The Institute for Parks, People, and Biodiversity was officially established in October of 2017 with an initial grant from the Resources Legacy Fund and the Nathan M. Ohrbach Foundation. Jonathan B. Jarvis, the former Director of the National Park Service (2009-2017), was hired as the Inaugural Executive Director and served until 2020. He is now chair of the Institute's board.
Advisory Board
The Advisory Board provides overall direction, focus, and priorities for the Institute and serves to offer a broad, field-based perspective. The Advisory Board is complemented by a UC Faculty Executive Committee, which oversees the research component of the Institute and California Outdoor Engagement Coalition Executive Committee.
Latham & Watkins, LLP
Nikki Buffa
Latham & Watkins, LLP
Ms. Buffa brings two decades of experience working on energy and environmental policy. Ms. Buffa rejoined Latham & Watkins, LLP after serving eight years in the Obama Administration, most recently as Deputy Chief of Staff at the United States Department of the Interior, where she served as a key player in President Obama’s success in conserving more lands and waters than any President in history. Prior to joining the Department of the Interior, Ms. Buffa was the Deputy Director of Cabinet Affairs at the White House and, before that, the Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees for the National Parks Conservation Association and holds a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of California at Berkeley in Conservation and Resource Studies, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of California at Los Angeles.
David Graber
David earned his Ph.D. at U.C. Berkeley studying black bears in Yosemite National Park. He worked as a scientist for the National Park Service for more than 30 years, retiring as Chief Scientist of the Pacific West Region. His primary interest lies in conservation biology.
Parks and Public Lands Consulting
Caryl Hart
Parks and Public Lands Consulting
Carl Hart is an attorney and the former Director of Sonoma County Regional Parks, a system of more than fifty parks and regional trails. She was a member of the California State Parks Commission, appointed by three successive governors and serving from 2000 to 2013, and was subsequently appointed by Gov. Brown to the Parks Forward Commission. She led the State Parks Commission as chairperson for seven years, and was named an Honorary Park Ranger by the California State Park Rangers Association in 2007.
Jonathan B. Jarvis
Jonathan B. Jarvis was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate in 2009 as the Director of the National Park Service (NPS), serving for the entire Obama administration. During his tenure, he led the agency through its Centennial, adding 22 new parks, achieving its largest budget in history and raising over $400 million in philanthropic support. Retiring after 40 years with the NPS, Jarvis was the inaugural Executive Director of the Institute for Parks, People, and Biodiversity at the University of California, Berkeley from 2017-2019. His most recent book, co-authored with Clemson Professor Dr. Gary Machlis, is “The Future of Conservation in America: A Chart for Rough Water”, from the University of Chicago Press. Jarvis is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions including the National Recreation and Park Association’s Legend Award, Sierra Club’s Edgar Wayburn Award, International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Fred Packard Award and the American Alpine Club’s David R. Brower Conservation Award.
Zachary Knight
Zach Knight is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Blue Forest Conservation. Prior to founding BFC, Mr. Knight started his career in finance at Merrill Lynch where he specialized in structured finance, credit derivative structuring and correlation trading. Zach also served as a high-yield and distressed corporate bond trader before leaving Wall Street to pursue an MBA at UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business with a focus on sustainability and environmental impact investing. Mr. Knight holds an MBA with honors from UC-Berkeley and a B.A. in Economics from Cornell University.
Gary Machlis
Dr. Gary Machlis is University Professor of Environmental Sustainability at Clemson University. His research focuses on coupled human/natural systems, the politics of science, and sustainability policy. Dr. Machlis is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and served as the first Science Advisor to the Director of the National Park Service from 2009-2017.
UCSF
Daphne Miller
UCSF
In addition to her role as an Associate Clinical Professor at UCSF, Daphne is a lecturer at UC Berkeley and the Director of the Growing Health Collaborative. Her work focuses on elucidating the causal links between natural systems and human health. She is a past Fellow at the Berkeley Food Institute and teaches in the Joint Medical Program at UC Berkeley. Her books include Farmacology and The Jungle Effect.
Michael Mantell
Michael Mantell is president of the Resources Legacy Fund, which he founded to help design and administer land, water, and ocean resource conservation initiatives for philanthropists. He also helped create the independent Resources Law Group and is president of the independent, affiliated Fund for a Better Future. He served previously as Undersecretary for Resources for the State of California, General Counsel for the World Wildlife Fund and a Deputy City Attorney in Los Angeles.
Read more about Rue Mapp
Founder & CEO
Outdoor Afro
Rue Mapp
Founder & CEO
Outdoor Afro
Rue Mapp is the Founder of Outdoor Afro, a social community reconnecting African Americans with natural spaces through outdoor recreational activities. She oversees a carefully selected and trained national volunteer leadership team of 65 men and women who represent 30 cities around the US. Through Outdoor Afro, her non-profit organization with offices in Oakland, CA, Rue, as CEO, shares opportunities to build a broader community and leadership in nature. Her important work has generated widespread national recognition and support.
Rue Mapp
Rue Mapp is the Founder of Outdoor Afro, a social community reconnecting African Americans with natural spaces through outdoor recreational activities. She oversees a carefully selected and trained national volunteer leadership team of 65 men and women who represent 30 cities around the US. Through Outdoor Afro, her non-profit organization with offices in Oakland, CA, Rue, as CEO, shares opportunities to build a broader community and leadership in nature. Her important work has generated widespread national recognition and support.
Rue Mapp
Rue Mapp is the Founder of Outdoor Afro, a social community reconnecting African Americans with natural spaces through outdoor recreational activities. She oversees a carefully selected and trained national volunteer leadership team of 65 men and women who represent 30 cities around the US. Through Outdoor Afro, her non-profit organization with offices in Oakland, CA, Rue, as CEO, shares opportunities to build a broader community and leadership in nature. Her important work has generated widespread national recognition and support.
Nina S. Roberts
Dr. Roberts is the former director of the Pacific Leadership Institute (serving over 10,000 youth in the Bay Area annually), and currently the faculty director of SF State's Institute for Civic & Community Engagement. Nina came to SF State from the National Park Service where she began her work through a graduate internship in the Intermountain Region while completing her Ph.D. at Colorado State University. She later obtained permanent status as an Education & Outreach Specialist with the Natural Resource Program Center. During this time, she completed a 3-month detail in the Director’s office and was one of the contributors to the first time ever NPS Report to Congress on Diversity Initiatives. Nina has also worked with the Student Conservation Association and has served in a variety of advisory and consulting roles, primarily focused on race, class, and gender exploring cultural connections to parks and other public lands. She has been acknowledged for her commitment to diversity and social justice with desire to break down barriers of inequality especially regarding access to outdoor recreation opportunities. A Fulbright Scholar (Indo-American Environmental Leadership Program, India), her work provides leaders and managers in outdoor recreation/adventure, natural resource education, and conservation with ideas and resources needed to respond more effectively to changing demographics, as well as cultural shifts and trends across the U.S.
UC Berkeley Faculty Executive Committee
Steve Beissinger, Co-Faculty Director
Holly Doremus, Co-Faculty Director
David Ackerly
John Battles
Eric Biber
Arthur Middleton