Council Chairs
Renewables, Energy Efficiency, and Appropriate Lighting Initiative
Shawn Jacobson, 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.
Local Food Program
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 Literacy and Water Security Program
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
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.
Linda Harmon graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in Journalism. She is a freelance writer and artist. 
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.
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.
