Read more about Rachel Barge
Founder, Leap Grow
Rachel Barge, '08
Founder, Leap Grow
Rachel Barge is founder and CEO of Leap Grow, a growth marketing agency focused on helping mission-driven startups scale their products to consumer audiences. Prior to Leap Grow, Rachel served as Head of Marketing at environmental focused startups like Hipcamp, Trove, Gig Car Share and Greenstart. Rachel was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Energy for her work in early stage cleantech venture capital. She lives in Sacramento, California, where she loves growing tomatoes and exploring the Sierra Nevadas with her husband and two-year-old daughter. Rachel's favorite memories from Conservation & Resource Studies was getting dirty (aka hands in the dirt) with fellow CRS majors to run the Student Organic Gardening Association.
Founder, Leap Grow
Rachel Barge, '08
Founder, Leap Grow
Rachel Barge is founder and CEO of Leap Grow, a growth marketing agency focused on helping mission-driven startups scale their products to consumer audiences. Prior to Leap Grow, Rachel served as Head of Marketing at environmental focused startups like Hipcamp, Trove, Gig Car Share and Greenstart. Rachel was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Energy for her work in early stage cleantech venture capital. She lives in Sacramento, California, where she loves growing tomatoes and exploring the Sierra Nevadas with her husband and two-year-old daughter. Rachel's favorite memories from Conservation & Resource Studies was getting dirty (aka hands in the dirt) with fellow CRS majors to run the Student Organic Gardening Association.
Founder, Leap Grow
Rachel Barge, '08
Founder, Leap Grow
Rachel Barge is founder and CEO of Leap Grow, a growth marketing agency focused on helping mission-driven startups scale their products to consumer audiences. Prior to Leap Grow, Rachel served as Head of Marketing at environmental focused startups like Hipcamp, Trove, Gig Car Share and Greenstart. Rachel was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Energy for her work in early stage cleantech venture capital. She lives in Sacramento, California, where she loves growing tomatoes and exploring the Sierra Nevadas with her husband and two-year-old daughter. Rachel's favorite memories from Conservation & Resource Studies was getting dirty (aka hands in the dirt) with fellow CRS majors to run the Student Organic Gardening Association.
Vice President, Production + Operations, 20th Digital Disney Television Studios
Jenna Cavelle, '12
Vice President, Production + Operations, 20th Digital Disney Television Studios
Jenna Cavelle is an accomplished senior entertainment executive with a two-decade track record of overseeing award-winning content lifecycles. She has managed over $40M in content at various stages of development and production, resulting in projects that have received nominations for prestigious awards and premiered at top film festivals such as Canneseries, Sitges, Sundance, Tribeca, and SXSW. Cavelle has successfully sold pitches to Paramount, Warner, and FX and her feature films can be found streaming on platforms such as Disney+, Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix. She is known for her expertise in aligning operations with strategy, managing high volume, premium content across multiple locations, building diverse talent pipelines, demonstrating cross-functional leadership, and navigating complex deal negotiations. Cavelle is recognized for her resourcefulness, growth-mindedness, results-driven approach, exceptional creative taste, and extensive industry network.
Jenna is currently the Vice President of Production & Operations at 20th Digital, a Walt Disney Television company. She formerly served as the Head of Production at SLiC Studios and No Label Productions, founded by Two-time NBA All Star Baron Davis.
She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Political Ecology from the University of California, Berkeley and holds an MFA in Film & Television Production from USC's School of Cinematic Arts, where she also serves on the board of USC's Media Institute for Social Change. Most recently, Jenna completed her Executive MBA at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management while working full-time in her VP role at 20th for Disney. This Fall, Jenna matriculates into the Master of Legal Studies program at UCLA’s School of Law with the goal of further integrating her creative, business, and legal interests.
Head of Worldwide Business Development, Agriculture Amazon Web Services
Elizabeth Fastiggi, '97
Head of Worldwide Business Development, Agriculture Amazon Web Services
Elizabeth Fastiggi is the Head of Worldwide Business Development for the Agriculture vertical at AWS. She guides strategy for the industry and partners with Agriculture customers on transformative initiatives that align digital innovation with their business vision. She is motivated everyday by the opportunity to create solutions across the sector that create a healthier, transparent, and more inclusive food system for all. Prior to AWS, Elizabeth led Market Development at Indigo Agriculture and Business Development at Farmers Business Network. Previously, Elizabeth was a private equity investor with GE Capital and Ziff Brothers Investments, structuring investments in the energy and agriculture sectors, including the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol industry. Elizabeth began her career at the Environmental Defense Fund, developing partnerships with market leading corporations, such as McDonald’s and FedEx, to improve environmental and financial performance. Elizabeth holds a BS in Environmental Science from the University of California, Berkeley, an MBA and MS in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan, and studied international policy and economics at the University of Oxford, UK.
President, Sonoma County Conservation Action
Sonoma County Conservation Action
Neal Fishman, '77
President, Sonoma County Conservation Action
Sonoma County Conservation Action
Neal has worked in conservation for 32 years as a project manager, a legislative coordinator, and as Deputy Executive Officer for the Coastal Conservancy. He's drafted legislation creating the California Coastal Trail, he was instrumental in creating the San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy, and several statewide conservation bond acts. Neal has served as chief consultant to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and served on the board of Sonoma Land Trust.
Life Sciences Consultant, Deloitte, Customer & Marketing Group
Karina Gulati, '20
Life Sciences Consultant, Deloitte, Customer & Marketing Group
Karina Gulati is a Life Sciences Consultant at Deloitte in the Customer & Marketing group. She is a creative and strategic thinker that leads marketing and sales transformation projects for a wide variety of Fortune 500 and Global Pharmaceutical Companies. Prior to joining Deloitte, she worked at Capgemini Invent as a Life Sciences Consultant.
Karina graduated Magna Cum Laude in CRS, and specialized in Environmental Biology, Human Factors Engineering, and Sustainable Business Management. She uses her specialization from her CRS major to help her clients build more environmentally sustainable business processes. This December, she graduated from Johns Hopkins Carey Business School with her Masters in Marketing.
Environmental Regulatory Compliance Consultant
Paul Jacobs, '82
Environmental Regulatory Compliance Consultant
Paul is a passionate environmental and energy technology and policy expert and consultant with expertise in mobile sources of air pollution and energy efficiency.
Paul has over 40 years of experience in the energy and environmental protection fields including analysis, compliance, consulting, enforcement, engineering, law, management, policy and science; primarily in air pollution regulatory enforcement.
Paul has over 30 years of management experience overseeing technical staff developing and enforcing air pollution and energy efficiency statutes and regulations. As Acting Enforcement Division Chief in 2001 and 2002, Paul was tasked with creating the Enforcement Division at the California Air Resources Board (CARB). In 2015, he created the enforcement program at the California Energy Commission and served as the program's director until retiring into environmental compliance consulting in 2020.
Paul also has extensive litigation and legislation experience including serving as an expert witness in court and legislative hearings.
Additionally, Paul has served as a technical and policy consultant to various governments including: Australia, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, and numerous others. He also served as a consultant to USAID Eco-Asia, China MEP, Beijing EPB and numerous NGOs, companies and academic institutions. Paul has consulted in China on numerous occasions including helping Bejing mitigate air pollution in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
Paul is a lifetime member of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) and Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and recipient of the prestigious SAE Environmental Excellence in Transportation Award. Paul has also received numerous other certificates and awards for technical, legal and policy work in the environmental field.
Paul and his colleagues have published numerous AWMA and SAE technical and policy papers. Paul currently serves as a SAE college and university member recruiter and mentor plus as a mentor to UC Berkeley students through the Cal Career Center and Alumni Association.
Paul and his staff founded the California Council on Diesel Education and Technology (CCDET) in 1991. CCDET provides technical training to diesel engine/equipment mechanics and fleet managers for CARB air emissions compliance. CCDET is comprised of six California Community Colleges, CARB staff and diesel engine and equipment manufacturers and dealers. This program was the recipient of the prestigious SAE Environmental Excellence in Transportation Award and has been copied and deployed in other states and countries.
Paul holds a B.S. degree from UC Berkeley (1982, Natural Resources) and attended the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law and Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Program.
Oakland City Councilmember
Dan Kalb, '82
Oakland City Councilmember
First elected in 2012, Oakland Councilmember Dan Kalb is currently serving in his third term. During his distinguished career as an elected official, policy director and environmental advocate, Dan developed a reputation as an effective legislator and hard-working public servant.
Dan secured millions of dollars for affordable housing, authored Oakland’s Tenant Protection Ordinance and other anti-displacement laws, wrote the charter measure to create an independent Police Commission, authored the ordinance to ban coal in Oakland, and created an innovative partnership to reduce chronic absenteeism in Oakland public schools. He is known as the environmental leader on the Council and authored local laws to divest from fossil fuel companies and require all new buildings to be all-electric.
Prior to holding elective office, Dan was the California Policy Director for the Union of Concerned Scientists where he led state legislative efforts on climate change, renewable energy, and clean air issues. He also previously worked for the Sierra Club.
In 2023, Dan was selected by his colleagues to serve as the City Council President Pro Tempore. He also serves as the City's representative to StopWaste, is past Chair of East Bay Community Energy (EBCE), and is a board member of CivicWell.
With a deep background in social and environmental justice, Dan promotes data-driven solutions to the challenges facing our communities, including resolving the Oakland’s housing affordability and homelessness crisis, enhancing disaster resiliency, acting locally to combat climate change, promoting pedestrian and bicycle-safe neighborhoods, and investing in violence prevention and rehabilitation.
Dan received a Baccalaureate of Science degree in Conservation of Natural Resources from U.C. Berkeley and an MPA from the University of San Francisco. Councilmember Kalb was named the Best Good Government Politician in 2014 by the East Bay Express, and received the California Public Library Advocates’ 2015 Outstanding Elected Official award. In 2020, Dan was honored by East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO) as an Affordable Housing Champion. Dan currently is a candidate for the CA State Senate.
Dan and his wife Valarie enjoy hiking in our beautiful East Bay Regional Parks.
Principal at Higher Ground Labs
Hillary Lehr, '07
Principal at Higher Ground Labs
Hillary specializes in rapid scale at civic tech startups, political tech investment firms, nonprofits and top campaigns. At Higher Ground Labs, Hillary manages the firm's portfolio and accelerator programs: coaching startup founders, convening high profile strategic roundtables, and co-launching innovative first-time programs including AllHands, a technical talent recruitment partnership, and Uptime 2020, an important security, bug bounty, & technology reliability program.
Prior to Higher Ground Labs, Hillary led Client Success at Hustle from 2016-2018. Previously, Hillary managed client partnerships and user research initiatives at Brigade and Causes.com. Hillary's career began in environmental and human rights organizations where she got her start digitalizing nonprofit campaign work during the rise of CRMs, viral petitions, and early social media platforms at Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network.
CEO, Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center
Sharon Miller, '82
CEO, Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center
Sharon Miller is the Chief Executive Officer of Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, a not-for-profit, small business development organization providing access to training and support services to help lower-income Bay Area women and men create thriving businesses since 1999. In addition to her 25+ years of experience in the non-profit sector, Sharon co-owned and co-founded Travel Systems, an international travel wholesaler in New York City. Sharon is the past Chair of CAMEO (California Association of Micro-Enterprise Organizations), a founder and former co-chair of the San Francisco Economic Development Association (SFEDA) a board member of the Association of Women’s Business Centers, and a member of the JP Morgan Chase Community Advisory Board.
President & CEO, Amigos de las Américas
Sara Nathan, '02
President & CEO, Amigos de las Américas
Sara Nathan is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Amigos de las Américas, a nonprofit organization that empowers lifelong leaders who share responsibility for our global community.
For two decades, Sara’s work has centered on building educational experiences and hands-on learning opportunities for students across the Americas. Prior to serving as CEO, Sara served as Managing Director of Programs. Her major achievements in this role were launching year-round programs, including the Gap Program for high school graduates, opening AMIGOS programs to hundreds of students from Latin America, and the securing our first federal grant award for binational exchanges and programming for youth across the Americas.
As CEO, Sara has focused on growing the impact of AMIGOS through program innovation and systems modernization. The organization has established year-round staffing throughout the Americas, built a marketing program for increased visibility, established a regional staff presence in four other cities in the U.S., and doubled annual fundraising. Under her leadership, AMIGOS has achieved record enrollment and is poised for continued growth.
Prior to AMIGOS, Sara served as the Vice Chair of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Overseeing Operations, she facilitated research initiatives and dialogue between students, academics, thought leaders, and government officials throughout the Western Hemisphere. Key initiatives included the U.S.-Mexico Futures Forum and the publication of the Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies.
Sara earned her M.S. in International Development from the London School of Economics as well as a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies and a B.A in Spanish and Portuguese from the University of California, Berkeley.
Bay Area Director, California Trout
California Trout
Patrick Samuel, '09
Bay Area Director, California Trout
California Trout
Patrick has been with CalTrout since 2014 and was one of the lead authors of the 2017 State of the Salmonids II: Fish in Hot Water report. Prior to joining CalTrout, Patrick worked with the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum as well as the NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources Division in Sacramento.
He uses his background in fisheries science and policy and professional writing skills to build relationships and support sound management. He is especially interested in recovery of listed salmonids, federal fisheries management and policy, and bluefin tuna.
Senator, 9th State Senate district
California
Senator Nancy Skinner, '77
Senator, 9th State Senate district
California
A social justice advocate, clean energy and climate change trailblazer and accomplished legislator, Nancy Skinner was first elected to the state Senate in 2016 after completing three terms in the state Assembly. Senator Skinner currently serves as chair of the Senate’s Budget and Fiscal Review Committee and of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.
Skinner has authored groundbreaking laws including SB 206, the Fair Pay to Play Act, making California the first state to give college athletes the right to earn money from their name, image, and likeness; SB 1421, opening up police misconduct records for the first time in 40 years; and SB 1437, overhauling California’s unjust felony murder rule. While in the Assembly, she authored AB 153, requiring Amazon and other internet retailers to collect sales tax; AB 1014, the first in the nation gun violence restraining order otherwise known as ‘red flag’ law; and AB 1930, giving college students access to federal food assistance, which has now been copied by most every state in the country. In 2021, Skinner led the successful campaign to make California the first state in nation to make free school meals available to all public school children.
Skinner began her public service in 1984 as the first and only student elected to the Berkeley City Council. On the council, Skinner introduced the nation’s first Styrofoam ban and co-founded an international association, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, which now includes 2,500 local and regional governments in over 125 countries. Skinner’s work at ICLEI led to the initiation of the Cities for Climate Protection program, which engaged hundreds of cities worldwide to take action to stop climate change.
Skinner is a past member of the East Bay Regional Park District board, a former small business owner, and an active advocate to increase the number of women in elected office. She served on the Board of the East Bay Women’s Political Caucus and launched the Women in Power PAC to support Democratic women running for state office.
Skinner’s Senate District includes the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, El Sobrante, Hercules, Kensington, Oakland, Piedmont, Pinole, Richmond, Rodeo, San Leandro, and San Pablo. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley, earning both a BS and an MA.
Founder and Owner, Redhorse Constructors Inc.
David Warner, '76
Founder and Owner, Redhorse Constructors Inc.
David Warner is the founder and owner of Redhorse Constructors (1981-present). For the past four decades he has been working on new urban formations around sustainable and resilient infrastructure and construction systems, serving as an advisor to startups that are creating new materials and systems for this new urban design intent.
With a focus on green building, David has turned Redhorse into one of the nation’s premier custom home builders, receiving a number of awards from the AIA, projects published in Scientific American and Architectural Digest, including achievement awards from local and industry organizations.
David is the co-founder of Human Needs Project (2010-present), a collaboration of academic and industry leaders who are in partnership with local communities to address the lack of basic services common in underserved urban populations. HNP’s project in Kenya, the Kibera Town Center, provides basic services (water, toilets, showers, laundry) and empowerment services (business skills training, microcredit, WiFi, health kiosk, green marketplace) to over 800 people per day, demonstrating that clean, local energy can empower vibrant and sustainable community centers.
David received his undergraduate degree from the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley in 1976 and his teaching credential in Biology from San Francisco State in 1977. He continues to be a leadership volunteer for the College and served on the Dean’s advisory board from 2015 to 2021.