Members of the Advisory Board
Michael Green ’94
Principal, Virtú Investments
About Michael
Michael Green graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a degree in Economics in 1994.
In 1997 he co-founded Virtú Investments. Virtú is an integrated and successful firm that has acquired more than 130 properties since its inception with a total asset value of over $3.7 billion, while offering its clients top-tier investment returns. Michael’s primary responsibilities include investor relations, strategic partner development, asset acquisitions, asset management, and portfolio management. Michael currently chairs the Leadership Counsel at The California Nature Conservancy.
Michael enjoys family, friends, fitness, self-discovery and all things outdoors!
Thomas McHenry, Vice Chair
Partner, Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, LLP
About Thomas
Thomas McHenry served as Dean and President of Vermont Law School from 2017 to 2021 where he directed a variety of initiatives to make the school financially stronger and enhance its educational programs. Tom previously worked as an attorney in Los Angeles for thirty years, the last twenty as a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher where he practiced general environmental law. Tom also served as an Adjunct Professor at Claremont McKenna College from 1992 to 2017 where he taught environmental law and policy and environmental leadership. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Lawrence Karlton, Chief United States District Judge of the Eastern District of California, in Sacramento in 1984-86 and as a research fellow in the National Park Department of Taiwan in 1983-1984. Tom continues to teach environmental classes at Claremont McKenna and Pomona Colleges. He currently serves as the chair of the Leadership Council at the Yale School of the Environment, as vice-chair of the Advisory Council for the Roberts Environmental Center at Claremont McKenna College, as chair of the Conservation Committee of the National Forest Foundation, as chair of the finance committee on the board of the Open Space Institute and on the board of the Center for Large Landscape Conservation in Bozeman, Montana. He is researching and drafting a book on environmental leadership, a chapter on forest law in the United States and consulting to several environmental organizations. Tom graduated from New York University Law School in 1983 where he served on the Journal of International Law and Politics. He received a Master of Forest Science Degree from the Yale School of the Environment (formerly the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies) in 1980 and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Yale College in 1977.
Sedina Banks ’00
Environmental Law Partner, Greenberg Glusker LLP
About Sedina
Sedina Banks is a 2000 graduate of Claremont McKenna College, majoring in Environment, Economics and Politics (EEP). During her time at Claremont McKenna College, she had the pleasure of spending a summer at the Roberts Environmental Center Burger Sierra Research Station in the Eastern Sierra and received a Roberts Environmental Center Summer Fellowship to spend a summer in Alaska. She was also a runner on the Athena’s cross country team all four years and a recipient of Claremont Colleges’ Scholar Athlete Award. She is happy to give back in her role as an Advisory Board member.
She is currently a partner in the environmental group at Greenberg Glusker LLP, a full-service law firm in Los Angeles. With two decades of experience in environmental compliance and litigation, Sedina possesses the unique ability to craft innovative solutions to the most complex of environmental challenges.
She counsels and represents a broad array of clients including property owners, municipalities, and companies in a wide range of environmental matters related to regulatory compliance, contaminated properties, CEQA, water quality, and air quality issues, and real estate transactional support. Sedina has represented clients in investigation, enforcement, and remedial matters involving the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the California Regional Water Quality Control Boards, California air districts and state board, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the California UST Fund. Sedina extends her expertise into consumer product and labeling matters, navigating intricate regulations set forth by state and federal agencies.
One of Sedina’s standout achievements is her knack for negotiating settlements that significantly reduce penalties in cases involving water quality, air quality, and other regulatory violations and coming up with creative solutions to her client’s problems.
Sedina’s dedication to environmental advocacy goes beyond her expertise in the field. In addition to proudly serving on the Advisory Board of the Roberts Environmental Center, she is a member of the Environmental Law Section of the California State Bar and serves on the Executive Committee of the Nevada State Bar Environmental & Natural Resources Section. She also frequently writes and speaks on environmental law topics.
When not immersed in the world of environmental law, she cherishes quality time with her husband, three children, and her bloodhound.
Ben Conte ’92
Susquehanna Sustainable Investments
About Ben
https://www.sig-ssi.com/
Roger Dale ’88
Principal, The Natelson Dale Group
About Roger
Roger Dale has been a member of the REC Advisory Board since 2010.
Roger graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 1988 with a degree in Economics. He also has a master’s degree in Resource and Environmental Economics from the University of California, Riverside.
Professionally, he has been affiliated with The Natelson Dale Group, Inc. for the past 35 years. Natelson Dale is an economic consulting firm focused on regional planning, local economic development, and environmental economics. Roger primarily works with local government agencies to promote land use practices that balance economic development with environmental sustainability. This work has involved, for example, feasibility studies for solar energy facilities, cost/benefit analyses for water quality standards, strategies to grow local clean tech industries, habitat conservation planning, open space funding programs, and evaluation of opportunities for carbon management businesses.
In tandem with his consulting career, Roger has been an active volunteer and board member of The Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee, Inc. since the late 1980’s. This organization has been instrumental in protecting nearly 100,000 acres of critical habit for the Mojave desert tortoise – a state and federally listed threatened species. For six years, Roger represented conservation interests on a technical review committee for the Northern and Eastern Colorado Desert Coordinated Management Plan, a landscape-scale planning effort (led by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management) encompassing over five million acres of the Sonoran Desert ecosystem.
Claire Goodrich ’15
Director of Activism & Campaigns for Patagonia
About Claire
Claire Goodrich is currently the Director of Activism & Campaigns for Patagonia based in Ventura, California, on the lands of the Chumash peoples. Her current work focuses on tools and strategies that bring democratic power to a diverse set of voters, activists, and stakeholders.
Michael G. Graber ’74
Owner, Michael Graber Productions
About Michael
David Ossentjuk ’83
Ossentjuk & Botti
About David
David Ossentjuk focuses his law practice on natural resources transactions, including asset acquisitions and dispositions, leasing, operations, title issues, joint ventures and operating agreements, and compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. He is one of a limited number of attorneys in California with significant experience in the litigation of oil and gas disputes, including lease termination/preservation issues, unit and joint operations disputes, royalty and title matters, and post-operation environmental clean-up and abandonment issues. David also represents clients in the burgeoning carbon capture and sequestration industry in California. He also handles general business, real estate, and environmental litigation, and has successfully litigated and tried numerous business disputes involving claims for breach of contract, trespass, nuisance, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, business interference, corporate and partnership ownership and governance, and insurance coverage.
David also has significant experience in the purchase, sale, and development of environmentally impacted properties, including the negotiation and litigation of environmental aspects of purchase and sale agreements; leases; joint ventures and partnerships; oil field development and abandonment agreements; environmental insurance policies; land use entitlements; and prospective purchaser agreements.
Allison Rose
Founder and Owner of Rose Culinary
About Allison
Allison Rose is a venture capitalist in the culinary world, having financially backed and championed some of the West Coast’s most celebrated restaurants and culinary innovations of the past decade. She is known for her ability to judge character and her passion for food and cooking, and her investments are based on her personal tastes, with an emphasis on empowering female entrepreneurs.
Allson’s portfolio includes some of the Bay Area’s and Hawaii’s most innovative restaurants and culinary enterprises, including Birdsong, Protégé, Selby’s, Bar Crenn, Che Fico, Merriman’s, Casa Dragones, Good Eggs and Maui Nui (to see her full portfolio, visit www.roseculinary.com). She is dedicated to providing talented entrepreneurs with the support they need to succeed, including financial backing and networking as well as intangibles such as moral support and advice. Rose’s investments are based on her personal tastes and she is proud to champion innovative chefs and entrepreneurs.
Allison has been passionate about food and cooking since she was young, hosting a dinner party for 20 family members on her 13th birthday. She and her husband Dan, who is currently chairman of Coatue Ventures after working at Amazon and Facebook, now split their time between Hawaii’s Big Island and the Colorado Rockies where regenerative farming and ranching have become a passion.
Philanthropy and community are some of her top priorities. She has served on the board of San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, FoodCorps of America, Kukio Golf and Beach Club, and Aloha Hui Kiholo with The Nature Conservancy partnership.
Recently an empty nester, Allison is excited to continue her commitment to supporting the ever-evolving food and farming industry. To view her portfolio and learn more about Allison, visit www.roseculinary.com.
Elizabeth Thomas ’07
Adventure Conservationist, Speaker, Writer, and Environmental Consultant
About Elizabeth
Liz Thomas is a professional hiker, adventure conservationist, and outdoor writer who held the women’s unsupported speed record on the 2,181-mile long Appalachian Trail. A guest editor and regular contributor to Backpacker, Thomas has been featured on Good Morning America and has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Yahoo! News, Men’s Journal, Women’s Health, and Outside, among other publications. Her book Long Trails: Mastering the Art of the Thru-Hike received the 2017 National Outdoor Book Award for Best Instructional book with judges calling in the “Bible of the Sport.”
Thomas has served on the board of the Partnership for the National Trail System and the American Long Distance Hiking Association and as ambassador to American Hiking Society. A former staff writer at Wirecutter/New York Times, Thomas is currently editor-in-chief at Treeline Review, an outdoor digital media company dedicated to creating outdoors for all.
A 2007 graduate of Claremont McKenna College where she majored in EEP (Environment, Economics, and Politics) and was the Athenaeum student manager, Thomas holds a masters in Environmental Science from the Yale School of the Environment, where she held a Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship for her research on trails, conservation, and trail-side communities.
Megan Wargo ’00
CEO, Pacific Crest Trail Association
About Megan
Megan has devoted more than 20 years to professional service in conservation, landscape protection, project management, coalition building, and team leadership roles. Throughout her career, she has acquired and permanently conserved over 81,500 acres. She started at Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) in 2015 as the organization’s first Director of Land Protection, after serving at the Pacific Forest Trust, Trust for Public Land, and Piedmont Land Conservancy. During her earlier work at PCTA, Megan managed the acquisition and permanent protection of more than 30 miles of the PCT and was awarded the U.S. Forest Service Region 5 Partnership of the Year Award in 2018. Megan was named PCTA’s CEO in May 2022. She has led the organization’s significant progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion, including the restructuring of hiring processes, board recruitment, and the development of more inclusive communications. Megan holds a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University and a B.A. in Environmental Studies, Economics, and Politics from Claremont McKenna College.
Rachel S. Wilson ’03
Manager of Strategy and Market Development, Form Energy
About Rachel
Rachel Wilson joined Form Energy in February 2022 as the Manager of Strategy and Market Development. In her role at Form, Rachel analyzes data to inform product strategy decisions, as well as regulatory and policy decisions, and to demonstrate the value of multi-day storage in both vertically-integrated and deregulated markets. She is an internationally recognized expert in utility resource planning and electric system modeling. Prior to coming to Form, Rachel spent 15 years as a public-interest consultant where she led projects related to the integration of renewables and storage into the electric grid in support of decarbonization goals. She has testified as an expert witness in dozens of utility dockets in 16 different states, as well as in Queensland Land Court in Australia. Rachel has a Bachelor of Arts in Environment, Economics, Politics (EEP) from Claremont McKenna College and a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University.
Richard C. Adams Jr. ’62
President, Crest Resources
George R. Roberts ’66
Founder, Partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR)
Cam Tredennick ’88
Consultant