The Santa Lucia Conservancy Board of Trustees is a blend of Preserve community members and at-large members who together bring expertise in the natural sciences, conservation, law, business and management.
Board Members
- Michael Sutton, Chair
- Jim Andrasick, Vice Chair
- Rick Frank, Treasurer
- Lorraine Yglesias, Secretary
- Rick Werner, Preserve Board Representative
- Paul Kranhold, Preserve Board Representative
- Buzz Thompson, Sonoran Institute Representative
- Tom Gray, Emeritus Board Member and Preserve Founder
- Cheryl Thiele
- Scot Smythe
- Kathy Siegel
- Dr. Bill Shaw
- Dr. Andrew Lawson
- Scott Hennessy
- Richard Schaefer
Pictured from left, back row: Scot Smythe, Tom Gray, Kathy Siegel, Jim Andrasick, Paul Kranhold; front row: Rick Werner, Scott Hennessey, Lorraine Yglesias, Cheryl Thiele, Rick Frank.
Committee Assignments 2021-2022
Executive Committee
Committee Chair: Michael Sutton
Members: Jim Andrasick, Rick Frank, Lorraine Yglesias, Buzz Thompson, Rick Werne, Paul Kranhold
Finance Committee
Committee Chair: Rick Frank
Members: Jim Andrasick, Scot Smythe, Dr. Bill Shaw
Governance Committee
Committee Chair: Scot Smythe
Members: Scott Hennessy, Lorraine Yglesias
Audit Committee
Committee Chair: Dr. Bill Shaw
Ecological Management Committee
Committee Chair: Dr. Andrew Lawson
Members: Dr. Bill Shaw, Scott Hennessy
Communications & Outreach Committee
Committee Chair: Kathy Siegel
Members: Lorraine Yglesias, Cheryl Thiele, Paul Kranhold
Michael Sutton, Chair
Michael Sutton joined the Board in 2014. He is a social entrepreneur and internationally recognized conservation leader who currently serves as Executive Director of the Goldman Environmental Foundation. He has also served as Chair of the Wild Salmon Center, conserving wild salmon across the North Pacific; Chair of COMPASS—a science communication organization; and as a founding Board member and Chair of Ocean Champions, the first political action committee for the oceans. He also served as a member of the summer faculty at the Vermont Law School, where he teaches ocean & coastal law. The second edition of his book, Ocean & Coastal Law and Policy, was published by the American Bar Association in 2015. Previously, Mike served as Vice President, Pacific Flyway with the National Audubon Society. Governor Schwarzenegger twice appointed Mike to the California Fish & Game Commission, where he served from 2007-2015 and was instrumental in creating the nation’s largest network of marine protected areas. He was elected President of the Commission for two years and served as a member of the state’s Wildlife Conservation Board. Mike also served for eight years as Vice President of the Monterey Bay Aquarium where he founded the Center for the Future of the Oceans, the Aquarium’s conservation advocacy arm. Before that, Mike helped establish ocean conservation programs at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund, where he founded the London-based Marine Stewardship Council. Mike received a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Utah State University and a law degree in international and natural resources law from George Washington University’s National Law Center in Washington, D.C. Mike and his family live in Carmel Valley, California.
James Andrasick, Vice Chair
Jim joined the Conservancy Board in 2019. He is currently chairman of Simpson Manufacturing (NYSE:SSD), an international provider of engineered construction products. Jim is the retired chairman, president & CEO of Matson Navigation, a transportation company serving the Pacific Rim, and the past president of C. Brewer & Co. Ltd., a Hawaii-based agribusiness with substantial landholdings, both domestic and international. Jim’s non-profit experience spans over 30 years and includes past chairman of the University of Hawaii Foundation, the American Red Cross-Hawaii State Chapter, the Hawaii Employer’s Council and the Hawaii Agricultural Research Corporation. He served as a trustee of Mills College and the SF National Maritime Park Association, two organizations dedicated to education. He is presently Chair of the Big Sur Land Trust and a trustee of the Coast Guard Foundation. Jim holds a B.S. degree, with honors, from the US Coast Guard Academy, where he was captain of the basketball team his senior year. He earned an MS degree from MIT in 1971. He is a Vietnam veteran, happily married with four natural children and two foster children from Asia. Jim and wife Ginger own a home at The Santa Lucia Preserve and are avid hikers, gardeners and world travelers.
Richard M. Frank, Treasurer
Rick Frank joined the Board in 2019 and is Professor of Environmental Practice and Director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center (CELPC). Formerly the executive director of the Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment (CLEE) at UC Berkeley School of Law, Professor Frank returned to UC Davis School of Law in January 2010. In addition to leading the CELPC, he teaches numerous classroom courses in the environmental law curriculum. Before coming to CLEE and UC Berkeley, Professor Frank practiced law with federal and state agencies for 32 years, most of that time with the California Department of Justice. Immediately before joining Berkeley Law, he served as California’s Chief Deputy Attorney General for Legal Affairs. Until being promoted to serve in senior management in the California Department of Justice in 1998-2006, Professor Frank practiced environmental and natural resources law for a quarter century on behalf of numerous client agencies and the People of the State of California. He is quite familiar with land conservancies, having helped draft the enabling legislation of the California Tahoe Conservancy; serving as the CTC’s principal legal counsel for the first 10 years of its existence; and also having provided legal representation to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Coastal Conservancy, Sierra Nevada Conservancy and Delta Conservancy, among others. Rick and his wife live in Pacific Grove, California.
Lorraine Yglesias, Secretary
Lorraine Yglesias is a marketing executive experienced in growing market share for brands with a focus on the Latinx space. Recent efforts include increasing Hispanic visitation to the Monterey Bay Aquarium from 8% to 25%. Prior to joining the Aquarium, Lorraine worked for communications and film companies in San Jose and Los Angeles, including Comcast, Lorimar-Telepictures, and the Hollywood Reporter, where her duties included developing the US Hispanic and Latin American markets for her employers. The daughter of immigrants and as a first-generation college graduate, Lorraine is an advocate and mentor focusing on the intersection of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the environment, social and economic justice, and communications. She currently serves on the board of Santa Cruz Community Ventures focusing on Monterey market development to expand their mission of building compassionate and equitable local economies, the Siembra Latino Fund (a field of interest for the Community Foundation of Monterey County) and Development Committee member for Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Foundation. Lorraine is also serving on an interim marcom workgroup created by the Monterey County Health Department to help advise in the rollout of a community-based initiative VIDA (virus integrated distribution aid) to connect with the most affected sectors of the Monterey county area with access to COVID testing and vaccination, as “Vida” translates to life.
Cheryl Thiele
Cheryl Thiele joined the Board in 2020. She developed a deep passion for nature while being raised on the Monterey Peninsula and carried this with her when she relocated to further her education and become an entrepreneur. During thirty years in Southern California, Cheryl found a distinctive niche curating art programs for hospitals and medical office buildings while helping developers to fulfill mandated public art requirements through monumental sculpture. Much of the artwork she places carries a nature-based theme because of its power to help bring comfort and ease to healing environments. Equally committed to volunteerism, Cheryl was a docent at a contemporary art museum offering tours to adults and children. As an avid mountain biker and hiker, she led guided hikes and mountain bike rides for the Nature Conservancy, Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, and Crystal Cove State Park. Through further training, Cheryl became a National Mountain Bike Patrol Trainer and the Volunteer Leader of a 50-person Mountain Bike Docent/Patrol Group in Orange County, California. Through personal experience, she witnessed how education can help minimize user conflicts and reduce the harmful impacts on fragile habitat due to overuse. In 2018, she returned “home” and became a full-time resident of the Santa Lucia Preserve.
Scot Smythe
Scot Smythe joined the Conservancy Board in 2020. He is an associate director with Redmandarin, a London based sports marketing agency and currently on the faculty of the WP Carey School of Business at the Arizona State University as an associate professor. He also serves as an adjunct professor at California State University Monterey Bay in their College of Business. In the field of sports and event marketing Scot led senior executive roles with SSE, a leading UK energy company based in Glasgow, the Lloyds Banking Group headquartered in London, Visa International as senior vice president based in San Francisco. Prior to his 20 years with Visa Scot managed marketing and sales promotion roles with Volkswagen of America and the Clorox Corporation. Scot serves on the ASU Sports Business Advisory Board and is an advisor to the Board for the Santa Lucia Preserve Community Services District. Scot earned his BA at the University of California Santa Barbara and a Master’s in International Management from the ASU Thunderbird School of Global Management. He is an active area volunteer supporting numerous local events and leads the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) for the Carmel Police Department and the Santa Lucia Preserve. He also serves as a member of the Monterey County Sheriff Search and Rescue Team. A 4th generation Californian and Carmel native, Scot and his wife Judy own a home in the Preserve.
Kathy Siegel
Kathy Siegel joined the Board in 2016 and has been a full-time resident of The Preserve since 2013. Kathy is strongly committed to the preservation of this special place and to the Conservancy’s role in pursuing that mission. After receiving her degree in nursing from the College of San Mateo, Kathy worked as a Registered Nurse at Cedar Sinai hospital in Los Angeles for ten years, specializing in oncology and, later, labor and delivery. Both Kathy and her husband David have been a long-time supporter of numerous environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, the Yosemite Conservancy, the Big Sur Land Trust and the Audubon Society.
Dr. Bill Shaw
Bill first joined the Board in 1995 as a founding member and assisted with the original ecological assessments of The Preserve in the early 1990s. He is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, with degrees from UC Berkeley (Ecological Science), Utah State (Wildlife Management), and the University of Michigan (Natural Resources). His research interests encompass topics combining the biology and socio-political dimensions of wildlife conservation in the U.S. and internationally. Bill serves on the boards of several conservation organizations, and currently serves as the chair of the Conservancy Board’s Science and Stewardship Committee. Bill and his wife Darcy share their time between Tucson AZ and northern California.
Paul Kranhold
Paul Kranhold is a part-time resident of the Santa Lucia Preserve, where he has been a member of the Ranch and Golf Clubs since 2009. Paul is an active conservationist and wildlife enthusiast with a particular interest in watershed management and the protection of endangered steelhead and salmon populations throughout the Pacific Ocean. He is currently Co-President of Sard Verbinnen & Co (SVC), a New York based crisis and financial communications consultancy where he has been working for the last 16 years. SVC specializes in developing and executing communications strategies across stakeholder groups for some of the most complex financial events in the world. Prior to joining SVC, he was Vice President of Corporate Communications at AT&T in New York where he worked until the company was sold in 2004. Earlier in his career, he was Vice President of Communications for the Irvine Company, one of the largest private landowners in California where he helped communicate the benefits of limited development and land conservation on the Irvine Ranch. Paul began his career in Washington as a presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Interior in the George H.W. Bush Administration, where he served on a task force studying the development risks and benefits of the outer continental shelf off the California coast. After returning to his home state, Paul became press secretary to California Governor Pete Wilson.
Scott Hennessy
Scott Hennessy joins the Conservancy Board with a robust background in county planning, environmental restoration, and nonprofit service in Monterey County. With a master’s degree in Marine Biology, Scott currently serves on the boards of the Carmel River Watershed Conservancy and the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation. He has worked as the Director of the Monterey County Planning and Building Department and the Director of the Watershed Institute at CSUMB, founded a native plant nursery focused on providing vegetation for restoration projects as well as a thriving food service business. As a land use consultant, Scott worked on projects including the MPRPD Garland Park Southbank Trail Reconstruction, Palo Corona Aerial Spraying Program, the Palo Corona Parking Facility, and the MPWMD Steelhead Barrier Access Acquisition and Permission to Work Program. Scott is the founding member of the California Mountain Lion Foundation, which worked to develop and pass the California Wildlife Protection Act. He has served as the Chair of both the Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society and the Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club. He has served on the boards of the Hatton Canyon Coalition, which prevented Hatton canyon from becoming a freeway route, the Fort Ord Parklands group, which is responsible for establishing the public lands of Fort Ord today, and Monterey County Resource Conservation District.
Dr. Andrew Lawson
Dr. Andrew Lawson grew up in New Brunswick, Canada, obtaining an honors bachelor’s degree in Biology from Dalhousie University before moving on to the University of California at Berkeley for his PhD and postdoctoral work in entomology. From 2001 to 2013 he served as professor of entomology in the Department of Plant Science at Fresno State and conducted research on integrated pest management in urban forests, grapes, almonds and pistachios. While at Fresno State he served as Associate Dean and Interim Dean for the College of Science and was active in promoting student success and supporting faculty development. Since 2016, Andrew has served as Dean of the College of Science at California State University, Monterey Bay. The College has 2,283 students majoring in nine undergraduate degrees and three master’s degree programs. Dean Lawson is continuing his work to promote the success of the College’s diverse student population and is positioning the College for future growth, including new majors in agriculture, statistics and mechatronics engineering.
Tom Gray, Emeritus Board Member and Preserve Founder
Tom Gray is a founding member of the Santa Lucia Conservancy. He and his late partner Peter Stocker first saw the land that would become the Santa Lucia Preserve in February 1989, envisioning a conservation community of approximately 300 homes on its 20,000 acres. Mr. Gray guided the creation of the Preserve after Peter’s death in May 1990. Mr. Gray is a principal with Pacific Union Company, a diversified Northern California real estate company headquartered in San Francisco, which he joined in 1982. Prior to Pacific Union, Tom was a senior executive at Wells Fargo & Company and ran two of Wells Fargo’s real estate subsidiaries. He is a member of the California State University Monterey Bay President’s Council and led the capital campaign for the university’s Chapman Science Academic Center, the first new building erected on the campus. Tom and his wife Alayna own a home at The Preserve.
Buzz Thompson, Sonoran Institute Representative
Buzz represents the Sonoran Institute on the Conservancy Board. A leading expert in environmental and natural resources law and policy, he has contributed a large body of scholarship on environmental issues ranging from the future of endangered species and fisheries to the use of economic techniques for regulating the environment. Professor Thompson received his B.A. from Stanford University and his JD/MBA from Stanford Law School/Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is the founding director of the law school’s Environmental and Natural Resources Program, the Perry L. McCarty Director and senior fellow of the Woods Institute for the Environment, and a senior fellow (by courtesy) at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. In 2008, the Supreme Court appointed Professor Thompson to serve as the special master in Montana v. Wyoming. Professor Thompson is chairman of the board of the Resources Legacy Fund and the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, a California trustee for The Nature Conservancy, and a board member of both the American Farmland Trust and the Sonoran Institute. He has also served as a member of the Science Advisory Board for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He was a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Joseph T. Sneed of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Richard Schaefer, Sonoran Institute Representative
With more than 35 years of experience in the fi nancial industry, Richard specializes in portfolio development and management. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Arizona, passed the Series 7, 8, 31, 63 and 66 securities exams, is insurance licensed and holds the Accredited Wealth Management designation. Through RBC Wealth Management, Richard is a Chairman’s, President’s or Director’s Council Award recipient since 1994. He received the Dick McFarland Volunteer of the Year award in 2003. This award recognizes employees who made the most outstanding contributions to their community. He also received the Spirit of Philanthropy award for dedication to philanthropic issues in 2006. That same year the community of Tucson awarded him the Father of the Year award. In 2008, Richard received the Dynamic Duo award for extensive community service. And he received the RBC Global Citizen Award in 2017. Outside of the office, Richard is president of the board of directors for St. Augustine High School, is chairman of the Pima County Board of Adjustments, is commissioner for the Pima Commission on Judicial Appointments, on the Tucson Medical Center Audit and Oversight Committee, is a founding member of the Father’s Day Council in Tucson, is a development committee member for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern Arizona, is a board member for JobPath, and chairman for Sonoran Institute. Previously, Richard was a Steele Children’s Research Center board member.