Solana Center Board of Directors

Joel joined the Solana Center in October of 2009. Currently, Joel is Staff Product Manager at Qualcomm where he leads the design and implementation of their Direct to Consumer eCommerce initiatives. Joel also led the product design and commercial launch activities for Qualcomm's first mobile television device into the commercial retail market. Prior to Qualcomm, he held leadership positions in Product Management, Engineering, and Business Development at notable high tech companies including Texas Instruments, Siemens Mobile, Dell, and Hewlett Packard. Joel holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in International Management (MPIA), both from UCSD. Joel is a San Diego native and his personal interests include spending time with his wife and two children, cooking, and reading. He is a distance runner and avid surfer.

Lindsay joined Solana Center in March 2009. She currently practices environmental and land use law at Best Best & Krieger LLP. Lindsay represents local agencies and private clients in matters involving the California Environmental Quality Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, hazardous and solid waste, water quality, global warming, sustainable communities, alternative energy, endangered species laws, and coastal development. Lindsay received her law degree from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law in 2004 and her Bachelor of Arts degree in American Literature and Culture from UCLA in 2001. In addition to the Solana Center, Lindsay is a member of Lawyers Club of San Diego and the Association of Environmental Professionals. Lindsay grew up in North County and attended Torrey Pines High School.

Ruth joined the Solana Center in November of 2010. She is the field director and a restoration biologist for RECON Environmental. At RECON, Ruth currently manages field crews during the implementation and maintenance of ecological restoration projects. Ruth studied Landscape Architecture and Sustainable Design at the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. Ruth has over 10 years of habitat restoration experience in Southern California. As a resident of Encinitas she has been involved with invasive plant management within the Encinitas Creek, San Diego River, San Marcos Creek and their tributaries. Her experience includes the comprehensive design process from the conceptual phase through development and implementation of revegetation plans, irrigation plans, grading and erosion control plans. Ms. Vallejo has worked on projects involving restoration and enhancement of a variety of California habitats including oak woodland, riparian woodland, coastal sage scrub, freshwater marsh and saltwater marsh. Her personal interests include long distance running, basketball, hiking and backpacking.

The Solana Center has been the center of Wootsie’s volunteer life since 1983 when she introduced curbside recycling to her 152 unit condominium complex. Early on, when the executive director left the organization temporarily, she and her husband managed the day to day operations of Solana Recyclers for one year, including curbside recycling collection and taking recyclables to market . Wootsie helped guide the organization through the transition out of recycling collection while broadening our community education programs.

Pamela is a retired educator from the public and private school systems and has degrees from Florida Southern College in education and biology. She has served on the boards of the Burnham Institute and La Jolla Shores Association and has volunteered for Junior League projects and Mentorship of San Diego. She is currently a member of the San Diego Women’s Foundation and Project Concern International. In the early 1990s she and a colleague started an innovative reusable lunch bag company to help reduce the use of paper lunch bags on school campuses. She has been influenced and enlightened by her daughters, who have “green” careers, and through her extensive travels to remote regions of the world.

Maureen has over thirty years of experience in all phases of mortgage banking, including COO to a mortgage banking company start-up and Regional Manager of large mortgage banker.

In 1995, she started O'Brien Group Mortgage Consultants, a consulting firm geared towards advising mortgage banking companies and warehouse leanders, such as First Collateral Services (a division of Citi Group), Flagstar Bank, and Washington Mutual. Recently she took a full time position with Flagstar Bank as Senior Warehouse Field Auditor.

She enjoys golfing, being in Phoenix with her daughter and grandchildren, and spending time with her friends.

As TriStaff Group’s VP, Amy has recruited and placed software professionals for over 24 years for a wide variety of clients in areas such as real time systems, satellite communications, graphics, GUI, database, Internet, bioinformatics, and IT financial and business applications. Born and raised in Hawaii, Amy studied at the University of Hawaii and CSU, Sacramento, where she completed her B.A. degree in Political Science. She received her M.S. degree in Social Sciences & Education from State University of New York at Plattsburgh.

Wayne recently retired from his position at the County of San Diego as the Program Manager for Solid Waste and Recycling. He had been there for 16 years and was in charge of the programs that the Solana Center had with the County. He has a PhD in Plant Pathology and is passionate about organic farming and composting, having grown up on a farm in the mid-west. Wayne has international consulting experience for agribusiness with a USAID contract in the Ukraine and Moldova and others in Central America and Asia. He recently traveled to Brazil consulting on Zero Waste. Wayne is married and lives in San Diego. In 2010, he started a Community Garden at his 160 unit condo complex.

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Solana Center Board of Directors