BOARD OF DIRECTORS
NAOMI FEGER
PRESIDENT
Naomi has devoted many years to protecting and restoring water quality in the Bay. She is an avid supporter of ecosystem restoration and bringing back wild habitats in California. She has spent the last 25 years working in the environmental field. One of her biggest accomplishments has been participating in the remediation of the former Hamilton Air Field, making the wetland restoration there a reality. She looks forward to continuing the great partnership between the Friends of the San Pablo Bay Refuge and the Refuge. Naomi lives in the East Bay.
JUSTIN BODELL
SECRETARY
Justin has worked in the environmental restoration and conservation field since moving to the north bay in 1998. He is passionate about introducing people to kayaking, fishing, and hunting on the refuge. A board member since 2017, he is grateful for the opportunity that volunteering for the Friends has provided him to give back to the refuge. Justin is a Landscape Architect and lives in Santa Rosa with his wife and two young children. Besides hunting and fishing, he enjoys carving duck decoys, tying fishing flies, and playing banjo.
BRUCE KING
TREASURER
Bruce is a consulting CFO to small and mid-size businesses. He holds a degree in Economics from Colgate University and an MS in Accounting, an MBA in Finance from New York University and became a CPA while at Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC). In 2015 he started Kingsbrook Advisors to provide fractional financial and strategic consulting expertise, recognizing the challenges faced by small to mid-size businesses that can’t justify a full time CFO or COO but need the expertise to help put the process and people in place to provide a sustainable, scalable infrastructure and meaningful financial reporting to drive informed decisions.
Bruce grew up in Marin and developed an understanding of the importance of conservation hiking and fishing on Mt. Tamalpais and in the Sierras with his grandfather who taught him to “always leave it a little better than the way you found it”. He and his two teenagers spend every chance they get in the outdoors hunting, fishing, camping and exploring.
STEVE CARROLL
VICE PRESIDENT
Steve is a founding board member of the Friends of San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge. He has focused his professional career on conserving and restoring wetlands throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Steve works for Ducks Unlimited, a non-profit wetland conservation organization. He has been working to conserve and restore wetlands and associated habitats for over twenty years throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and coastal California. He founded Ducks Unlimited’s Bay Area office located in Vallejo and supervises the engineering services. Steve has a Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering from Humboldt State University and a Master of Engineering Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Steve resides in west Marin County with his wife and daughter and enjoys sailing, fishing, biking, and hunting.
FRAN MCTAMANEY
BOARD MEMBER
For years Fran was the environmental education coordinator for the SFBNWR Complex. During her last years at the Refuge, the Friends published its first children’s book on the Salt marsh mouse, an endangered species. This story, “A Home for Salty” was used in our education programs. We found an illustrator and author to make it into a picture book and thousands of these books were given to elementary teachers over the years.
BETH HUNING
BOARD MEMBER
Beth has been passionate about protecting the environment since she was a child growing up in Condor country on the outskirts of Taft, California. Beth was the Director for 18 years of the 900-acre Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary. In 1996 she was instrumental in helping to develop and launch the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture (SFBJV), and in 2001 became its Coordinator. After hitting a milestone of 75,000 acres protected, restored, or enhanced, Beth retired from the SFBJV in 2019 to focus on her photography. She was President of the North American Nature Photography Association.
ARIANA RICKARD
BOARD MEMBER
Ariana is the Public Policy and Funding Program Manager at Sonoma Land Trust. She works with state and federal agencies and legislators to ensure that the Land Trust’s programs and projects receive adequate funding and support. Ariana has worked for several federal government agencies, including the Peace Corps in Ecuador, and numerous environmental nonprofits, such as Audubon California and the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture. She earned her BA from Harvard College in Environmental Science and Public Policy and her MS from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a focus on Ecology.
LEIA GiAMBASTIANI
BOARD MEMBER
Leia serves as Restoration Director for Point Blue Conservation Science. She has more than 25 years of experience working with plants, students and native plant restoration. In 2006 she was hired as a Nursery Manager for San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge under the Students and Teachers Restoring A Watershed Program (STRAW) and has continued working with this program under Point Blue . Leia is passionate about native plants and has volunteered with the Milo Baker Chapter of the Native Plant Society for more than 15 years. In her free time, Leia loves gardening, running, playing soccer, coaching and being a mom.