Ecology Center Board of Directors

Raquel Pinderhughes, President

Professor of Urban Studies, San Francisco State University

Raquel Pinderhughes is Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at San Francisco State University. Her work focuses on improving quality of life for urban residents, particularly those of low-income. Much of her work focuses on how efforts to improve urban environmental quality can be linked to efforts to address social inequality and poverty. Pinderhughes is a national expert on green collar jobs, green job training, and workforce development. Her landmark study, Green Collar Jobs: An Analysis of the Capacity of Green Business to Provide High Quality Jobs for Men and Women with Barriers to Employment, informs understanding of how green collar jobs can function as pathways out of poverty for men and women with barriers to employment. The Oakland Green Jobs Corps is one of several programs that used the job training model that Pinderhughes developed as part of her study. As founder and director of the Environmental Literacy Curriculum Project, Pinderhughes has produced an environmental literacy curriculum for green job training programs, high schools, and other programs interested in supporting youth and adult environmental literacy. Her most recent book, Alternative Urban Futures: Planning for Sustainable Development in Cities throughout the World, focuses on planning and policy approaches and appropriate technologies that can be used to minimize a city’s impact on the environment while providing urban residents with the infrastructure and services they need to sustain a high quality of urban life. Raquel is President of the Ecology Center’s Board of Directors; in this capacity she works closely with the Executive Director, Ecology Center staff, and fellow board members to ensure that the Ecology Center provides the public with high quality information and direct services that promote environmentally and socially responsible residential practices.

Pam Webster, Vice President

Patron Services Manager at the California Shakespeare Theater; Freelance Graphic Artist

Pam, a long time member and admirer of the Ecology Center, joined the Board as a result of her advocacy work to keep the Tuesday Farmers' Market at its South Berkeley home. She is a member of the Berkeley Farmers' Market Committee and Ecology Center Executive Committee, and formerly held a seat on Berkeley's Citizens Environmental Advisory Commission and the Sierra Club Northern Alameda County Executive Committee. Pam currently serves as an elected member of the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board.

Becca Prager, Secretary

Director of (HEAT), Berkeley Youth Alternatives

Becca is the Director of (HEAT), The Health and Environmental Awareness Training Center at Berkeley Youth Alternatives, a multi-service Community Center for youth and families in West Berkeley. Becca is a licensed clinical social worker and long time advocate for youth employment and food justice in San Francisco and the East Bay. She is involved in the Rooted in Community National Network, and serves as an Advisory Member of the Calypso Farm & Ecology Center. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers.

Chuck Teller, Treasurer

Social Entrepreneur

Chuck is a social entrepreneur who is currently developing and operating CatalogChoice.org, a national mail preference service used by over one million consumers. Through his efforts at Catalog Choice, Chuck is reforming the mailing practices of direct mailers to provide consumers with choice about what enters their mailbox and reducing paper use by corporations. Chuck also operates the real estate prediction market service, Realius, an innovative use of crowd sourcing for pricing residential real estate. Chuck was formerly the General Manager/VP of the Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) product line at PeopleSoft; the President of Counter Productions, a manufacturer of a recycled-glass solid surface material; President of Advance Planning Solutions, a budgeting and planning software company; and Vice President of Economic and Planning Systems, an economic consulting firm. Chuck works with the UC Berkeley Haas Lester Center of Entrepreneurship as a mentor, and is a board member of SAGE (Sustainable Agriculture Education). Chuck holds a masters in urban planning from University of North Carolina, and a bachelors in conservation resource planning from University of California. He lives in Berkeley with his wife and three children.

Mark Gorrell

Architect

Mark is an architect and long-time community and environmental activist, very active in local politics. Affiliations include: Berkeley EcoHouse; College of Marin Architecture Department (Instructor); Northern California Recycling Association; Architects, Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility; Berkeley Citizens Action; Indigenous Peoples Day Committee; Urban Ore Development Associates; United Professors of Marin; and Thousand Oaks Neighborhood Association. Mark is a member of the Zero Waste International Alliance.