Board of Directors
DIANA GIACOMINI HAGAN – CHAIR
CFO/ARTISAN CHEESEMAKER, SAN RAFAEL
Diana is the CFO and co-owner of Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co., a Marin agricultural business with a deep 100-year history. Previously, she was a senior vice president (SVP) at MacFarlane Partners, SVP at Wells Fargo, and VP at Union Bank. The Giacomini family garnered the prestigious 2013 national Leopold Conservation Award for sustainability efforts on their farm.
LISA PONCIA– VICE CHAIR
ATTORNEY AND RANCHER, TOMALES AND NOVATO
Lisa and her husband, Loren, a fourth-generation rancher, operate Stemple Creek Ranch in Tomales, one of the first ranches in the country to pioneer carbon farming practices. Lisa’s business acumen and customer relations skills have helped develop the operation into one of the area’s most well-known grass-fed organic meat producers, with herds on multiple MALT-protected ranches. Lisa is also an accomplished attorney and practices in the areas of estate planning, estate administration, elder law and special needs. She is a certified specialist in estate planning, trust and probate law by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization.
DAVE SCHRADER – TREASURER
FINANCIAL ADVISOR, MILL VALLEY
Dave is a partner at Ohana Advisors, a multifamily financial office for a small group of ultra-high-net-worth families. Dave provides expertise in portfolio strategy, asset allocation, investment selection, estate plan implementation, philanthropy and next generation education and involvement. He also serves on the University of San Francisco Board of Trustees and is chairman of the university’s investment committee. Dave and his wife, Brett Robertson, are longtime supporters of MALT.
KRISTINE BALL — SECRETARY
NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING PROFESSIONAL, MILL VALLEY
Kristine worked in nonprofit fundraising for fifteen years, the last nine as MALT’s Director of Development. She is an avid supporter of Marin agriculture and agricultural land protection. Prior to nonprofits, she worked in investment banking in San Francisco. She lives in Mill Valley and enjoys mushroom hunting and hiking.
MARCIA BARINAGA
SHEEP RANCHER, MARSHALL
Marcia is co-owner of MALT-protected Barinaga Ranch in Marshall, where she raises sheep. With a degree in biology and a diverse career that includes working as a journalist for Science magazine, Marcia now applies her expertise to responsible land management and caring for her East Friesian sheep and Great Pyrenees guardian dogs.
ANDREW GIACOMINI
ATTORNEY, SAN GERONIMO
Andrew runs Giaco’s, a farm to table restaurant in San Geronimo featuring many of the wonderful food products generated from Marin farms and ranches. In addition to MALT, he has served on various non-profit boards, including Legal Aid of Marin, the Buck Family Fund at the Marin Community Foundation, the Bay Area Council, and the Bar Association of San Francisco, and supported many local projects building ballfields, playgrounds and a gym. He is passionate about agriculture in general and improving housing for agricultural workers and their families.
LYNNE LAMARCA HEINRICH
NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT AND PROFESSOR, BERKELEY AND INVERNESS
Lynne is a senior consultant and principal at Marts & Lundy, a full-service consulting firm serving the nonprofit sector. She provides counsel on strategic planning, campaigns, fundraising programs and board governance. She is a professor at the Haas School of Business, where she teaches nonprofit board governance. Prior to consulting, Lynne held senior positions with the Stern Grove Festival, San Francisco Opera and the Exploratorium. Lynne serves on the boards of Cal Performances and the Center for Social Sector Leadership.
NOMAR ISAIS
TEACHER, RANCHER & FENCE BUILDER
Nomar is the Tomales High School Ag Mechanics and FFA advisor. He also runs a welding and fencing business serving Sonoma and Marin counties and his family grows organic corn and raises livestock in Jalostotitlan, Jalisco.
He grew up on the historic J Ranch within the Point Reyes National Seashore and, with the support of the community, was able to develop his love and understanding of local agriculture. He later attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and majored in agricultural science. While in San Luis Obispo he had the opportunity to develop a fencing business and learn the project management side of agriculture.
JIM JENSEN
Rancher and Land Steward, Tomales
Jim currently works for Audubon Canyon Ranch supporting land stewardship and facilities on their Tomales Bay parcels and Cypress Grove Research Center. Prior to this position, Jim served in a number of roles as a stewardship staff member at MALT, and before that he worked in wildland fire management with the National Park Service. Jim also helps manage his family’s sixth generation Tomales sheep and cattle ranch. He carries deep personal connections to this working landscape, enjoys time with his family here, and is hoping to make it a better place for future generations.
TIM KEHOE
RANCHER, POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE
Tim and his two brothers, Tom and Mike, operate an organic dairy on the historic J Ranch in the Point Reyes National Seashore. Tim and his wife, Janice, have three children, Anne, Jillian and TJ. TJ works on the dairy as the head calf raiser. The Kehoes have been ranching on the Point Reyes peninsula since the 1920s and received the North Bay “Outstanding Dairy of the Year” award at the Sonoma County Fair in 2009. Tim has been on the Shoreline Unified School District Board for many years and has served on many other industry boards in the past, including the Dairy Herd Improvement Association board.
PAUL MARTIN
RANCHER AND FARM ADVOCATE, PETALUMA
Paul is a third-generation dairyman, now retired. After dairying for 30 years, he worked on behalf of dairy producers at Western United Dairymen. He recently served as a deputy director in the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.
ROBERT MCGEE
SENIOR EXECUTIVE, PETALUMA
Robert is president of Straus Family Creamery, which he originally joined as COO/CFO. With over two decades of executive experience, he brings to the MALT board expertise in operations, finance, strategic planning and leadership development.
KRISTINA EMANUELS PHIPPS
Environmental Attorney and Policy Consultant
Kristina Emanuels Phipps is a legal and policy consultant on environmental issues. Over the past two decades, her work has ranged from advising on federal regulatory policy at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, to managing the municipal approval process of a local school expansion. Currently, she works to advance global, federal and state policies and projects that protect and restore our oceans. Kristina is a member of the Stanford Habitat Conservation Board, and serves as a trustee of the Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA. She graduated order of the coif from Stanford Law School. Kristina lives with her husband, George, part-time in Inverness where she often can be found running West Marin trails.
ANDREW RIESENFELD
SENIOR EXECUTIVE, LARKSPUR
Andrew began his connection to MALT in 2014 when he volunteered and served as Tour de MALT marshal, which he continued for several years. Andrew believes in order to lead, one must first learn to serve. Andrew currently holds a senior leadership position at ZoomInfo. Andrew is an avid trail runner and lives in Larkspur with his wife, Lily, and their two children.
IRIS KIM
PRODUCT LEADER, MILL VALLEY
Iris is a senior product leader at Collective, a tech startup that supports small businesses with company formation, taxes, accounting and compliance. She has been at the intersection of technology and agriculture for the last decade, with experience spanning commercial row crop production, specialty coffee and sesame supply chains, domestic and international markets, and farm management software. She currently lives in Mill Valley with her husband and son.
MIKE SCHEU
Local Business Leader, Petaluma
Mike Scheu is President of Straus Family Creamery. Prior to Straus, Mike’s management experience includes marketing and sales leadership roles at Nestle, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Odwalla Juices, and The Clorox Company. Mike has served on the Boards of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and Naturally North Bay. Mike is a graduate of The College of William & Mary and earned his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
VIVIEN STRAUS
RANCH OWNER, MARSHALL
The daughter of MALT co-founder Ellen Straus, Vivien Straus manages Straus Home Ranch, her family’s 166-acre homestead in Marshall. She was head of sales and marketing for Straus Family Creamery in its early years, and has also worked at Cowgirl Creamery. Vivien created and manages CheeseTrail.org, a resource which advocates for California cheesemakers. A long-time actor, Vivien also writes stories and performs one-woman comedic shows of farm life.
Advisory Committee
The purpose of MALT’s Advisory Committee is for mission-aligned representatives from our community to share their connections and experience outside the formal scope of the Board of Directors. In addition, this committee enables MALT to continue to actively engage long-standing volunteers who bring a wealth of knowledge to the organization and add value to our work.
Current Advisory Committee members:
Jonathan Barajas, Bill Barboni, Bob Berner, Amanda Moretti Boggs, Marcella Brawley, Janet Brown, Rebecca Burgess, Sue Conley, Jenna Coughlin, Kathleen Gaines, Morgan Giammona, Ralph Grossi, Janine Guillot, Marcel Houtzager, Rick LaFranchi, Paul Lightfoot, Magali Limeta, Dewey Livingston, Peter Martinelli, Gary Naja-Reise, Liebe Patterson, Regina Pozzi, Neil Rudolph, Marissa Thornton Silva
Emeritus Positions
BOB BERNER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EMERITUS
As MALT’s first executive director, Bob helped translate our founders’ vision of a farmland trust, of which there was no precedent, into a national model. Bob retired in 2012 after 28 years of dutiful service, leaving a legacy of 68 family farms and ranches and more than 40,000 of Marin County’s agricultural landscape protected forever.
RALPH GROSSI
BOARD EMERITUS
A third-generation Marin County rancher and one of the nation’s most prominent advocates of farmland preservation, Ralph has been instrumental in conservation efforts both locally and nationwide. As the first chair of MALT’s board of directors and later as the president of the American Farmland Trust, Ralph brings invaluable expertise in the complexities of both local farmland conservation as well as public policy.