Leadership
"Inside the word ‘emergency’ is ‘emerge’; from an emergency new things come forth. The old certainties are crumbling fast, but danger and possibility are sisters.”
Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark: The Untold History of People Power
Jennifer Gray Thompson, MPA
Founder + Chief Executive Officer, After the Fire USA
Executive Director, Rebuild North Bay Foundation
Valerie Brown
California Wildfire Resilience Fellow, SBP
Reva Feldman
Strategic Advisor
Former City Manager, Malibu
Natalie Minuzzo
Executive Assistant
After the Fire USA / Rebuild NorthBay Foundation Executive Board
Our Executive Board is comprised of regional and national leaders deeply
committed to the resilience and rebuilding of fire affected communities.
Marko Bey is the Founder and Executive Director of Lomakatsi Restoration Project (lomakatsi.org) based in Ashland, Oregon and affected by the Almeda Fire in 2020. Lomakatsi’s ten regional ecosystem restoration programs and associated workforce development initiatives are a primary result of his work. Lomakatsi has a proven record of success serving rural forest-based communities throughout Oregon and Northern California through supporting local jobs, community business infrastructure development, and restoration implementation across thousands of acres of forests and miles of streams. Bey has over 30 years of experience working in forestry and ecosystem restoration from the ground up, working across six western states. His leadership has been essential in orchestrating the formation of collaborative partnerships, including with federal and state agencies, Native American tribes, non-profit organizations, industry, private landowners, and community members. Bey also serves as the President & CEO of Lomakatsi Ecological Services Inc., a full-service wildland firefighting and prescribed fire contracting outfit, and serves as the Board President of the Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative. He participates in a variety of strategic coalitions and committees—working regionally and nationally to advance the full spectrum of ecosystem restoration, job creation, and forest-based community revitalization.
Lisa is a passionate and dedicated environmental scientist with over 15 years of specialized experience in climate mitigation and adaptation, water resources, and biodiversity conservation. She has worked in government, with agriculture and industry leaders, and with leading non-governmental organizations to advance the charge towards net-zero emissions and enhance the resilience of those most vulnerable to climate and wildfire threats. Lisa is an expert at facilitating science-based convenings focused on resilience solutions, often bringing together unlikely partners and elevating leaders of historically marginalized communities.Advisory Board
Our Advisory Board is a volunteer group of leaders in disaster mitigation, response, and recovery. These advisors provide expertise, guidance, and resources that strengthen our mission. We have selected these members for their professional accomplishments, commitment to equitable recovery, and innovative leadership across sectors.
Belinda Brown is a Kosalektawi Band Member of the Ajumawi-Atsuge Nation. (Pit River Tribe). She is also Gidutikad, Northern Paiute and Isleta Pueblo. She has served Indian Country in many capacities over her 30-year career, including her six years as the Executive Director of Strong Family Health Center, an Indian Health Service Clinic in northern California. She has also served as an elected official of her tribe and as tribal administrator. During her work with Lomakatsi Restoration Project as the Tribal Partnerships Director, over the past six years, she has assisted in the formation of the Inter-Tribal Ecosystem Partnership. (ITERP). Belinda currently chairs both the ITERP and DEI Committee of the Rogue Forest Partners.
Adrienne Heinz, Ph.D. is a clinical research psychologist at the VA National Center for PTSD, Public Digital Health Innovation Program and Stanford University. Her research on trauma and resilience complements, informs, and inspires her clinical practice and she has been awarded over 1.5 million dollars in federal and private funding, resulting in over 50 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Heinz also serves as a consultant advising on cultivation of public-private partnerships to expedite healthcare innovation in trauma-impacted communities. Dr. Heinz’s family and community in Healdsburg, California, have been repeatedly impacted by wildfire disasters and she cares deeply about raising awareness of the intersections of climate change, disaster, and mental health.
Diane Moss is a Founder and Director of the Renewables 100 Policy Institute. She is also an independent consultant focused on energy policy, government relations, and sustainability related communications and campaigns for a broad range of entities, including non-profits, clean tech companies, and utilities, among others. Current and recent clients and issue areas include Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on renewable hydrogen related activities, ebee Smart Technologies on US market development of streetlight EV chargers, among other public and private entities in the clean technology field. She also served from 2020-2022 as Policy Director for the California Hydrogen Business Council, for whom she consulted on renewable hydrogen policy from 2017-2020. She additionally served in 2018 as South Coast Air Quality Management District Board Member Consultant and Sustainability Consultant to Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn. In 2017, she South Coast Air Quality Management District Board Member Consultant to Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. Her writing on renewable energy related issues has been published in Wall Street Journal, Beam, Today's Facility Manager, and Cleantechnica, among others. She was also U.S. Policy Advisor to World Future Council, and from 2008-2011, she served as Environmental Deputy to United States Congressmember Jane Harman. Ms. Moss studied at Harvard University and New York University and completed a thesis program in political science in Paris with professors from L'Institut d'Etudes Politques, University of Paris, and HEC. As a high school student, she also was an intern to the Costa Rican Ambassador to UNESCO in Paris.Founding Board Emeritus
We are grateful to the founding leaders whose vision and service helped establish Rebuild NorthBay and guide its evolution into After the Fire USA. Their leadership demonstrated the power of communities to recover, rebuild, and reimagine after disaster.