Board Members
Kathy Nolan - President
Kathy Nolan is no stranger to the idea of sustainability. With degrees in landscape architecture and ornamental horticulture, along with certificates in pest control and Permaculture, Kathy has been following least-toxic practices since before this was in fashion in her landscape architecture business. She grows her own organic food, which she sometimes shares with food co-ops, and enjoys “slow dining.” As an enthusiastic cook, Kathy dries, cans, freezes, or ferments most of what she grows. Her community involvement includes serving on the Ojai Planning Commission and being a founding member and four-term president of the Ojai Valley Horticulture Society. If that weren’t enough to qualify her as a bona fide “greenie,” Kathy is also a beekeeper, a seed saver, and a student of homeopathy.
Dale Hanson - Secretary
Dale is a community activist. She has lived in Ojai for 20 years. Her interests are mostly in family issues, community, animal welfare and the environment. She is active with the American Red Cross, the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation, several animal groups and is a board member of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition. She also serves on the Food and Ag Committee.
Marleen Luckman - Treasurer
Marleen Luckman, MS, BBEI, is a certified Building Biology Environmental Inspector through the International Institute of Building Biology where she also serves as an instructor. Marleen has been an elementary school teacher for the past 30 years and a school and program director. She is an experienced public speaker on home environmental health issues and advises consumers on wise consumer choices. Since 2008, Marleen has held the position of Green Operations Coordinator at the Ojai Unified School District funded through a grant to Food for Thought, working to reduce waste, conserve resources, reduce pesticide/herbicide use, and training teachers in hands-on environmental education lesson planning. In 2009, Marleen presented an environmentally preferable purchasing policy to the OUSD Green Committee and worked closely with the Committee to tailor it to the needs of the District.
She has been working with the OUSD Director of Operations to develop an integrated pest management plan that reduces pesticide/herbicide use on campuses and outlines the uses of physical barriers and mechanical methods to mitigate pest and weed issues. In 2011 she designed a Sustainability Plan for the District and solicited input from the Green Committee, Department Heads, and the Superintendent to create a plan that includes ongoing activities, successes, and short and long-range goals. This document was presented to the OUSD School Board in October, 2011. Marleen also serves as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Ojai and sits on the Complete Streets Subcommittee.
Deborah Pendrey - Executive Director
has lived in the Ojai Valley for eight years. She and her husband run a wholesale retractable screens business from their home, which they’re planning as an eventual model green living space.
The Coalition represents Deborah’s first volunteer participation in a formal nonprofit organization. During her first year and a half with the Coalition, she was appointed as Executive Coordinator, and her title has recently changed to that of Executive Director. Deborah’s 15 years in the restaurant industry, 10 years as a business owner, and A.S. degree in accounting have given her the needed managerial skills for public speaking, interacting with a great many people, and helping the Coalition organize its infrastructure. As time allows, she is taking classes in fundraising and nonprofit management.
Caryn Bosson - Director; Budget, Finance & Resource Committee Chair
Caryn has been involved in Ojai Valley nonprofit organizations as a staff member and volunteer since 1993, including the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, the Ojai Valley Youth Master Plan, and, from 1997 to 2007, as founding Executive Director of the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation. She currently works for TreePeople, a Los Angeles-based group that involves people in planting and caring for trees. There she works with TreePeople Founder and President, Andy Lipkis, on his initiatives to make “smart green infrastructure” central to the way cities manage resources in the twenty-first century.
Caryn’s involvement in the Ojai Valley Green Coalition is based on the belief that our community can organize ourselves to make significant and lasting changes that protect our natural heritage and quality of life. Besides her work for the OVGC, she volunteers at the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation, and serves on the board of Ojai Trees.
Noel Douglas - Director, Food Council Liaison
Noel Douglas-Roth is a musician, minister, teacher and entrepreneur. During the '70s, Noel combined his stage talents of acting and singing with that of teaching, and became one of Silicon Valley's foremost instructors in the area of Stress Reduction. His years of experience qualified him for a California State Teaching Credential. Noel went on to become a trainer in the motivational industry with Sage Seminars, Inc. In his mid-twenties, Noel founded a non-profit community service agency that opened The Soupline Natural Foods Restaurant and Food Co-op. The Soupline Restaurant continued as The Peasant Chef for over 15 years.
Noel's purpose in life is to empower us all to be more our creative selves by sharing experiences which encourage productive thinking, open communication, close friendships, supportive environments and humanitarian services which can prosper everyone. Noel's years of entrepreneurial experience have given birth to The AIM Game (AIM: Advanced Idea Management) which he conducts as a productivity seminar or consultation for business teams and individuals. He is currently preparing a multi-media educational version of The AIM Game for publication.
Today Noel resides in Ojai, California, where he is a live-in property manager and caregiver. The birth of his first grandchild in 2009 has reinvigorated Noel's sense of community.
Kerry Miller - Director, Built Environment Council Liaison
Kerry is a designer, builder, project manager, consultant, and artist. He has been designing and building houses, additions, and remodels for 10 years in the Ojai Valley, following his previous 20 years in Corrales, New Mexico, where he built with adobe, stone, ICF (insulated concrete forms), standing dead spruce, and many other products that we now call green, using energy-efficient products, passive solar energy, and the natural terrain of the land. Those products and designs, along with many of the new green products and designs, are now incorporated into his Ojai Valley work. With a bachelor’s degree in sculpture from the University of New Mexico, Kerry incorporates his artistic skills into every project he works on, creating functional art.
In New Mexico, Kerry was on the board and organizing committee of the Corrales Harvest Festival, an event similar to Ojai Day. In Ojai, he has been on the organizing committee of the October Classic Run, a fundraiser for the Ojai Hospital Foundation, since its inception. Kerry lives in Ojai and can be reached at kerry@kerrymillerdesigns.com
Tyler Suchman - Director, Technology
Named to the 2007 Top 40 Under 40 by the Pacific Coast Business Times, Tyler Suchman is Founder and CEO of Emergencity, Inc., an emergency services company that is focused on building resilient communities and saving lives. Tyler also runs The Ojai Network, a collective of websites focused on community and culture, including The Ojai Post, a community blog featuring over 30 authors and 3,500 daily visitors.
Sabrina Venskus - Director, Advocacy Liaison
Sabrina Venskus is the principle of Venskus & Associates, P.C., a public-interest law firm with offices located in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. Sabrina’s areas of practice include environmental law, land use and zoning, natural resources law, tenant rights, historic preservation, native burial rights, energy regulation, and government disclosure.
Ms. Venskus is a member of the Environmental Law Section of the California Bar Association, the Ventura County Bar Association, and the Executive Committee for the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Environmental Law Section. She has served as chair for various land use and planning boards, including those for the Venice Neighborhood Council, the Westchester/Playa del Rey Neighborhood Council, and the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce. Sabrina spends a few hours each month volunteering her time at various Tenants' Rights Clinics, providing at-risk tenants with free legal advice.
David White - Director, Watershed Council Liaison
David White has a B.S. in Biological Sciences and Ph.D. in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He has been involved in numerous environmental groups in Ventura County for the past twenty years, including Keep the Sespe Wild and the Center for Regenerative Agriculture. Dave has also worked as the science teacher at Happy Valley School, and he is currently the garden coordinator for Food for Thought's Ojai Healthy Schools program. One of Dave's favorite things to do is to plant trees with kids.
