Deb Callahan

Executive Director

Deb Callahan is the Executive Director of the Bay Area Open Space Council. She brings a wealth of experience in legislative advocacy and public policy; nonprofit and environmental leadership; organization building; fundraising; and work in philanthropy. She has led effective strategic initiatives on issues including land management and conservation, ocean and forest protection, climate change, pollution and science. Deb has worked at the League of Conservation Voters, Point Reyes National Seashore Association, Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, and Americans for the Environment. Deb is a native Californian who studied Natural Resources Management at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and received a BA in Environmental Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1997, was awarded the UCSB Environmental Studies Department Outstanding Alumni award.

(510) 809 8009 ext 254
deb@openspacecouncil.org

Tom Robinson

Director of Conservation, Science, and Innovation

Tom Robinson is the Director of Conservation, Science and Innovation. His goals are to help communities view their immediate landscape as the source of their well-being, economic prosperity, and security, and to strengthen the link between local conservation priorities and investments and regional, state and federal priorities and incentive programs. As a landscape ecologist and conservation practitioner in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 16 years, Tom brings together scientists, state and local government staff, and NGO partners to integrate environmental data, fill critical gaps, and develop adaptive spatial decision support systems to steer conservation policies and actions toward impactful outcomes. Tom has had the privilege of working for the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District and most recently as a conservation planner for the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in ecology from U.C. San Diego, is a Master’s Candidate in geographic information science at San Francisco State University, and is a Switzer Environmental Leadership Fellow. Tom is driven by a deep connection with nature and takes immeasurable pleasure in introducing his two children to its wonders, especially by bike, boat, and boot.

510 809 8009 ext 255
tom@openspacecouncil.org

Melanie Hogan

Development Director

Melanie Hogan is the Development Director at the Bay Area Open Space Council.

She started her fundraising career in 2002, as a development intern at The Women’s Foundation of California. Later she worked at Women’s Initiative for Self Employment, where on the job training taught her how to bring in nearly $2M a year through foundation, corporate and government sources. She then went on to become the Assistant Development Director at The Yosemite Fund helping to lead individual giving campaigns alongside managing their foundation and corporate grants program. At The Yosemite Fund, Melanie found a passion for environmental issues and decided to focus her fundraising career on organizations that support these causes. In 2011, Melanie became the Development Director at As You Sow, an environmental advocacy organization, and increased its foundation and individual support for the organization. Melanie is thrilled to take another leading position in 2017, with the Bay Area Open Space Council as their first Development Director. She holds a BA in anthropology from SFSU and lives in Albany with her husband and daughter. In her spare time she works at their pre-school co-op taking the kids for nature hikes throughout the East Bay hills.

melanie@openspacecouncil.org

Sarah Noel Ross

Community Engagement Manager

Sarah Ross is the Community Engagement Manager of the Bay Area Open Space Council.

She serves the Council's convenings (Gatherings and Conference), communications, and engagement programs. Prior to the Open Space Council she worked on national advertising campaigns at Venables Bell & Partners for clients such as Adidas, Audi, and Reebok. She has also worked for a number of environmental education programs connecting Bay Area children with wildlife and the outdoors, as well as on conservation studies in the field. Sarah is passionate about nature and regularly surfs up and down the north California coast. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication design from Skidmore College, and a master’s degree in creative advertising from the Brandcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University.

sarah@openspacecouncil.org

Angel Hertslet

Program Associate of Conservation, Science and Innovation

Angel Hertslet returns to the Open Space Council as the Program Associate of the Conservation, Science & Innovation Program. In this role, she is focused on updating and enhancing the Conservation Lands Network, the Council's flagship regional conservation planning and science initiative. With a background in community forestry, environmental education, and partnership building, she aims to leverage her skills to make www.bayarealands.org as useful and accessible as possible. Themes of environmental justice, landscape restoration, and community building run through her decade of work experience. Originally from Montana, she is a graduate of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Yale College.

(510) 809-8009 ext 253
angel@openspacecouncil.org