Name: Jeff McCreary Position/Occupation: Director of Conservation Programs, Ducks Unlimited, Inc. and San Francisco Bay Joint Venture (SFBJV) Management Board Chair, 2018-2020 December 2019 Jeff McCreary currently serves as Director of Conservation Programs for Ducks Unlimited’s (DU) Western Region, and as the Chair of the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture Management Board.  His career spans over … Read more

Name: Sam Veloz Position/Occupation: Climate Adaptation Group Director, Point Blue Conservation Science May 2019 Sam Veloz has been working at Point Blue for the past 9 years. He was first hired as a Spatial Ecologist in 2010 before being promoted to Director of Point Blue’s Climate Adaptation Group in 2015.  In his current role Sam … Read more

Name: Cheryl Strong Position/Occupation: Wildlife Biologist, US Fish and Wildlife Service May 2019 Cheryl Strong has been a wildlife biologist at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge for about 12 years. Before working for the Refuge, Cheryl worked for the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory as the Waterbirds Program Director.  The difference, … Read more

Name: Beth Huning Position/Occupation: SFBJV Coordinator 2001-2018 January 2019 Beth Huning served as the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture Coordinator from 2001-2018, and was a driving force behind its establishment. While working at Audubon, she collaborated with the first Joint Venture (JV) Coordinator, Nancy Schaefer, and colleagues Marge Kolar (USFWS), Marc Holmes (The Bay Institute), … Read more

Name: Ariana Rickard Position/Occupation: Chapter Network Associate Director, Audubon California August 2018 In the fall of 2011, Ariana and her husband Pierre moved to the Bay Area from New York City. During her job-hunt, she attended a Watershed Symposium in Brentwood and happened to sit at Sandra Scoggin’s table and learned about the San Francisco … Read more

Name: Matt Gerhart Position/Occupation: Program Manager, San Francisco Bay Area with the State Coastal Conservancy June 2018 Matt has been working for the Coastal Conservancy since 2007 when he moved back to the Bay Area after three years working for the Mendocino Land Trust on the North Coast. Initially, he worked on projects in Mendocino … Read more

Name: John Bourgeois Position/Occupation: Executive Project Manager, South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project February 2018 John Bourgeois became Executive Project Manager of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project in 2009.  Previously, John was a restoration ecologist with the Bay Area ecological consulting firm H. T. Harvey & Associates where he worked on numerous San … Read more

Name: Renee Spenst Position/Occupation: Regional Biologist with Ducks Unlimited December 2017 Renee has been working for DU as Regional Biologist since 2008, and previously as an adjunct professor for UC Davis and Folsom Lake College. She also worked for the US Forest Service and the Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District. When asked, Renee said … Read more

Name: Marc Holmes Position/Occupation: Director, Bay Restoration program Agency: The Bay Institute (TBI) September 2017 Marc Holmes began his career when he walked in to volunteer at the local chapter of the Sierra Club and met Chicken (David) Nesmith. Chicken took him under his wing, and was truly inspirational. Marc attributes it to “luck’ that … Read more

Name: Caitlin Sweeney Title: Director Agency: San Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP) Caitlin Sweeney started with the San Francisco Estuary Partnership in 2011 as a Senior Planner and became Director in 2015.  Prior to SFEP, she worked for 12 years at the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), as a planner and ultimately as … Read more