Dr. Jill Tarter elected President of the Academy; eight new members join Board of Trustees

SAN FRANCISCO (September 16, 2015) – The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the California Academy of Sciences, Jerome C. Vascellaro, is pleased to announce that Dr. Jill Tarter has been elected as President of the Academy. In this position, held by one of the Academy’s scientist trustees, she will work closely with Board Chairman Vascellaro and the Academy’s Executive Director Dr. Jonathan Foley to provide leadership on critical science issues.

A renowned astrophysicist and pioneer in the search for extraterrestrial life, Dr. Tarter is deeply involved in the education of future citizens and scientists in her role as the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI Research at the SETI Institute. Her work has been widely recognized by the scientific community, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace, two Public Service Medals from NASA, Chabot Observatory’s Person of the Year Award, Women of Achievement Award in the Science and Technology category by the Women’s Fund and the San Jose Mercury News, and the Tesla Award of Technology at the Telluride Tech Festival. In 2004, she was named one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.”

"I'm excited to take on the presidency of this renowned Academy that dates back to 1853, just three years after California statehood. This institution’s visionary founders understood how important a natural history museum, and subsequently an aquarium and planetarium, was to the future and prosperity of the mostly unexplored state,” says Dr. Tarter. “I joined the Board of Trustees as a scientist just as the new Academy building was reopening in Golden Gate Park and have watched as the institution has continued to reinvent and integrate its strengths in scientific research, public education, and environmental stewardship. Now, I look forward to helping the Academy reach its full potential to explore, explain, and sustain life on Earth, while I continue to support the study of worlds beyond the Earth as a member of the SETI Institute Board of Trustees."

The Academy’s Board of Trustees also welcomes eight new members this year. These new trustees are joining the board as the Academy reaches its seventh anniversary in a new facility designed by Renzo Piano, which has welcomed more than 10 million visitors since its opening in September 2008. The new board members are:

Mark Buell is a native San Franciscan, a graduate of the University of San Francisco, and a decorated Vietnam veteran. He has spent 35 years in both public and private real estate development. Buell served as San Francisco’s first Director of Economic Development under Joseph Alioto and later served as the first Director of the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency from 1977 to 1985. He serves on the Boards of various non-profit organizations including the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, Bolinas Museum, and the Chez Panisse Foundation. He is President of the SF Recreation and Park Commission and past Chairman of the America’s Cup Organizing Committee. Buell lives in San Francisco with his wife Susie Tompkins Buell.

Huifen Chan is the Managing Director of YongHeng Partners, a multi-asset class investment partnership. Prior to YongHeng, Huifen was CEO and Founder of Perfect Bridal, an online bridal commerce business which she sold in 2007. Prior to that, she was Director of Products at Mark Logic, an enterprise database software company. Before that, Huifen worked as a Senior Product Manager at eBay. Huifen received her bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering with a double major in mathematics and computer science from Carnegie Mellon University, and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She currently serves on the boards of Asian Pacific Fund and Keys School.

Nick Giovanni is co-chief operating officer of the Technology, Media and Telecom Group and global co-head of Internet Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs. He advises technology companies on financial and strategic transactions and also serves on the Technology Investment Committee. Giovanni joined Goldman Sachs in 1998 in New York and worked in Tokyo and Hong Kong before returning home to San Francisco in 2005. He is a regular guest lecturer at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He also serves on the board of the Phoebe Hearst Preschool. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with honors from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Charles Marshall, PhD is the Philip Sandford Boone Chair in Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is the Director of the University of California, Museum of Paleontology, co-Director of the Berkeley Initiative in Global Change Biology, a Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, and holds an appointment in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. He is a leading paleobiologist specializing in the development of quantitative tools and the application of DNA data in understanding the major events in the evolution of life on Earth. He is a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences and the Geological Society of America, and is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Dr. Marshall earned his undergraduate degree from the Australian National University, majoring in applied mathematics, with minors in geology, biology, physical chemistry, and physics. He earned a PhD from the University of Chicago, did NIH postdoctoral work in evolution and development at Indiana University, and has held academic appointments at UCLA and as a senior faculty member at Harvard University. Dr. Marshall is also the newly elected Vice President of the Academy. He lives in El Cerrito with his young daughter and wife, from whom he is still learning the wonders of the Southeast Asian rainforests and coral reefs.

Pamela Matson, PhD is the Dean of the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, Goldman Professor of Environmental Studies, and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for Environment at Stanford University. Her research addresses a range of environment and sustainability issues, including sustainability of agricultural systems, vulnerability of particular people and places to climate change, and global change in the nitrogen and carbon cycles. Dr. Matson is an elected member of the National Academy of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received a MacArthur Fellowship, among other awards. She has served on numerous National Academies' committees, including the Board on Sustainable Development, the Board on Global Change, and the Committee on America’s Climate Choices. She is a past President of the Ecological Society of America, serves on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund and the ClimateWorks Foundation as well as advisory boards for Colorado State University’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability and Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability, and directs the Leopold Leadership Program at Stanford University. Dr. Matson received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, a master’s degree in environmental science from Indiana University, and her PhD in forest ecology from Oregon State University.

Steve McCormick is co-founder and CEO of The Earth Genome, a start-up venture to create the first global, open-source information platform on ecosystem services and natural capital, designed to guide better decision-making on sustainability in the private and public sectors. He is also currently a Special Advisor at the Resources Legacy Fund, working as a member of the California State Parks Transformation Team. McCormick served as President of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, one of the largest Foundations in the U.S., from 2007-2014. He also served as President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) from 2000-2008. A leader in the social innovation sector, he serves on the boards of The Independent Sector, Sustainable Conservation, UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources, and the California Wildlife Officers Foundation. McCormick’s work has been profiled in publications such as Forbes, San Francisco Chronicle, and CEO Magazine. In addition, he has received widespread recognition and awards, including the Chevron Conservation Award, the Edmund G. Brown Award for Environmental and Economic Balance, the John Pritzlaff Conservation Award, the California League of Conservation Voters’ Conservation Leadership Award, and the Silver Eagle Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. McCormick holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law.

Harold “Hal” A. Mooney, PhD is the Paul S. Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology, Emeritus at Stanford University. He has served as President of the Ecological Society of America, President of the American Institute of Biological Science, and Secretary General of the International Council for Science. He was Scientific Panel Co-Chair of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment from 2000 to 2005 as Chair of DIVERSITAS, an international program on biodiversity science. Dr. Mooney is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He has received numerous awards, including the Tyler Prize, the Blue Planet Prize, the Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology and Environmental Sciences, BBVA Foundation Award for Scientific Research in Ecology and Conservation Biology, and the Volvo Environment Prize. Dr. Mooney is currently engaged in research on the impacts of global change on terrestrial ecosystems, especially on productivity and biodiversity; the invasion of non-indigenous plant species, the environmental and social consequences of industrialized animal production systems, and California ecosystems. He has served as an international ambassador on biodiversity and global warming and has been active in building a network of scientists in multi-disciplines and leading international conferences on the environment. He received his PhD from Duke University.

Andrew J. Schwab is a Founder and Managing Partner of 5AM Ventures. Prior to founding 5AM in 2002, Schwab was a Principal at Bay City Capital. After joining Bay City Capital in 1999, he led the firm’s investment and merchant banking activities for such companies as Cubist, PTC Therapeutics, Symyx, and Syrrx. Previously Schwab was Vice President of Business Development at Digital Gene Technologies and a Vice President in the life science investment banking group of Montgomery Securities. At 5AM, he has led the firm’s investments in and served on the Boards of Directors of Bellerophon (Public), Biodesy, Cleave, DVS (acquired by Fluidigm), Flexion (Public), Ikaria (acquired by Madison Dearborn Partners), Ilypsa (acquired by Amgen), Miikana (acquired by EntreMed), Panomics (acquired by Affymetrix), Pear Therapeutics, RuiYi, Synosia (acquired by Biotie) and Viveve (Public). Schwab received a bachelor’s degree with honors in genetics and ethics from Davidson College and was a member of Davidson’s 1992 Final Four soccer team. He is based in Menlo Park.