Belle is a leader and organizer of climate and environmental organizations in Marin. During her long career as a public policy specialist, she has brought workable and lasting solutions to complex issues. In 2020, she recruited a team, successfully competed for endorsement from Drawdown Marin and launched the Marin Biomass Project. She also helped found and leads the Ecologically Sound Practices Partnership (ESP) and is co-chair of the To Lead on Climate coalition. She is chair of the longstanding climate education and advocacy group, Organizing for Action Marin. Previously, Belle was Director of Research and Public Policy at the University of California and, together with her late husband, Professor David Wilson, founded and led the Planning Management and Research Group Inc, a science policy consulting firm. She has studied with leading economists and worked on economic development abroad and in Washington DC. She has a BA from Mount Holyoke College and a MA degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Bill is president of Sustainable San Rafael, which advocates for the rapid implementation of the San Rafael Climate Action Plan. He is a founding board member of MarinCAN, a countywide public/private initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2030 and below net zero by 2045. He served on the San Rafael General Plan 2040 Steering Committee, chaired the City’s Citizens Advisory Committee on Economic Development and Affordable Housing, and co-chairs the Time to Lead on Climate coalition. As a landscape architect, Bill managed the design and construction of Yerba Buena Gardens for the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. He is past president of San Francisco Friends of the Urban Forest, finance chair of Yerba Buena Arts & Events, and helped launch the Museum of the African Diaspora. His publications include Cities, a nuclear peace poem, and Mountain, An Evolutionary Epic. He holds a Masters of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning from UC Berkeley.

Chris brings more than 20 years of climate related engineering experience to the Steering Committee. He is a California native with a passion for finding elegant solutions to complex problems. Since graduating from UC Berkeley he has worked on a wide range of technologies including bioenergy, biofuels, and most recently biochar for atmospheric carbon removal. As Co-Founder and CTO of Carbo Culture, he brings a unique perspective on both the technical challenges associated with biomass utilization and the market forces at play in the rapidly evolving carbon removal space. Chris previously served as a member of the US Department of Energy’s Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee.

Jeff has been involved in Marin County Agriculture for over 40 years, including 35 years as a farmer. Jeff helped start the Bolinas-Stinson Beach Resource Recovery project in 1997, and the West Marin Compost Project in 2011, and continues to serve as a technical consultant on both projects. He served four years as a field conservationist with the Marin RCD, and co-founded the Marin Carbon Project and Carbon Cycle Institute, where he currently serves as Director of Rangeland and Agroecosystem Management. Jeff holds a Ph.D. in Rangeland Ecology and is a USDA-NRCS certified conservation planner.

Barbara provides her financial and business background to the Steering Committee as she focuses on budgeting, financial analysis, and website development. She moved to CA after a grant making stint in Washington D.C. and obtaining her MBA from Harvard Business School. Her professional experience in CA includes over 35 years in publicly traded companies and non-profit organizations leading finance teams in revenue generation, budget formulation, financial analysis, financial systems implementations, and the strategic planning process. She has been active in several Marin environmental and community organizations since moving to Marin in 1998 from the east bay.

Bruce comes to the Marin Biomass utilization and greenhouse gas project as the two term President of the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority and Director of the Novato Fire Protection district. Bruce retired from the US Forest Service in 2014 after 40 years of service as a wildland firefighter and licensed professional forester. In his last 20 years with the US Forest Service, Bruce managed statewide forest community health, woody biomass utilization, climate change and forest carbon management programs for California’s 18 National Forests. He led interdisciplinary teams conducting pioneering studies assessing greenhouse gas implications of different approaches to forest management in California. His efforts have resulted in over $200MM investment in forest health management of public forest lands. Bruce graduated from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor of Science in Forest Resource Management and retains his license as a CA Registered Professional Forester.

Larry, a 50-year Marin resident, brings 30 years of involvement in conservation, environmental and community issues. He is in his ninth year as board member of the Marin Conservation League and also currently serves on both the Ecologically Sounds Practices steering committee and the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority’s Citizen Oversight Committee. Among his past initiatives, Larry founded the Marin Water Watershed Citizen’s Advisory Committee in 1999-2001. In 2019, he co-chaired the Marin Water Infrastructure Citizen Advisory Panel. His past service includes terms as former president of the Bay Area Trails Council and as president of the Tamalpais Conservation Club. Larry brings a wide-ranging background, from working on farms and factories as a teen to a past retail buying career which brought him to nearly two dozen countries. Entrepreneurial, he currently works in the product design-development field.

Meilin is a Waste Management Specialist with the County of Marin Hazardous and Solid Waste Management Joint Powers Authority, Zero Waste Marin. A pillar of Zero Waste Marin’s mission is to reduce landfill waste and increase recycling of organics (biomass), which is the perspective Meilin will bring to the Steering Committee. Meilin offers solid waste management and waste diversion leadership from her experience throughout her professional career. Prior to Zero Waste Marin, Meilin gained waste industry expertise from her work with local haulers and facilities, as well as by establishing hard-to-recycle programs at the retail level.