Home

About Us

About the Bay

News & Publications

Rivers & Delta

Bay Restoration

Watershed Education/
STRAW

Contribute

Events

 


About Us
What We Do•Board•Staff•Directions•History•Annual Report

Christina Swanson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
swanson[at]bay.org
Christina Swanson was appointed Executive Director of The Bay Institute (TBI) in 2008, after previously serving as the organization's Senior Scientist. Before joining TBI in 1999, Dr. Swanson spent eight years as a researcher at the University of California, Davis, working with Sacramento-San Joaquin watershed fishes. She has an extensive background in fish biology, aquatic ecology, conservation biology, and ecosystem restoration and specific expertise in environmental biology of fishes, fish protection and passage, and aquaculture. Dr. Swanson has conducted applied research and published numerous scientific journal articles and technical memoranda on habitat requirements and environmental management of delta smelt, splittail and Chinook salmon, impacts of water diversions on native fishes, and development of fish screen design and operational criteria. As TBI's Senior Scientist, Dr. Swanson was engaged in analyzing the effects of water management operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin on fisheries resources and the ecosystem; developing and evaluating habitat and fisheries restoration efforts as part of TBI's San Joaquin River Restoration Initiative; and developing the Flow, Fish, and Fishable-Swimmable-Drinkable components of the Bay-Delta Ecological Scorecard. Dr. Swanson is principal author for TBI's State of the Environmental Water Account Reports (2001, 2002), the Ecological Scorecard San Francisco Bay Index (2003), and the Year in Water (2004).  In 2003, she was appointed by NOAA Fisheries to the Central Valley Technical Recovery Team, a team of scientists charged with developing recovery criteria and strategies for Endangered Species Act-listed salmonids in the watershed. She also serves on the California Bay-Delta Authority's Adaptive Management Planning Team for Delta ecosystem restoration.  In 2003, she was awarded the Distinguished Professional Achievement Award by the California-Nevada chapter of the American Fisheries Society and elected President of the chapter (2004-2005).  In addition to her work in the Sacramento-San Joaquin system, Dr. Swanson has worked and conducted research on marine and estuarine fishes in Hawaii, the Philippines, and other areas in California.  Through a part-time appointment at UC Davis, she also continues her research on fish screens and lectures in the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology.

Angela Moskow
Deputy Director
moskow[at]bay.org
Deputy Director Angela Moskow joined The Bay Institute (TBI) in 2000. She previously served as TBI's Interim Executive Director and Resource Development Director. She has a strong background in institutional advancement, strategic planning, program administration, and natural resources conservation. Prior to joining TBI, Ms. Moskow worked for the University of California's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, with the Genetic Resources Conservation Program (GRCP) and the Small Farm Center (SFC). At the GRCP, she wrote grants to support the International Congress on Ecosystem Health. At the SFC, she raised funds to support center programs, and managed a program to promote technology transfer on water and energy conservation for small-scale agricultural producers. Ms. Moskow's previous work includes co-facilitation of a conference exploring an eco-labeling program for California wine, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She also served on the Board of the International House where she became an enthusiastic proponent of planned giving. Ms. Moskow holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Philosophy from Oberlin College and a M.S. in International Agricultural Development from the University of California, Davis.

Emily Allen
 Watershed Education Coordinator
allen[at]bay.org
Emily Allen first began working with TBI’s Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed (STRAW) Project while a student at Sonoma State University, where she completed her BA in Environmental Studies and Planning in May of 2004. Emily served as an AmeriCorps member for two years, working as a reading/writing tutor in Sonoma County. She was also an intern at Bodega Marine Lab, serving as an assistant to the Reserve Steward. While at SSU, Emily completed a special studies internship, researching and eradicating non-native, invasive trees along Copeland Creek. She also served as treasurer for the Friends of Copeland Creek from 2002 to 2004.

Sheryl Barbic
Institutional Advancement Manager
barbic[at]bay.org
Sheryl Barbic has a strong background in fund development including developing institutional funding from federal, state, foundation, and corporate resources. Ms. Barbic is skilled in designing and implementing venture funds, and has extensive experience in strategic planning, program management, and program evaluation.  Prior to joining TBI, Ms. Barbic worked for United Way and several youth serving organizations. She has served on several state-wide coalitions addressing children’s health insurance, early childhood development, and out-of-school initiatives. Ms. Barbic holds a B.A. in Humanities from the University of California at Berkeley and a M.A. in Cultural Criticism from San Francisco State University.

Gary Bobker
Program Director
bobker[at]bay.org
Gary Bobker joined TBI in 1992. He was a lead negotiator of and signatory to the landmark 1994 Bay-Delta Accord, and led the environmental community’s efforts to shape the state-federal CALFED Program’s long-term plan for managing the Bay-Delta’s water resources. Currently, he directs TBI's Rivers and Delta Program, focusing on Bay-Delta water quality regulation, long-term Bay-Delta ecological restoration and water resources planning, as well as reform of Central Valley water use and agricultural drainage management. He supervises the team developing TBI’s Bay-Delta-Rivers Ecological Scorecard and is a leader in the environmental community’s efforts to restore the San Joaquin River. Previously, he served as staff director for the National Toxics Campaign's West Coast office, as Northern California staff director for the California Natural Resources Federation, and as pollution prevention research analyst for the Citizen Action Coalition. Mr. Bobker also served for many years as co-chair of the CALFED Program Ecosystem Roundtable, as Program Coordinator for the Environmental Water Caucus, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Estuary Institute.

Margaret Buss
Finance Assistant
 buss[at]bay.org
Margaret Buss joins TBI as Finance Assistant, helping to maintain TBI's accounting records. Her experience is in the corporate sector, working mostly in the accounting departments of engineering and software companies in the Bay Area. She is also occasionally an artist when not absorbed in Excel spreadsheets.

Ann Dickinson
Communications Manager
dickinson[at]bay.org
Before coming to TBI, Ann Dickinson served as the Sara Shallenberger Brown Fellow in Environmental Literature at the University of Virginia, where she taught undergraduate seminars on literature and the environment and managed an ongoing series of readings and events featuring guest nature writers. Prior to that, she spent a year as a research assistant at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's field station on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, studying how young leaves defend themselves against herbivores. Ms. Dickinson holds a B.A. in English from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in English from the University of Virginia.

Leia Giambastiani
San Pablo Bay Nursery Manager
giambastiani[at]bay.org
Leia Giambastiani grows plants for Restoration Projects in San Pablo Bay and helps with STRAW projects. Prior to working at TBI, Leia Giambastiani worked for the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner's Office as a Program Assistant. Her background includes over three years as a Native Plant Restoration Crew Leader at Circuit Rider Productions, where she lead a variety of tasks including invasive plant removal, seed collection, vegetation surveying, wetlands recreation projects, and erosion control. Giambastiani has also taught 4th through 7th grades as a Naturalist at The Outdoor School leading educational hikes and activities. In 2001 she helped to manage an organic agrotourism farm in Italy. Giambastiani graduated with an Environmental Science degree from Humboldt State University.

Whit Halvorsen
Watershed Education Coordinator
 halvorsen[at]bay.org
Whit Halvorsen joins TBI's Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed (STRAW) Project as Watershed Education Coordinator. She holds a B.A. in Biology from Skidmore College in New York and a M.A. in Science Education from U.C. Davis. She previously worked as a sea kayak guide in the San Juan Islands, Washington, and as an endangered bird surveyor for Hawks Aloft Inc. in Albuquerque. After obtaining her teaching credential, she taught middle school math and science for one year in Napa and high school biology for three years in Bennington, Vermont.

Jane Hamilton
Director of Donor and Corporate Development
hamilton[at]bay.org
Jane Hamilton has a rich background in fundraising and development for non-profits, environmental and political issues, and local, regional and statewide campaigns since 1989. She is a former two term Petaluma City Council member who led the creation of the Petaluma River Access and Enhancement plan and the Central Petaluma Specific Plan. Ms. Hamilton was the former Community Relations Manager for Advanced Fibre Communications before it was acquired by Tellabs Inc.

Marc Holmes
Bay Restoration Program Director
Aquarium Campaign Director
holmes[at]bay.org
First as a volunteer for Sierra Club and then as a staff member of Save San Francisco Bay Association, Marc Holmes has been working tirelessly for over thirteen years to restore wetlands around San Francisco Bay. As TBI's Baylands Restoration Program Manager, Mr. Holmes is recognized as an expert in wetland protection, policy and regulation, and has demonstrated an uncommon ability to develop long-term collaborative approaches to rejuvenating wetlands of San Francisco Bay. In 1987, Mr. Holmes worked directly with, then Congresswoman Barbara Boxer, to secure funding to purchase a 1,500-acre diked-historic wetland near Mare Island known as Cullinan Ranch. He has become one of the most outspoken and effective proponents for reconnecting thousands of acres of former tidal marsh back to the Bay and has convinced many that this represents our best opportunity to reestablish the ecological vitality of the Bay.

Carla Lanus
Office Manager
lanus[at]bay.org
Carla Lanus spent many years repairing copy machines all over the Bay Area, while employed by the Xerox Corporation. After escaping the corporate world, she worked for two years for the Napa Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), overseeing the native plant nursery and twice-yearly sales, researching and writing grant proposals, orchestrating improvement projects, and helping to coordinate volunteers. Most recently, she was office manager at Blooms Wholesale Nursery.

John Parodi
STRAW Restoration Manager
parodi[at]bay.org
John Parodi has very solid credentials as a water quality and microbiology expert. Prior to joining TBI, Mr. Parodi managed the quality control/assurance laboratory for a regional brewery. He became a member of TBI's Students and Teachers Restoring A Watershed (STRAW) team after completing the California Teaching Credential program at Dominican University in San Rafael where he received a credential in biology. His teaching assignment allowed him to experience first-hand the power of the STRAW program, which inspired him to further his work in habitat restoration and project-based learning. Mr. Parodi holds a B. S. in Fermentation Science from the University of California, Davis.

Julia Price
Financial Manager
price[at]bay.org
Julia has over 14 years in non-profit accounting. Most recently, she spent five years as Senior Accountant at the Hispanic Scholarship Fund in San Francisco. Prior to that, she worked for the Center for Citizen Initiatives in San Francisco. She also served for two years as the Finance Director of Planned Parenthood of Marin, Sonoma and Mendocino. And prior to her work with Planned Parenthood, Julia spent seven years as a partner in "Price-Setchko Bookkeeping Services" serving many small non-profit and business clients in Marin County.

Laurette Rogers
Watershed Education Director
rogers[at]bay.org
As an educator and consultant, Laurette Rogers draws on a rich background in education, ecology, and non-profit management. Prior to joining the TBI staff, Ms. Rogers worked with the Autodesk Foundation as the Program Manager for their partnership with public schools, supporting project-based learning. She formerly taught fourth grade at Brookside School in San Anselmo, CA, where she was one of the teacher facilitators for an environmental project  initiated by the students, the California Freshwater Shrimp Project. She also taught preservice teachers in the Teacher Credentialing Program at Dominican College and is the author of The California Freshwater Shrimp Project: An Example of Environmental Project-Based Learning.

Crystal Sanders
Wetland Education Coordinator
sander[at]bay.org
Crystal Sanders moved to California from the Gulf Coast of Texas to work with TBI's Students and Teachers Restoring A Watershed (STRAW) Project, bringing her extensive field and research experience. She attended college and graduate school at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, majoring in Marine and Fisheries Biology. Prior to joining TBI, she worked with Texas Parks and Wildlife as a Fish and Wildlife Technician and most recently as a Port Agent with National Marine Fisheries Service collecting offshore recreational fishing data.

Peter Vorster
Hydrologist
vorster[at]bay.org
Peter Vorster joined TBI in 1996 and has over 28 years of experience as a hydrologist focusing on California's water resources. Prior to joining TBI, Mr. Vorster was the primary technical consultant to the Mono Lake Committee, and was a key player in the successful effort to restore flows to Mono Basin streams and to raise the level of Mono Lake. His work on California water issues began with his tenure as a principal researcher on the California Water Atlas. From 1979 to 1986, he worked for the firm of Philip Williams and Associates, and from 1986 to 1996 he was an independent consultant in hydrology.  He continues to provide consulting services to the Mono Lake Committee and other groups in the Eastern Sierra.  From 1993-96 he was also a part-time lecturer in the Dept of Geography and Environmental Studies at California State University of the East Bay. At TBI, Mr. Vorster initially headed up the Water Projects Monitoring and Reform Program, tracking state and federal water project operations and proposing improvements to better protect the Bay, Delta, and river environments. He was a project manager and a principal author of Sierra to the Sea: The Ecological History of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Watershed, published by TBI in 1998. Currently, Mr. Vorster leads the technical effort on the San Joaquin River restoration program for TBI and is involved in both water supply and restoration efforts. He is one of three principals for TBI’s Ecological Scorecard project, which in 2003 developed the San Francisco Bay Index, a suite of 38 indicators for the Bay being updated in 2005.  He is also working with the Oakland Museums on their urban creek and watershed map series for the Bay Area.   He holds an A.B. in Geography and Geology from UC Berkeley, an M.A. in Geography from California State University of the East Bay, and has completed Ph.D. coursework in environmental planning at the University of California, Berkeley. His master’s thesis was entitled “A Water Balance Forecast Model for Mono Lake, California.”

Home  About Us  About the Bay  News &Publications  Rivers & Delta  Bay Restoration  Watershed Education  Contribute
 
The Bay Institute of San Francisco
695 De Long Avenue, Suite 100, Novato, CA 94945
phone: (415) 878-2929  fax: (415) 878-2930
e-mail: bayinfo@bay.org