Ojai Valley Green Coalition Committee Chairs

Built Environment Council

Kerry Miller, co-chair, 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

Shawn Jacobson, co-chair, has developed an acute understanding of sustainability through his experience with green building and passive solar design, research and development with energy efficiency technologies, renewable energy research and GIS analysis, and his experience in the growing solar energy industry. He has spent the last three years working in the local solar industry in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties and has performed various functions including installation, marketing, sales and the facilitation of workforce training programs. He is currently the residential solar energy consultant for REC Solar Inc. and services Santa Barbara, Ventura, Ojai, Oxnard and Santa Paula.

Shawn holds an A.A. in Graphic Design and Photography from SBCC, and a B.A. in Geography from UCSB. While at UCSB he focused on earth system sciences, climate change and sustainable development. In his academic career he co-founded the SBCC Student Sustainability Coalition, assisted in the development of the SBCC Center for Sustainability and was a member of the UCSB Ellison Hall Sustainability Committee. He currently sits on The Sustainability Project board in Santa Barbara and is the chair of the Energy Committee for the Ojai Valley Green Coalition.

Outside of his work in solar energy and community sustainability, he enjoys spending time with his two children and wife, exploring wild places , observing wildlife, playing music, pottery, photography, and getting exercise through various outlets including surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, kayaking and creek running.

Food Council

Dulanie Ellis-La Barre has been a filmmaker for the last 25 years, first as a Script Supervisor for feature films and television, and later as an Associate Producer on four award-winning documentary films for Tell The Truth Pictures.

In 2002, Dulanie launched her own production company, Walk Your Talk Productions. Believing that the world-class farmland and agriculture of Ventura County was worth protecting, she began making a series of films that addressed various elements of sustainable agriculture for the Ag Futures Alliance. That lead to a film for the real estate industry on mortgage fraud and more recently to an educational film about Community Emergency Response Training.

Dulanie serves on a number of community committees and is the Co-Chair for the OVGC Food & Agriculture Committee

Watershed Council

Bill O'Brien is a Registered Civil and Agricultural Engineer with a specialty in water resources. He and his family have lived in Meiners Oaks for 10 years, and Bill has been active in the community as a scout leader and working with other youth groups. He serves on the Ventura River Council, and has represented Ojai in stormwater permit negotiations with the National Permit Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. As a project manager, Bill has helped design and build a number of river-restoration projects. He brings to the Green Coalition his enthusiasm for a sustainable watershed, combined with his support of youth activities.

Bill has considerable experience in river and groundwater basin planning and watermaster services, site selection for water supply projects, and water resource aspects of Ventura County permits, as well as California Environmental Quality Act and National Environmental Policy Act documentation. His professional background includes work in California, Arizona, Washington State, and the Middle East. Following 23 years’ experience in water resources and related civil infrastructure projects, floodplain management, enhanced groundwater recharge, including recharge of treated wastewater, design of embankments and hydraulic structures, water-quality monitoring, arid zone hydrology, scour, drainage projects, water resource monitoring networks, water rights, and NPDES stormwater and other water-quality investigations, Bill joined Hawks and Associates (Ventura) in January of 2007 as a Senior Engineer/Manager.

Contact Bill at contactwatershed@ojaivalleygreencoalition.com

Organizational Committee Chairs

Marleen Luckman holds an MS in Family Environmental Science and is a certified Building Biology Environmental Inspector (BBEI). She is a teacher through the International Institute of Building Biology and Ecology, a nutrition/cleansing coach, and is a public speaker on environmental issues as they relate to our health.

Suza Francina was born in Holland, the bicycle capital of the world. She has lived in Ojai since 1957, attended local schools, and raised two children here. A freelance writer specializing in health and environmental issues, she is a longtime bicycle/pedestrian advocate and has been a featured speaker at conferences on alternative transportation and sustainable communities.

In 1995, Suza was a founding member of the Ojai Bicycle Coalition, a group that helped to create the Ojai Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan. Inspired by the Worldwatch Institute booklet entitled The Bicycle: Vehicle for a Small Planet, she reminds us that "Bicycling is good for the air, the water, the earth, and the quality of life in our community. It helps to conserve energy, increases property value, increases business and tourism, and makes our streets and highways more efficient. At the same time, it's good for our health and makes us more fit--plus it's fun!"

Suza was elected to the Ojai City Council in 1997, and she served as the cityʼs mayor in 2000. During her tenure as mayor, she was known as "California's mayor without a car." During her term as an elected official, she championed many transportation-related issues such as traffic calming, the Safe Routes to School program, and pedestrian/bicycle-friendly policies.

Suza also served on the Ventura County Transportation Commission, where she advocated for bus shelters and improved public transit. She can be reached at Sfrancina@aol.com.

Brad Hudson Since moving to Ojai in 2003, Brad has developed a small town outlook that encourages keeping it local while still striving to have a positive global impact. He believes in Growing Green personally, professionally and as a community, and that doing so is a continuing life process. Brad is a Shaklee Distributor focusing on their GET CLEAN™ line of environmentally-friendly household products. Contact Brad at contactwastemgmt@ojaivalleygreencoalition.com

Deborah Pendrey has lived in Oak View for eight years. The Coalition is her first volunteer participation in a formal organization and she says “I’ve been waiting for something like the Coalition to join” At an early age, Deb’s mom had her and her siblings digging in the golf course trash cans in the wee hours of the morning for aluminum cans. So, Deborah’s had a role model from the start, making the waste management committee a natural fit. She also joined the communications committee to expand her horizons.

Deborah and her husband run a wholesale retractable screens business from their home, a home and property they plan will eventually be a model green living space. Contact Deborah at deborah.ovgc@yahoo.com

Bill Haff and his wife Helen moved to Ojai in 2009 from Easton, Massachusetts. A graduate of Massachusetts College of Art, Bill currently works as a freelance graphic designer, after a successful 25-year career in graphic design in the Boston area, and an earlier 8-year career as a fine artist (and cabdriver!) in Boston and New York City.

Bill was a community and peace organizer in Massachusetts, and brings his enthusiasm for citizen involvement to his new post as co-chair of the Communications and Publicity Committee. He can be contacted at bill.haff@gmail.com

Linda Harmon graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in Journalism. She is a freelance writer and artist.

Linda says three things made her an ardent environmentalist: her love of the natural world, her belief that everything and everyone is connected, and her belief that it is everyone’s responsibility to contribute to the whole.

Joining the OVGC after their first presentation featuring Hunter Lovins, she credits the OVGC with giving her a place to become an activist. She is thrilled to be once again a serving committee chair.

Moving to Ojai 21 years ago, Linda first became active in the community at the Ojai Center for the Arts. She has been on the Board at the Art Center, California’s oldest nonprofit art center, for nearly twenty years, and is currently the Public Relations Chair. She is also serving her second term as member of the City of Ojai Arts Commission and sits on the board of OjaiTrees.

Linda is married to Len Klaif, another familiar face in the Ojai community. Together they have five children and two grandchildren.

Kale Starbird has been concerned about Global Warming for 15 years and has been more focused since she is now a grandmother. Climate Change is the number one issue in current times and for future generations. She is thrilled with the attention it is receiving now and eager to participate in helping the Ojai Valley to become a model green community.

Anca Colbert was born in Romania, raised in France, and has lived most of her life in Los Angeles and Ojai, California. She has a classical European education in the arts, literature, and languages, holds a License ès lettres from the Sorbonne, with additional studies at L’Ecole du Louvre and at L’Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

In her professional life, Anca has worked in a variety of related fields: as an art publisher, the owner and manager of two art galleries, a graphics design consultant, a fundraiser, and a planner of special events and public relations.

As a volunteer, Anca has been involved with organizations focused on education and after-school enrichment programs. She brings to the OVGC her heartfelt desire to preserve the unique beauty of the Ojai Valley.

Government Liaison

Renee Roth joins the OVGC with extensive experience in the public sector as a provider of financial systems and consulting services to government agencies. Most recently, she worked for the City of Los Angeles, LA County, and Ventura County as a project manager on financial system selection and implementation. Before that, Renee helped implement financial systems for the City of Salinas and City of Chicago, along with developing training and documentation materials on purchasing, fixed assets, and inventory control software developed by American Management Systems. She has also worked with State of Oregon agencies and local governments to develop the budget and financial information needed to enter the municipal bond market to fund capital improvement projects, and has worked as a consultant for the City of Pasadena, assisting with the implementation of a utility billing system. Renee graduated with a B.S. in Public Policy and Government from the University of Oregon. She brings to the Coalition an understanding of public policies and issues, along with an ability to drive new concepts through design, planning, documentation, and ultimately to implementation. As a volunteer, Renee has also served on the Ojai Green Schools Committee and with Food for Thought, and has coordinated Art Trek volunteers at San Antonio School.