Committee for Green Foothills is governed by
dedicated Board of Directors, each of whom offer their volunteer services in order to further the Committee's protection of local open space.

Nancy Arbuckle, Redwood City
Nancy is a freelance writer and book editor. She has written and edited a number of books including city guides to sustainable businesses. Nancy has served on the Board of Directors of Sequoia Audubon Society where she was Conservation Advocate for three years.
She is also involved in raising funds and volunteering for local public schools. Nancy has lived in San Mateo County for almost 25 years and loves to hike on Peninsula trails and cook locally grown produce.

Clinton Brownley, Cupertino
Clinton is an independent policy and analytics consultant living in Cupertino. He has worked with federal, county, and city organizations, including the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, the County of Santa Clara, and the Town of Los Altos Hills. He is a Planning Commissioner in the City of Cupertino and also serves on several local policy advisory committees, including the Santa Clara Valley Water District's Environmental Advisory Committee and the Valley Transportation Authority's Citizens Advisory Committee. He and his wife enjoy walking through and exploring the region's many beautiful open spaces.

Matt Burrows (Vice President), San Carlos
Matt developed his passion for our foothills as a lifelong Peninsula resident and hiking enthusiast. He is Vice President/Partner of The Stock Answer, a gaming industry consulting firm, and administrates the Frank Burrows Memorial Scholarship Fund, benefiting mathematics for the East Side Union High School District in San Jose.

Helen Chapman, (Secretary) San Jose
A 25 year resident of San Jose and currently employed by San Jose Unified School District, Helen served six years as a Parks Commissioner for the City of San Jose and board member of Our City Forest and is the Secretary for the newly formed San Jose Parks Foundation. She continues to be a vocal advocate for open space and accessible parks in her area. Growing up in the East Bay, Helen has an appreciation for open space and outdoor activity and dedicates her time so that the next generation will have the same opportunities. Helen received the Outstanding Women of Silicon Valley award in 1996 for her work on establishing a park in her neighborhood and is currently Vice President of her association.

Jennifer Couperus, Mountain View
A native of the Peninsula, Jennifer is a second-generation activist in the preservation of local open space resources. She grew up a neighbor of Lois Crozier-Hogle and Wallace Stegner, two founders of the Committee for Green Foothills, before attending and graduating from University of New Hampshire.  She eventually returned to the Bay Area after working in Boston for some years, and since then has held a number of positions with hi-tech companies in Silicon Valley. A resident of Mountain View, she has been active in several environmental initiatives.

Jim Foran, San Jose
Former Director of Engineering at Silicon Graphics, Jim is an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority (OSA), a Member of the Board of The Bay Area Ridge Trail Council and The San Francisco Bay Trail. He is also a Member of the Independent Monitoring Committee of the Santa Clara Valley Water District. He has a long history as a grassroots activist in the City of Milpitas, where he led the campaign for Measure Z, the Urban Growth Boundary. He served as a Santa Clara County Park Commissioner for nine years before his election to the OSA Board.

Gail Kaiser, Palo Alto
Gail Kaiser has lived with her family in Santa Clara County for over 20 years. During this time, she has treasured our ecologically diverse open space, which she has hiked extensively. Gail graduated from Santa Clara University with a B.S. in Economics, earned her MBA there 5 years later, and taught a marketing strategy class to SCU undergraduates while working at IBM. She has worked in telecommunications and Internet applications as a product manager and marketing consultant, focusing on creating productive teams to successfully develop and market new products and services. Gail has volunteered extensively in public schools and youth sports to develop children’s physical, mental, and social skills and in non-partisan public advocacy to build a better world for future generations.

Peter LaTourrette, Los Altos
Retired from electronics consulting and currently an active birder/photographer, Peter serves on the boards of Peninsula Conservation Foundation Trust Fund and Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, where he is Treasurer.

Alex Kennett, Morgan Hill
Alex is a Real Estate EcoBroker with Intero Real Estate as well as a Certified Green Building Professional. He is a member and former chair of the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce and serves on the board of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network. He is an elected member of the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority and sees himself as “a bridge between business and the environment.” He is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel.

Margaret MacNiven, (President) La Honda
Margaret has owned and managed Buck’s Restaurant in Woodside together with her husband since 1991. President Woodside Friends of the Library. She lives on 80 beautiful acres in San Mateo County, and raised her three sons in their alternative energy house — solar electricity and no TV!

Mark Medeiros, San Jose
Mark is the Farm Manager and Co-Founder of Veggielution, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to empower youth and adults from diverse backgrounds to create a sustainable food system in San Jose. The organic farm he started at Emma Prusch Park in East San Jose is surrounded on two sides by the massive overhead Hwy 880/280 interchange, and, just as Mark’s interests center around the issues of urban fringe agriculture and open space preservation, the farm is both literally and figuratively at the juxtaposition of nature and urban development.

Jeff Segall, PhD, Mountain View
Physical Chemist; Chairman of the Stanford Open Alliance.

April Vargas, Montara
Long-time coastal protection activist and MidCoast Community Council member, April was named the 19th Assembly District’s Woman of the Year in 2002 in recognition of her environmental leadership, was one of seven women named to the 2002 Coastside Hall of Fame, was and was named Favorite Coastside Activist by the Half Moon Bay Review in 2003. April served as an elected member of the MidCoast Community Council for four years, one of which she served as chair, was active in the “Yes! on F” and “Yes! on Measure T” Campaign Committees, and served as a Legislative Advocate for CGF from 2003–2005.

Bill Whitmer (Treasurer), Palo Alto
A retired Manufacturing VP at Komag, Inc., Bill serves as Treasurer of the Hidden Villa Board. Bill helps seniors as the local coordinator of the Los Altos Tax Aide program and as a computer teacher at Avenidas. Since retirement, he has consulted with a variety of non-profits on organizational, financial and strategic planning issues. Hiking the foothills reminds Bill of our responsibility to thoughtfully conserve our precious open space.

Director Emeritus
Tom Jordan, Palo Alto
A Palo Alto resident since 1965, Tom is a retired attorney who specialized in land use and environmental law. He is a former Adjunct Professor in environmental law at San Jose State University, and has served as President of Committee for Green Foothills, Vice President and General Counsel for Save San Francisco Bay Association, and Director and General Counsel for the Peninsula Conservation Foundation. Tom is also a past President of both the San Jose Symphony and the San Jose Symphony Foundation.