Former Board Members

Thank you former board members for working with NCRA!

Jack Johnson, Waste Management Supervisor, City of San Mateo (Term: ends 7/2026). Jack is the Waste Management Supervisor for the City of San Mateo, where he oversees programs that advance waste reduction, recycling, composting, and implementation of California’s Zero Waste initiatives. Throughout his career, Jack has led innovative sustainability projects, including the development of Colorado’s largest rural compost collection system, beneficial reuse of greywater, electronics recycling programs, and regional public-private partnerships. His expertise includes organics management, contamination reduction, and implementation of SB 1383. A founding member of NCRA’s Zero Food Waste Committee, Jack is a strong advocate for regional collaboration to address climate change and advance practical Zero Waste solutions. He is committed to building partnerships across jurisdictions that strengthen resource recovery systems and support a more sustainable future.

Casey Fritz, Senior Planner – Zero Waste Programs, County of Marin (Term ends 12/2025). Casey Fritz is a Senior Planner with the County of Marin, where she manages outreach and education programs for the Zero Waste Marin Joint Powers Authority. Since entering the Zero Waste field in 2017, Casey has worked with schools, haulers, and local governments to advance waste reduction, recycling, composting, and edible food recovery programs. She oversees the Zero Waste Marin Schools Program, supports implementation of SB 1383 requirements, and manages innovative community initiatives including Repair Fairs, reusable foodware programs, and food waste reduction projects. Casey earned a Master of Science in Environmental Management from the University of San Francisco, where her research focused on reducing climate impacts within food systems. An active NCRA member since 2019, she has served on the Zero Food Waste Forum, Zero Waste Schools Committee, and the Recycling Update Planning Committee.

Max Wechsler, Vice President of Sales, Pacific Reclaimed Lumber & Supply (Term ends 12/2025). Max Wechsler is Vice President of Sales and a Board Member at Pacific Reclaimed Lumber & Supply, as well as President of Sugarbush Products, Inc., a manufacturing company that utilizes American-made secondary steel. An NCRA member since 2011, Max brings a lifetime of experience in reuse and recycling, from growing up around a scrap metal yard near Philadelphia to founding the electronics recycling company Roots Recycling and helping manage Urban Ore. His expertise spans reuse retail, deconstruction policy, circular economy business development, and public-private partnerships. Max serves as NCRA Treasurer and is committed to advancing practical, market-based Zero Waste solutions. He holds an MBA and a Master of Science in Environmental Management from the University of San Francisco, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Cornell University.

Jessica Jane Robinson, Founder & CEO, Resilience Birthright Productions (term ended 12/2024). Jessica Jane Robinson is the Founder and CEO of Resilience Birthright Productions and a longtime environmental advocate, educator, and community leader. An NCRA member since 2012, Jessica served on the Board of Directors for 12 years, including as Treasurer (2013–2016), Vice President (2017–2022), and President (2022–2024). During her tenure, she helped streamline NCRA’s finances, co-founded and chaired the Social Media and Zero Waste Schools Committees, and championed youth engagement in the Zero Waste movement. Jessica represented NCRA internationally as a speaker at the United Nations in 2019 and has been featured in regional media promoting Zero Waste solutions. Her leadership focused on empowering future generations, strengthening community partnerships, and advancing NCRA’s mission to build a more sustainable and resilient world.

Julia Au, Senior Outreach, Education and Compliance Program Manager, RethinkWaste (Term ends 12/2024). Julia Au is the Senior Outreach, Education and Compliance Program Manager at RethinkWaste, where she oversees waste reduction, reuse, outreach, education, compliance, communications, and legislative programs serving residents and businesses throughout the agency’s service area. She leads a team of environmental professionals focused on advancing Zero Waste initiatives, implementing SB 1383 requirements, and promoting sustainable behavior change. An NCRA member since 2019, Julia has served on the Board of Directors since 2019, including as Co-Treasurer from 2020 to 2022 and Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee since 2022. She has also played a key leadership role on the Recycling Update Planning Committee. Julia is passionate about fostering an inclusive, engaged Zero Waste community while advancing practical solutions to today’s environmental challenges.

Randy Russell, Zero Waste Planner, WSP (Term ends 12/2024). Randy Russell is a Zero Waste Planner with WSP and has worked in the recycling and sustainable materials management field for more than 20 years. His expertise includes waste characterization studies, organics management, construction and demolition debris recycling, disaster debris management, hard-to-recycle materials, grants assistance, and education and outreach. Throughout his career, Randy has supported public agencies, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in advancing waste reduction and resource recovery programs across California and beyond. An NCRA member since 2012, Randy served on the Board of Directors from 2023 to 2024, including as Treasurer and an active member of the Communications Committee. He is passionate about member engagement, industry collaboration, and promoting innovative Zero Waste solutions through education, advocacy, and creative outreach.

Alina Bekkerman, CRV Zero Waste Coordinator, San Francisco Environment Department (Term ends 12/2024). Alina Bekkerman is the CRV Zero Waste Coordinator for the San Francisco Environment Department, where she leads implementation, evaluation, and outreach efforts for Zero Waste programs, including the San Francisco Bottle Bank. An NCRA member since 2017, Alina served on the Board of Directors from 2018 to 2024, including as Secretary from 2022 to 2024. She co-founded and co-chaired NCRA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee from 2019 to 2021 and later led the Member Engagement and Activities Committee. Throughout her board service, Alina helped strengthen organizational operations, expand member engagement opportunities, and support educational programs and events. She is passionate about building inclusive communities, fostering meaningful connections, and advancing a future without waste through collaboration and public engagement.

David Hott, CEO, Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen, San Jose (Term ends 12/2024). David Hott is the CEO of Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen, where he leads efforts to address food insecurity through nutrition access, food recovery, and community health partnerships. His work focuses on expanding medically tailored meal programs, strengthening food recovery systems, and building cross-sector collaborations that connect healthcare, government, philanthropy, and community organizations. David holds a degree in Collaborative Health and Human Services from California State University, Monterey Bay, and is a certified Practitioner in Zero Waste Principles and Practices. An NCRA member since 2019, he served on the Board of Directors from 2021 to 2024, including as Co-Treasurer from 2021 to 2022. He also contributed to the Zero Food Waste and Recycling Update AV Committees, helping advance food recovery, climate solutions, and community engagement throughout Northern California.

David Krueger, Executive Director, RecycleSmart/Central Contra Costa Waste Management Authority (term ended 12/2023)
David Krueger previously managed the Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer (SMaRT) Station and the collection franchise agreement. Until January 1, 2021 he administered all aspects of the City of San Ramon’s recycling programs.  He has over 26 years of professional experience in the recycling industry, and has worked for the City of San Jose, Waste Management’s Davis St. Transfer Station, and as a consultant with R.W. Beck and Associates and HF&H.  He has served on the Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board and the California Resource Recovery Association’s Board of Directors.  Mr. Krueger’s areas of expertise include construction/demolition debris recycling, Materials Recovery Facility operations, and organics composting. He joined the NCRA Board in May 2015 and served as president for 4 years starting in 2019.

Tim Dewey-Mattia, Recycling & Public Education Manager, Napa Recycling & Waste Services (term ends 12/2023)
Tim Dewey-Mattia is the Recycling & Public Education Manager for Napa Recycling & Waste Services. Napa Recycling operates Napa’s Recycling & Composting Facility, and is the local franchise hauler for the City of Napa and southern Napa County. Tim got his start in Zero Waste over 25 years ago –  first with the Middlebury College recycling program and then for several non-profit recycling organizations in San Francisco. He has been at Napa Recycling for 16+ years and works on all aspects of program development, implementation, compliance and outreach…plus he’s talked about chickens, earthquakes and fires at Recycling Update.

Susan Blachman, Consultant, Blachman Consulting (term ends 12/2023)
Ms. Blachman is a consultant in environmental sustainability, economic development, equity and social justice with over 30 years experience. A passionate zero food waste advocate, Blachman is doing her best to get organics out of landfill; she regularly incorporates leftovers into her family’s meals, enjoys the challenge of shopping her fridge before heading out to the market and is chairing NCRA’s Zero Food Waste Committee. Ms. Blachman served as Associate Director for the Environmental Finance Center, Region IX at Dominican University of California for many years. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Doug Brooms, Engineer, and Conservationist (term ended 12/2022)
Doug Brooms is a retired Mechanical Engineer and an Oakland native. Doug has sustaining commitments to recycling promotion and waste reduction and supports various environmental justice causes, including climate change, marine plastics pollution, habitat preservation, and renewable energy transitioning.  He’s the Recycling Coordinator at his apartment complex and likes doing recycling and landfill diversion work at public events.  Doug has videotaped a number of NCRA-related events.

Alexandra (Hoffmann)  Bradley, Public & Govt. Relations, Recycle for Change (term ends 12/2022). After graduating with a BA in Economics and a BA in Political Science, Alexandra began her career in real estate finance.  However, in 2008 she had the opportunity to take a position with Waste Management as a Recycling Coordinator, and after that, her world was never the same.  She has broad experience with Zero Waste related topics including e-waste recycling, textiles, commercial, multi-family, and food waste pilots.  She also excels at grant and proposal writing, recently authoring a winning grant proposal to promote textile recycling, funded by the San Francisco Department of Environment.  She is constantly brainstorming ideas on how we can integrate varying industry and public goals to create communities, more opportunities, and a better environment for future generations.  When she is not working towards Zero Waste, Alexandra can be found selling homes in Marin County or digging in the dirt volunteering with the Marin Master Gardeners.

Kerry Parker, Zero Waste Specialist, City of Alameda (term ends 12/2021)    Kerry has worked in municipal government for 17 years, and specifically in zero waste efforts for the last 13. Her passions and policymaking have landed her in the center of the region’s reusable foodware discussion; have caused her to reimagine Alameda’s entire C&D program to run like a song; wrote and produced a school assembly called The Lunch Monitors that featured a cast of NCRA members and was presented to most students in Alameda to teach them how to sort lunchtime waste.  As her career has been somewhat of a winding path, Kerry claims that every darn day she uses her previous experience as a Montessori pre-school teacher in the 90s (in Berkeley and in Santa Cruz) and that her 6-year stint focusing on online content publishing and software development deeply influences how she sees data-driven projects in the Zero Waste movement. Kerry holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology/Women’s Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Nik Balachandran, CEO, Zabble Inc., (term ends 12/2020). Nik’s foray into the waste industry ,was triggered by the excessive amounts of waste in the environment and the lack of data to engage with the masses. An advocate of the circular economy, he founded Zabble Inc. in 2016 to leverage the latest in technology to simplify waste quantification, track and monitor waste continuously and conduct baseline analysis for improving process efficiency towards zero waste. He currently works with restaurants, facilities and schools to establish zero waste processes to reduce waste, increase diversion, reduce contamination and save costs which ultimately protects Earth’s vital natural resources. Nik has been deeply involved in local beach cleanups in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2007. In 2011, he received an award from Texas Instruments for his volunteering efforts with the Green Team to reduce cafeteria food waste and promote campus-wide e-cycling. Nik Balachandran has a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University. He is also a TRUE™ Zero Waste Advisor. His passion for hiking and open water swimming is a constant reminder to keep trash out of the environment. 

Hilary Near, Commercial Zero Waste Assistant, City & County of San Francisco (Tearm ends, 12/2020). Hilary has worked toward Zero Waste for over a decade in various municipal and private organizations including StopWaste, San Francisco Department of the Environment and Cascadia Consulting Group. Her overarching commitment has been to behavior change through effective communication and leadership, whether it be discussing the nuisances of the refuse rate structure to a local business leader or engaging fourth graders in an impromptu science lesson with a worm bin. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Geography and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from San Francisco State University. She has also served on the U.S. Composting Council’s Compostable Products Task Force as a facilitator since 2011. Hilary joined the NCRA board in 2017.

Lori Marra, Environmental Specialist with the City of Fremont (term ends 12/2019) . According to her social media profile, Lori is good at “waste”.  However, she is much better at recycling and composting. Lori has managed recycling programs for Fremont residents and businesses since 2006. Prior to joining the Fremont team, she worked for the cities of Hayward and Alameda. In 2007, she received her master’s degree in Environmental Management from USF. Lori has served NCRA as a member of the Election Committee (2014-2017). Additional board experience includes Secretary of the City of Fremont Employee Association (2015-present), President of Spring Valley IV HOA in Livermore (2013-2018), Executive Committee member of CRRA’s Construction & Demolition Technical Council (2010-2017). For fun, Lori and her husband like to travel and take pictures in front of recycling bins.

John Moore, Attorney, Henn, Etzel and Moore (Term ends 12/2019). John Moore is an accomplished trial lawyer, including a multi-million dollar jury verdict, who has been in practice since 1980. He has taught trial skills to lawyers, writing and research to law students, recycling law and negotiating skills to graduate students, and practical law to high school students. He has been NCRA legal counsel since the 1990s and represents several recycling businesses. He is the originator and long-term host of the NCRA ZWAC Show.

Laura McKaughan, Principal, Envirolutions LLC (Term ends 12/2018). Laura McKaughan worked in the resource management industry for over 10 years before starting her own environmental consulting company in 2014. Prior to this, she served as Sustainability and Conservation Manager for Stanford Student Housing and worked for the San Francisco Conservation Corps (SFCC) for 8 years. At the SFCC, she was originally hired as the Recycling Projects Manager and was promoted to Associate Director of Green Programs in 2011. She has an MBA in Environmental Entrepreneurship from Dominican University and a BA in Psychology from the University of Arizona. Laura joined the NCRA board in 2010 and was a visionary president from 2012-2018.

Jessica Connolly Nusse, Solid Waste Specialist, Castro Valley Sanitary District
Jessica Nusse has been working in the Zero Waste industry since 2009. Jessica is currently working for Castro Valley Sanitary District (CVSan) and previously on source reduction, recycling, and composting programs in multi-family dwellings (MFDs) with Marin Sanitary Service. She interned at Recology San Francisco on the Environmental Learning Center tour program from 2009-2010.  She worked with Recology San Mateo County as a Diversion Auditor from 2010-2012, where she helped large businesses, and MFDs increase diversion through source reduction, recycling, and composting. Jessica also taught an environmental literacy internship program to formerly-homeless people at a non-profit in San Francisco from 2012-2014. She has a degree in Geography: Human Environmental Studies from San Francisco State University, where she graduated with high honors. Jessica joined the NCRA Board in 2012, serving on both the Membership Committee and the Zero Waste Advocacy Committee. She also served as the Co-Chair of the Zero Waste Youth Convergence.

Jennifer Cutter,  Recycling Programs Coordinator, City of Union City
Jennifer Cutter works with businesses, municipal facilities, multi-family complexes, and community groups to establish diversion programs in the Bay Area. She specializes in recycling and organics implementation, but also develop public outreach for HHW, e-waste, and other environmental programs. Ms. Cutter’s recycling program experience is unique because of both public and private-sector perspectives through her former positions as recycling coordinator with Republic Services of Alameda County and with the City of Hayward Recycling Division.

Arthur Boone, Center for Recycling Research & Total Recycling Associates
Arthur Boone was a member of the NCRA board for most years since becoming a professional in recycling in 1983. Now semi-retired, he founded NCRA’s well-praised RECYCLING UPDATE  and INTRODUCTION TO RECYCLING  classes. He most recently chaired NCRA’s Zero Waste Advocacy Committee, which advises NCRA on policy and legislative matters. He lives in Berkeley and holds degrees from Princeton and Brown Universities and the Union Theological Seminary in NYC.

Tomer Shapira, Customer Service Field Manager, Specialty Solid Waste & Recycling
A lifelong advocate for environmental and social justice for people and the planet, Tomer Shapira has been working professionally in the recycling and Zero Waste industry since 2006. After graduating from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a double major in Environmental and Community Studies, Tomer went on to designing and implementing Zero Waste management systems for events and festivals in California and nationally across the U.S., before settling in San Francisco and joining the local Conservation Corps in 2010.  Managing the Corps’ city-wide Zero Waste projects program represented a chance to continue in Zero Waste education and implementation, but closer to home. Working alongside at-risk and underprivileged young adults for five years provided an invaluable perspective into the importance of connecting the concept of environmental stewardship to diverse local communities. This passion has carried over in his work with Specialty Solid Waste & Recycling, where he began as the company’s Customer Service Field Manager in December of 2014.  A proud NCRA member since 2010, Tomer served on the Board of Directors since 2013.

Steven Chiv, Zero Waste Commercial Specialist, City and County of SF
Steven Chiv is a Zero Waste and sustainability advocate with a focus on material resource conservation working with the San Francisco’s Department of the Environment towards their goal of Zero Waste by 2020. He has experience navigating state and local environmental policy, implementing commercial and residential Zero Waste policy, and organizing community grassroots outreach.  Steven believes that all meaningful conservation and care for our beautiful planet begins with individual responsibility.  He is focused on stimulating behavior change to drive greater environmental action and care for Mother Earth and her finite resources. Steven shares NCRA’s Zero Waste vision with the new generation of recyclers and proudly served as NCRA Membership Committee Co-chair.

Rebecca Jewell wrapped up at Davis Street Transfer Station in April 2016, having worked as the
Recycling Programs Manager since 2006. At DSTS, she was primarily responsible for explaining operations & programs to partners in the industry, the curious members of the public as well as City and regulatory staffs. Rebecca has her bachelor’s degree from Kalamazoo College, a small liberal arts college in Southwest Michigan. Her professional experience began in working with at-risk youth and domestic violence survivors in residential settings. Rebecca initially came to the recycling scene working at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County. There, she helped shape the recycling programs and formed 2 creative reuse programs.

Steven Sherman specializes in the composting and anaerobic digestion of organic materials. Steven has 25 years of consulting experience in program planning, policy development, project implementation and management, contractor management, training, and program evaluation.

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