benefit birds, other wildlife, and people in the Bay Area. Kelli brings over 15 years of conservation experience working to scale habitat restoration and stewardship practices on California’s working lands.

Lea Murray-Quintana is Executive Director of Collaborising, a nonprofit committed to eradicating social injustice through community organizing and movement building. She has extensive experience in community engagement, specifically with unhoused populations, and brings both professional and lived experience to advise on social justice and environmental equity issues. 

Christopher Nakamura is Development Manager for the San Jose Conservation Corps. He has a Bachelors in Enviornmental Studies and is a certified University of California Climate Stewards instructor for their California Naturalist program. He worked as a Crew Lead with the Corps on trails and restoration projects before joining as a staff member, as a testament to workforce development for green collar jobs. 

Emily Perales is a Life Scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, where she manages grants that implement water quality and habitat restoration projects in the Bay Area. In addition to her experience with the complex regulatory framework of the San Francisco Bay Area, she aims to strengthen efforts toward improving equity and incorporating diversity in the Authority’s decision-making. 

Marquita "Keta" Price is a third generation East Oakland native serving as Principal Planner for the Hood Planning Group. She is the lead on several East Oakland neighborhood and transportation projects, holds the city of Oakland accountable to equitable zoning and land use in East Oakland, and participates in regional planning.

Ethan Rayner serves as Restoration Manager for The Watershed Project where he manages flood control projects in local creeks and stormwater runoff programs through the use of habitat gardens, swale and bioswales, and other low impact urban infrastructure. He has experience applying for and implementing grants for restoration projects, engaging local communities, and previously worked for California State Parks. 

Brian Rowley is Water Quality Program Manager with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). He has over 18 years of public and private sector experience (of a 24-year civil engineering career) in the planning, design, and implementation of green stormwater infrastructure. 

Ana María Ruiz is General Manager of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, whose mission is to preserve open space lands, restore native habitat and provide ecologically-sensitive public access. She brings a strong technical expertise that is rooted in science and a planner’s analytical mind, along with a personal understanding of a wide range of community needs.

Stuart Siegel is the Coastal Resilience Specialist at the San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and Adjunct Professor for the San Francisco State University Estuary & Ocean Science Center. He has over 30 years of experience working in wetland restoration, applied restoration science, and ecosystem planning in the region. 

Casey Skinner is the San Francisco Bay Program Director for Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary, where she oversees restoration projects throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and the Audubon Youth Leaders program. She serves on multiple committees for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, including committees of Audubon California, National Audubon Society, and the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture. 

William Tinajero-Noriega is the Environmental Justice Program Assistant of Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto, where he advocates for communities disproportionately impacted by environmental issues by engaging residents on climate issues. He brings experience in community outreach, environmental education, and field experience underpinned by his academic background in conservation science and biology. 

Charlie Toledo is Executive Director of the Suscol Intertribal Council and has participated on numerous boards, committees and advisory boards around issues of access by unrepresented communities since 1993. She has been a water protection advocate since first serving on the Napa County watershed development committee that developed the concept of a “Living River” which has become a model for watershed protection. 

Craig Weightman is the Habitat Conservation Program Manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Bay Delta Region. He serves on the Policy and Management Committee of the Bay Restoration Regulatory Integration Team, and he has contributed to the Cutting the Green Tape initiative to accelerate the permitting of restoration projects.

Eileen White is the Executive Officer for the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, which protects the quality of the region's water resources for public health and environmental uses. Prior to joining the Water Board, she held leadership positions in both wastewater and drinking water at the East Bay Municipal Utility District. She is a licensed Civil Engineer.

Diane M. Williams is a Health Educator at Planting Justice. She has 40 years of experience working in environmental justice. She translates important public health issues to low-income people of color and works to eliminate health disparities.

Michael C. Williams is Trails Program Manager for the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District, which has included overseeing the district’s first Trails and Open Space Master Plan and securing millions of dollars in grant funding for trail development. He has over 30 years as a capital improvement project manager in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry and is interested in representing the communities he serves in Alameda County. 

Beckie Zisser is a Supervising Program Administrator in the Office of Government Relations at the Santa Clara Valley Water District, where she works to promote the District’s federally-partnered flood protection and water supply projects. She previously served as the Climate Change Program Manager for Save The Bay, where she worked to secure state and federal funding for Bay restoration.