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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.

Monique Baron

Development Director
Former Development Director at Rare and Esalen Institute

Jesse Chakrin

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

Karl Kroeber

 Project Devel. Director
Former Special Projects Manager, Yosemite Conservancy

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

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