Board and Staff
Board Members of RLF and RLFF:
Because Resources Legacy Fund (RLF) and its supporting
organization, Resources Legacy Fund Foundation (RLFF) share the
same mission, staff, and operational strategy, they also share
distinguished members on their boards, with RLFF having one
additional member. RLF and RLFF are honored to have the
commitment, excellence, and expertise of these board members.
Don McGrath, Vice Chair
Mr. McGrath is Chairman of Bank of the West and Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the bank’s holding company,
BancWest Corporation. Mr. McGrath joined Bank of the West in
1975, and became President in 1991 and CEO in 1996. During his
tenure at Bank of the West, he also held the positions of Vice
President and Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer, Director, and
Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer. Mr.
McGrath retired as CEO of Bank of the West at the end of 2007.
Mr. McGrath serves on the MasterCard U.S. Region Advisory
Board and the board of directors of Deluxe Corporation. He is
active in community affairs and serves on boards as diverse as
Financial Services Roundtable, The Nature Conservancy of
California, Operation HOPE Inc., Dominican University of San
Rafael, and Commonwealth Club of California.
John Schmidt is the former Executive Director of Resources
Legacy Fund and Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. Beginning in
2001, Mr. Schmidt served as the organization's Executive
Director and as Program Director for RLF's San Francisco Bay
Wetlands Restoration project.
Prior to joining RLF, Mr. Schmidt was the Executive Director
of the California Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB),
California's leading conservation real estate and restoration
agency, for 18 years. He is past president of the Organization
of Wildlife Land and Realty Specialists, and has worked on
several committees of the International Association of Fish and
Wildlife Agencies. Mr. Schmidt also worked in land-related
activities with the California Division of Highways and the
Alaska Department of Highways.
Mr. Schmidt holds a California Community College Teaching
Credential, is a certified real estate appraiser and a former
member of the City of Lodi Planning Commission.
Jeanne Sedgwick is the former director of the Conservation
Program at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in Los Altos,
California. She oversaw the program's growth from an annual
grants budget of $500,000 in 1989 to $100 million in 2000. Under
her direction in 1998, the Conservation Program launched the
5-year, $175 million Conserving California Landscapes
Initiative, which helped protect nearly 500,000 acres of
California's critical habitats.
She has served in a variety of board positions, most recently
including chairman of the board of the Consultative Group on
Biological Diversity, the national affinity group of private
foundations working on biodiversity conservation, and vice
chairman of the board of trustees at Phillips Brooks School, an
independent school in Menlo Park, California. She is a member of
the strategic planning committee at Jasper Ridge Biological
Preserve at Stanford University.
Will Shafroth, Secretary/Treasurer
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In 2001, Will Shafroth founded and became Executive Director
of the Colorado Conservation Trust, a community foundation for
conservation. From 1994 to 2001, Mr. Shafroth served as the
first Executive Director of the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust
Fund, a state program that distributed $250 million in lottery
funds for parks, open space, wildlife, trails, and environmental
education.
As Assistant Secretary for Land and Coastal Resources for the
California Resources Agency, he was responsible for the
development and implementation of policies on agricultural
lands, rivers, wetlands, oceans, and the coast. He has also
served as Western Regional Director of the American Farmland
Trust, a nonprofit farmland conservation organization.
Gordon Smith is the former President and CEO of the Pacific
Gas and Electric Company, one of the nation's largest
investor-owned energy utilities. Mr. Smith was also Senior Vice
President of the utility's parent company, PG&E Corporation. He
joined Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 1970 as a financial
analyst and held a number of executive financial positions in
the company, serving as Treasurer, Vice President of Finance,
and Senior Vice President. He was the utility's Chief Financial
Officer from 1991 to 1997.
Mr. Smith is the former Director of the California Chamber of
Commerce and the Bay Area Council. He serves as trustee for The
Monterey Bay Aquarium, and has served as a Trustee of the
University of San Francisco and The California Foundation on the
Environment and Economy.
Barton H. Thompson, Jr., Chair
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Barton H. "Buzz" Thompson, Jr. is Vice-Dean of the Stanford
Law School, where he also serves as Robert E. Paradise Professor
of Natural Resources Law, and as Academic Director of the
Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Department. A
widely published author and recognized expert in water resource
issues, Mr. Thompson is Contributing Editor to Water Strategist
and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Natural Heritage
Institute.
Mr. Thompson has worked as a partner at the law firm of
O'Melveny & Meyers, instructor at University of California at
Los Angeles, and law clerk to United States Supreme Court
Justice William H. Rehnquist. Today, he is a member of the
California and American Bar Associations and serves as a Trustee
of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute.
Barry Williams is the founder and President of Williams
Pacific Ventures, Inc., a real estate and private equity
investment and consulting firm. Previously, Mr. Williams served
as general partner of WDG Ventures, Inc. and was President and
majority stockholder of C. N. Flagg Power, Inc. He was a
consultant with McKinsey and Company and The Bechtel Group in
their investment programs.
Mr. Williams also serves on the boards of PG&E Corporation,
the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, and several
other publicly traded companies. In civic affairs, he is
Chairman of the Board of the African American Experience Fund
and a director for the American Management Association.
Mr. Williams has been President of the Harvard Alumni
Association and interim CEO of the American Management
Association. He recently concluded a six-year term on the board
of the National Park Foundation.
Board Member of RLFF:
Jim Eaton, serving solely on the board of Resources Legacy
Fund Foundation, is a founder and former Executive Director
(1981 to 1997) of the California Wilderness Coalition, a
nonprofit corporation committed to protecting California's wild
places and native biodiversity on a statewide level. He also is
a founder of The Wildlands Project, which envisions establishing
a network of protected areas and linkages to reestablish the
native biodiversity of North America, and has served as the
California and Hawaii Regional Representative of The Wilderness
Society.
Mr. Eaton helped organize and serves as a director of
Tuleyome, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the
agricultural and wild heritages of the Putah Creek and Cache
Creek watersheds and associated regions. He also is a fellow
with The Rewilding Institute, which is providing a long-term,
hopeful vision for conservation in North America.
RLF and RLFF Staff:
Michael R. Eaton, Executive
Director
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Mike Eaton provides executive leadership and vision to RLF
and RLFF. In this role, he develops and implements the
organizations’ long-term objectives, develops and coordinates
conservation program areas, oversees external communications,
and is responsible for donor relations.
Mr. Eaton brings with him diverse experience of work in the
public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Most recently, Mike
served for more than a decade as a Senior Project Director with
The Nature Conservancy, overseeing the Conservancy’s work in the
Cosumnes River watershed and the North Delta. In that role, he
oversaw the growth of the Cosumnes River Preserve from fewer
than 5,000 acres to nearly 50,000 acres and pioneered a number
of innovative conservation strategies and partnerships. Prior to
joining The Nature Conservancy, Mr. Eaton headed his own private
consulting practice, with clients in the renewable energy,
hazardous waste processing, and real estate development
industries. Early in his career he worked for the California
Resources Agency, the Governor’s Office of Planning and
Research, and the Sierra Club. He serves on the board of Valley
Vision and is an advisor to the California Institute for Public
Affairs.
Sue Haderle, Chief Operating
Officer/Chief Financial Officer
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Ms. Haderle joined RLF and RLFF in 2006 to provide oversight
of programs and initiatives, as well as to manage finance,
accounting, and investments along with the ongoing operations of
both organizations.
Ms. Haderle brings over 25 years of experience in finance,
accounting, and management. Most recently, she was a director in
the Controller’s Office at Stanford University. Prior to that,
she was regional vice president of Horn Murdock Cole, a national
consulting firm providing business solutions in accounting and
finance, corporate governance, and information technology. Ms.
Haderle has held various finance and accounting management
positions with high-tech companies. She is currently on the
board of the Center for Land-Based Learning.
Ms. Haderle holds an MBA in Finance from the University of
Colorado, Boulder.
Meghan Moda, Conservation Program Administrator
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Meghan Moda joined the RLF and RLFF team in August 2007 as
Conservation Program Administrator. Her primary role is
oversight and management of the San Francisco Bay Wetlands and
San Joaquin River Restoration programs at RLF. She also provides
grant and contract administration for various other RLF and RLFF
projects and programs, including RLF’s carbon offset program.
Meghan’s experience includes community organizing, contract
administration, and research on environmental conservation and
management issues. She holds an M.A. in Environmental Science
and Policy from Clark University, served as an Albert Schweitzer
Fellow in 2006-2007 working on environmental justice and health
issues in urban Massachusetts’ neighborhoods, and has experience
with various grassroots nonprofits including the Toxics Action
Center. Prior to attending graduate school, she worked as a case
manager for the alternative dispute resolution non-profit,
American Arbitration Association.
Photograph by Doug Steakley
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