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Meet Our Team

We are guided by a dedicated group of leaders with extensive experience working with the National Park Service in a wide variety of parks and with a broad range of park support groups.

Jesse Chakrin

Executive Director
Former Director, Yosemite Leadership Program; UC Merced-NPS Liaison

Karl Kroeber

 Project Develop. Director
Former Special Projects Manager, Yosemite Conservancy

Andrea Evans

Development Director
Former Major Gift Officer, Sierra Club; Principal, Philanthropy Consulting Group

Katie Wallace

Operations Director
Former Director of Operations, NatureBridge, Yosemite National Park

Our operating model is lean to focus our revenue on supporting parks.
​We outsource administrative functions and the dedicated Fund staff
​each work part-time from virtual offices around the West.

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Interested in helping us with our work? Contact us.

​Advisory Committee

Tom Bliss 

• Motion picture producer of over 30 films, recipient of Peabody Award, 2 Cable-ACE Awards
• Board Member of Santa Monica Mountains Fund, Coastwalk California​
  

Lance Conn 

• Former President, Vulcan Capital
• Former EVP, America Online
• Co-owner, National Litigation Law Group
• Former Co-Chair, California Parks Forward Commission​

Doug Hanford   

• Founder/President of Hanford ARC
• Board Member of Sonoma County Planning Dept Design Review, Sonoma Valley Teen Services
• Recipient of DOI Partners in Conservation Award

Dan Jensen

• Board Member of The Ansel Adam Gallery
• Former member of the Board and Council, Yosemite Conservancy
  
• Former President of Delaware North​ Companies at Yosemite

Steve McCormick

• Co-founder and CEO of The Earth Genome
  
• ​Former President of Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
  
• Former President and CEO of The Nature​ Conservancy

Patty Neubacher

• ​Former Deputy Regional Director, National Park Service, Pacific West Region

Levon Nishkian

• ​Founder of Nishkian Engineering Firms
  
• Former Board Member of Fort Mason Center and Council of Directors, ​Yosemite Conservancy

Andy Vought

• ​Founder, L.A. River State Park Partners
• Former Board Member at Portola and Castle Rock Foundation, Clockshop, and Save the Redwoods League

Advisory Committee Emeritus

Mike Finley   

• Former President of Turner Foundation 
• Former Superintendent of Yosemite, Everglades & Yellowstone National Parks

Bob Hansen

• ​Founder and Former Executive Director of The Fund for People in Parks
  
• Former Executive Director of the Yosemite Fund

Charlene Harvey    

• Former Board Member of Golden Gate National Park Conservancy, Presidio Trust, Conservation International, Sustainable Conservation

Greg Johnson

• Former Portfolio Manager, Capital Group
• Former Board Member of Kidspace Children's Museum and Foothill Family Services
  

Sam Livermore

• Partner at Cooley LLP
• ​Founder and Former Chair of Yosemite Conservancy

Jim Lovelace

• Capital Group

Non-Profit Status

The Fund receives its non-profit status by operating as a project of Community Initiatives, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Oakland, California, that provides fiscal sponsorship services to over 100 selected public benefit organizations. ​

​Community Initiatives was established by the San Francisco Foundation in 1996 to be “In Service to Great Ideas," and has GuideStar's highest level of recognition: the platinum seal of transparency.
 
​EIN/Tax ID #  94-3255070