The Foundation

Staff

Executive Director

Dan Schurman was appointed to his present position in October 2002. He is the former Executive Director of the San Mateo County Food Bank, Sonoma Land Trust, and Sonoma County Bar Association. He has more than 20 years of senior management experience in the nonprofit sector and holds a Masters Degree in Nonprofit Business Administration from the University of San Francisco.

Associate Executive Director

Mark Green joined the Foundation in 2003, and has been a conservation professional since 1986. He was founding Executive Director of Sonoma County Conservation Action, which grew under his leadership into the largest environmental organization on the North Coast of California, from 1990 through 2000. Named Sonoma County Environmentalist of the Year in 1997, he was a founding director of the Friends of the Russian River and served on the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District Advisory Committee. He directs the Foundation's grant fundraising, communications and public policy work.

Restoration Project supervisor

Catherine Cumberland joined our staff in March of 2006. She has been the Land Steward at Fairfield Osborn Preserve and has worked at Sonoma State University's Native Plant Garden since 2003. She also worked as SSU’s Volunteer Liaison to the STRAW program, an environmental education program for K-12 schoolchildren. Catherine graduated from SSU in December 2005 with bachelor's degrees in Environmental Studies and Biology.

Administrative Director

Maggie Hart joined the Laguna Foundation staff in 2005. Her background in nonprofit administration includes working at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, San Francisco's Friends of the Urban Forest and Giant Steps Therapeutic Equestrian Center. Maggie holds an undergraduate degree in Ecology from Evergreen State University.

Director of Education Programs

Christine Fontaine joined the Laguna Foundation as Director of Education Programs in August 2007. She earned a BA from Sonoma State and an elementary teaching credential from Dominican Uni­versity. In addition to a background in business, she has been a docent at Bouverie Preserve since 1996 and for the last 8 years she has worked for Point Reyes National Seashore Association, for the first year as Education Programs Coor­dinator, then as Field Seminars Director.

Restoration Program Director

Julian Meisler joined the Foundation staff in May 2005. His initial task is implementation of the Ludwigia Control Plan. Although Julian has lived in Santa Rosa since 1999, he has spent the past five years traveling to Solano County to work for the Solano Land Trust where he led a variety of restoration projects, developed conservation strategies for land protection, and oversaw research and management on over 10,000 acres of vernal pools, grasslands, tidal sloughs, and tidal marsh. Julian holds a Master's degree in Botany from the University of Vermont and a Bachelor's degree in Natural Resource Management from Colorado State University.

Research Director

Dr. Christina Sloop joined the Laguna Foundation as Research Director in 2006. With a UC Davis Ph.D. in Ecology and San Francisco State University Master’s degree in Conservation Biology, Dr. Sloop has completed research projects on the reproductive ecology of two rare and endangered Mariposa Lilies in Marin County, and recruitment dynamics of invasive Spartina cordgrass hybrids in San Francisco Bay. She has integrated molecular genetic methods into her doctoral research as a Sea Grant Fellow, and in her current research on the population genetic variation of three endangered vernal pool plant species on the Santa Rosa Plain, Sonoma County.

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