SRT Board of Directors and Advisors

SRT is grateful for the diverse and skilled group of volunteer directors and advisors that support the work we do. They bring decades of knowledge and experience to guide the organization in its land protection, restoration and education goals.

Board of Directors

SCOTT SPEAR, President
Scott grew up in California, Nevada and Arizona where he witnessed first hand the change of the American west as it began its rapid development. This shaped his views on smart growth and open space, guiding his dedication to conservation throughout his life. Scott was originally involved with the Four Creeks Land Trust, now a chapter of SRT and currently serves as SRT Board President, a position he’s held since 2000. Scott brings extensive knowledge of agriculture as well as concerns related to loss of farmland and growth of the southern San Joaquin Valley. As President, he brings leadership skills in consensus building and problem solving and a vision for an enhanced quality of life for communities by including natural, wild and agricultural lands. Scott’s farming career spanned 40 years including table and wine grapes for the first 30 years and almonds for the last ten. He sold the family ranches in November of 2006 and has since devoted most of his time to SRT’s mission. Scott moved to Visalia in 1971 and still calls the area home.

GREG COLLINS, Vice President
One of the early members of the Four Creek Land Trust, which later became Sequoia Riverlands Trust, Greg is the principal in the consulting firm of Collins & Schoettler. This 30-year-old public sector planning firm provides a full range of planning services to cities and counties in the San Joaquin Valley. He served on the Visalia City Council and Visalia Redevelopment Agency from 1975 to 1991, presiding over the City of Visalia as it gained a reputation for innovative and progressive planning policies. From 1987 to 1991 he served as mayor and chairman of the Visalia Redevelopment Agency. He served another term on Visalia City Council from 2005 to 2009. Because of his planning background, Greg has chaired or served on committees dealing with land use, housing, redevelopment and circulation.

BARBARA KIDD, Treasurer
Barbara is a Visalia native who became involved with the Four Creeks chapter of SRT at the urging of her cousin Susan Silva-Treadwell, an SRT volunteer. She thinks everyone needs to start taking responsibility for our environment and its resources. Barbara brings extraordinary business and accounting skills to assist with the financial management of SRT's funds and resources. She believes in caring for the people and space around her as positively as possible and enjoys working with all of the dedicated people at SRT. Barbara is a C.P.A. and has owned and managed Accounting Services in Visalia for 30 years. She and her husband Donnie reside in Visalia.

JULIE ALLEN, Secretary
Julie brings over 30 years experience in the southern Sierra Nevada, where she worked for many years as the land management planning staff officer, or planning director, of the Sequoia National Forest. She serves on the Tulare County Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO) and on the corresponding state organization, CALAFCO. She brings considerable knowledge and expertise in land and resource planning in both the public and private sectors of California, along with strong skills in negotiation and facilitation. Julie values conserving healthy natural systems across public and private ownership boundaries, an interest and dedication she brought to SRT's Tule Oaks chapter in 1994. She joined the board in 2002 because she believes that land trusts are an important, non-regulatory way to protect conservation values on private land. Julie and her husband Jim own and manage a small ranch in Springville where they have lived for 35 years.

JOHN COLBERT
A longtime supporter of Sequoia Riverlands Trust, John joined the board in 2005. He is currently the President of Greenleaf Farms in Kingsburg, where he manages almond, walnut, citrus and plum orchards. As a part of his job he is constantly involved with land acquisition, title issues, easements and land stewardship. John also has a strong personal interest in land use issues, so he joined the board to help SRT break down barriers between farmers and environmentalists, developers and civil servants. He believes everyone living or doing business in the Valley can appreciate the benefits of open space, natural habitat and wild places, when the land is acquired voluntarily. John and his wife, Nan Mensinga, reside in Visalia where they have lived for more than 25 years. In addition to SRT, John is president of Tri-Valley Water District and is a board member of the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation.

BILL DELAIN
Bill joined the SRT board in 2011. He is a Region Manager for Southern California Edison Company, where he manages and transacts all phases of company/customer business, political, and civic activities in Edison’s San Joaquin Valley service area. Bill serves as Board Chair of the Tulare County Workforce Investment Board. He is a Director of the Tulare County Economic Development Corporation, the Visalia Economic Development Corporation, and the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization.

KAROL AURE FLYNN
Karol brings many years of agribusiness experience along with her deep appreciation of the unique San Joaquin Valley. She is a Senior Associate at Entira, a marketing and management consulting for both leading and emerging US agribusiness firms. From 2007 to 2009, she covered U.S. grains and oilseeds issues for the Food and Agribusiness Research group in the New York office of Rabobank International. Raised on a table grape farm in Earlimart, CA, Karol has experience as a produce broker, farm manager and entrepreneur. Her production experience includes table grapes, almonds, figs, field crops, and cattle, and she has worked with both wholesale and retail outlets. She co-founded one of the first full-service ag technology companies in 1997, introducing GPS/GIS applications across the agricultural sectors in the Western United States. Karol earned a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and an MBA from UC Davis in Finance and Agricultural Management. Karol also serves as a board member at Community Services Employment Training (CSET) in Visalia. She lives in southern Tulare County on the Flynn Ranch (est. 1874), which her husband Matt manages for the fourth generation.

ROB HANSEN
Rob has spent a lifetime studying the natural world around him and brings to SRT a solid big-picture view of the natural history and status of native habitats and native flora and fauna in the Tulare Basin (southern San Joaquin Valley) and the southern Sierra Nevada. He has lent his skills and talent to local land conservation efforts since before the protection of Kaweah Oaks Preserve in 1983. He believes the volunteers, members, partners and staff of SRT, through their common interests and dedication, can and do affect positive change in a part of the world where open space, wildlife habitat, and farmland protection must continue to complement agricultural productivity. He previously worked as a land steward in charge of five Nature Conservancy preserves in Tulare and Kern Counties. Currently, Rob owns and is the principal biologist for Hansen’s Biological Consulting and teaches biology and human ecology at the College of the Sequoias. Rob and his wife Debra live in Visalia and they have two grown daughters. Rob is committed to SRT's mission because he wants his children and students to be able to live in a community where the natural world and productive farmland contribute to a positive sense of place and where a healthy environment is viewed as a birthright to the quality of life all our families deserve.

CINDY MYERS
SRT welcomed Cindy to the board in 2008 as someone who believes very strongly in helping farmers become more effective leaders in agriculture as well as in their communities. Cindy's holistic approach to farming, land and the community was cultivated from an early age. She grew up on her family's 500-acre farm in Exeter and played an active role in its management. She went on to become the first female President of the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation and retains her title as Chairperson Emeritus. Cindy is also a board member of the Visalia Breakfast Rotary and has been involved with the Sequoia Leadership program and the Visalia Education Foundation.

BRIAN NEWTON
Brian has a strong and deep connection to the lands and waters cared for by SRT. He brings devotion, longevity, and stability to the organization. In 1997 Brian was a founding member of the Four Creeks Land Trust, now a chapter of SRT. His personal mission statement is "to save the world's environment two or three local projects at a time." He appreciates being part of an organization that is making a huge positive difference in peoples appreciation of our local natural environment. He is an active committee or Board member of six local environmental groups, some continuously since the early 80's. After 32 years of teaching elementary school (28 in Woodlake), Brian retired in June 2008. He and his wife, Judy, have lived in Visalia since 1980.

COLBY WELLS
Colby Wells is the public affairs manager for The Gas Company in the Fresno, Kings and Tulare county area. His duties include working with local governments, community and non-profit organizations and the community at large. Colby is also involved with many of the local business and community organizations within the three counties. He currently serves on several community boards including the Tulare County Environmental Development Corporation (EDC), Kings EDC, San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization, Tulare Kings Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Visalia Chamber of Commerce. Colby joined the Gas Company in 1997 after graduating from California State University, Fresno with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. He currently lives in Visalia with his wife Carrie, 10-year-old son Logan, 8 year-old daughter Bethany and 6-year-old daughter Shaylee. The family is very involved in church, music and recreational sports.

EMMY CATTANI
Emmy Cattani is a fourth generation member of her family’s agricultural business and Vice President of Cattani Farming and Ranching, based in Kern County. Her family business operations include farming, cattle ranching, oil production, real estate investing and almond processing, as well as conservation through a partnership in Greenbridges, a for-profit investor in conservation real estate. Prior to returning to her family business in 2009, Emmy spent five years as a private equity professional, first with The Shansby Group and then with VMG Partners, where she advised portfolio company CEOs on brand development, operations and business strategy. Earlier in her career, she worked in management consulting at Bain & Company and in strategy and business development for high tech start up HiFusion. Emmy is also a Director on the boards of the Tejon Ranch Conservancy, Famoso Nut Company and C&M Oil Company and a former Director of the Sunkist Growers Cooperative. She received her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and her Bachelors of Arts from Harvard University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

JACK SAHL, Ph.D.
As Director of Environment & Resource Sustainability for Southern California Edison, Jack D. Sahl is responsible for coordination of SCE’s sustainability programs for internal operations. This includes activities related to energy and water efficiency at SCE facilities; increasing transportation and transport fuel efficiency; chemical management; reuse, recycle and waste management; and working to ensure product life-cycle performance that is integrated with the SCE Supply Chain. Prior to this assignment, Jack headed SCE’s Corporate Environment, Health & Safety department and was responsible for all aspects of worker safety and environmental policy and programs for the company’s work force of 15,500. A former research scientist and founder of a consulting company, Jack has 35 published scientific reports and has worked in Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of La Verne and holds master’s degrees in epidemiology and environmental health from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and the University of Minnesota, respectively. He earned a doctorate in epidemiology from UCLA.

FRANK T. (TOMMY) ELLIOTT IV
Chairman of the Elliott Group, vertically integrated citrus operation and custom corrugated converting facilities. Alternate board member for the Citrus Research Board. Chairman of the Board, Visalia Community Bank. Director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Sequoias. Graduated from Dominican University in Accounting and Finance. Married to Emilie Kate Elliott JD, RN. Interests are most things outdoors.

Advisors

• Gordon Bergthold
• Mike Chrisman
• Russell F. Hurley
• Jim C. Johnson
• Dennis R. Keller
• Philip B. Laird
• Ronald L. Olson
• Jane T. Olson
• Amy Pack
• Ron Paregien
• William Tweed

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