Staff Directory

Pesticide Action Network North America is endowed with the commitments and capabilities of its staff of scientists, campaigners, writers, interns and support specialists. Here you can get contact information for and learn a little about some of the people behind PAN's work for pesticide reform.

PAN is led by three co-directors: Kathryn Gilje, Heather Pilatic and Steve Scholl-Buckwald.

Beverly Becker
Director of Donor Relations
bev@panna.org
B.A., Political Science, University of California, Berkeley; Post-graduate research in Natural Resource Management, University of California, Riverside

Bev came to PAN in 2006 from the Center for Land-Based Learning in Winters, California, where she was their first development director and continues as a board member for this statewide environmental organization that teaches the importance of secure, sustainable food systems. Previously, she was Director of Development at the San Francisco Zoological Society and a consultant in fundraising for the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Zoo, America India Foundation, and San Francisco Art Institute. Bev’s first career was communications and marketing, including directorships at the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe, the Oakland Museum, the Koret Foundation and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund in San Francisco. Bev leads PAN’s individual giving program.

Clint Boerner
Information Technology Manager
clint@panna.org   
DigitalVideo, Vista Community College, Berkeley, California

Clint had over ten years experience as a network technician, webmaster and consultant to business and home users, specializing in Mac systems, prior to joining PAN in 2006. He served as Network Coordinator for Vista College in Berkeley, consultant to the advertising industry with Mann Consulting in San Francisco, and as Webmaster and Network Administrator for macHOME magazine where he also wrote the “HotTips weekly eNews letter”. Clint maintains PAN's computing systems, network and telecommunications services and supports media production for the Communications Department.

Megan Buckingham
Program Assistant
megan@panna.org
B.A. Philosophy, Gustavus Adolphus College

Megan came to PAN as a full-time volunteer at PAN through the Lutheran Volunteer Corps and continues to work with PAN and Californians for Pesticide Reform. At PAN, Megan coordinates the volunteer and intern program; at CPR she assits with fundraising and program coordination. Megan speaks Spanish.

Medha Chandra
Campaign Coordinator
medha@panna.org
Ph.D., Environment and Social Justice, University College London

Medha has fourteen years experience in urban design, environmental protection, international development and social justice work in India, UK, and in the U.S. Before moving to the U.S. Medha worked on environmental conflict and justice issues in India and UK, focusing on low income urban and peri-urban communities. At PANNA Medha leads a team focused on international and domestic pesticide campaigns, and is the coordinator of PAN International’s Working Group on Pesticides and Corporations. Medha has written for academic as well as NGO publications. She is trilingual in Bengali, English and Hindi.

Julie Curry
Development Assistant
julie@panna.org
B.A., Psychology, University of Texas

After graduation with a degree in psychology in 2001, Julie moved from Austin to San Francisco where she has worked in the nonprofit sector. She performed evaluation of programs for disadvantaged youth affiliated with San Francisco’s Juvenile Probation Department, and later conducted research for California’s Department of Health Services. She joined PAN in fall 2008 as a Development Assistant.

Kathryn Gilje
Executive Director
kathryn@panna.org
B.S., Environmental Science, University of Minnesota College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences

Kathryn joined PAN in 2005, bringing ten years of organizing, fundraising, program planning and organizational development experience with food, agriculture and social justice organizations. Prior to being named executive director, Kathryn was PAN’s campaigns director. Before coming to PAN, Kathryn co-founded and co-directed Centro Campesino, a membership organization of migrant agricultural workers, rural Latino/as and allies in southern Minnesota. She was senior associate with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, where her work focused on marketing sustainable agriculture and reforming U.S. farm policy. She spent several years on small farms in Minnesota, raising chickens, milking goats and coordinating local foods projects. Her community organizing training comes from the Organizing Apprenticeship Project, Center for Third World Organizing and Farm Labor Organizing Committee. Her non-profit management training was provided through Hispanics in Philanthropy at the Kellogg School of Management. Kathryn speaks Spanish.

Brian Hill
Consulting Analyst
bhill@panna.org
Ph.D., Physics, Harvard University, 1988

Brian served PAN as a staff scientist and as the science department director from September 2004 to November 2009. Before joining PAN, Brian was working in the Energy Analysis Department of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Prior to that he was a software engineer, including working at NeXT and Apple on the development of Mac OS X. His doctoral and post-doctoral research in physics included Monte Carlo calculations of the properties of particles known as "heavy mesons." At PAN Brian has done technical analyses and software development for PAN’s PesticideInfo website and its What’s On My Food? software, and analyses of environmental modeling. He regularly engaged U.S. EPA and California Department of Pesticide Regulation processes, particularly on fumigants, in order to improve protections for health and the environment. As a consulting analyst, he continues to do technical analyses, data updates and software enhancements for PesticideInfo and What’s On My Food?

Marcia Ishii-Eiteman
Senior Scientist
mie@panna.org
Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell

Marcia joined PAN in 1996 after working in Asia and Africa for much of the previous 15 years. She facilitated government-farmer-NGO collaborations on sustainable agriculture in Southeast Asia, and developed a farmer-based pest management education project in Thailand. Previously she worked on agricultural projects in Somali refugee camps and on women's health and literacy projects with Khmer refugees. Her doctoral research focused on Thai farmers' rice cultivation practices and biological control of rice insect pests. At PAN, Marcia has directed our World Bank Accountability program, was a lead author with the UN's International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology in Development, and is currently Coordinator of our Safe, Fair & Clean Food Program. She speaks Thai and French.

Susan Kegley
Consulting Scientist
skegley@panna.org
Ph.D., Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Postdoctoral in Organometallic Chemistry, Colorado State University and University of California, Berkeley

Susan served as a Senior Scientist at PAN from 1998-2009, and continues as Consulting Scientist. Before joining PAN, Susan taught at Middlebury and Williams Colleges, where she began doing environmental research on PCB-contaminated soils. She moved to UC Berkeley in 1992 and developed an Environmental Chemistry course focused on methods to evaluate environmental contamination, including pesticides and heavy metals. Susan directed PAN's Science Department from 2002 to 2007, during which time she oversaw development of the PAN Pesticide Database, www.pesticideinfo.org; our program of technical engagement with pesticide regulatory agencies; and our environmental monitoring program, for which she developed PAN's Pesticide Drift Catcher air monitoring device. Her current work focuses on the science and policy related to airborne pesticides. Susan is Principal and CEO of Pesticide Research Institute.

Gunther Korshak
Membership Coordinator
gunther@panna.org
B.S., Natural Resources, University of Vermont; Master of Nonprofit Management, Regis University

Gunther did marketing for Seventh Generation, U.S. leader in nontoxic household products, before moving into environmental and computer skills education with low income, at-risk youth in Denver. He interned with Colorado Environmental Council and served as trainings coordinator for the Continental Divide Trail Alliance before joining PAN as Membership Coordinator in September 2006. Gunther collaborates with the Campaigns and Communications Departments on member relationships, activism and network building.

Monica Moore
Co-Founder and Founding Executive Director
M.S., Environmental Science Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley

Monica has been engaged with pesticide issues since 1980, including working with NGO coalitions in Brazil, staffing the Food First Pesticide Project, organizing the PAN international founding conference in Malaysia in 1982, and co-founding PAN North America in 1984. She served as executive director until 1991 and then as co-director through 2006, overseeing all PAN North America programs. She serves as an advisor and/or board member to many local, national and international organizations, and is active in consultations on sustainable agriculture, environmental health, preservation of biodiversity and genetic resources. Monica speaks Danish, German and Spanish. 

Andrew Olsen
Online Communications Manager
andrew@panna.org
B.A., English Literature, University of South Florida

Andrew joined PAN in 2009 bringing nine years of experience in developing websites and writing copy with an emphasis on nonprofit organizations. Previously, he spent five years as the Public Affairs Specialist with The San Francisco Foundation and led the drive in developing their CMS website. Andrew is responsible for maintaining and upgrading PAN’s websites, creating content, and engaging online communities. His extensive travels have allowed him to interact with and experience a great variety of cultures around the globe. Andrew speaks Spanish.

Heather Pilatic
Communications Director
heather@panna.org
Ph.D., Literature, Duke University

Before joining PAN in October 2008, Heather studied science studies and social theory at Duke University’s Literature Program. Her doctoral research focused on twentieth-century U.S. political culture, economics and intellectual history with a focus on conceptions of science and citizenship around the turn of the century. Prior to returning to graduate school, Heather worked in marketing and communications for technology start-ups, and has volunteered or worked for environmental and social justice nonprofits over a period of ten years. As Communications Director, she leads PAN’s strategic communication efforts, including media relations; she also oversees PAN's physical sciences team. Heather speaks Spanish.

Margaret Reeves
Senior Scientist
mreeves@panna.org
Ph.D., Agricultural Ecology, University of Michigan; Postdoctoral in Agronomy, Ohio State

Before joining PAN in 1996, Margaret spent most of nine years in Central America, teaching and conducting research in tropical agricultural ecology. She worked with university colleagues and NGOs to improve productivity of low-input ecologically sound agricultural methods. Margaret has published her work in Spanish and English in professional and educational journals as well as popular venues. Since the early 1980s, she has worked in support of farm worker rights and has been a member of New World Agriculture and Ecology Group. At PANNA, Margaret focuses on environmental health and justice, particularly farmworker health and safety, and she heads the organophosphates campaign. Margaret speaks Spanish.

Erika Rosenthal
Consulting Attorney
erika@panna.org
J.D., New College School of Law; M.A., Environmental Law and Policy, Vermont Law School

Erika has over 18 years experience in environmental law, and coordinated Nicaraguan and Mexican field investigations for the landmark DBCP products liability case litigated in Texas. She was PAN's Latin America Program Coordinator in 1993-96, and has been an active consultant on environmental policy and sustainable agriculture in Central America, Eastern Europe and Russia, working with Earth Island Institute, EarthJustice and PAN, among others. She currently works at the Center for International Environmental Law in Washington, DC. Erika speaks Spanish.

Kristin Schafer
Senior Policy Analyst                                                                                                                                              kristins@panna.org
M.A., Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

Before joining PAN in 1996, Kristin worked for the World Resources Institute's Sustainable Agriculture program, as a communications specialist for the U.S. EPA, and as an agro-forestry extension officer with the Peace Corps in Kenya. Prior to becoming Senior Policy Analyst, Kristin was PAN's Campaigns Department Director. She has also coordinated the international persistent organic pollutants (POPs) campaign under the Stockholm Convention for several years. Her first position at PAN was Co-Coordinator of our campaign to phase out methyl bromide under the Montreal Protocol. Kristin has been lead author on several PANNA reports, including Chemical Trespass: Pesticides in our Bodies and Corporate Accountability (2004) and Nowhere to Hide: Persistent Toxic Chemicals in the U.S. Food Supply (2005). She also authored several studies on methyl bromide, including a pamphlet in Spanish for farmworkers on methyl bromide hazards, and two reports for the U.N. Environment Programme designed to help developing nations phase out this hazardous fumigant. Kristin speaks conversational Spanish.

Lindsey Schneider
Program Assistant
lindsey@panna.org
B.A., Religious Studies, Willamette University 

Lindsey is a full-time staff member at PAN placed through the Lutheran Volunteer Corps. She's a 2008 graduate of Willamette University. Before coming to PAN, Lindsey gained experience in the field of environmental justice through an internship with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission in Portland, Oregon. At PAN she is a member of our program team on "Safe, Fair and Green: Growing a food economy," focusing on fair food and California sustainable agriculture, and she writes for PANUPS, our weekly online news briefs service. Lindsey speaks Spanish.

Steve Scholl-Buckwald
Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer
steveatpan@panna.org
Ph.D., History and American Studies, Indiana University

From 1969 to 1985, Steve taught and served as a dean at Ohio Wesleyan University and John F. Kennedy University in California. From 1985 to 1991, he and his partner owned and operated a restaurant in Davis, California, and he worked in restaurants and organic foods retailing in the Bay Area. He has served as co-director and/or managing director of PAN since 1991. Today, Steve's responsibilities include administration, finance and development, and he serves on the executive committee for Californians for Pesticide Reform, of which PAN North America is a founder and primary fiscal sponsor. He has also served as treasurer on the boards of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First) and Earth Share of California.

Gar Smith
Contributing Editor
gar@panna.org
BA, English, University of California, Berkeley

Gar is a peace activist, journalist and media provocateur whose investigative articles have appeared in newspapers, magazines and on Websites around the world. He founded the first environmental group on the UC Berkeley campus, co-organized Berkeley’s first Farmers’ Market, and worked with David Brower at Friends of the Earth and Earth Island Institute. At FOE he scripted the award-winning PBS documentary, “Cry of the Condor.” He edited Earth Island Journal for 16 years, winning nearly a dozen Project Censored Awards, and, as editor emeritus, he continues to host The-Edge.org. He is Web editor of Environ­mentalists Against War, an international organization he co-founded in 2003. He joined PAN as editor in 2006, and he contributes to the PAN North America Magazine. 

Leticia Tirrez
Office Manager
leticia@panna.org
Leticia was born, raised and graduated from high school in Mexico, moving to San Francisco in 1973. Her previous work experience includes nursing and manufacturing. Before coming to PAN as receptionist in June 2002, she completed a computer and office skills training program, and she has been Office Manager since 2004. Leticia is bilingual in Spanish and English.

Karl Tupper
Staff Scientist and Coordinator, Environmental Monitoring Program
karl@panna.org
M.S., Inorganic Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley

Karl joined PAN in 2006 to support the Drift Catcher program, training community groups to collect air samples and analyzing these samples for pesticides by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. He comes to PAN after holding analytical jobs at Pfizer Inc and Abbott Laboratories and conducting research on the organometallic chemistry of scandium at UC Berkeley. Immediately prior to joining PANNA, Karl worked for Sun Light & Power installing roof-top solar electric arrays and making biodiesel out of waste vegetable oil collected from local restaurants. He has also worked with Redefining Progress advancing the science of Ecological Footprint Analysis.

Chela Vazquez
Campaign Coordinator
chela@panna.org
Ph.D., Environmental Science, Ohio State

Chela coordinates international campaigns, working primarily from the PAN Asia and the Pacific office in Penang, Malaysia. Before coming to PAN, Chela worked as a community organizer and development coordinator with Centro Campesino, a farmworker organization in Minnesota focused on labor justice, youth leadership, health promotion and immigration reform. She has done international campaigning as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and received campaigning and media training through the Organizing Apprenticeship Project, Center for Third World Organizing, Institute for Justice, Farm Labor Organizing Committee, and Progressive Technology Project. She serves on the boards of the Minnesota Water Alliance and the Women's Environmental Institute, and on the environmental justice grantmaking committee of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice. Chela is from Ecuador and bilingual in English/Spanish.

Brenda J. Willoughby
Bookkeeper, Systems Administrator and Desktop Publisher
bjwill@panna.org
B.A., Biology and Spanish, Manchester College

From 1990 to 1993, Brenda volunteered full-time with Brethren Volunteer Service, working two years with the Church of the Brethren Latin American/Caribbean Office in Elgin, Illinois, then with PAN, assisting with Regional Coordination and doing research for the PAN international Dirty Dozen Pesticides campaign. She was hired as office manager and bookkeeper in April 1993. Today, Brenda maintains our management information and contacts database system, provides desktop publishing and design services for PAN and Californians for Pesticide Reform, and remains our bookkeeper. Brenda speaks Spanish.