Staff and Board: Los Padres ForestWatch

Jeff is the Executive Director of ForestWatch, and brings more than fifteen years of experience in legal and policy advocacy on behalf of the environment. Before founding ForestWatch, he worked as a Legal Analyst at the Environmental Defense Center, a non-profit law firm in Santa Barbara. Jeff holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Oregon School of Law, with a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resource Law. He has worked with several of the West's leading public interest environmental law firms, including the Western Environmental Law Center in Eugene, Oregon and Advocates for the West in Boise, Idaho.

Diane comes to ForestWatch with over 25 years of experience in the non-profit world. Formerly with The Nature Conservancy, she spent twenty years focusing on the protection of Santa Cruz Island in the Santa Barbara Channel. Diane assisted in the development of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s Sea Center on Stearns Wharf before serving as the Executive Director for a small arts organization in the Santa Ynez Valley, where she and her family call home. Diane holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Zoology from U.C. Santa Barbara and a Development Officer Certification through Cal Poly and the Nonprofit Support Center.

Suzanne works to develop and implement advocacy, public outreach, and volunteer programs in support of national forest protection along California's Central Coast. She joined ForestWatch from Santa Barbara's Community Environmental Council where she worked on watershed restoration issues and building the organization's outreach program. Suzanne graduated with a Masters in Environmental Management from the University of Melbourne where she also was employed by the Sustainable Investment Research Institute. Suzanne enjoyed growing up exploring the forests outside of her hometown of Portland, Oregon, and now explores the Los Padres National Forest from her home in Ojai.

Matt coordinates our wilderness project throughout Ventura County, bringing ten years of experience working with landowners to conserve land in the Midwest and in California. Matt graduated from Northern Michigan University with a degree in philosophy and a minor in outdoor recreation, has extensive experience working with nonprofit land trusts, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Sierra Cascade Land Trust Council which represents all land trusts in the Sierra and Cascade mountain ranges of California. He now lives and works in Ventura, where he meets with local businesses, ranchers, farmers, and local elected officials to develop support for the southern Los Padres wild heritage project.



Brad’s adventures in the southern Los Padres over the last decade have given him a deep love of the landscape and a sense for how the Los Padres shapes the identity of the region and the character of its people. His book, The Sespe Wild: Southern California’s Last Free River explores the environmental and cultural history of Sespe Creek. Brad is Professor of English and Director of the Center for Integrative Studies at California State University, Channel Islands where he teaches environmental and multicultural literatures and works closely with the program in environmental science and resource management.

Pat is a longtime advocate for wildland conservation in San Luis Obispo County and throughout California. He formerly served as a San Luis Obispo County Planning Commissioner, State Chapter Liaison for Sierra Club, Chair of the club’s Santa Lucia chapter in San Luis Obispo county, Executive Director of the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo (ECOSLO), and Sitka Conservation Society in Alaska. Pat currently works in the Coastal Commission's Enforcement Division, and serves as the caretaker of the historic Goodwin Ranch on the Carrizo Plain National Monument.

Ruth lives in Ojai, where she is involved in several aspects of community enrichment, including the Ojai Library, the Ventura Library Adult Literacy Program, and the Ojai Music Festival outreach musical education program, Bravo. Ruth received her M.D. from Yale and completed her residency in adult psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, she practiced psychiatry and taught psychiatric residents for 25 years. She and her family enjoy hiking within the nearby Los Padres National Forest.

Allan has been practicing law for more than forty years, primarily in family law and formerly in business litigation. He graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Government and then attended UCLA School of Law where he was a member of the Law Review. His interest in the Los Padres goes back to the early 1970s when he started hiking and backpacking in the San Rafael Wilderness and around Ojai. “I cherish this beautiful place and want to help preserve it,” says Allan. “It is truly a treasure next door.” Allan currently lives in Santa Barbara with his wife, where he enjoys the beauty of our natural places, and classical music, theater and art.

Louis graduated from U.C. Santa Cruz with degrees in Natural History and Biology, where he studied peregrine falcons and Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep. In the 1980s he worked as a wildlife biologist for the California Condor Recovery Program on the Los Padres National Forest. For the past twelve years he’s served as the caretaker of Jameson Lake in the headwaters of the Santa Ynez River. Louis enjoys bicycling, mountaineering, ski touring, backpacking, and hiking.

Peter is an investment manager and general partner at Glacier Asset Management in Santa Barbara. Peter has always had a passion for the outdoors, having worked in various capacities for Ducks Unlimited and as a founding member of Save the Delta. He received a degree in Zoology with an emphasis in Wildlife Management from UC Berkeley. “I admire the regional approach that ForestWatch takes,” says Peter. “It’s the most effective way to protect this landscape, uniting local citizens under a common goal.” When he’s not trading on the stock market, Peter enjoys flyfishing, hunting, skiing, and exploring British Columbia.

Christopher teaches and conducts research on biodiversity and coastal issues at C.S.U. Channel Islands, where he serves as the Faculty Director of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory. Christopher has studied California condors for many years, beginning with backcountry trips with the late Dick Smith, employment as a condor biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and graduate work at U.C. Santa Barbara. “For most of my life I have been involved with the Los Padres National Forest,” says Dr. Cogan. “It has always been clear that citizen and stakeholder groups play a critical role in the successful management of these wild places.” He lives in Camarillo, where he enjoys bike rides, photography, and rock climbing with his family.

For more than twenty years, Jeri has operated her own executive search consulting firm, helping companies build successful teams and recruiting the best talent. She holds a B.S. in Marketing from Portland State University. Jeri is an avid user of trails in the Los Padres National Forest and is often seen volunteering for trail maintenance crews and habitat restoration projects. “ForestWatch is the only truly proactive organization I know that employs a science-based passion for conservation throughout the greater Los Padres ecosystem,” says Jeri. She currently lives in Westlake Village, Ventura County, where she regularly enjoys backpacking, biking, hiking, swimming, and all things outdoors.

With a background in graphic design and photography, Terri directs the production of printed materials at Patagonia in Ventura. She grew up in Arizona and attended Arizona State University before graduating from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Terri has hiked and biked many of the trails in the Los Padres backcountry, as well as cycled through most of the West. "Our backcountry is special and I love being a part of an organization whose mission is to protect this incredible resource," says Terri. She lives in Oak View with her husband and two children, and enjoys backpacking, yoga, photography, gardening, and the outdoors.