Meet CNPS Elected Officials and Staff
| Chapter Council |
 Brad Jenkins, Chair, has been a member and active volunteer of CNPS since 1997 when he joined the Orange County Chapter. Since then he has served as chapter treasurer as well as compiled the original “Why Plant Natives?” brochure, initiated the chapter’s first garden tour, and created a 3rd grade native plant education program with the Orange County Department of Education. Brad has extensive experience in information systems, project management, and investing. Brad previously served as President of CNPS from 2006-2008. Brad graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a double major in Ecosystems and Economics. Hiking in California’s natural landscapes is one of his favorite hobbies.
(bradcjenkins yahoo.com) |
 Larry Levine, Vice Chair, has been a CNPS member since the 1980’s. He studied botany and subjects related to plant ecology at Humboldt State University. Larry worked on the habitat requirements of two rare plants, then shifted focus to web-related services, and developed an online, easy to update version of the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants. Larry enjoys facilitating communication between people with opposing views so they find common ground. He wants to promote more dialogue among Chapter Council Delegates between Chapter Council meetings and intends to lead public plant walks again. When not involved with CNPS, Larry can often be found at Balkan music and dance events.
(levinelnorthcoast.com) |
 Sarah Jayne, Secretary, joined CNPS in 1985 just as the Orange County Chapter was about to collapse. Thanks to the vision and energy of a bright new president, the chapter revived and flourished. Sarah has been active on the chapter board since joining and has held a variety of posts. Currently she is secretary, webmaster, and newsletter editor. At the state level, Sarah has served as Chapter Council Secretary since. She has always loved the world of nature and chose to specialize on plants because they don't fly away.
(sbjaynecox.net) |
| Board of Directors |
 Sue Britting, Vice President – Acting President, received her doctorate in biology from the University of California, Los Angeles. After working with the US Forest Service in forest planning and policy implementation, she left to become a science and policy consultant to non-profit organizations. She has consulted on habitat conservation planning with land trusts and other conservation organizations. Her primary area of interest is habitat planning in the Sierra Nevada, although her interests in policy development extend statewide. Sue joined CNPS in 1994, and has served the El Dorado Chapter as Conservation Chair, Chapter President, and member-at-large to the State Board. On the state level, she has served as VP of Legislation and State Board President from 2001-03.
(brittingearthlink.net) |
 Brett Hall, Director and Chapter Council Representative is a member of the Santa Cruz Chapter and works in the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum with living collections and native plant programs. His favorite project in the Arboretum is the development of the California Province gardens that will feature central coastal California and selected regions of northern California. He is currently working with CNPS Vegetation Program staff in developing the Rare Communities project. Brett is also actively involved in the Northern California Regional session of the upcoming CNPS 2009 Conservation Conference: Strategies and Solutions.
(brettucsc.edu) |
 Steve L. Hartman, Treasurer, is a CNPS Fellow and has been a member since 1974. He has been active in the Society since 1981. Steven has an undergraduate business degree from U.C. Berkeley and has experience in retail, manufacturing and real estate. He has served the Los Angeles / Santa Monica Mountains chapter of CNPS as newsletter editor, president, treasurer, plant-sale co-chair, and website manager. He has served Board of Directors since 1993 and as Treasurer since 1995. His regional project is desert conservation, and he served on the Bureau of Land Management's California Desert District Advisory Council from 1992-1997. His local project is the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Area and worked with the City of Los Angeles to create the City's largest (over 7 acres) native plant landscaping project. Steven lives in Sherman Oaks, plays drums in a rock and roll band, and is a yoga enthusiast.
(naturebaseaol.com) |
 Lynn Houser, Secretary, is a graduate of UC Davis with a degree in botany. Lynn is currently a wetlands consultant to Laurence Stromberg. Her strong desire to preserve the natural beauty and resources of California comes from growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area and camping since a young girl. She has been a CNPS member since 1992, and currently serves as President of the Milo Baker Chapter. A resident of Santa Rosa, Lynn enjoys hiking, teaching, camping, sewing, and plant propagation
(houserssonic.net) |
 Arvind Kumar, Director and Committee Membership Co-Chair, is a Software Manager at KLA-Tencor in San Jose. His interest in native plants began with attending the local wildflower show and plant sale in 1998. In 2001, he landscaped his home garden with native plants. He has taught a class on “Growing California Native Plants” at San Jose State University’s Osher Institute. He has been a CNPS member since 2000 and has served as the Publicity Chair for the Santa Clara Valley Chapter, Gardening with Natives Steering Committee member, and as Co-chair of the Membership Committee. He has been involved with the Going Native Garden Tour since its inception in 2003. He is also a member of the Western Horticulture Society, the Sierra Club, and the Audubon Society.
(chhaprahiyayahoo.com) |
 Brian LeNeve, Director and Chapter Council Representative, is the owner of LeNeve Painting Company, Inc. and a lifelong resident of Carmel. He fell in love with California native plants after discovering the genus Clarkia, which he has continued to study throughout California. His interest in plants and habitats has grown as has his commitment to protecting California’s wild places. Brian has been a CNPS member since the mid-90s and is past President and current Vice President of the Monterey Bay Chapter. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Carmel River Steelhead Association and the California Salmon and Steelhead Association.
(LeNeveredshift.com) |
 Vince Scheidt, Director, has been an active member of the CNPS since 1980. He has assisted with listing petitions, litigation, rare plant studies, and the annual San Diego Chapter fall plant sale for many years. Vince graduated from SDSU and UCLA where he received an MA in Biology. He lives in San Diego, where he owns a small private environmental consulting firm specializing in biological studies and endangered species surveys. He enjoys propagating native plants, specializing in rare Dudleyas, and maintains a diverse native plant garden filled with dozens of uncommon species. He is passionate about endangered plants and unusual plant communities, and loves the outdoors.
(vince.scheidtgmail.com) |
 Alison Shilling, Director and Legislation Committee Chair, is a retired teacher and college instructor. Alison holds an M.A. in Education and a Ph.D. in Linguistics. She has been a CNPS member since 1988 and served for 10 years as Conservation Chair for the Riverside/San Bernardino Chapter. As a member of CNPS, Alison has focused her efforts on Conservation, Horticulture, and Litigation. She is a life member of Master Gardener and is a volunteer with Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic.
(abshillingmindspring.com) |
 Carol Witham, Director, is a self-employed environmental consultant specializing in vernal pool grassland species/ecology and management with a second area of specialty in east slope high desert. She is a lifetime member of CNPS and has served in various capacities on committees and the Board of Directors, including Board President from 2004-05. Carol also volunteers for VernalPools.org, Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, and California Rangeland Conservation Coalition, among others. She has also volunteered on several projects to catalog diversity in South America. A resident of Sacramento, Carol and her husband have 3 cats, 7 aquariums, and a koi pond. They are slowly adding native plants to their 70 year old garden of camillias and azaleas.
(cwithamncal.net) |
| Staff |
 Jennifer Buck, Vegetation Ecologist, works in the Vegetation Program to survey, classify, and map vegetation in California. She co-teaches a vernal pool taxonomy workshop and is currently focused on the classification of grassland vegetation types. She earned both a B.S. and an M.S. degree from the University of California, Davis in Plant Biology. Her thesis focused on temporal dynamics of vernal pool grassland vegetation and she recently participated in a state-wide classification project looking at fine-scale vegetation in vernal pools. Prior to joining CNPS, Jennifer worked as an ecologist with The Nature Conservancy at the Cosumnes River Preserve. Botany is her first love, and she has extensive experience working in different plant communities across the western United States, ranging from grasslands to forests, alpine peaks to saline marshes. Her favorite plant is Centunculus minimus.
(jbuckcnps.org) |
 Josie Crawford, Training Coordinator, coordinates the development and implementation of professional training workshops. She joined CNPS in February 2005. During her first two years, she coordinated and led workshops for the CNPS Vegetation Program primarily for the Sierra Foothills sampling and classification project. Josie has over 15 years of experience teaching people about plants as a naturalist and biologist. She has a B.A. and M.A. in Biology from Humboldt State University. Prior to this professional career, Josie owned and operated a neon-sign business in San Francisco.
(jcrawfordcnps.org) |
 Julie Evens, Senior Vegetation Ecologist, manages the Vegetation Program and maintains standard methods for surveying, classifying, and mapping vegetation in California. She provides public workshops on vegetation surveying and mapping methods, archives and analyzes vegetation data from across the state. She works collaboratively with agencies and CNPS chapters on vegetation projects, including projects in Marin, Riverside, San Diego, San Benito, Santa Clara, Tuolumne, and Ventura counties. Julie also is working with John Sawyer and Todd Keeler-Wolf as a co-author of the second edition of A Manual of California Vegetation. Julie has a M.A. degree from Humboldt State University with a thesis on watercourse vegetation of the eastern Mojave Desert, and she holds two B.A. degrees from the University of California-Santa Cruz in Biology/Botany and Environmental Studies. She has worked as a vegetation ecologist and botanist for over 10 years with federal and state agencies including the National Park Service, US Geological Survey, University of California, and Department of Fish & Game. Her past work has included vegetation sampling and mapping projects in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks and the central Mojave Desert. She has worked for CNPS since April 2001.
(jevenscnps.org) |
 Stacey Flowerdew, Membership and Sales Coordinator, coordinates membership and sales and provides general administrative support. Stacey has a B.A. in International Relations from the University of California, Davis. Prior to joining CNPS she worked as an IT Data Analyst in the healthcare industry. Stacey is a California native plant enthusiast as well as an amateur wildflower photographer, genealogist. She also enjoys history and middle Eastern style dancing. She is equally comfortable in the mountains (preferably above 6000 feet) or at home in Sacramento, in air conditioning, reading a book.
(sflowerdewcnps.org) |
 Vern Goehring, Legislative Advisor, has many years of experience in government management, legislative and regulatory advocacy, and policy making. Vern is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, in Economics and has completed graduate studies in Government at California State University, Sacramento. He worked for the State of California for 26 years in various administrative and management positions, including legislative advocate for the Departments of Transportation and Fish & Game. He started a private consulting practice in 1997 and assists clients on legislative and administrative advocacy, policy and strategy development, and organizational management. He is a registered lobbyist in California.
(verncal.net) |
 Bob Hass has served as editor of the CNPS Bulletin since 2005, and as copy editor for Fremontia since 2001. A past conservation co-chair and public policy chair for the Milo Baker Chapter, he works as a freelance editor, writer, and publications consultant. From 2001-2008 he also worked part-time in the restoration program at the Sonoma Ecology Center. Bob is a past board member of the Northern California Earth Institute. Bob has a B.A. in English from Earlham College, and a M.A in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.
(bhasscnps.org) |
 Nick Jensen, Rare Plant Botanist has been working for CNPS since March 2006. Nick has assisted the Vegetation Program on the Sierra Nevada Foothills, Lassen Foothills and various other projects. In March 2007, he completed a project to define the habitat and potential restoration sites for the rare species, Ventura marsh milk-vetch (Astragalus pycnostachyus var. lanosissimus), in conjunction with CNPS Channel Islands Chapter, agency biologists, and other researchers. Nick holds a B.S. from UC Davis in Environmental Horticulture and Urban Forestry with an emphasis in Plant Biodiversity and
Restoration Ecology. Nick’s love for plants began while working in his grandmother’s garden at a very young age and he has been professionally involved in botanical research, teaching, and field work since 2000. In his free time, Nick enjoys hiking, backpacking, photography and international travel.
(njensencnps.org) |
 Amanda Jorgenson, Executive Director, is originally from Bogotá, Colombia, but has lived and worked in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and the United States. Amanda is a conservation biologist with a B.S. in Biology from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA and a M.A. in Latin American Studies/Tropical Conservation and Development from the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. For her M.A. thesis she conducted a biological and socio-economic study of chicle extraction by Maya Indians in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Chicle latex comes from the Manilkara zapota tree and is used to make chewing gum. Prior to CNPS, Amanda was the Ecuador Program Coordinator for four years with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), an international conservation organization based in New York. Preceding her work with WCS, Amanda was the Executive Director of Fundación Natura, in Colombia. In the United States, Amanda worked as a program manager for Tropical Research and Development, Inc. in Gainesville, FL, an international, natural-resource-management consulting firm. She began her professional career as a staff biologist at World Wildlife Fund-US in Washington, DC.
(ajorgensoncnps.org) |
 Mark Naftzger, Webmaster, is a website design professional. He creates and maintains websites for clients in a wide range of industries and professions.
(webteamcnps.org) |
 Lech Naumovich, East Bay Chapter Conservation Analyst, promotes community-driven conservation efforts in the East Bay Area. By writing articles, leading tours and providing technical comments, Lech provides reliable scientific information to the general public, public officials and decision makers on plant and natural habitat conservation related issues. Lech also serves as a steering committee member for the Upland Habitat Goals Project, a member of the Vegetation group for this project, and a member of the Bay Area Open Space Council’s stewardship committee. Lech has a degree in environmental science from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a well-balanced career of field research and conservation advocacy. In his spare time, Lech enjoys outdoor activities such as climbing, biking, backpacking, and photography.
(lechroygmail.com) |
 Bart O’Brien is the editor of Fremontia, the journal of the California Native Plant Society. He is also a Senior Staff Research Associate at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont. He is an authority on the native flora of the state and of northern Baja California, Mexico. He is an accomplished collector, grower, photographer, lecturer, and author. He is co-author of two books: the award winning California Native Plants for the Garden (with Carol Bornstein of Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and Dave Fross of Native Sons Nursery) published by Cachuma Press in November, 2005; and the bilingual Care & Maintenance of Southern California Native Plant Gardens – Cuidado y Mantenimiento de Jardines de Plantas Nativas del Sur de California (with Betsey Landis of CNPS and Ellen Mackey of Theodore Payne Foundation) published by Metropolitan Water District of Southern California in July, 2006. His ongoing work with the Los Angeles River resulted in the collaborative publication of the Los Angeles River Master Plan Landscaping Guidelines and Plant Palettes for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works in 2004. The Southern California Horticultural Society named him Horticulturist of the Year in 2005. Bart was listed as one of “The 100 Most Powerful People in Southern California” by the editorial staff of the Los Angeles Times/West Magazine (Aug. 13, 2006).
(bart.obriencgu.edu) |
 Eric Peterson, Vegetation Data Manager and Ecologist, grew up at the edge of the Trinity Alps Wilderness in northern California and knew at a young age that he must become a biologist. He went to Humboldt State University for a B.S. and refined his interests into the botanical and fungal fields. He went northward to Oregon State University for a Ph.D. with lichens. After 5 years in the wet forests of the Pacific Northwest, Eric decided to dry out for a while and spent 7 years exploring the vast Nevada outback while leading vegetation work at the Nevada Natural Heritage Program. Now he has returned to northern California to rehydrate and raise his family in a small mountain community. Eric remains interested in lichens (well, frankly he is obsessed with them!) and helps on the side with the California Lichen Society. Eric’s work with both lichens and vegetation involves community analysis to comprehend the environmental gradients that influence organisms, and turning that information around to predict distributions of lichens and vascular plants over the landscape. Eric has also blended remote sensing with his work to produce maps of vegetation over vast regions – including multiple maps of annual grass abundance in the intermountain west, each spanning tens of millions of acres.
(epetersoncnps.org) |
 Cari Porter, Finance and Administration Manager, is an economist with experience in all areas of non-profit management, including accounting, budget development, personnel management, fundraising, public relations, and marketing. Prior to working for CNPS, Cari served as Vice President for San Mateo County Economics Development Association (Samceda), San Mateo, CA. She also worked as a Financial Analyst at Blackburne & Brown Mortgage Company, Sacramento, CA, and as Assistant Production Manager at J-Lynns, Elk Grove, CA. Cari has a degree in Economics from Golden Gate University.
(cportercnps.org) |
 Kendra Sikes, Vegetation Ecologist, is coordinating field work for the Vegetation Program. She earned an M.S. in Botany (Ecology emphasis) from Oregon State University, where her research compared the community composition effects of two fuel treatments on chaparral in southwestern Oregon. She also has a B.A. in Biology from Brown University. Before joining CNPS, she worked for the National Park Service in the Santa Monica Mountains, for the Missouri Botanical Garden coordinating their Madagascar specimens and data, and in horticulture for Yerba Buena Nursery, one of the first nurseries to specialize in California natives.
(ksikescnps.org) |
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