Who We Are

Advisors

Our Board of Advisors guide the strategic direction of STAY COOL. This dynamic team of leaders volunteer their time at quarterly meetings where they advise the direction of STAY COOL’s events and programs.

Linda Giannelli Pratt, Advisory Council Chairperson
For more than 30 years, Linda Giannelli Pratt has successfully built a professional career focused on community-based environmental protection. Her experience is broad, and includes positions as a laboratory analyst, regulatory compliance specialist, consultant, director of regional environmental programs for the City and County of San Diego, director of a community sustainability program for The Natural History Museum, and managing director of a statewide nonprofit organization, Green Cities California, which serves local government leaders to advance more sustainable policies and practices. She is currently an adjunct professor at UCSD. Linda received a BS in Microbiology and Chemistry from CSU Long Beach, and an MS in Environmental Science from CSU Dominguez Hills. Linda is also a proud grandmother!

Laura Schumacher, Advisory Council Vice Chairperson
Laura is a long-time PTA board member involved in child advocacy. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Ninth District PTA. In 2014, Laura chaired a local PTA committee which wrote a resolution “Climate Change is a Children’s Issue”. The resolution was adopted by the California State PTA Convention in 2015 and authorizes PTAs throughout California to advocate for climate change legislation, and encourages teaching climate science and sustainability in California public schools. Laura holds a BS from the University of Texas at Austin.

Peg Engel, Founder, Secretary/Treasurer
Peg’s concern about climate change grew from a love of wildlife, and seeing how seriously even subtle shifts in seasons can disrupt the ecosystems we all depend on. With a degree in Geography from the University of Washington, she worked a few seasons as a national park ranger before settling into an administrative career and volunteering for parks and conservation groups. Now a San Diego retiree, she works with the local League of Women Voters and its Sustainability and Environmental Action Committee. Married to STAY COOL founder David Engel, she shared the thrill of becoming a grandparent and now especially enjoys time outdoors with their granddaughter, whose curiosity and delight in the natural world continuously rekindle her drive to pass on a world as healthy, diverse, and resilient as possible.

Geri Ingram, MLIS, Executive Team At-Large Member
Geri serves on the Stay Cool Education Committee as well as the Advisory Council. After a career as a university librarian, specializing in digital image and information management, Geri now focuses on information literacy and climate science for all levels. As a Climate Reality Project leader, she works on K-12 educational projects with peers and students; that group vets and recommends environmental science curricula that meet California’s Next Generation Science Standards. With Stay Cool’s Education Committee, Geri especially enjoys helping with classroom ocean warming and acidification experiments. Geri holds two degrees from the University of California, Berkeley: a Master of Library and Information Studies, and a BS in Conservation of Natural Resources. Fun fact: Geri is a certified instructor in the CDC-approved Tai Chi for Health Program, specifically, Tai Chi for Arthritis and Fall Prevention.

Robert A. Leiter, FAICP, Past Advisory Council Chairperson
Bob Leiter has had a distinguished career in city and regional planning for over 40 years, including service as planning director for four California cities. In 2003, he was appointed as Director of Land Use and Transportation Planning for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). While serving in that position, Bob was responsible for overseeing regional planning activities in the areas of transportation, land use, public facilities, environmental management, and interregional and bi-national collaboration. After retiring from SANDAG in 2009, Bob worked as a part-time planning consultant, assisting regional and state planning agencies and organizations with the implementation of SB 375, California’s pioneering climate change legislation. For several years Bob also served as an adjunct lecturer in UC San Diego’s Urban Studies and Planning Program. Bob holds a BA in political science and MA in economics from UC Santa Barbara, and was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Planning Association in 2008.

Cliff Colwell, MD
Clifford Colwell joined the STAY COOL board in February 2019, and has been an active member since its formation. He is also actively involved with The San Diego Foundation. Cliff is medical director of the Shiley Center for Orthopaedic Research and Education at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California and holds the Shiley Chair in Orthopaedic Research. He is also a clinical professor in the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine; and adjunct clinical professor, Department of Basic Science and Clinical Research at The Scripps Research Institute. He was formerly chief of the Orthopaedic Division at Scripps Clinic, and for 25 years was team physician for the San Diego Padres. Dr. Colwell has received numerous honors andå awards for his research and teaching. Cliff received his medical degree from the University of Michigan and did subsequent residency/fellowship training at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City and Los Angeles County Hospital. He is an Air Force military veteran. Cliff lives in La Jolla with his wife Carolyn of fifty-three years and has three children and six grandchildren.

Kaitlyn Lowder
Kaitlyn supports the International Ocean Acidification Initiative at The Ocean Foundation and works to increase ocean science research capacity around the globe. While in graduate school, she joined STAY COOL in teaching hands-on ocean warming and ocean acidification science to local classrooms, finding that it provides an important avenue to build an understanding of climate change and enhance scientific education. Kaitlyn received her BS in Biology and BA in English from Western Washington University and a MS in Biological Oceanography and a Ph.D. in Marine Biology with a Specialization in Interdisciplinary Environmental Research from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.

Kathy Nicholson
Kathy is an independent energy consultant who helps home and business owners reduce energy costs and gain energy resiliency and independence with solar energy, energy storage, energy management and efficiency, and electrification of equipment and vehicles. She has over 30 years of experience as an energy engineering professional helping hundreds of home and business owners in various roles, including technical consultant, customer support engineer, designer and installer of PV and battery energy storage systems, and product, project, and program manager. She is a NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Energy Engineering and a Master of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Her passion is using her technical knowledge and strong communication skills to empower people with accurate, unbiased, and current information so they can join the clean energy revolution in the best way possible for themselves financially.

Jennifer Phelps
Jennifer is a landscape architect whose work promotes sustainable building, urban planning, and design strategies that address solutions we can implement to build resilience, draw down carbon, and reduce GHG emissions. As a volunteer with SanDiego350, she works primarily on developing the Youth4Climate program whose mission is to empower youth to become climate leaders working together to create a vibrant, equitable, sustainable future.

Sue Randerson
Sue leads nature walks for children at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve and recently served as Children’s Program Director. She served on the Environment Working Group at the San Diego Foundation (TSDF) and now participates on TSDF’s Opening the Outdoors Vision Action Team. She teaches classes in Ocean Science to elementary school students and has also taught Global Climate Change. Sue received a BA from Stanford University and a Fulbright fellowship to the University of Tuebingen in Germany, then taught Spanish, German and English in the San Diego Unified School District.

Benjamin Shleifer, MD
Ben is a pediatric physician working in San Diego. He completed his undergraduate studies in biomedical engineering at UCSD, medical school training at Albany Medical College in upstate New York, and his pediatrics residency at the University of Utah. Ben has been fascinated by geology and earth science since he was a kid. Some of his most memorable elementary school teachers inspired his interest through field trips (such as to look for fossils) and earth science projects in the classroom that taught about climate. Ben is passionate about lending his voice, now as a pediatrician, to make a difference in climate change and helping reduce the impact it will have on the planet and kids’ health. Dr. Shleifer currently serves as the San Diego Pediatricians for Clean Air wetlands liaison in their collaboration with Rewild Mission Bay and is focusing his advocacy on the health benefits to children of wetland restoration.

Emily Young, PhD
Dr. Emily Young is Executive Director of The Nonprofit Institute in the University of San Diego’s School of Leadership and Education Sciences. She has spent over 20 years in various positions in philanthropy and higher education. Before the University of San Diego, she served as Vice President of Community Impact at The San Diego Foundation, where she built its Environment Program with grantmaking initiatives around climate change, conservation and outdoor access, and clean air/water protection. She also managed initiatives on civic engagement, youth development, and neighborhood revitalization. Dr. Young received the 2011 Funder’s Network for Smart Growth Nicholas P. Bollman Award for leaders who inspire through values and action. Emily was also an assistant professor of geography and regional development at the University of Arizona. She received an MS in geography at the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Texas at Austin.

Emeritus Board Member

David Engel, Founder
David has served as the vice chair of The San Diego Foundation (TSDF) Climate Initiative, and as chair of TSDF’s Environment Working Group. He has also served on the boards of several non-profit environmental organizations. David is retired from the faculty of the University of Washington and holds degrees from the University of Minnesota (BS, DDS) and the University of Washington (MS, PhD).

Founding Members

Wenda Alvarez, Lisa Bicker, Carolyn and Cliff Colwell, Joan Dahlin, Marty Eberhardt, Paul Eichen, David and Peg Engel, Philip Hastings, Nicola Hedge, Ann Hunter-Welborn, Robert Leiter, Patricia and Mike McCoy, Phyllis McGrath, Art Miller, Sue Randerson, Richard Somerville, David Welborn, Emily Young, Bradley Zlotnick

Community Supporters

Michael Beck, Endangered Habitats League Conservationist

Rafael Castellanos, Partner, Solomon Minton Cardinal Doyle & Smith LLP

Aaron Contorer, Board Member, Equinox Center

Tony Haymet, Distinguished Professor, University of California San Diego (UCSD), and Director & Vice-Chancellor Emeritus, Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO), UCSD

Len Hering, RADM, USN (Ret.), Retired Executive Director, Center for Sustainable Energy

Charles F. Kennel, Distinguished Professor, UCSD & Director Emeritus, SIO

Andy Mauro, Audubon Society Conservationist

Michael McDade, President, McDade Strategic Consulting

Veerabhadran “Ram” Ramanathan, Distinguished Professor and Climate Scientist, UCSD and SIO

James T. Waring, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, CleanTECH San Diego