Board of Directors - Bios

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Wendi KalliNS, President

Issue areas: Transportation; Regenerative Agriculture.

Wendi is the co-founder and Program Coordinator for Marin Safe Routes to Schools, the national model program. She is the President of Sustainable Marin and is on the MTC Policy Advisory Council. She has been actively promoting sustainability, affordable housing and green transportation countywide for 35 years. She is a graduate of the Environmental Forum class 44. She has provided training and consultation on Safe Routes to Schools to over 40 communities nationwide, developing new programs and model curriculum.  Wendi has been a featured speaker on SR2S at dozens of conferences, nationally and internationally. Wendi was named one of 10 national Active Living Heroes for 2006, sharing the award with notables like Barak Obama and Dan Burden.  She also received the 2002 Clean Air Champion award from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the 2001 Winner of the Marin League of Women Voters 12th annual Bunny Lucheta Award for outstanding public service.
www.saferoutestoschools.org

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Kiki La Porta, Vice President (At Large)

Kiki is past president (8 years) and current vice president and board member of Sustainable Marin, co-founder, past president (5 years) and continuing board member of Sustainable San Rafael, and founding member of Coalition for a Livable Marin (CALM). She serves on the Advisory Board and is Communications Consultant to Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative (MEHC). She served 5 years on the board of The Cedars of Marin and chaired the Communications committee, and on numerous other boards and committees including the Environmental Forum of Marin (Education), MMWD’s Citizens Water Rates Advisory Committee (2011-2013), and San Rafael Mayor Al Boro’s Green Ribbon Committee, which developed the City’s Climate Change Action Plan.  During 2014, Kiki served the County of Marin as Aide to Supervisor Susan Adams and on a working group to update the County’s Five-Year Strategic Plan for communications.  Kiki La Porta’s marketing agency, Descom Studios has served Marin Clean Energy, Marin Municipal Water District, Marin General Hospital, Marin Workforce Housing Trust, League of Women Voters of Marin Co., and many others. 

Howard Schwartz, PhD, Sustainable San Rafael

​Former Director of Strategic Initiatives, St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin, Care & Shelter Chief, Marin County Emergency Operation Center 2022, high tech marketing executive at SDL International, formerly Stanford professor. 

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Marilyn Price, Mill Valley Community Action Network

Marilyn is the founder of Trips for Kids®a nonprofit that opened the world of cycling to over 200,000 at-risk youth since 1988 through mountain bike rides and Earn-A-Bike programs. Currently there are over 75 Trips for Kids chapters. She has received numerous awards including Heart of Marin’s Lifetime Achievement award in 2017 and being named a CNN Hero in 2015. After 28 years Marilyn retired from the Trips for Kids staff and decided to use most of her volunteer time working more directly with local environmental organizations.  The groups she has chosen to help are: Sustainable Marin, Elders Climate Action, OFA Marin, Resilient Neighborhoods, 350Marin.org, MVCAN, Sierra Club Marin Group’s Climate Change Solutions Committee’s Plastic Ban Ordinance and NextGen America. 

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Peter Waring, At Large

Peter is a Green Building & Energy consultant helping homeowners enjoy more affordable comfort while reducing their carbon footprints. He is on the energy faculty of Laney & Skyline Colleges, but now works exclusively in the field promoting better practices in the Building Performance industry. His previous careers include public school math & science teacher (focusing on the environment) and plumbing contractor (as a pioneer for solar hot water and gray water systems). He has six grandchildren whose photos on his frig keep him inspired every day. He enjoys contributing to deep energy retrofits (such as with CLAM in West Marin) and raising public awareness of the need to redefine our relationship with our dwellings through his consulting practice. www.healthierdwelling.com

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David Haskell, At large

Areas of expertise: Clean Energy Technologies; Zero Waste; Healthy Food Systems.

David Haskell is the founder and managing partner of Symmetric Energy LLC.  He is a sustainability professional with 30 years of experience marketing and engineering of cleaner production, energy efficiency and renewable energy products and services.  During his time in New Zealand, he was the owner and managing director of Solar Specialties Ltd; CEO of the nation’s largest post- consumer plastic recycler; and the Director of the Ministry of Energy’s Conservation and Renewable Energy Division. He was honored for his service to New Zealand by Queen Elizabeth in recognition of his work in the field of resource conservation. David is presently on the Fairfax Climate Action Committee, the Board of Sustainable Marin and was the California State Chairman for the Sierra Club’s Zero Waste Committee.  David is a graduate of UC Berkeley with degrees in Conservation of Natural Resources and Political Science. 
His Kiwi family number three children and seven grandchildren. www.symmetricenergy.com

Cynthia Koehler, At large

Cynthia is an environmental attorney and water policy expert with 30 years of experience working on federal and state water and natural resource issues. She leads WaterNow Alliance, a nonprofit network for local water leaders accelerating equitable, climate-resilient, and environmentally sustainable water management strategies nationwide, and leads WaterNow’s Tap into Resilience initiative. She is an appointed member of US EPA’s Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB), and served five terms as an elected member of the Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors (2005-2022). Cynthia previously worked for the Environmental Defense Fund as its California Legislative Director for Water Issues, and served on EPA’s Local Government Advisory Committee, and Governor Brown’s Urban Advisory Group. She is a member of the Pacific Institute’s Advisory Council, and is the recipient of the Marin Conservation League’s Ted Wellman Water Award, The Bay Institute’s Hero of The Bay Award, and other commendations for her environmental and sustainability leadership. 

Carolyn Lund, At large

Founder Amazon Initiatives, Amazon to Reuse Boxes Petition, a 14-month campaign. Member, Belvedere Parks, Lanes & Open Space Committee. Former marketing director of Goldridge Organic Farms.  UCLA Anderson School of Management, MBA 1985, Marketing

Vassar College, BA