ABOUT US

Our Mission

Our History

Our Impact

Staff & Board

Our Mission

Solana Center for Environmental Innovation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit mobilizing the San Diego community through innovative outreach and consulting services for businesses and jurisdictions in order to address the region's most pressing environmental issues and enact impactful change.

Our Vision

We envision a region where all cities collaborate to preserve resources through a closed-loop system that keeps materials out of our landfills and waterways, returns nutrients to our soils, and helps create systemic change at all levels that addresses the climate crisis.

Our History

Founded as Solana Recyclers in 1983, we are proud to have pioneered the first comprehensive curbside recycling program in San Diego - and one of the first such programs in the State of California. Together with our partners, we work creatively to promote the sustainable management of our natural resources and connect the community to real solutions. The San Diego region is constantly changing, and we change with it.

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1983

Founded as Solana Recyclers by a group of local residents committed to educating the community about the importance of recycling in order to reduce waste and conserve natural resources.

1989

Solana Recyclers named "Best Curbside Recycling Program in California" by the California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) at that time serving 22,000+ households.

1991

Solana Recyclers' household recycling program was acquired by local waste hauler company resulting in a shift to direct community education prioritizing soil, water, and waste diversion. 

1994

First Master Composter Course held at San Marcos landfill.

2003

Organization's name shifts from Solana Recyclers to Solana Center for Environmental Innovation to reflect the focus on education and action within public and private partnerships required to address the environmental challenges in our region.

2016

Awarded the Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA) California's highest environmental honor for demonstrating closed-loop community compost system between local restaurant and farm.

2016

Solana Center begins Food Cycle to demonstrate a closed loop community system for handling waste.

2019

Solana Center begins working on a pilot program to connect grocery store food waste to farmers to create a local closed loop food system. 

2022

SB 1383 goes into effect, with Solana Center providing San Diego's jurisdictions and businesses expert assistance in legislative compliance. 

Present

Curious what we've been up to recently? Check out our media and awards page.

The Impact

With the help of our dedicated community, Solana Center has:

Scroll through our latest report above, click the bottom right corner to expand, or click for a downloadable PDF.
Viewing on mobile? We suggest viewing it in PDF.

Staff & Board

Are you interested in joining the Solana Center team? Check out our job openings.

Leadership Team

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Jessica Toth

Executive Director

jessica@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 713

Jessica oversees daily operations and management at Solana Center.

Though always passionate about the environment, Jessica took a circuitous route to get here, starting on Wall Street during the 1980s. Since then, she has held positions in corporate research, marketing, IT consulting, and business process improvement at various companies, including HP, Texas Instruments, the World Bank, Kyocera, SDG&E, and the San Diego Zoo. She also co-founded and ran Curious Company, an educational software company. More recently, she established the environmental education programs at Rob Machado Foundation and served on a San Diego Coastkeeper committee.

Jessica holds a Master's degree from MIT in Business and a Bachelor's degree from Cornell in Engineering. She also completed UCSD Extension's certificate program in Sustainable Business Practices.

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Mallika Sen

Director of Environmental Solutions

mallika@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 724

Mallika is our Environmental Solutions Director. In this position, Mallika is in charge of ensuring Solana Center's services are addressing the needs of the community and our local government.

Prior to coming to Solana Center, Mallika spent over 20 years working in the fast-moving wireless industry at Nortel, Nokia, and Microsoft where she held a variety of roles in engineering and management, and lead several mobile phone programs.  After many years traveling the world, she decided to pursue her true passion in environmental sustainability. Mallika started off working with several school sustainability projects while earning her Sustainable Business Certificate from UCSD Extension. She was excited to find new opportunities at Solana Center and is thrilled to be a part of this dynamic team. She is glad to use her experience in leading projects, program management, and driving change to make the world more sustainable.

Mallika has lived in San Diego since 1996. She graduated from Virginia Tech with a Bachelors and Masters in Electrical Engineering. Her free time is spent raising two daughters, traveling, reading pretty much anything she can get her hands on, and volunteering in the community.

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Jessica Bombar

Director of Marketing & Education

jessica.bombar@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 705

As the Marketing & Communications Specialist on the Solana Center team, Jess manages the strategic messaging, content, and promotional outreach of the organization's events and programs. This includes digital touchpoints such as website, email, social media channels, and printed flyers and materials. She also produces and films educational videos and other contract-based materials.

Jess began her career in Fashion Marketing and eCommerce prior to finding her way to a more traditional advertising agency working with brands such as AT&T, MailChimp, Hello Sunshine, Pulte Homes, and Cox. Her favorite campaigns have always been opportunities to work with cause-related brand initiatives. Jess is passionate about inspiring curiosity around the natural world, helping others take environmental action, and soil regeneration. She is thrilled to combine her passion for telling brand stories and strategy into the critical resource conservation and environmental stewardship mission at Solana Center.

Jessica has lived in San Diego since 2018. She graduated from the University of Florida with a BS in Advertising and a minor in Entrepreneurship. When she is not working she can be found growing organic produce and flowers in her garden, composting, or hiking to explore San Diego's native ecology.

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Education & Outreach

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Jennifer Galey

Senior Environmental Educator & Food Cycle Lead

jennifer@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 702

Jennifer is a Solana Center educator, who is our lead on all things relating to soil - from growing healthy plants to creating nutrient-rich compost.

Jennifer Galey is an East Coast native from Pittsburgh, PA. She holds a degree in Psychology from St. Mary's of Notre Dame and a Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Pittsburgh. After moving to Southern California and working as a therapist and teacher, Jennifer found her passion as the Infield Farm Coordinator for the San Diego County Fair and a Senior Environmental Educator and Fair Liaison for Solana Center.

Over the past 10 years, she has developed educational exhibits and workshops for backyard farming at the Fair that include composting techniques, organic gardening, beekeeping, water conservation, and waste diversion.

Solana Center complements the Infield Farm mission by teaching environmentally sustainable practices that encourage others to be better stewards in their community. As an Environmental Educator, Jennifer presents at schools, community events and workshops on a variety of topics including composting, recycling, greywater and organics exchange programs.

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Nam-Huy Leduc

Environmental Educator

nam@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 709

Nam-Huy Leduc is an Environmental Educator for Solana Center. His journey deep into compost began in Seattle, where he experimented and learned the ways of backyard composting with worms, and eventually working on the University of Washington's small urban farm as a graduate student. Serving as the project lead in establishing UW's first-ever organic certification revealed to Nam that growing food can take effort, but the rewards are sustainably joyful.

In 2020, Nam graduated from UW's Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences with a Masters of Public Health, and a focus in One Health - which examines the relationships between humans, animals, and the environment. His sights were set on bringing the One Health perspective and vermicomposting project to a small Tibetan settlement colony in south India through the Fulbright scholarship to cultivate a waste-diverting, soil-building, food-growing, community-strengthening experience - from the ground up. After reaching the Semi-Finalist round, Nam pivoted his skills and energy instead, back home to his local community.

A southern California native and UC Irvine alumni, Nam served the communities of Orange County, LA County, and King County as an EMT and CPR/First Aid Instructor for 5 years before realizing his passion to foster the human-worm bond through subtle and mindful actions in disposing of our waste for these lowly, humble creatures. He also spends his time outdoors admiring wildlife and helping raise a miniature teacup pig. As some of his late great idols Bruce Lee and Kobe Bryant once said, "Compost is a state of mind." (...kidding! That is just Nam.)

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Erin Stone

Environmental Educator

erin@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 711

Erin grew up in Cardiff, and is passionate about environmental sustainability and environmental justice. She spent her childhood outdoors on local trails, and learned from her mom how to compost in her backyard. 

Erin's first introduction to the Solana Center was as a summer intern between her years at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. As an intern, she helped map local watersheds, staff event booths, and assisted in starting the Docent Program. After graduating with a degree in Environmental Studies, Erin returned to the San Diego area and worked as an Educator at the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy (now Nature Collective), guiding local elementary school students on nature walks, teaching them about native ecosystems and why it is important to protect them. She then moved across the country to St Paul, Minnesota for five years, where she worked at a local food coop, as well as in infant care, and spent endless weekends on the abundant Minnesota state park trails. 
 
Erin recently returned to Cardiff, and is excited to (re)join the Solana Center as an Environmental Educator. She looks forward to encouraging and educating the public, of all ages, of accessible ways to reduce food waste and be gentle to our beautiful planet.
 
In her free time, you can find Erin reading, baking, listening to an eclectic mix of music (from opera to Simon and Garfunkel to Queen), baking all sorts of sweet treats, snuggling any dog she can find, and watching hummingbirds chase each other away from her backyard feeder. 
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Salina Brice

Environmental Educator

salina@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 723

Salina is an Environmental Educator for the Solana Center. Salina grew up in Southern California and early on developed a love for nature and working in the soil when she got her first worm bin.

Salina graduated from UC Santa Cruz where she earned her degree in Environmental Studies with Agroecology + Food Systems and a minor in Sustainability. Salina is passionate about how our food is grown and cultivating a deeper connection between farmer and consumer.

She has spent the last 6 years working on various regenerative farms from Santa Cruz to San Diego and Cuba. In addition to furthering her own knowledge, Salina enjoys sharing knowledge with others through community outreach and school programs. Salina has designed and developed UC zero-waste courses, public pollinator workshops, K-8th Montessori horticulture curriculum, and Food Justice classes to a range of audiences.

Salina believes in creating change through the power of hands-on learning and everyday actions. Salina is excited to continue engaging with community members and growing the passion for the environment.

Outside of Solana Center, Salina can be found in the sunshine, cooking plant-based meals, and rollerskating.

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Deanna Milton

Environmental Educator

deanna.milton@solanacenter.org

Deanna is a San Diego native living in East County with her husband and 3 children.  She worked as a hairstylist for many years and then transitioned into real estate.  

In 2014 she and her family welcomed the gateway animal into their lives… chickens.  The journey since has been one of learning and loving gardening, raising livestock (pigs, chickens, and more recently quail) studying permaculture, composting, homesteading, and animal husbandry.  She is an FFA mom who is so excited to keep learning and sharing ideas and information about waste diversion and soil regeneration with people.  

“After years of raising animals, we have learned so much and would love to continue to incorporate permaculture principles and soil regeneration at home and share our successes (and failures) with others in our community. I find balancing the cycle of food production and waste management is so fulfilling and beneficial. 

I am beyond excited to be a part of Solana Center and can’t wait to see what the future holds!"

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Jessi Goralski

Community Liaison & Volunteer Coordinator

jessi.goralski@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 707

Jessi's role at Solana Center is Community Liaison and Volunteer Coordinator. She facilitates community outreach across the entire organization, including school outreach, community events, and functioning as business liaison.

Jessi comes from an arts background where she worked to support creative engagements for a variety of communities. As a community-minded person, Jessi supports the idea that humans, plants, animals, and other organisms are living in community, and building quality relationships with our non-human neighbors is essential to supporting the well-being of each other and the planet. Throughout her previous roles, Jessi passionately supported social and environmental justice, and her desire to become more directly involved in environmental protection led her to volunteer at Solana Center before she was hired in her current position. She appreciates and advocates the role of creativity in navigating the climate crisis, and hopes to use her experience in the arts to support innovative environmental solutions as best she can. Jessi obtained her Bachelor's degree in the majors of Anthropology and Art from UC Santa Cruz in 2017.

In her free-time, Jessi spends time in the ocean, works in her garden, and continues her own creative practice: she enjoys natural dying, making paint, and seeking other zero-waste art forms.

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Kate Kesner

Outreach & Communications Coordinator

kate.kesner@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ext. 719

Kate is Solana Center's Outreach & Communications Coordinator, promoting workshops and educational opportunities and producing photos, graphics, and videos.

Kate has told stories for food banks, LGBTQ* resource centers, orphanages, and eCommerce companies, but she is excited to take her passion for storytelling where it matters most: curbing the effects of climate change to empower people and protect the Earth. She is a Northern California native who moved to San Diego in 2020 and still appreciates the heat.

Kate graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in Global Studies after studying and interning in India and Chile. She is passionate about finding global solutions to global problems and is currently pursuing her MFA in Popular Fiction & Publishing, specializing in speculative fiction and fantasy.

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Kayla Tai

Marketing & Communications Intern

intern@solanacenter.org

Kayla is a fourth-year student at the University of California San Diego pursuing a BS in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution and a minor in Climate Change Studies. She is passionate about spreading awareness and solutions to climate-related issues through marketing and communications as well as taking direct environmental action. She strongly values teamwork, inspirational story-telling, and environmental conservation campaigns which led her to work at Solana Center for Environmental Innovation. 

Kayla enjoys dancing, horseback riding, and spending time with her family and friends when she is not working. She enjoys immersing herself in nature and giving all the love in the world to dogs and cats everywhere. 

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Environmental Solutions

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Jackie Bookstein

Environmental Solutions Specialist & Rain Barrel Lead

jackie@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 706

Jackie developed her passion for the environment amid the beautiful redwood forest of Northern California. In a small, environmentally conscious college town where she attended Humboldt State University, it was easy to ride the bandwagon of sustainability. But when she returned home to San Diego, she knew she would have to go the extra mile to keep her love for the natural world healthy and happy. Since then, she has devoted herself to spreading awareness about environmental issues and working with some of San Diego's most passionate advocates to bring about solutions. Every day she finds new excitement and inspiration working with Solana Center's community of wonderful staff and volunteers to make our county an environmentally smarter and kinder place.

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Leia Berube

Environmental Solutions Lead

leia.berube@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 720

Leia Berube is an Environmental Solutions Lead at Solana Center. Leia has recently moved to the San Diego area from Maine, where she found a passion for sustainability and environmental science at a young age. Leia followed her passion through school and decided to receive her Bachelor of Science degree from Saint Joseph's College of Maine in Environmental Science and minors in Chemistry and Sustainability. While studying at Saint Joseph's College of Maine, Leia carried out several projects and internships including, a public health internship at Environmental Health Strategy Center/Prevent Harm, a waste management internship and project at Saint Joseph's College of Maine, and the sustainable business internship at Manomet.

After graduating from Saint Joseph's College of Maine, Leia completed her master's degrees at Unity College, obtaining a Master's of Sustainable Business Administration degree. She explored the relationship between businesses and sustainability/environmental science. While obtaining her master's degree, Leia worked with several small businesses in Maine regarding sustainability practices. She was able to help one small coffee shop in Maine implement several sustainability practices into their business.

Leia is excited to work and engage with the community and businesses to make a positive change. Leia likes to travel, cook, go to the beach, and explore more of the San Diego area in her free time.

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Laura D. Torres

Environmental Solutions Lead

laura.torres@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 712

Born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, Laura has been living in San Diego for the past five years and just recently graduated from the University of California, San Diego. At UCSD, she earned a double major in Environmental Systems- Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution (B.S.) and in Global Health (B.A.). During her time at UCSD, Laura had the opportunity to be part of the Doris Duke Conservation Scholar Program (DDCSP) at Northern Arizona University. With a group of 20 other students, Laura traveled all over the Colorado Plateau learning about the different aspects of environmentalism and talking to different stakeholders such as scientists, government agencies, and grassroots organizers.

Inspired by the people and the work she saw during her time in Arizona, Laura decided to focus her work on the impact climate change has on underserved communities. During her undergraduate career, Laura had the opportunity to intern and work on a capstone project that sought to understand the non-biological benefits of consuming traditional food for the Unangan tribe in St. Paul, Alaska. During her time there, she saw how close-knit the community was, and how the foundation for such was their relationship with the land and the animals that inhabited that place.

Wanting to connect more with the community of San Diego, Laura interned at the International Rescue Committee Youth FarmWorks program where she helped low-income high school students gain transferable skills through working at the community garden in North Park. Laura's passion eventually brought her to the Solana Center to further work for the San Diego community as an Environmental Solutions Lead. Laura is excited to be part of the center and work towards making San Diego a more sustainable place!

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Liz Murphy

Environmental Solutions Lead

liz.murphy@solanacenter.org (760) 436-7986 ex. 714

Liz attended Northern Arizona University for hospitality and then worked in the hotel and restaurant industry in sales and catering management. Since moving to San Diego in 2015, Liz has nourished her passion for this planet by making personal lifestyle adjustments and seeking education about plant-based eating and sustainable living. After years of witnessing the astronomical amounts of waste created at work and in her community, Liz decided to branch out and become part of the solution.

Liz is the chef and founder of Santosha Nutrition, a plant-based business focusing on providing education about becoming a positive part of the food system through cooking classes, farm-to-table experiences, and conscious catering. In 2020 she published her first cookbook to promote the importance of supporting local and eating delicious, seasonal, plant-forward cuisine. In 2021, Liz co-founded the nonprofit Sustainability is Sexy and is the host of SIS the podcast, highlighting sustainable resources in San Diego and beyond. She became a member of the Solana Center Food Cycle program in 2019 and has been spreading the word about their incredible work ever since. Joining the Environmental Solutions team is an amazing opportunity to continue learning, growing, and making a positive impact on our community and beyond.

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Larissa Amaral

Environmental Solutions
Specialist

larissa.amaral@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 718

Larissa is an Oceanside/Vista native and first-generation Brazilian making her fluent in Portuguese. From a young age has been inspired and dedicated to spreading awareness and creating innovative solutions toward a sustainable future. Larissa started at Solana Center as a high school intern and soon grew into an Environmental Educator position until she graduated from San Diego State University with a BA in Sustainability.

During her studies at SDSU, she joined a study abroad program that was focused on broadening her knowledge of sustainability on a global scope as she spent six months studying in Florianopolis, a small island off the southern coast of Brazil. This program gave her the opportunity to speak with indigenous tribes, visit successful and fruitful community gardens and compost programs, and learn from locals about the coastal flora and fauna to get a deeper understanding of culture and its crucial role in the development of sustainability.

As an Environmental Educator, Larissa spearheaded various educational projects and programs including the creation of the EcoContainer where she applied her artistry and creativity to create an interactive and captivating walk-through exhibit to educate and inspire the public on various sustainable topics such as soil health, water protection and conservation, energy efficiency and zero-waste.  She took a few years to explore her passion in fitness and worked as a certified personal trainer and is now back in a new role as our Operations Specialist. Her role is to design and implement special projects for the Education and Environmental Solutions divisions, assist in requests for proposal and grant responses, and support mentoring of junior staff. 

In her free time she loves to spend her days at the beach, playing soccer, beach foot-volleyball (yes, volleyball but only your feet) and training Crossfit. 

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Operations Management

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Sue Ruiz

Accounting

Sue@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 703

Sue is responsible for all financial functions at Solana Center.

The dynamic, fast-paced industry of title/escrow is where Sue spent 25 years crunching numbers. While in Los Angeles at Old Republic Title, she managed the Accounting Department and later became the Regional Accounting Manager of Southern California.  Attending Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State LA she received a BS degree in Accounting. After 5 years in Orange County, a move to San Diego came in 1997. While in San Diego she worked as Accountant for Markstein Beverage Co.

Embracing the beach community and raising 2 daughters with her husband sparked a passion for volunteering where Sue picked fruit for community shelters, planted trees and removed invasive plants. Camping, hiking, and exploring during the family's many road trips always centered on the natural environment. Replacing her backyard lawn with native species piqued her interest in soil health. After completing the Solana Center Master Composter class series, Sue took up composting, vermi-composting and Bokashi. Sue loves being able to use her accounting craft in such an inspiring environment as the Solana Center.

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Wendy Flynn

Contracts Manager

wendy.flynn@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 716

Wendy manages all Solana Center contracts.

Before working at Solana Center, Wendy spent over 20 years working at the City of Encinitas in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Information Technology (IT) in both supervisory and management roles. Along with a very capable team, she grew the City's GIS program, data, and related applications, then oversaw and managed the City's entire IT program, including various projects, contracts, budgets, and internal policies.

While her previous work was challenging and rewarding, Wendy always wanted to apply her knowledge and skills to help the environment and be in service to the earth and feels that that is her true calling.

Wendy has a BA in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a Master's in Geography at San Diego State University. She is a big fan of biodiversity and environmental sustainability, and she loves to travel with her husband, hike, camp, dance, do yoga, continuously learn, meditate, and commune with nature.

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Emma Palmer

Internal Operations Support

emma.palmer@solanacenter.org
(760) 436.7986 ex. 726

Emma Palmer is a North County San Diego native with a passion for protecting the environment and spending time outdoors. She attended University of California, San Diego where she majored in Political Science, International Relations. Having embraced an environmentally friendly lifestyle long before college, it was no surprise when her sustainability courses sparked her interest above all else. She intends to pursue a career in environmental policy and hopes to, eventually, earn a PhD degree on the subject.
 
Soon after graduating, Emma worked as the San Diego Staff Assistant to Congressman Mike Levin. During her time with the House of Representatives, she advocated for the introduction of legislation to protect coastal wetlands, attended sustainably focused community events, and directly assisted constituents of the Northern San Diego community. When Congressman Levin visited the Solana Center, Emma was inspired by the mission of the Center. 
 
As internal operations manager, Emma handles various administrative tasks. She assists projects and day-to-day operations throughout the organization. During her free time, she enjoys paddleboarding, kayaking, hiking, and reading!
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Nicolle Selby-Thomas

Partnerships & Strategic Support

nicolle@solanacenter.org
(760) 436.7986 ex. 722

Nicolle's passion continues to be focused on the outdoors and the environment.   She currently works with nonprofit organizations whose values are aligned with the environment and outdoors.  During her 35-year corporate career, she has held various management positions at Qualcomm, General Dynamics Electronics (now BAE Systems), Hughes Aircraft Systems (now Raytheon), and TRW (now Northrup Grumman). Nicolle holds a Master's degree from USC in Systems Management. She currently chairs the Board of Directors for the Nature Collective.  Nicolle is excited to bring her expertise in contracting, supply chain management, project management, and leadership to contribute to Solana Center's mission.

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Michael Murphy

Facility Manager

mike@solanacenter.org
(760) 436-7986 ex. 708

In addition to managing our facilities, Mike oversees many of our onsite retail and lending program areas, including the Tool Lending Library, sales of composting accessories, and disposal of electronic waste, fluorescent light bulbs, and used batteries.

Michael joined Solana Center after working for over 20 years in the industrial fabric industry as a contractor, designer, and business owner. He is a native Californian. He volunteers in the community for a variety of environmental causes. At the Solana Center office, you can typically find Mike in the garden, working to make the garden area as educational and enjoyable as possible.

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Board of Directors

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Russell Levan

Board President

Although retired Russell is far from done when it comes to working for the environment!
A lifelong student and advocate of environmental issues he has approached his advocacy from a grassroots perspective. He's driven to design environmental programs that make being environmentally friendly "easier and more convenient" for the "less environmentally enthusiastic" members of society! Over the past 50+ years, some of the experiences that have had significant influences in forming Russell's environmental background include multiple outdoor programs: Yosemite Institute, Sierra Institute, Boojum, NOLS (Student and instructor), and working on an organic farm in Oregon. Studying Environmental Studies and Geography in College didn't hurt either! These influences and more formed the basis of Russell's adult life work. 

Russell took the Solana Center Master Composters class over 20 years ago. It led to his getting a job at the Solana Center working for the Recycled Products Cooperative, a program started at Solana Recyclers. 

In the past, Russell enjoyed working on a variety of programs. He helped set up the modern recycling program for the Encinitas Union School District, built a garden program at Paul Ecke Central School, and taught educators how to build and maintain school gardens with the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego. He attended countless meetings and events to help improve recycling efforts in the City of Encinitas including working on the plastic bag ban in Encinitas and the state and even occasionally donned the "bag monster" outfit at local events! One last favorite passion is advocating for and actually planting a LOT of trees. 

Russell currently volunteers for Lumbercycle in San Diego. He's trying to keep the memory of our local old-growth trees alive by using their wood after they are cut down and returning the end products back to the community where they originated. Working with sawyers and craftspeople to make all types of useful and artistic products (benches, tables, sculptures) Russell hopes to perpetuate the legacy of our local urban forest.

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David Levy

Board Member

David Levy contributes to all IT needs at the Solana Center and loves solving technical challenges. Before joining the Board, he was familiar with the Solana Center and was inspired to support its mission when a fellow Board member and previous co-worker at Kashi asked him to get involved.

He is currently employed as an IT Business Partner at a local Health and Technology company.  He has an Associate's Degree in Electronics Engineering and extensive and diverse experience in the technology field. He traveled the world testing and deploying wireless communication systems for many years, along with doing some "can you hear me now" testing on cell phones. Among many "MacGyver-type" skills, he once fixed a remote control for a ceiling-mounted overhead projector at a local elementary school...with a paperclip. The teacher was thrilled. David strives to live by Tikkun Olam (tee-KOON, oh-LUHM), a Jewish concept defined by acts of kindness and performed to repair the world. He likes to leave things better than they were.

A California native, he loves the outdoors and staying active - mostly cycling on and off road, some camping, venturing to remote areas, hiking, some beach time, enjoying time with the family.  He loves recycling and also dabbles in planting and growing food at home, composting, and worms.

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Kristin Larson

Board Vice President

Kristin Larson, AICP and PMP, has over twelve years of experience in the sustainability field, both in public and private sectors and across the country. She is currently the Director of Energy and Sustainability at San Diego State University. Previously, she worked as a Senior Manager for the Center for Sustainable Energy, where she led electric vehicle infrastructure projects. Prior to that, she was the first sustainability planner for the City of Bowie, Maryland. While working there, one of her favorite past projects was creating a pilot food waste collection program. She holds a master's degree in environmental sciences and policy from Johns Hopkins University. In her free time, she enjoys native gardening, wildlife watching, and hiking.

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Jeff Bishop

Board Member

Jeff Bishop, MPIA, LEED Green Associate, is Senior Project Manager at Habitat Restoration Sciences, Inc. and previously Vice President of APS General Contractor. Jeff has a Masters in International Management (MBA equivalent) from the University of California San Diego. His goal is to apply ecological design solutions to impact positive change in the built environment, food systems, natural resource management, water/energy use, and human and environmental health. His work includes demonstrating cutting-edge renewable energy, composting, regenerative agriculture, habitat revitalization, and responsible resource management systems to diverse populations. He has completed the Soil Food Web course with Dr. Elaine Ingham and the Compost Operator Training course through Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

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Natalie Knopp

Board Secretary

Natalie Knopp's journey to active involvement supporting environmental health came to her through her passion for fueling her active lifestyle. Natalie’s career has reflected her interests through marketing leadership roles on Kashi and prAna brands. "Foodie environmentalist," anyone?

Natalie studied at Concordia University earning a Bachelor in Business Marketing & Management and Minor in Communications, while competing in cross-country and track. She holds the title of All-American in the marathon distance.  Natalie's passion for the environment is further driven by her active outdoor lifestyle. When she isn't training for her next marathon, Natalie continually celebrates nature through her love of surfing, cycling, rock climbing, and snowboarding with friends and family.

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Caroline Hobbs

Board Member

Caroline’s first mission in the environmental space (aside from collecting rollie pollies in the garden) was a successful effort to transition her high school cafeteria to zero waste. She went on to study economics and environmental studies at Skidmore College, where she struck up an effort to divert waste streams from her athletic community. She then researched molecular ecology and natural capital valuation/risk, culminating in a master’s degree in environmental management from the Yale School of Forestry.

Caroline has worked at the Hawaii State Legislature, helped pass the first Climate Emergency Declaration at the State level in the US, and has worked for equity in water quality monitoring. Her passions in coastal law/policy, management, and science have come together in her current position, as a Legislative Policy Analyst at the Port of San Diego.

At the Port, Caroline works on the implementation of SB 1383 and facilitates state, federal, and local collaboration to beget progress in coastal zone management, under the Tidelands Trust.  She’s involved in electrification efforts working closely with US EPA and California Energy Commission, and in data interoperability efforts for California Ports.

In her spare time, Caroline loves to surf, bake, play tennis, make art, and cycle.

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Mary Ann Stone

Board Treasurer

Mary Ann has a BA in Economics from the College of Wooster and an MBA from the University of Michigan. She first put these skills to work during her 10+ years at Hewlett Packard where she worked in Finance/Accounting and Production Management. Since the 1990s, she has volunteered more hours than she would like to count at a local nonprofit school where she worked on obtaining nonprofit status and use permits, tax returns, bookkeeping, budgeting and financial reporting, and served as Board Treasurer. She continues to serve on the school's Finance Committee.

It was easy to convince her to serve a similar role for Solana Center due to her life-long interest in environmental causes and organic gardening. Her favorite activities include gardening (native plant, organic, and drought-tolerant), reading, knitting, backpacking, and spending time with her husband and two children.

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Connie Adams

Board Member

Connie Adams’ passion for conservation began during her childhood in Salem, Oregon. Money was tight in her family, so her mother Sharon instilled her with an understanding that we humans are wasteful, we create too much garbage — and it’s not only costly to dispose, but harmful to the earth.

Salem did not provide free trash pickup, and it cost hardworking families dearly to pay per can. What to do? Connie’s mom made a deal to split the cost of a single can with a next-door neighbor. To get Connie and her siblings actively involved, Sharon had to make recycling fun. She created a family game to see how little garbage they would end up with at the end of week. They reused, donated, recycled, and composted to minimize trash. This fostered a deeper connection to the earth and one another by working together as neighbors to reduce and conserve. It was a great lesson.

Connie moved to sunny San Diego in 1999, attracted to its abundance of outdoor activities like biking, hiking, boogie boarding, beach walks, and beautiful sunsets. But she recalls a shocking moment that shook her to her conservationist core: amidst all this natural beauty, she witnessed a driver roll down his window and brazenly throw an oversized cup with a lid and a straw out onto the road. (If only he’d had a mother like Sharon Adams!) These two experiences planted a seed in Connie that would grow to a desire to take an active role in recycling and conservation — leading her to the Solana Center.

In business, Connie has a background in “Employer Best Practices” for a multitude of topics involving employee benefits, HR, and insurance. Connie earned a bachelor’s degree in Business and Finance-law from Portland State University. She continued her path as a life learner and educator by earning the CEBS designation from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania as well as the Professional in Human Resources – California® (PHRca®) through the Human Resource Standards Institute. Connie enjoys public speaking which she calls “Edu-tainment” - speaking to educate, inform and inspire. She has a special aptitude for breaking down complicated legal-speak into training components that are digestible in small bites.  

For fun, Connie loves organic vegetable and fruit gardening, cycling, walks on the beach, singing and playing ukulele, and has performed in several North County entertainment venues with her partner Martin. Connie wants to give back to this wonderful community. She believes the Solana Center is the perfect investment in the future — an outlet to give back today in hopes of many more beautiful tomorrows. 

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Interested in joining our Board?

Contact director@solanacenter.org with details on your background, relevant community involvement and how you see yourself fitting within our organization!