STAFF
Tamra Peters, Founder, Executive Director, Board of Directors

Picture
Since shortly after the first Earth Day in 1970, Tamra Peters has been working to protect the Earth.  She was on the staff of: The Nature Conservancy as it grew from 17 employees to an international organization; the Natural Resources Defense Council as it began its campaign to stop global warming in the 1980’s; Rainforest Action Network when it launched its campaign against Mitsubishi’s rainforest destruction; and San Francisco Friends of the Urban Forest, where as Executive Director she learned about the power of people coming together to improve their neighborhoods.
 
Tamra has served on the boards of both national Earth Share and Earth Share California. She’s served as president and was a trustee for 18 years of the Strong Foundation for Environmental Values that has supported hundreds of grassroots environmental organizations. Most recently, she served for seven years on Sustainable Marin’s board.
 
Tamra considers climate change to be the most important issue of our time. So after her retirement, she started looking for what she could do.  With the help of several others, she created Resilient Neighborhoods and launched the successful pilot in the fall of 2011.  Since then she has worked full time as a volunteer, running the organization and motivating hundreds of Marin families to reduce their carbon footprints and build more resilient communities. 

Tamra holds an undergraduate degree from Antioch University in Business Management and Psychology and has an MA in Organizational Development from the California Institute of Integral Studies.  She has been a resident of Marin for 31 years.

Tamra as received numerous awards. In 2017, she received the Co-Citizen of the Year Award from the City of San Rafael and the Green Award for Environmental Leadership from the Marin Conservation League.  KPIX TV selected Tamra as a 2019 winner of the Jefferson Award for Doing Good. Tamra is an inductee into the Marin Women's Hall of Fame.  Due to the pandemic, the induction ceremony will take place in March of  2022.
Dara Rosoff-Powell, Programs & Projects 
Picture
Dara has dedicated her career to sustainability education, environmental outreach, and to implementing community based programs that make an impact. She has taught thousands of students and adults about the Bay Area ecosystem and inspired people to take actions in their daily lives to protect it. She worked with the City of Berkeley, the City of Oakland and the East Bay Regional Park District, inspiring countless students to protect the marine environment and facilitated the engagement of many hundreds of volunteers.
​
Previously, she engaged food service establishments and the public in strategies to reduce single-use disposables, tracking and measuring the waste prevention that occurred as a result of her work. She collaborated with eight municipal partners across the Bay Area and served as the lead trainer on program implementation. She is educated in Global Sustainability through UCLA, holds a BA from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and is educated in art and marine science. She loves finding elegant solutions to complex problems and working on climate change in her own community. She lives in Marin with her husband and daughter.
Erica Heimberg, Development Director
Picture
Erica is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), and leads fundraising efforts for Resilient Neighborhoods as part-time Development Director. She believes in the power of philanthropy as a form of action to create the world we want to live in.  Erica is a Resilient Neighborhoods Climate Action Team graduate. She fulfilled her pledge to purchase an electric vehicle in 2019!                     
​For three decades, Erica has successfully raised funds and created communications for organizations dedicated to a healthy planet and just democracy. Her work has helped protect and restore national parklands at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, protect endangered sea turtles and salmon through the Turtle Island Restoration Network, and advance the missions of numerous nonprofit clients. She is honored to work with Resilient Neighborhoods to help more people reduce their greenhouse gas pollution and build safe and healthy communities.

Erica is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and earned the group’s CFRE certification, documenting success and experience in fundraising. A lifelong Bay Area resident, she holds a BA in English summa cum laude from San Francisco State University. She now lives in the Lagunitas Creek Watershed of Marin County, where she raised two sons who love wilderness and wildlife. She is an avid hiker, writer and animal advocate.
Jennifer Hammond, Communications & Outreach Associate
Picture
Jen joined our team after serving as the Executive Director for Sustainable Fairfax for six years where she focused on bringing community together to reduce waste, conserve water, compost food waste, and learn about a variety of sustainability topics. She was a lead organizer for large community events including Fairfax Streets for People and the Fairfax Craft Faire. Sustainable Fairfax was recognized for its contributions to the Fairfax community and won the Bank of Marin's Spirit of Marin business award in 2015.  Jen enjoys building strong partnerships to support a resilient community and a healthy environment.  She received her MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School. She enjoys the strong sense of community in Fairfax where she lives with her partner and two stepsons (when they are not away at college!). 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Cory Bytof, Chair

Picture
Cory is the Sustainability Program Manager for the City of San Rafael. He co-authored and is responsible for implementing the City’s Climate Change Action Plan 2030, which is being used as a model by the other cities in Marin. Cory also helped form the anti-litter coalition San Rafael Clean, and as a member of the City’s Emergency Operations Center, developed and manages the City’s Emergency Volunteer Center. In addition, Cory is past-chair of the Marin Climate Energy Partnership, a consortium of local governments and public utilities working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Marin County. Cory has a degree in Interdisciplinary Social Science from San Francisco State University. He lives in San Rafael with his wife and has one adult daughter. In his free time he writes musicals and enjoys traveling, cultural exchange, and adventures in nature.

Robert Brown, Co-Chair 

Picture
Bob Brown has been a planning manager and director for 33 years in some of the most progressive cities in the Bay Area, including Palo Alto, Berkeley and San Mateo. He has specialized in reinvigorating downtowns into pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use/mixed-income community centers, promoting environmental protection and facilitating public involvement. He was the Community Development Director for the City of San Rafael for 13 years and acted as the City’s Sustainability Coordinator. He authored San Rafael’s Climate Change Action Plan and the BERST model green building ordinance, one of the most stringent in the nation, which has been adopted by several Marin jurisdictions and won a Leadership in Sustainability Award from the Marin Builders Association. Bob is also an adjunct faculty member at Dominican University, teaching in the Sustainable Practices Certificate Program.
 
Bob believes that government must be a catalyst in moving residents and businesses toward more sustainable lifestyles and business practices. He is a strong advocate for coordinated local action to fill the void of national leadership. He is a regular speaker at the League of California Cities, the Local Government Commission and the American Planning Association.
 
Bob holds an undergraduate degree in environmental biology from the University of Santa Clara and a Masters in Urban Planning from San Jose State University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Pat Carlone, Sustainable Marin Representative ​
Picture
Pat Carlone has been a resident of West Marin for over 36 years. He is officially retired; however he is busier than ever now that he is focused on his climate activism here in Marin. In 2016, he started organizing the Marin Interfaith Climate Action (MICA) group that became the climate action component of the Marin Interfaith Council.  He is a graduate of the Environmental Forum of Marin Master Class 44 and sits on the Board of Directors of Sustainable Marin.

Since graduating from his Resilient Neighborhoods (RN) team he has gone on to take the CERT training, organize his neighborhood for Emergency Readiness, and joined the Valley Emergency Readiness Group (VERG) in his home of San Geronimo Valley.  He is an RN Coach and part of the RN Ambassador team. 

​He is formerly a high school teacher with West Contra Costa Unified School District, mathematics instructor with Contra Costa Community College, and a systems and data analyst. 
Leslie Stone, Chair of Resilient Neighborhoods Ambassadors
Picture
With a BA in Design from UCLA, Leslie has been in the field of environmental education for most of her career. As the principal of Leslie Stone Associates (LSA) for the past 40 years, she believes passionately in the power of education to enlighten and provide a vehicle for people to make informed choices about how we live our lives, and how we treat each other and our precious planet earth. As an activist and designer of educational exhibits in some of the most well-traveled parks and trails in California, she has had to opportunity to influence millions of visitors from around the world to learn about, enjoy, and preserve wild places.

Leslie has been a national spokesperson for women’s economic development and environmental education. As a founding board president of LA Harvest, she generated economic support for community gardens. As the founding board president of the National Association of Women’s Yellow Pages, and the publisher of the LA Women’s Yellow Pages, she fostered the growth of women’s businesses. As the designer and distributor of the LA Green Pages, she enabled thousands of people find green products and organizations to support. She also served on the board of the Women’s Building and the Women’s Foundation. 
Julie Carlson, Board Member
Picture
Julie is a Resilient Neighborhoods Ambassador who grew up in Marin County.  She is a sustainability activist spreading the word to the myriad groups and institutions she is involved with.  She is an active member of the Sausalito Women’s Club, founding their Sustainability Committee and the Sausalito Presbyterian Church’s Green Team.  Julie’s communities also include Sustainable Mill Valley, the Sierra Club’s Plastic Free Marin initiative and Marin Interfaith Climate Action (MICA) where she works to help green Marin’s congregations and connect spirituality to the natural world.

​Julie has a BA in Communications and an MA in Interpersonal and Small Group Communication from Denver University. Her favorite pastime is hiking in Marin with naturalist Wendy Dreskin. Julie agrees with Joanna Macy: “Hope is not something we have. It’s a verb. It’s something we do.”  
Kimberly Scheibly, Board Member
Picture
Formerly  the Director of Compliance & Customer Relations at Marin Sanitary Service, Kimberly is now an independent consultant helping waste industry companies. She holds degrees from the University of California , Davis, University of San Francisco, and University of California, San Francisco and has  a certificates in Sustainable Practices from Dominican University, and  in Management and Leadership from the California Refuse Recycling Council. 
​
Kimberly lives in San Rafael with her husband, daughter, son and two cats. She likes to hike, read, travel, eat and watch soccer anywhere any time.
Sarah Wotherspoon, Board Member
Picture
Sarah has a Master's Degree in Financial Planning and is the Director of Wealth Management and Principal at Private Ocean,  a West Coast-based wealth management, financial planning and retirement planning firm.  A key part of the culture at Private Ocean is their commitment to the preservation of the planet’s natural resources. They partner with organizations that share their values and support efforts to help educate clients on the changing world around us, including the Marin Mammal Center and SR3- Sealife Response, Rehabilitation and Research. 
​
In her spare time, Sarah focuses on spending time with her husband, two kids and dog. She’s very active in her kids’ schools, often in a financial capacity, and brings financial literacy education to various local groups in Marin County. She also appreciates time on her bike and with books/podcasts.
" Today, everyone wants to achieve these goals, but it always takes someone to ignite the fire under each of us. This program was effective in doing just that. "
-EcoTeam Member,
Creekside Trashbusters

Our History

1Our Vision: Marin’s residents live in a resilient community—in harmony with nature’s cycles; in accord with regional resources of water, energy and food; and in strong connection with one another and with locally rooted businesses. Marin is a community that can respond effectively, with flexibility and strength, to inevitable changes in local and global conditions.

Resilient Neighborhoods' pilot program in 2011 helped 100 Marin households, organized into 20 Climate Action Teams, lose 500,000 pounds of carbon. The program has grown from there, spreading to households and neighborhoods throughout Marin.

Tamra Peters came up with the idea for Resilient Neighborhoods in 2009. The Low Carbon Diet workbook served as the inspiration for the program. The program is localized to Marin, and builds community among participants and within neighborhoods as it spreads.

Our program partners make Resilient Neighborhoods possible. Sustainable Marin acts as our fiscal agent; Dominican University’s Green MBA students worked on the Handbook and database development; the County of Marin’s Energy Upgrade California Program staff helped with expenses and acted as Climate Action Team coaches; and the City of San Rafael’s staff contributed to all aspects of the program.