GREENBELT - Key Persons
Greenbelt Alliance Executive Director Amanda Brown-Stevens is a nationally recognized expert in climate-smart development and resilient communities.
Amanda holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies from Wesleyan University and an M.P.P. from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. She lives with her family in Oakland, a city she has loved since her time as Chief of Staff to Oakland City Councilmember Nancy Nadel in the early 2000s.
Amanda frequently speaks and offers her expertise on climate-smart development, conservation, land use, the housing crisis, and resilient cities. Please email or call with inquiries.
Job Titles:
- Leadership Development Chair
Anu Natarajan serves as the Leadership Development Chair of Greenbelt Alliance's Board of Directors.
Anu Natarajan joined the Greenbelt Alliance Board in 2014.
Anu Natarajan currently serves as the Housing Initiative Lead at Meta/Facebook, where she leverages her extensive background across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to guide Facebook's housing policy initiatives, partnerships, and investment work. She is a long-time advocate for sensible, sensitive, and sustainable planning as the engine for economic growth and community building.
Prior to joining Facebook, Anu served as the Director of Policy and Advocacy for MidPen Housing, where she worked to find solutions to build more affordable housing in the Bay Area. In her work with the American Leadership Forum - Silicon Valley, Anu focused on community engagement and outreach and built a diverse coalition of more than 35 partners from the Bay Area to solve regional challenges through civic engagement. While at StopWaste, she also worked on sustainability, the circular economy, and climate actions plans.
Anu has served a total of 10 years as the Vice Mayor and City Councilmember for the City of Fremont, and is the first Indian-American to be elected to a city council in the Bay Area.
Anu grew up in Bangalore, India, where she graduated from Architecture School. She moved to Seattle on a Rotary International Scholarship as an "Ambassador of Goodwill" and earned her masters degree in Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington, Seattle.
In her spare time, Anu volunteers with community organizations and also enjoys exploring new cities and their architecture, meeting people, and reading. She and her husband are raising their daughter in Fremont.
Job Titles:
- OPERATIONS & PEOPLE MANAGER
As Greenbelt Alliance's Operations & People Manager, Chance oversees a variety of key functions including: Board of Directors relations; Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) initiatives; accounting & budget management; human resources support; workplace systems implementation; and general office administration-ensuring the organization runs smoothly across all departments.
Chance is a lifelong Californian, born and raised in sunny San Diego and currently living in foggy San Francisco. He graduated from Pitzer College in 2017, majoring in Political Science and minoring in Spanish, and is also an alumnus of the Coro Fellowship for Public Affairs.
Corinne Winter Ball serves as the Fundraising Chair on Greenbelt Alliance's Board of Directors.
Corinne Winter spent a decade working in the transportation industry focusing on bicycle and pedestrian advocacy and planning at the Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition.
Corinne has since branched out to include more varied transportation projects-rail, shuttle/bus, and the integration of various modes-to solve gridlock, improve quality of life, and make communities stronger. She is able to quickly identify key stakeholders and generate positive momentum for a variety of projects.
Job Titles:
- SENIOR MANAGER of MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
Dee is the North Bay Trail Director for the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council. She is a founder of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District (1989), and she currently sits on the boards of Greenbelt Alliance and Western Sonoma County Rural Alliance. A Sonoma County's C.O.A.A.S.T. Environmentalist of the Year in 1989, Dee also serves the Sonoma Community Foundation on the Donor Advised Fund Committee of the Ernie Carpenter Fund for the Environment. In 2005, she co-founded the Sonoma County Working Forest Group and is an active member representing Greenbelt Alliance. A former Sonoma County Parks Commissioner, she received a B.S. degree from Sonoma State University in 1992.
As of September 12, 2011, Dee is the proud grandma of Teo Colorado Swanhuyser and married to Peter Swanhuyser.
Job Titles:
- SENIOR DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Chairman of Greenbelt Alliance 's Board of Directors
- Transportation Leader
- Transportation Planning Manager at the San Francisco Planning Department
Doug Johnson is an accomplished transportation leader with more than 15 years of policy and funding experience.
Doug is the Transportation Planning Manager at the San Francisco Planning Department. In this role, he serves as Project Manager for ConnectSF, a multi-agency collaboration focused on planning and building an effective, equitable, and sustainable transportation system for San Francisco's future. ConnectSF defined a 50-year vision (spring 2018) for San Francisco's future that represents our priorities, goals, and aspirations as a city within the larger Bay Area. The vision now guides transit and street planning for the City and its transportation system toward one collective goal.
Prior to joining the Planning Department in 2016, Doug spent 15 years at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in various capacities. Some of the projects he created or managed include: expansion of Bay Area Bikeshare to Ford GoBike; Plan Bay Area (2013); $3+ million annually in grant awards for transit-oriented development; $50 million Bay Area Transit Oriented Affordable Housing (TOAH) fund; low-income and minority community planning and grant programs; and active transportation.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Board of Directors
Elliot Evers is a member of the Board of Directors at Greenbelt Alliance.
Elliot is a fifth-generation San Franciscan. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley, Hastings College of the Law and The Sorbonne.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair
- Leadership Development Co - Chair
- Principal at Onside Partners
Heather Wooten serves at the Leadership Development Co-Chair of Greenbelt Alliance's Board of Directors.
Heather Wooten is a principal at Onside Partners, where she partners with leaders to make lasting change. After working for over a decade at the intersection of health equity and built environment policy, she believes in the power of good governance to create healthy, sustainable, and economically vibrant communities for all. Heather's expertise includes policy research, analysis, and drafting; development of innovative tools that make the policymaking process accessible to all; community and stakeholder capacity building through coaching, technical assistance, and training. She is the recipient of the 2014 William R. and June Dale Prize for Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning from Cal Poly Pomona for her work in food systems planning. Heather graduated from the University of Minnesota and received her master's degree in city planning from UC Berkeley.
Jake Mackenzie is a member of the Greenbelt Alliance Board of Directors.
Job Titles:
- Fundraising Co
- Fundraising Co - Chair
John Gibbs serves as the Fundraising Co-Chair on Greenbelt Alliance's Board of Directors.
Job Titles:
- Finance Chair
- Treasurer
- Commercial Advisor With Moffatt & Nichol
- Finance Chair & Treasurer for Greenbelt Alliance 's Board of Directors
Currently, Joshua is a commercial advisor with Moffatt & Nichol, advising clients on long-term infrastructure strategies in a world of increasing uncertainty due to climate change. More broadly, Moffatt & Nichol bridges science, finance, and engineering to provide practical and creative solutions to coastal environmental challenges. Joshua previously served as the Treasurer on the Board of a Bay Area non-profit developing environmentally conscious youth leaders trained to take on local and global challenges.
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR of MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
As Greenbelt Alliance's Director of Marketing & Communications, Justin builds and executes strategic campaigns to share the organization's story and impact into the future.
Ken Lavin has introduced countless children and adults to the delights of nature and the greenbelt as an outdoor education teacher, park ranger, hike leader, and Outings Coordinator at Greenbelt Alliance.
Job Titles:
- Member of Greenbelt Alliance 's Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Manager
- Vice Chair
- Vice Chair of the Board
As the Senior Manager of Marketing & Communications for Greenbelt Alliance, Daniela amplifies the organization's impact and strategic work to create a resilient Bay Area.
As the Senior Development Associate for Greenbelt Alliance, Deja plays an integral role in supporting all of the organization's fundraising activities.
As a CivicSpark Fellow at Greenbelt Alliance, Nate will assist with research and leverage his skills to help us bring the right climate and housing policies to the Bay Area.
As the Director of Corporate & Foundation relations at Greenbelt Alliance, Paris builds support for climate resilience initiatives.
As Deputy Director at Greenbelt Alliance, Sarah oversees the development and implementation of organizational strategies to enable equitable climate resilience across the Bay Area.
As a Resilience Manager at Greenbelt Alliance, Victor works with multiple partners and jurisdictions in the East Bay to forge a collective vision for resilience that integrates equity, conservation, and housing considerations.
As the Senior Director of Climate Resilience at Greenbelt Alliance, Zoe brings adaptation and climate resilience to the forefront of the programmatic work for the organization.
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR of CORPORATE & FOUNDATION RELATIONS
Rosanne Foust serves on the Board of Directors for Greenbelt Alliance.
Job Titles:
- SENIOR RESILIENCE MANAGER
Job Titles:
- CLIMATE RESILIENCE COMMUNICATIONS FELLOW
Job Titles:
- RESILIENCE MANAGER
- Strategist
Victor Flores is an East Bay political strategist, housing, climate policy, and criminal justice reform advocate.
Born and raised in Oakland, Victor was arrested at the age of 17, resulting in an eight-year prison sentence. During his incarceration, he took on multiple leadership roles, including the High Desert's Men's Advisory Council as an official liaison between the prisoners and corrections officers. After completing his GED, Victor worked as a tutor within one of his housing units and enrolled in community college courses.
Since Victor's release, he's completed a legal internship at Catholic Charities of the East Bay, where he took statements and wrote declarations from youth who came to the US as unaccompanied minors, many of whom were children fleeing from violence in their home countries. Victor connected with these youth who have experienced trauma from violence during their developing years, as he did growing up in East Oakland.
Over the last five years, Victor has worked for two Oakland City Councilmembers, the SFPUC, and worked on multiple local campaigns. Victor has also worked on housing, transportation, and infrastructure with an equity lens. Last year, Victor was a Climate Equity Summer Associate at The Greenlining Institute, where he researched policies around clean mobility and racial equity and published the article, "Plan Today, Save Tomorrow: Climate-Resilient Transportation Infrastructure."
In addition to his work in public service, Victor has also served on various boards such as the Alameda County Community Corrections Partnership Community Advisory Board, Fruitvale Latino Task Force, Resilient Fruitvale, and the Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Manager of Housing Affordability for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Xiomara Cisneros serves on the Board of Directors for Greenbelt Alliance.
Xiomara is manager of housing affordability for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, where she supports CZI's commitment to ensure everyone has access to safe, stable, and affordable housing. Her experience includes various roles in community outreach and project management in the land use and commercial real estate industry, both in the nonprofit and private sector.
Job Titles:
- SENIOR DIRECTOR of CLIMATE RESILIENCE