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. The current executive director of the Parks Institute is Patrick Gonzlaez.
Board of Advisors
The Board of Advisors provides overall direction, focus, and priorities for the Institute and serves to offer a broad, field-based perspective.
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.
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.
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.
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.