The following are members of our Advisory Committee
David Aced, CPA David Aced serves as an advisor to the Finance Committee. He co-founded the Dunker and Aced Accountancy firm with offices in Modesto and Oakdale in 1973 in order to provide personal and professional accounting services to the community. David is an avid fisherman and outdoorsman.
John Amodio John was Executive Director of the Tuolumne River Trust during the 1980's when 83 miles of the Tuolumne River were declared Wild and Scenic. He now works for the State of California Department of Conservation. Gov. Pete Wilson appointed John to the Calif. Integrated Waste Management Board to serve as liaison to the environmental community. Over the years, John has served with many environmental organizations.
Robert Canning
Sally Chenault Sally has a lifetime of personal experience along the Tuolumne River having grown up in Modesto. She is an attorney with the Modesto law firm of Damrell Nelson Shrimp Pallios Pacher and Silva specializing in civil litigation and family law. With excellent training from the Junior League of Santa Barbara, she brings skills of fundraising, public speaking, and lobbying to the Trust as well as a deep-rooted love of the Tuolumne and Clavey Rivers.
Ann Clark, Ph.D. Ann has been an active supporter of the Tuolumne River Trust's Bay Area program since its inception. During that time she has met with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) and local environmental organizations to craft a Water System Improvement Project which would protect and conserve the Tuolumne River. For many years Ann has been active in San Francisco to facilitate grassroots outreach on a local level with groups such as SPUR, NRDC, the Commonwealth Club and Friends of Camp Mather to mention a few. She has a particular interest in outreach to school children in the classroom and on The River.
Joe Daly Joe served as the Board Chair throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s when Wild and Scenic designation was achieved for the main stem of the Tuolumne and a potential dam on the Clavey River was rejected by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He is the co-founder of Echo River Trips, which for many years ran whitewater rafting trips on the Tuolumne. His loyalties to the River remain strong and he joined the advisory board in November 2010.
Heather Dempsey Heather served as Bay Area Program Director for the Tuolumne River Trust from 2004 to 2007. Heather came to the Trust with a diversity of experience in the environmental field from both the non-profit and government sectors. As a grant manager for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, she became well-versed in river restoration efforts in California and the role of government agencies in river management . Heather earned her Masters of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies with a focus on large-scale conservation.
Jim Greene, Jr. Jim retired from the US Navy in 1995 having completed 32 years of active duty. He is currently on the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA and also consults for Defense Industry clients. Since retirement he has been actively involved with numerous land and river preservation non-profit organizations as a Board member or advisor including a five year term as Chair of the Henrys Fork Foundation dedicated to preserving the headwaters of the Snake River in SW Idaho . Jim is an avid fly fisherman and first encountered the Tuolumne River on a 1970 camping and fishing trip at Tuolumne Meadows.
Sam Harned Sam is a landscape architect with KLA in Sonora. As a child, his father instilled a love of nature in his brothers and him, and Sam passes this along to his own young children. Sam in interested in serving TRT because he appreciates the need to preserve and protect rivers as a resource for a healthy and sustainable environment. He brings passion as well as technical and architectual expertise to the Trust.
Noah Hughes Noah, a resident of Sonora, teaches earth science and geology at Modesto Junior College . As an avid kayaker, Noah brings an intimate knowledge of the Upper and Lower Tuolumne River and is excited about using his expertise as an educator to further the mission of the Trust.
Thomas A. Johnson Professor of history, political science, and law at Columbia College, Tom is also a professional mediator and arbitrator. Tom brings with him a degree in environmental studies, along with others, from the University of California, experience as a Stanislaus County environmental litigation attorney, and his passion for surfing, rock climbing, and whitewater rafting. Formerly he served as a civil and criminal trial lawyer, Deputy District Attorney, and Deputy County Council. He is the newest member of our Advisory Committee.
Camille King
Cecily Majerus Cecily has been a Trust advisor since 2003. She is a former Executive Director to the Trust and Board member. Before moving to California, Cecily lived in Maryland and was their Governor's Coordinator for the Chesapeake Bay . She is a currently Chair of the Ocean Conservancy.
Deanna Maurer Deanna has over 20 years of experience in outreach and resource development for non-profits and universities and is a consultant for small nonprofits. She is a former Director of Advancement for the Tuolumne River Trust. She holds a Masters in Public Policy from U.C. Berkeley and a Bachelors degree from Wellesley College. As residents of Sonora, she and her husband share a great love for the Tuolumne River.
Amy Meyer Amy is a founding member of the Tuolumne River Trust and was vice-president of the board for several years. She has been co-chairman of People for a Golden Gate National Recreation Area since 1971, was vice-chair of the GGNRA's federal Advisory Commission for 28 years, and was a member of the board of the Presidio Trust. She is currently a chairman of People for the Presidio. She has been an advisor to the Trust since 2002.
Jenna Olsen Former Executive Director of Tuolumne River Trust through 2005, Jenna currently is employed as Senior Manager Government Partnerships and Third Party Contracts with Pacific Gas & Electric.
Drummond Pike Founder and President, Tides Foundation, Tides Center , Groundspring.org and Tsunami Fund; President, Highwater, Inc.; Founder and Associate Director, Youth Project ( Washington, D.C. ); former Executive Director, Shalan Foundation.
Wendy Pulling Wendy Pulling is an avid birdwatcher, hiker and (white-knuckle) passenger in river rafts. An environmental lawyer by training, she is the Director of Environmental Policy at Pacific Gas & Electric Company. She has served on the advisory committee since 2002.
Richard Roos-Collins Attorney, Natural Heritage Institute; former President and Board member, Tuolumne River Trust (10 years).
Norwood Scott Staff, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Former Member, U.S. Wild Water Team; Member, Team Perception; Board President, American Whitewater Association, Former Board Member, Tuolumne River Trust (5 years).
Kate Powell Segerstrom Kate practices law in Sonora and has extensive nonprofit experience through serving as a director or trustee of Mother Lode Bank, Sonora Union High School District, Sonora Regional Medical Center, United Way of Tuolumne County, and the Sierra Business Council. She joined the Tuolumne River Trust Advisory Board in November 2010. Her family greatly enjoys and benefits from the Tuolumne River and there are very few issues more important to her than watershed protection.
Ron Stork Ron is the Senior Policy Advocate for Friends of the River. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Agriculture at the University of California at Davis in Plant Science. In his occasional spare time, Ron can be found ambling around mountain trails or floating western rivers with a hand lens and a large Flora in hand searching for rare wildflowers. Ron served on the Trust Board for 20 years before joining the advisory committee in 2002.
Patricia Sullivan Tricia studied Biology both as an undergraduate at UC Davis and in graduate school at Harvard. She joined PG&E in 1980, and in 1988, joined the Environmental Affairs Department, where she manages investigation and remediation of historically contaminated sites (such as former Manufactured Gas Plant sites). Tricia's hobbies included hiking, backpacking and/or camping, bird watching and, in general, being in nature. She is a former Trust Board member and joined the Advisory Committee in 2002.
Therese Tuttle Therese is a farmer advocate and attorney for Tuttle and Van Konynenburg, LLP in Modesto . She is a founding member and leader of the Great Valley Slow Food Convivium. Therese is also involved with the Modesto Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture Advisory Board of the Great Valley Center , American Agricultural Law Association, California Bar Association, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, American Farmland Trust, California Native Plant Society, and the Sierra Club. She is a former Trust Board member and joined the Advisory Committee in 2007.
Holly Welles, Ph.D. Holly Welles is the Communications and Outreach Manager for the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI) at Princeton University. Holly transitioned from the Trust's Board to the Advisory Committee in 2007 when she and her family moved from the Bay Area to Princeton, New Jersey. Prior to the transition, she was an Environmental Policy Manager at Pacific Gas and Electric Company. She misses Northern California and the Tuolumne family. Holly holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Planning from UC Berkeley and a Master of Forest Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Jennifer M. White, Ph.D. Director for Education, U.C. Berkeley Botanical Garden; former staff Science educator Lawrence Hall of Science; Member, Advisory Committee to Yosemite Park Concession Services.
John Woolard John Woolard is the CEO of BrightSource Energy and was President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board. John is the co-author of a US Patent for web-based Energy Management Systems, and has been a leader in energy technology for many years, meeting several times with President Bush in executive sessions on National Energy Policy. John has an MBA from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley, a Masters in Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia , and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia . Along with the Trust, John also serves on the Board of the California Clean Energy Fund, the Strategic Advisory Board for Xcel Energy, and is a Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He is also a frequent guest lecturer at the Haas School of Business, as well as many national energy and technology conferences. John served on the Trust Board from 2002 to 2006.
Steve Welch Steve joined the Advisory Board of the Tuolumne River Trust in January 2011. As a resident of the Tuolumne River watershed, he has been a strong and generous supporter of the Trust for many years. Since 1984, he has been the general manager of ARTA River Trips (a non-profit since 1963). For the past 15 years, Steve has been President of the Tuolumne River Outfitters Association.
