Environmental Leadership Chronicles

Building Community Through Planning ft. Meredith Reynolds, City of Long Beach

In this episode, we feature Meredith Reynolds, the Special Deputy City Manager for Recovery for the City of Long Beach. Meredith has worked on critical efforts in community services, parks and open space, sustainability, and innovation in Long Beach and in Irvine. She has served as the Long Beach Park Planning and Partnerships Manager and Park Development Officer – where she created a strong focus on equitable and inclusive community engagement and partnerships, and developed park and open space projects. During the pandemic, Meredith was reassigned to the Long Beach Health Department and was responsible for setting up COVID-19 testing sites across the City of Long Beach. Meredith also oversees the Long Beach Management Assistant Program – a local government management fellowship program – currently accepting applications through January 17, 2022 at www.longbeach.gov. We hope you enjoy hearing from Meredith!

Leading through Law, Business and Policy ft. Amy Steinfeld, Brownstein

In this episode, we feature Amy Steinfeld, Santa Barbara Office Managing Partner with Brownstein. Amy is a land use and water lawyer with a broad understanding of environmental issues and a passion for the cannabis industry. Operating in one of the most heavily regulated industries and states, her passion and genuine concern for her clients is critical to her success.
Amy is co-founder and co-chair of the California H2O Women Conference, which provides an opportunity to collaborate, educate and support women leaders in the water industry – check out their upcoming conference January 2022 at www.californiah2owomenconference.com. We hope you enjoy hearing from Amy!

Uncovering a Career in Cultural Resources ft. Annemarie Cox, PanGIS, Inc.

The Environmental Leadership Chronicles podcast is brought to you by the California Association of Environmental Professionals. In this episode, we feature Annemarie Cox - Marketing Manager and Cultural Resource Specialist with PanGIS, Inc. She provides geodatabase development for cultural and historical resources, data analysis and report writing, environmental compliance services, artifact curation, marketing, public outreach and advocacy. She has served as California Archaeology Month coordinator for the Society for California Archaeology and is a California Project Archaeology Facilitator and California Site Steward for CASSP. Annemarie has close to 30 years of experience in the cultural resource management field including conducting archaeological field surveys, archaeological site recording, testing, construction monitoring; and laboratory work, including prehistoric and historic artifact identification, cataloging, and analysis. We hope you enjoy hearing from Annemarie.

Becoming an Expert Environmental Planner ft. Terry Rivasplata, ICF

The Environmental Leadership Chronicles podcast is brought to you by the California Association of Environmental Professionals. In this episode, we feature Terry Rivasplata, an expert consultant with ICF. Terry has 40 years of experience in land use planning and CEQA analysis. At ICF, a full service CEQA and NEPA consulting firm, Terry has prepared NEPA and CEQA documents for projects ranging in size and complexity from school expansions to California’s high speed rail project. He currently provides strategic advice to project staff and clients on NEPA and CEQA compliance. Terry is a popular instructor for the U.C. Davis Continuing and Professional Education program teaching several courses on NEPA and CEQA. He writes the AEP “Environmental Assessor” that summarizes current CEQA case law. He is a co-author of the CEQA tutorial Practical CEQA. We hope you enjoy hearing from Terry!

Finding your Purpose ft. Brian Mooney, RICK Engineering Company

In this episode, we feature Brian Mooney. Brian serves as the managing principal of the Community Planning and Sustainable Development Division at RICK Engineering Company. He has more than 40 years’ experience in planning, public outreach, environmental analysis, research and development of public policy.  He is highly respected in public and private planning arenas and is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He is also chairman of the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) San Diego-Tijuana District Council - which promotes responsible land use and sustainable communities in the Cali Baja mega-region.
Brian has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from San Diego State University and a master’s degree in urban history from the University of San Diego.  He serves as an adjunct professor in city planning at the New School of Architecture and Design.

Environmental Planning for Environmental Justice ft. Claudia Garcia, ICF

Claudia serves on the State Executive Board for the California Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP), and is an environmental planner with ICF. Her career path was challenging as an immigrant and the first person in her family to receive both an undergraduate and a graduate degree. She has worked on projects that include environmental justice, community outreach, and environmental analyses and CEQA documents. She shares how CEQA's existing framework can be used to address environmental justice concerns.

The Importance of Mentorship ft. Marie Campbell, Sapphos Environmental

Marie Campbell is an elected, at-large board member for the California Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP). She has also served as former president of National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP), and is the sole-owner and President of Sapphos Environmental - an environmental consulting business. Marie discusses the importance of making Investments to achieve long-term goals by choosing to make investments that benefit the greatest number of people. Marie has a breadth of knowledge and experience to share, we hope you enjoy this episode.

Networking into Environmental Leadership ft. Katie Laybourn, Harris & Associates

Katie Laybourn is the President of the San Diego Chapter of the Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP). She is a biologist, aquatic resources specialist, and drone pilot at Harris & Associates. Katie shares her journey to becoming an environmental professional, including her educational path, career path, getting involved with AEP as a university student, internships and how her involvement with AEP led to her first professional environmental job.