Staff - Climate Action Reserve : Climate Action Reserve

Management

Craig Ebert

President

Kristen Gorguinpour

Vice President, Programs

Amy Kessler

Director of Latin America

Reid Lee

Director of Operations

Jennifer Weiss

Vice President, Communications and Business Outreach

Craig Ebert serves as the President of the Climate Action Reserve where he is responsible for ensuring that the organization’s activities meet the highest standards for quality, transparency and environmental integrity. He oversees the organization’s continued leadership and commitment to ensuring offsets are a trusted and powerful economic tool for reducing emissions. In his role, he also leads the organization in identifying and entering into other opportunities that build upon its knowledge and expertise and further its work under its mission and vision.

During his career, he has helped create the foundations for international, national and state policies to address climate change. He supported U.S. negotiations on international climate change agreements, including negotiations leading up to the creation and signing of the Kyoto Protocol, and helped develop the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) provisions under the protocol. Craig’s work also involved pioneering efforts on carbon accounting principles and methodologies. He served as the technical director of Estimation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, which was adopted by the IPCC as its GHG Inventory Programme, and was a key architect behind the development of the official U.S. national GHG inventory to meet commitments under the UNFCCC.

Prior to joining the Reserve, Craig advised the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) and served at ICF for nearly 34 years.

As Vice President of Programs for the Climate Action Reserve, Kristen oversees implementation of the Reserve’s registry services ensuring effective and efficient process across the programs. Her responsibilities include managing the Analytical Team, who are the staff that provide support for the reporting, verification of emissions reduction projects and the development of offset protocols. Kristen also oversees the development and updates of the Reserve’s high-integrity carbon offset protocols and Climate Forward methodologies; assisting the Analytical Team with offset protocol and Climate Forward methodology implementation and application; and formulating and refining Reserve program rules and policies. Kristen previously worked at the Reserve for 7 years, serving in several roles including Program Director, where she played a key role in implementing the Reserve’s role as Offset Project Registry in California’s cap-and-trade program. She also served as the Reserve’s Program Manager, where she was the lead in supporting the Forest Project Protocol, and as the Reserve Administrator, Program Associate and Program Assistant. After her time at the Reserve, she pursued another passion to work in the community and taught high school math and physics. Kristen completed her Bachelor’s degree in health science with a concentration in community health and minor in economics at Cal State Dominguez Hills, and has a Master of Public Administration from the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific.

As the Director of Latin America, Amy oversees the development and implementation of the Reserve’s protocols and programs throughout Latin America. Amy further manages stakeholder engagement, consulting services, and technical assistance to support climate policies and carbon markets in Latin America. Amy coordinates with the Reserve’s Analytical and Communications and Business Outreach Teams to ensure the Reserve’s programmatic policies and outreach efforts support the Reserve’s operations throughout Latin America.

Amy previously worked in the Bay of Jiquilisco, El Salvador, where she supported local communities and government institutions in developing and implementing forest management plans and advancing environmental policies and sustainable economic opportunities. Amy has further lived, studied, and worked in Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, and Norway. Amy graduated from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, where she received a Master’s in International Environmental Policy and a Master’s in Business Administration. Amy received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology with a Concentration in Environmental Studies from Kenyon College.

As the Director of Operations, Reid is a key member of the senior management team and is responsible for oversight of finance, accounting, tax, insurance, contracts, legal, human resources, information technology, and the administrative functions of the organization. Reid also contributes to the strategic vision of the Reserve and ensures sound financial decisions are made and organizational risks are mitigated. Reid and the Operations team also assist the President with Board relations and governance best practices.

Reid has a long career in Operations, working in many industries; including production, music, travel, and design. Directly prior to working with the Climate Action Reserve, Reid was the Director of Operations & Events at the Western Justice Center Foundation, a non-profit that empowers people to strengthen their communities by growing the conflict resolution skills of youth, educators, schools, and community partners, where they worked for four and half years. Originally from Texas, Reid moved to California to attend UCLA, where they earned their Undergraduate Degree, and after living in New York City for many years returned to Los Angeles to earn their MFA as well.

As Vice President, Communications and Business Outreach for the Climate Action Reserve, Jennifer Weiss oversees communications and outreach activities that amplify the organization’s work and tell the stories of its impact on climate and communities. The team’s activities also support the growth of the voluntary carbon market and adoption of consistent high quality, high integrity standards across the market. Additionally, in her role Jennifer supports the strategic growth and management of the Reserve and oversees the organization’s annual conference, North American Carbon World.

Throughout her career, the scope of Jennifer’s work has ranged from international to local, and she was worked with business, consumer, NGO and government audiences.

Analytical

Holly Davison

Associate Director of Programs

Miguel López Delgado

Analytical Team Manager LATAM

Alex French

Analytical Team Manager

Judy Gallegos

Senior Reserve Administrator

Abbey Garcia

Senior Associate

As Associate Director of Programs, Holly Davison provides support to Reserve account holders during offset project reporting, verification, and registration under the Reserve’s program standards and under the state of California’s compliance offset program. She leads our Industrial Processes and Gases sector team, and as well as provides support to the Waste Handling and Methane Destruction sector team and to the Forest team. Additionally, she maintains the Reserve’s verification accreditation processes.

She graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and minors in Earth Sciences and French. She worked in Human Resources at an ecommerce company for six years before pursuing her true passion in climate change. She then received her Master of Arts in Climate and Society from Columbia University. Prior to starting at the Reserve, she interned at the United Nations Development Programme, where she analyzed the extent to which country offices integrated gender equality into their climate change, disaster risk reduction, recovery, and energy programs.

Miguel is the Analytical Team Manager LATAM at the Climate Action Reserve, where he supports the development and growth of nature-based carbon offset protocols with a focus on the Reserve’s work in LATAM. He also supports the operation and administration of the Climate Action Reserve Program.

Prior to joining the Reserve, Miguel worked in the carbon markets space as lead analyst of climate assets, technical lead assessing carbon projects in early stages, and verifier of international forestry and Blue C projects. He has also worked on climate change adaptation, developing carbon footprint assessment and decarbonization strategies for the corporate sector, as well as project developer of social afforestation and reforestation projects for private and public initiatives in countries such as Colombia, India or Madagascar.

Miguel is from Ávila in Spain, he completed his B.Sc. & M.Sc. degrees in Forestry and Natural Resources Management as well as a B.Sc. degree in International Cooperation for Development in Madrid at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

As an Analytical Team Manager at the Reserve, Alex’s primary responsibilities include supporting the development of new greenhouse gas offset protocols, updating existing protocols, and supporting the review of project reporting documentation for emissions reductions and removals. He is supporting the reserve across multiple sectors (forestry / waste / etc).

Before joining the Reserve, Alex worked for Clarkson University’s Institute for a Sustainable Environment as Clarkson’s Assistant Director of Sustainability. In that role Alex worked on projects to improve sustainability metrics across the institution’s operations and academics. He also worked for other nonprofits such as the University of Hidalgo in Pachuca, MX, Engage Now Africa in Ethiopia, and for the Youth Advocate Program. Alex enjoys working outdoors and in his younger years spent several seasons planting trees for a landscaper in Northern New York and working for a stone mason in Cooperstown, NY.

Alex holds a M.Sc. in Environmental Policy from Clarkson University where he researched the relationship between carbon offsets and the higher education community. He holds a B.A. in Anthropology from SUNY Potsdam. He lives in Potsdam, NY with his partner, a large garden, two feral children, and a domesticated dog.

As the Senior Reserve Administrator, Judy provides administrative services to the Reserve’s reporting and verification program, and technical services and registry support to account holders.

A lifelong social justice advocate, Judy brings over a decade of experience in administration and experience supporting executives, overseeing day-to-day office operations, turning ideas into deliverable projects, and reducing organizational inefficiencies through office administration, executive assistance, customer service, and database management. Most recently, Judy served as the Operations Director at Center for Health Care Rights providing administrative support to provide health care advocacy and education serving historically underserved and vulnerable populations in Los Angeles County. Judy holds a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in International Development Studies with a minor in Spanish Language and Literature. A lifelong LA resident, Judy is a first-generation American with proud roots in Mexico.

As a Senior Associate, Abbey supports the operation and administration of the Climate Action Reserve’s carbon credit programs and contributes to policy development, maintenance, and refinement of the Reserve’s offset protocols.

Before starting at the Reserve, Abbey studied at Michigan State University pursuing a degree in Environmental Studies and Sustainability with a minor in Spanish. During her time as a student, Abbey participated in an education abroad program in Costa Rica where she studied ecotourism and business and volunteered at a sustainable coffee farm. She also studied Spanish language and held a translation internship in Valencia, Spain and later returned the following year where she lived in Seville, Spain studying environmental science at Pablo de Olavide University.

Edith Guerrero Calderón

Administrator Analyst

Claudia Jurado

Analytical Associate for Latin America

Jordan Mao

Senior Associate

Celeste Melendez

Senior Associate

Rachel Mooney

Manager

As an Administrator Analyst, Edith provides administrative support to the Reserve’s reporting and verification program and technical support to account holders, as well as conducting reviews of project reporting documentation under program standards.

Edith is a social worker and an organizer by training — an advocate at heart. A decade of providing case management to vulnerable populations within complex systems has made her process-driven and detail-oriented. In her last position, as East L.A. College’s Dream Resource Center(DRC) Coordinator, Edith assisted undocumented students while overseeing the day-to-day operations and administrative needs of the DRC. Prior to that, Edith specialized in Medicare and Medi-Cal advocacy for older adults. Student and labor organizing jumpstarted her career. Edith holds a BA in Social Work from the University of Portland. Edith is from Mexico and has adopted LA as her home. She loves cats, food and designing events. Witnessing the great outdoors through her child’s eyes is the brightest highlight of her life so far.

As an Analytical Associate, Claudia supports the operation and administration of the Climate Action Reserve’s carbon credit programs and contributes to policy development, maintenance, and refinement of the Reserve’s offset protocols in Mexico and expansion throughout Latin America.

Claudia is passionate about nature-based solutions for addressing climate change challenges. Throughout her career, she has worked on socio-environmental projects in Mexico, Spain, and Canada. In addition, she has collaborated on important carbon pricing projects and provided support to Latin American and Caribbean jurisdictions. Claudia has a diverse background that includes working in the public sector with the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, in academia at Mexican and Canadian Universities, and as a commercial analyst in carbon market consulting. This has given her a broad understanding of the environmental policy landscape and carbon markets.

Originally from Mexico City, Claudia moved to Canada to attend the University of Waterloo, where she earned her master’s degree in Social and Ecological Sustainability. Her dissertation analyzed the stakeholders’ interests to adopt carbon pricing policies –carbon tax and ETS–currently in practice in Mexico. Furthermore, Claudia held a summer internship at the University of British Columbia, where she worked on an important research project related to sustainable agriculture. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Claudia thoroughly enjoyed her fieldwork abroad in Asturias, Spain, where she studied socio-ecological tensions between livestock owners and ecologists at the Parque Nacional de los Picos de Europa.

As a Senior Associate, Jordan Mao supports the administration and operation of the Climate Action Reserve’s carbon credit programs and contributes to policy development, maintenance, and refinement of the Reserve’s offset protocols.

Jordan previously served as a Horticulture and Botany Intern on the Southern Oregon Coast for the Bureau of Land Management, where she cultivated a historic English woodland garden, designed a visitor’s map using ArcGIS, monitored rare plants and fungi, conducted bumble bee, marbled murrelet, and salmon population surveys, and delineated stream inception points. She graduated from the University of Rochester with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Music minor in 2020. While matriculating, she was a Research Assistant for the Paleomagnetic Research Group at UR, operating various instrumentation such as Kappabridge and magnetometers to investigate the ferromagnetic properties of some of the oldest zirconium crystals on the planet. Jordan deeply enjoyed her semester abroad in San José, Costa Rica, where she learned about the philosophy of permaculture, toured organic farms, and hiked through cloud forests. In 2017, she served as a Crew Member for the Southwest Conservation Corps in Salida, Colorado, helping build over five miles of new trail, managing invasive plant species, and restoring forest burn areas.

Celeste comes to the Reserve with over 7 years of experience in environmental policy, energy, and climate change finance in the public and private sectors. While currently living in Irvine, CA, Celeste has worked on different projects in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and California, she has a Master of Science in Environmental Management, a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, also certifications in Project Management and International Business from UC Irvine. Her experience includes an essential role working as an advisor with El Salvador Government, representing the country at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) and participating in the development NDCs, Policies, Forest management projects, and development of international cooperation projects; In addition, she has worked on several projects across California, by providing green building certifications (LEED, Energy Star, Green Point Rater). Her hobbies include dancing ballet and hiking at many National Parks. Her passion for the environment started in 2010 when she volunteered for a marine life project in Central America where she contributed to protecting the Carey turtles.

As a Manager, Rachel supports the administration and operation of the Climate Action Reserve’s carbon credit programs, as well as contribute to policy work such as the development, maintenance, and refinement of offset protocols undertaken by the Analytical Team.

Before starting at the Reserve, Rachel attended the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, where she received her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and minor in Environment, Society, and Culture in 2019. She worked with Dr. Patricia Cleary in atmospheric chemistry research and worked with Dr. James Phillips in performing physical and inorganic chemistry research. Rachel was also actively involved in the University’s Student Office of Sustainability, which focused on educating the student body on proper waste management and allocating student segregated fees for sustainable actions on campus. In June 2021 Rachel graduated from Oregon State University with a Master of Public Policy and Energy Policy Graduate Certificate. Her thesis evaluated the public perception of natural gas export in Oregon and her graduate certificate capstone analyzed the relationship between experience in the 2020 Oregon wildfire season and support for federal climate mitigation policies. Rachel also was an intern at Quantum Spatial, Inc (now a part of NV5) classifying irrigation status in California water districts.

Alison Nord

Manager

Jon Remucal

Director of Nature-Based Solutions

McKenzie Smith

Associate Director

Marissa Spence

Forest Manager

Jocelyn Urias

Analytical Associate

As a Manager, Alison supports the administration and operation of the Climate Action Reserve’s carbon credit programs as well as policy work through the development, maintenance, and refinement of offset protocols. She supports the Reserve across multiple sectors, with a particular focus on the agriculture and waste sectors.

Before joining the Reserve, Alison spent 8 years working in sustainable agriculture research, from identifying sustainable agricultural practices in smallholder farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa to investigating crop productivity and soil nutrient cycling in perennial agricultural systems. Most recently she was a research fellow at the University of Michigan where she led a field trial measuring the effects of intercropping perennial legumes with perennial wheat to crop productivity and soil health. Her PhD research at Michigan State University focused on maize-legume cropping systems in Tanzania at different scales, employing an interdisciplinary approach to evaluating legume production through integration of field trials, on-farm assessments, and extension systems. She is also a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, where she served in Tanzania as a sustainable agriculture extension agent.

Alison holds a PhD in Crop and Soil Sciences from Michigan State University as well as a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from the University of Vermont.

As the Director of Nature-Based Solutions, Jon works on various efforts at the Reserve to recognize how natural and working lands can contribute to addressing the climate crisis. Much of his focus is on developing and improving the Reserve’s protocols and forecast methodologies centered on nature-based solutions, ranging from forestry to soil enrichment to biochar. He also develops and maintains technical tools that support the monitoring, reporting, and verification required of carbon projects.

Jon has been working on forest carbon offset projects and policies since 2003, providing him with a deep understanding of the forest protocol and the behind-the-scenes operations of forest carbon projects. Prior to joining the Reserve, he was a private consultant, with a focus on climate change mitigation policies and projects, as well as watershed health. Jon also previously worked at the Pacific Forest Trust, where he stewarded conservation easements and fee title lands held by the organization and performed geospatial analysis for conservation planning. He earned a Master of Environmental Management degree from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, where his focus was ecosystem management. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology with a Concentration in Environmental Studies from Carleton College.

As an Associate Director at the Climate Action Reserve, McKenzie is responsible for standardizing and advancing the Reserve’s protocol development process where she leads internal and external reviews of new protocol concepts, oversees internal management of protocols under development, and assesses new carbon market policies for protocol revisions and updates. McKenzie serves as the implementation lead for the Nature-Based Agriculture Sector Team where she strives to evolve and expand agricultural carbon offset protocols to the meet growing market demands in this sector. Additionally, McKenzie leans on her technical background and experience to support the Industrial Processes and Gases Sector Team.

Prior to joining the Climate Action Reserve, McKenzie worked as Director of Stewardship & Regulatory Affairs at Fertilizer Canada where she oversaw policy and programs related to sustainable nutrient management and industrial processes. McKenzie is from Ottawa, Ontario which is where she completed her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemistry. Her research at Carleton University focused on the development of nanoparticle-based DNA aptamer selection methods to improve in-field biosensor detection of harmful agricultural mycotoxins.

As a Forestry Manager, Marissa Spence manages the development of forest related GHG offset protocols and Climate Forward methodologies, maintains and updates existing protocols and methodologies, and supports reporting and verification services for forest projects.

Marissa has been studying forest-based natural climate solutions since 2012 and has expertise in carbon markets and offset protocols. Her published research has investigated how forest landowners can benefit from ecosystem markets, the production of co-benefits, and the role of carbon finance in forestland conservation. Marissa holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Metropolitan State University, a Master of Arts degree in Environment and Community from Humboldt State University, and a doctorate in Natural Resource Science and Management from the University of Minnesota.

As an Analytical Associate, Jocelyn Urias supports the operations and administration of the Climate Action Reserve’s carbon credit programs and contributes to policy development, maintenance, and refinement of offset protocols.

Before starting at the Reserve, Jocelyn attended California State Polytechnic University Pomona, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology with a minor in Political Science in 2023. During her time as a student, she was an Ecotoxicology Research Assistant where she investigated toxic lead exposure of turkey vultures by performing molecular biology techniques, statistical analysis, and project administrative tasks. Additionally, she was a Wildlife Conservation and Education Research Assistant where she helped investigate wildlife activity in the San Gabriel Valley and biology education techniques used in non-biology major courses. Jocelyn also participated in Coral Reef Research in Hawaii, where she had the opportunity to spend time in Hawaii snorkeling and surveying the health of coral reefs.

Communications and Business Development

Lauren Napuck

Senior Business Development Manager

Rhey Lee

Senior Communications Manager

As Senior Business Development Manager, Lauren builds and leads strategic partnerships to advance the Reserve’s initiatives across the carbon market. As the Reserve’s liaison, she promotes collaborations and facilitates outreach opportunities for the carbon credits program, North American Carbon World (NACW) conference, Climate Forward, and other external events. Lauren is also the creator and host of the Carbon Connection podcast and manages the Carbon Market Directory.

Before joining the Reserve, Lauren was a fundraiser at CDP, where she led the creation of a new corporate revenue stream and secured grants to drive impact in climate change, water security, deforestation, and social equity initiatives. She also worked as a fundraiser for the Rainforest Alliance, where she researched emerging issues related to climate, forests, and agriculture. Lauren holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park.

As Senior Communications Manager, Rhey works on communications pieces and marketing strategies for the Climate Action Reserve. She manages the Climate Action Reserve’s monthly newsletter and other listserv communications. She works with designers to develop and strengthen communications materials, including the collateral pieces, brochures, annual reports and certificates. Rhey contributes to the media and marketing strategy of the organization, and shares responsibility for drafting press releases, website content, and social marketing updates. Previously, she worked for the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Operations

Rose Fassassi

Senior Accountant

Ramon Lee

Chief Financial Controller

Melody Strmel

Operations Coordinator

Anita Yombo

Operations Manager

Melody Strmel serves as the Operations Associate for the Climate Action Reserve, where she assists staff in all departments with operational and administrative tasks. Melody also works with accounts payable, timesheets, reimbursements, and expenses. Melody graduated with a BA in Digital Humanities from Scripps College. Prior to joining the Reserve, Melody worked as Senior Client Services Representative at eSalon.com, Building Manager for the Sallie Tiernan Field House, and Attractions Hostess at the Disneyland Resort.

As an Operations Manager, Anita Yombo is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day Administration and Operations of the organization.

Prior to working at the Reserve, Anita worked for several non-profits including Bridge Housing Corporation in San Francisco, Maricopa Association of Governments in Phoenix and recently a school for under privileged children in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

She earned a Bachelor of Art degree in Psychology and a Master of Science in Organization Leadership.

As Office Manager, Anita Yombo is responsible for the day to day operations of The Climate Action Reserve.

Prior to working at the Reserve, Anita worked for several non-profit organizations including Bridge Housing Corporation in San Francisco, Maricopa Association of Governments in Phoenix and recently a school for under privileged children in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

She earned a Bachelor of Art degree in Psychology from California State University of Northridge, and a Master in Organizational Leadership from Grand Canyon University.