Junko Bryant (she/her/hers)
Co-Executive Director

Junko joined Grassroots Ecology in 2009 to launch the Redwood Grove restoration project, and held various positions in the organization before stepping into the Co-Executive Director role, where she is currently focusing on staff and program management, and development and implementation of the strategic plan and DEI action plan. She has a special interest in how cities intersect with nature and continues to oversee urban projects in Redwood City, East Palo Alto, and Palo Alto. Junko holds a B.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University and a Master of Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Alex Von Feldt (she/her/hers)
Co-Executive Director

Alex was the Executive Director of Grassroots Ecology when the organization was founded in 2016. As of 2023, Alex became Co-Executive Director with Junko Bryant, creating a shared leadership structure. Alex oversees funding and financial management, and she enjoys enabling new programs that improve local biodiversity, engage the community and advance equity - all at the same time. Alex has experience as a project manager in the fields of business consulting and software development and has a degree in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Paola Bueno (she/her/hers)
Project Lead

Paola joined Grassroots Ecology in winter 2021 as a college intern. Prior to joining, she worked as an interpretive aid for the East Bay Regional Parks where she had her first encounters with the outdoors, which led to her interest in restoration and environmental justice. As a lifetime Bay Area resident, Paola is excited to be a part of restoration projects in urban areas and hopes to outreach disadvantaged communities and help create positive experiences with nature and the land.

Fran Callan
Business Director

Fran, an experienced start-up professional, joined Grassroots Ecology in 2018. She brings to the position an extensive background in community service, as well as prior experience establishing a non-profit organization. Fran enjoys the outdoors and is a strong believer in working to preserve our California native environments. She has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Claire Elliott
Senior Ecologist Emeritus

Prior to joining Grassroots Ecology in 2006, Claire spent 30 years as an environmental scientist and engineer, including work with the USEPA and EOA, Inc. on industrial and stormwater pollution. In her non-profit work, she developed a volunteer monitoring program for the Stevens Creek Watershed, wrote pollution prevention procedures for coffee processors in Nicaragua, and was an environmental educator at Hidden Villa. Claire has a B.S. in biology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, one year of freshwater ecology studies at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering and Science from Stanford.

Tyler Feld (he/him/his)
Project Lead

Tyler’s love of the outdoors began from early childhood experiences exploring the oak woodlands of Southern California and the pine forests of the Sierra Nevadas. As a teenager with a career goal to “protect the trees,” he pursued a B.A. Environmental Studies from UC Santa Cruz. Following his degree, Tyler spent 5 years teaching and directing overnight outdoor education programs throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas to share his love of the outdoors with youth. His continued love of ecology and stewardship led him to start with Grassroots Ecology in 2021.

Deanna Giuliano
Nursery Director / Botanical Consultant

Deanna has nurtured thousands of native plants since taking the reins of our nursery in 2006, including rolling out new protocols to ensure pathogen-free nursery stock. She has served as president of the Santa Cruz Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, and remains active in CNPS initiatives such as Rare Plant Treasure Hunts. Deanna previously worked for Central Coast Wilds and the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum. She has an A.S. in Horticulture from Cabrillo College and a B.A. in Environmental Studies/Biology with an emphasis in Plant Ecology from UC Santa Cruz.

Claire Grist (she/her/hers)
Project Manager

Before joining Grassroots Ecology in 2018, Claire was working on Catalina Island at the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program where she led volunteer programs in habitat restoration, invasive species removal, trail building, and garden design. Claire has also had many exciting seasonal work opportunities including building autonomous homes with Earthship Biotecture, leading a trail crew in the backcountry of Olympic National Park, and sailing a 125-foot schooner from Maine to Cuba. Claire has her Bachelors of Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon.

Stanley Gu (he/him/his)
Ecologist I

Growing up in the Bay Area, Stanley developed an obsession with the local flora and bringing biodiversity back to our urban areas. He participated in Grassroots Ecology's California Naturalist Certification Program in 2021 and joined as a Watershed Stewards Program Corpsmember later that year. In his free time, he enjoys propagating native plants and sharing his love of botany with others. Stanley has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University.

Paul Heiple
Botanist Emeritus

Paul is a naturalist, interested in all aspects of science in the natural world. He is an active member of the California Native Plant Society Santa Clara Valley Chapter, San Mateo County Weed Management Area, and Portola Valley Conservation Committee. He also volunteers as head Friday weeder at Edgewood County Park and at Jasper Ridge where he participates in the biannual ant survey. A geologist by training, Paul worked for Getty Oil Company exploring for oil in the Williston Basin of North Dakota. Paul retired from Grassroots Ecology in August 2019 but continues to support our programs in a consultative and educational capacity.

Katarina La Poll (she/her/hers)
Communications Coordinator

Katarina joined Grassroots Ecology in 2023 to support the organization’s mission through her love of storytelling. Prior to joining, she worked as a ghostwriter where she interviewed people and wrote biographies to preserve their voice and life stories. Having grown up in the Bay Area, many of Grassroots Ecology’s restoration sites hold a special place in her heart. She studied theater arts at UC Santa Cruz before moving to New York City to finish her B.A. in Humanities and later completed an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Outdoors, she loves climbing trees, scuba diving, and sea-otter’ing down rivers.

Valerie Lee (she/her/hers)
Community Engagement Manager

Born and raised in California, Val is an advocate for prioritizing diversity in both wildlife and human communities. After learning to care for habitats while earning her B.S. in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Barbara, she joined Grassroots Ecology in 2016 to manage habitat restoration projects and lead educational events. Now, her focus is to bolster Grassroots Ecology's community engagement strategies to be more inclusive through staff development, programs, partnerships, and outreach. Her goal is to invite community members facing systemic barriers to engage with nearby nature, to support their relationship with land, self, and one another.

Emily Sharp (she/her/hers)
Project and Operations Lead

Emily joined Grassroots Ecology in 2019 as a Climate Corps AmeriCorps Fellow supporting restoration at Byrne Preserve and Redwood Grove. A Colorado native and lover of hiking and camping, Emily has a passion for land conservation and environmental education. Prior to joining Grassroots Ecology, she worked in development and communications at the Pacific Forest Trust in San Francisco. She holds a degree in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Vanderbilt University.

Stephanie Saffouri
Project Lead

Stephanie is interested in urban ecology and creating connections between communities and their natural spaces. A Bay Area native, she is excited to apply her field ecology background to her local community. Stephanie has done research in a wide range of habitats from salt marshes to the Hawaiian rainforest. She has a B.A. in biology from Pomona College and an M.S. in biology from San Francisco State University.

Siena Watson (she/her/hers)
Ecologist I

Siena joined Grassroots Ecology in 2019 as a Watershed Stewards Program Corpsmember. She loves learning about locally native plants and connecting people to nature through plants. Prior to joining Grassroots Ecology, she studied marine food webs as a Marine Laboratory Research Assistant with Point Blue Conservation Science and was a summer intern with Grassroots Ecology in 2018. She holds a B.S. in Marine and Coastal Science from UC Davis.

Laurel Wee (she/her/hers)
Project Lead

Laurel Wee is an alumnus of UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, where she specialized in Conservation Planning with an Environmental Communication focus. While at Bren, she worked with Parks California as a Resource Stewardship Intern and researched tools used by park planners to balance public access and resource protection. Previously, Laurel worked in environmental education for four years as a Teacher and then as a Program Director. She received a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Biology from UC Santa Cruz. Laurel is passionate about environmental stewardship that connects community engagement, education opportunities, and climate solutions. She joined Grassroots Ecology as a Project Lead for the Redwood City sites in January 2023.

Kristen Williams (she/her/hers)
Habitat Restoration Director

Kristen first developed her love of the outdoors growing up in the North Coast town of Mendocino. Prior to joining Grassroots Ecology in 2013, she was a nursery assistant at Flowers by the Sea in Mendocino County and an intern at the Filoli gardens in Woodside. While earning her degree in Geography/Environmental Studies from UCLA, Kristen interned at the non-profit TreePeople and worked with the Department of Geography to begin restoring the last remaining plot of native vegetation on campus.

Ruby Choy-Angulo
she/her/hers

Ulysses Molina
he/him/his

Jeweliette Pearson
she/her/hers

Raymundo Salgado
he/him/his

Jade Sears
she/they/them

Brian Tatsuta
he/him/his