About Us
We’re here to make a positive lasting impression.
Our Board is invested and committed to a sustainable future
WRA is governed by a 7-member Board of Directors comprised of WRA staff and external Board Members. The Board represents the company’s shareholders and creates and maintains the company’s governance structure, shareholder investment integrity, and strategic guidance for sustainable company growth.
Geoff Smick is WRA’s Chief Executive Officer. He has served on WRA’s Board of Directors since 2010 during which time he contributed to numerous committees related to company strategy and governance. He has supported the Board’s transition to including external Directors which provides the company with additional breadth and expertise. In his day job, Geoff leads WRA’s Executive Team in implementing the company’s strategic plan while continuing to advise clients on ecological and regulatory matters. Geoff joined WRA in 2005 as a botanist and worked his way up through the company as a project manager and into company leadership. An ecologist and regulatory specialist by training, Geoff still works closely with clients to help them solve complex regulatory issues on their projects.
Geoff earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology with Honors from the University of Oregon and a Masters degree in Ecology and Systematics from San Francisco State University. He is involved in several professional organizations including serving as the Treasurer and Board Member for the California Society for Ecological Restoration (SERCAL).
Ed Dougherty serves as one of WRA’s external Board members. He is an executive with broad business and industry exposure, exceptional financial knowledge and transaction execution experience. He has been responsible for the successful development and implementation of corporate, operating and organizational plans. Ed’s previous service on corporate Boards and as an investment banker provides critical perspectives with respect to integrating strategy, finance, and operational capabilities to evaluate and achieve business objectives. He has served on six corporate boards for a diverse group of companies, both public and private, and in the course of that experience has been involved in addressing a full spectrum of complex business opportunities and issues.
Loran May
Loran May serves as one of WRA’s external Board members. She is the founder and served as President/CEO/CFO of a successful small, woman-owned biological consulting business (May & Associates, Inc.). A biologist by training, she earned a Bachelor of Arts from California State University, Humboldt. Loran has more than 30 years of experience as a botanist and restoration ecologist specializing in the Bay Area and Central Valley. Her career in consulting has focused in a variety of sectors including habitat conservation, land management, and public infrastructure (transportation, water, and utilities). She recently completed a term serving on the Board of Directors for a non-profit, the Arts Guild of Sonoma, one of the oldest continuously operating artists’ cooperatives in the state of California. Loran brings unique insight to WRA’s business and marketplace and will provide guidance for industry trends and strategic decisions relevant to company operations and business growth.
Dana McGowan is a professional archaeologist with over 40 years of experience managing environmental analysis and documentation for complex projects, and the development and implementation of environmental documentation and implementation programs. She’s an expert in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) compliance. In addition to her consulting experience as a vice president and cultural resources practice leader, Dana has served as Cultural Resources Manager for the California High-Speed Rail Authority. She has served in key roles on many other high-profile public agency projects including San Francisco Transportation Authority’s Doyle Drive Project in the Presidio, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s Owens Lake Dust Control Mitigation Project, and the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. Dana brings strategic planning insights to WRA’s Board in areas including new services and geographic expansion along with an understanding of recruiting and training needed to service these growth areas.
Matt Osowski serves as the Chair of WRA’s Board of Directors. With WRA he is an integral part of the company’s regulatory team and serves as the company’s Health and Safety Officer. Matt’s goal over his 20 year career in environmental consulting is to provide competent, reliable solutions on time and under budget. His work in compliance and permitting focuses on larger, long-term projects with multiple private and public stakeholders. As a Regulatory Permitting Specialist at WRA, he negotiates with multiple agencies having disparate needs on behalf of project stakeholders.
Matt earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology at Loyola University of Chicago, where he studied coastal ecology and conservation on Vancouver Island, BC through Boston College. He is certified in GIS through San Francisco State University, and has studied the wetland ecology of California since 2002.
Rob Schell is WRA’s Wildlife and Fisheries Director and brings nearly two decades of technical, scientific and industry experience to his Board seat, along with his company tenure since 2007. Rob puts collaboration and innovation first in his approach to managing projects and people. He is committed to finding elegant, evidence-based solutions to complicated regulatory and wildlife management issues in order to inform appropriate and contextualized land use decisions.
Rob earned a Bachelors of Science in Evolution and Ecology from University of California, Davis and is active in the study and conservation of amphibians and reptiles. He also previously served on the Board of Directors for The Biodiversity Group, an organization that focuses on life overlooked. Through his non-profit work, Rob worked to describe new species to science, protect endemic biodiversity, and conserve large tracts of land critical to the survival of endangered species and indigenous people alike.
Patricia Valcarcel is WRA’s Regulatory Program Director with nearly 20 years of experience and has been with WRA since 2011. Her background is in wildlife and conservation ecology blended with an interest in policy and regulations. She earned her Master’s in Wildlife Sciences from Oregon State University and her Bachelor’s in Environmental Sciences from Northwestern University. The influence of her academic background is a drive to incorporate science and data into management strategies to create more effective conservation and business plans in order to ensure the sustainability of both in the long term. She also strives to ensure people have the information and training they need to make knowledge-based decisions and do their best work. This keeps Patricia engaged in fostering collaboration and education which increases the diversity of data and voices essential to building a strong foundation for success. At WRA, she oversees preparation of endangered species reports and permit applications including Section 7 and 10 consultations, aquatic resources permits such as Section 404/401 and California Section 1600 applications, and trains junior biologists on the regulatory process. Her background, experience, and work approach has led to successes in negotiating resource permits for complex and long-term projects including endangered species permits for the largest tidal habitat restoration project in California.
Patricia has been on WRA’s Board of Directors since 2020. She also serves on the board of her local chapter of The Wildlife Society where she has become a Certified Wildlife Biologist (CWB®). Certification recognizes her education, experience, and ethics as a representative of wildlife practitioners and The Wildlife Society.
Executive Committee
Our management team puts people first
WRA’s Executive Committee is a small, close-knit group with focus on business, people, marketing, and internal operations to support a healthy, productive team and ensure a great client experience. Represented by the leaders of each of the primary organizational units of the company, the Executive Committee brings subject-matter expertise to the table to support strategic planning and overseeing tactical execution.
Geoff Smick is WRA’s Chief Executive Officer. He has served on WRA’s Board of Directors since 2010 during which time he contributed to numerous committees related to company strategy and governance. He has supported the Board’s transition to including external Directors which provides the company with additional breadth and expertise. In his day job, Geoff leads WRA’s Executive Team in implementing the company’s strategic plan while continuing to advise clients on ecological and regulatory matters. Geoff joined WRA in 2005 as a botanist and worked his way up through the company as a project manager and into company leadership. An ecologist and regulatory specialist by training, Geoff still works closely with clients to help them solve complex regulatory issues on their projects.
Geoff earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology with Honors from the University of Oregon and a Masters degree in Ecology and Systematics from San Francisco State University. He is involved in several professional organizations including serving as the Treasurer and Board Member for the California Society for Ecological Restoration (SERCAL).
Liz Agraz is WRA’s Vice President, Marketing. She has 20 years of experience in a diverse range of marketing professional services for the architecture, engineering, and construction (A/E/C) industry for public sector and private clients throughout the western United States. At WRA she contributes to strategic initiatives, proposals, presentations, and other client-focused communication. Liz provides a broad range of marketing services to support WRA’s market and practice leaders while balancing emerging trends and policies including technology, funding, and delivery methods. Liz earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from James Madison University and is a member of the California Society for Ecological Restoration (SERCAL).
Miles Gullingsrud serves as WRA’s Vice President, Operations. He has more than 16 years of experience leading critical operational support including project delivery, technology, people, and culture. With a professional background in administration, finance, and technology, Miles brings a blended experience of organizational process and operational delivery. His background ranges from large-scale, procedural companies, to early stage startup environments, and now professional services. The common thread in his work in both types of organizations is a high level of people centricity, and building systems to support people in their work.
Miles earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of California, Riverside and is a certified project manager. He is active in a number of professional organizations including the ManKind Project, a nonprofit training organization that offers life-changing experiential training for men, and the Operators Guild, a national organization for senior level operators to share expertise and best practices.
Pema Lin is WRA’s Vice President, People Operations. She has more than 15 years of experience in recruiting and human resources (HR) across a variety of industries. Her experience in HR is wide-ranging, encompassing HR strategies development, technology, operations, talent acquisition, employee and team development, and culture development. Pema earned her Master’s of Theological Studies degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School and her Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and Religious Studies from the University of Richmond. In 2021, Pema became a certified integral coach through New Ventures West.
Bianca McCarron is WRA’s Vice President, Finance. She has more than 15 years of financial and operational experience in both the consulting and construction sectors. Bianca has successfully led teams through ownership transitions, process improvement, and growth. At WRA, Bianca’s responsibilities include leading financial planning, policy, and investor relations, as well as liaising with the senior leadership and the company’s Board of Directors to maintain fiscal health and compliance. She also develops forward-looking, predictive models and analyses to provide insights into WRA’s operations and business plans. Bianca earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and is a certified public accountant (CPA).
Principals, Directors, and Team Leaders
Leslie Allen is a Principal with WRA and leads one of the company’s project delivery teams.She brings more than 25 years of experience working in the public and private sectors. Leslie specializes in managing multidisciplinary teams to support clients through complex environmental permitting, mitigation, and monitoring efforts in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. The technical skills that Leslie developed earlier in her career as a field biologist, wetland delineator, and construction monitor inform her approach to navigating environmental compliance and the relationships among regulators, project proponents, construction contractors, and other stakeholders. Leslie is experienced with managing projects from conception to completion. She also is adept at picking up projects where others have left off and getting them to construction. Leslie manages preparation of project-specific permit applications, consultation packages and mitigation plans to satisfy regulatory agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. Leslie also handles permitting and compliance with local ordinances that protect streams, wetlands, and trees.
Nathan (Nate) Bello is a Principal with WRA and leads the company’s Mitigation & Conservation team. He is an experienced biologist with expertise in compensatory mitigation, natural resources planning, ecological restoration, wetland and endangered species science, and environmental regulations. He worked as a wildlife biologist for the United States Forest Service and as an NEPA/CEQA analyst for the County of Sacramento before joining WRA in 2007. At WRA, Nate provides services focused on the planning, establishment, and management of large mitigation projects. His experience working in both the public and private sectors has provided him with an in-depth understanding of the complex organizational structures and processes surrounding federal, state and local environmental regulations.
Nate has worked on several large mitigation/conservation projects in California, including the planning and assessment of numerous wetland mitigation banks, species conservation banks, single user mitigation projects, and open space planning projects. His role in these projects has included project management, conducting biological assessments, special status species surveys, wetland delineations, performance monitoring, market supply and demand research, feasibility studies, regulatory permitting, habitat management planning, bank approval, agency coordination, endowment analyses, service area determinations, credit sales and bank marketing.
Marisa Ishimatsu leads WRA’s compliance monitoring team. She has 10 years of environmental consulting experience. She is WRA’s expert in permit implementation and serves as project manager assisting our clients with permit interpretation, agency negotiation, notifications, reporting, and deployment of field staff for pre-construction surveys and construction compliance monitoring.
Marisa has experience working with many California species including Alameda whipsnake, bald and golden eagles, blunt-nosed leopard lizard, burrowing owl, California red-legged frog, California tiger salamander, desert tortoise, flat-tailed horned lizard, giant garter snake, giant kangaroo rat, Mojave ground squirrel, salt marsh harvest mouse, San Francisco garter snake, San Joaquin kit fox, and Swainson’s hawk. Marisa is trained on CPR/AED/First Aid, helicopter safety, all-terrain vehicle, unexploded ordinance (UXO), paleontological and archeological artifact identification, and SWPPP. She has conducted training on rattlesnake handling and avoidance.
Hope Kingma is a Principal with WRA and leads one of the company’s project delivery teams. She has more than 25 years of field experience working as a biologist in a wide variety of habitats, including tidal and diked salt marshes, seasonal wetlands, freshwater marshes, riparian corridors, and non-native annual grasslands. Hope has conducted site assessments and special-status species surveys, including salt marsh harvest mouse, California red-legged frog, California tiger salamander, western burrowing owl, San Joaquin kit fox, harbor seal, and several raptor species.
Hope has extensive experience with wetland permitting pursuant to Sections 404 and 401 of the Clean Water Act. She has prepared endangered species “incidental take permit” applications pursuant to Section 7 of the FESA, Section 2081 of the CESA, and Streambed Alteration Agreement applications pursuant to Section 1602 of the California Fish and Game Code. Hope has conducted numerous wetland delineations and prepared wetland creation and riparian restoration plans, performed restoration and mitigation monitoring, conducted construction monitoring in sensitive habitats, and prepared Biological Resources Analysis Reports supporting the CEQA review of projects throughout the Bay Area, including many projects in the Santa Rosa Plain.
Peter Kobylarz is a Senior Spatial Data Science Professional and leads WRA’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technical team. He has over 15 years of experience in the public and private sector. Beyond the standard map production and geospatial analysis services provided by the GIS team, Peter has used his experience with enterprise GIS technologies and data management to grow the GIS capabilities and services that WRA offers. These supplemental services include UAV/drone mapping capabilities, web and mobile GIS mapping applications, advanced remote sensing data collection and analysis, enterprise GIS planning and implementation, and custom geospatial analysis workflows and models.
Peter delivers a strong combination of Enterprise IT and Geographic Information Systems experience to provide WRA and our clients with valuable spatial data driven solutions and landscape scale problem solving. He has served as the lead GIS Analyst and GIS Project Manager on a number of superlative restoration and resiliency projects throughout California. Peter’s work on wildfire recovery and response in the aftermath of the devastating 2017 and 2018 wildfires in Northern California has helped push the envelope of WRA’s growing resiliency practice and has established Peter’s reputation as a leader in environmental and resiliency GIS in California and beyond.
Leslie Lazarotti is a Principal with WRA and leads one of the company’s project delivery teams. Her main focus is helping clients understand the interface of California’s environmental regulations and natural communities. Leslie has worked on projects throughout the varied ecosystems of California, including sensitive coastal communities and wetland habitats. She specializes in preparing multi-agency permitting approaches for redevelopment projects along San Francisco Bay, infrastructure improvement projects, and open space and park projects with public access elements. Leslie is one of WRA’s foremost experts in California Coastal Zone requirements. Prior to joining WRA, Leslie worked for San Francisco State University, San Francisco Estuary Institute, and the State Water Quality Resources Control Board as part of the 401 Water Quality Certification Program.
Virginia Mahacek is a Principal with WRA and leads WRA’s restoration design and resiliency services teams. She is a fluvial geomorphologist with an extensive background in education and outreach, restoration planning and design, environmental compliance, and water resource management. Virginia has 29 years of experience as a technical analyst and manager of watershed assessments, stream studies, restoration plans, design development, baseline and performance monitoring, alternatives analysis, compliance, and construction oversight. Virginia is accomplished in environmental compliance pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) regulations, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licensing. Virginia has worked at the site, reach and watershed scales for private parties, non-profits, public agencies and tribal governments. She has helped identify, seek, and secure grant funding through various federal, state, and private avenues ranging from targeted fish recovery and water quality programs as well as natural hazard mitigation and disaster funding.
Virginia effectively communicates technical and planning issues with varied agencies and public stakeholders and facilitates planning progress within challenging community and regulatory settings. Her expertise includes natural and human disturbance-responses, climate change, wildfire hazard and risk reduction, and beaver activity. She has worked across the western United States, with a focus on Lake Tahoe, the Sierra Nevada, the Columbia River Basin and California’s north coast.
Virginia has served as a watershed and fisheries restoration consultant to Native American Tribes and First Nations on numerous projects for over 20 years. Her tribal interaction services have included technical, management, engagement facilitation, and environmental compliance support for several phases of fish-focused water management and river restoration projects, beaver management, range quality, and multi-purpose vegetation stewardship (fuels treatment, plants of medical, material, and nutritional importance).
Jason Mills
Jason Mills leads WRA Landscape Restoration Inc. He is a licensed Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner with 20 years of experience in the field. Jason developed his natural resource skills through various positions with land management agencies as well as private restoration groups, and went on to train and lead crews as a supervisor with the Conservation Corps. He continued to further his skills in graduate school with coursework focused on the plant and fire ecology of California. His research on prescribed (Rx) fire and invasive species control awarded him a master’s in science with distinction. Jason went on to teach biology, ecology, and evolution to undergraduate students for several years before returning to the field, where he continues to research the effects of invasive plant control methodology in conjunction with restoration practices.
Jason specializes in land management guidance as well as planning, design, permitting, and implementation for restoration, fire fuel reduction, erosion control, and other natural resource management projects.
Michael (Mike) Nieto is WRA’s Southern California Natural Resources Director. He has a passion for communicating regulatory and technical concepts to clients in a casual, easy-to-understand manner, helping projects avoid misunderstanding and procedural missteps during the early stages when it matters most. Mike has a great team of knowledgeable and friendly scientists who work throughout Southern California working with clients and partners to get projects done smoothly.
Mike specializes in wetlands/permitting, Federal agency processes, coastal permitting, vernal pools, vegetation mapping, rare plant surveys, habitat restoration, and arroyo toad surveys. Mike is an active member of Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP), American Planning Association (APA), and the Society for Military Engineers (SAME) events throughout Southern California.
Matt Richmond is Principal Ecologist with WRA and leads one of the company’s project delivery teams. His focus is on conservation strategies at WRA where he oversees the entitlement and management of mitigation and conservation banks, as well as single user mitigation projects and in-lieu fee programs throughout California. Matt also manages a wide diversity of projects across California with an emphasis on coastal ecology and habitat restoration in the San Francisco Bay eco-region.
Matt works closely with WRA’s mitigation specials, biologists, planners and landscape architects/engineers on habitat restoration design and mitigation projects. His role also includes overseeing and conducting biological assessments, special-status species surveys, wetland delineations, performance monitoring, market supply and demand research, feasibility studies, regulatory permitting, habitat management planning, bank approval, agency coordination, conservation easements endowment calculations and agreements, service area determinations, and bank marketing and credit sales.
Jordan Rosencranz, DEnv, CE, CERP, PWS
Dr. Jordan Rosencranz is WRA’s Wetland and Vegetation Ecology Director and brings over 15 years of professional, academic, and government experience. He works across disciplines to solve intricate environmental problems and is experienced in climate change vulnerability assessments and adaptation solutions, especially those related to sea-level rise issues affecting tidal wetlands in California. Jordan contributes to complex permitting and natural resource assessment efforts for small and large-scale projects. He oversees the conceptual planning and design for restoration and habitat enhancement projects.
Jordan earned his Doctorate of Environmental Science and Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles and continues to conduct research to help managers assess salt marsh vulnerabilities, as well as develop sea-level rise adaptation strategies, especially thin-layer sediment augmentation. His work has resulted in several lead and co-authored peer-reviewed publications.
Justin Semion is a Principal and leads WRA’s Technical team. He focuses his work on guiding clients to outcomes that benefit organizational goals and contribute to environmental sustainability. Justin’s background in environmental science and business management provides a unique set of skills and perspective to assist with integrating the needs of the environment and society into the decisions of private and public organizations. By integrating social and environmental aspects into the decision-making process, project risks and benefits can be better identified and managed to facilitate project approvals.
Justin has worked at WRA since 2001 and during his time he has managed hundreds of diverse projects involving the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), regulatory permitting, restoration and habitat management, habitat mitigation planning and monitoring, and essential fish habitat evaluation. His broad environmental science expertise includes eelgrass and subtidal estuarine habitats, wetland delineation, ecosystem functions and services evaluation, stream and riparian habitat assessments, rare and endangered species surveys and evaluations, wildlife corridor evaluation, vegetation ecology, and fisheries ecology. He is a well known as an expert on the San Francisco Bay shoreline.
Aaron Sutherlin, PE
Aaron is a licensed professional with more than 20 years of experience in water resources engineering. He is currently completing his Master’s in Engineering Management from the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs. Aaron has an extensive background in managing complex ecological restoration, flood control, and watershed projects from inception to completion, including dozens of projects across the country working with numerous local, state, and federal agencies and various private landowners and nonprofit organizations.
Aaron provides extensive knowledge in design and construction working with open channels, riparian corridors, and infrastructure protection. His expertise and passion for watershed protection, ecological restoration, and community resilience work are complementary to leading WRA’s Riverscapes & Shorelines practice.
Ashley Zavagno is Restoration Ecology Director with WRA and has extensive background in restoration ecology, river and salmonid restoration, mitigation, conservation planning, and land management. As the leader of the Riverscapes and Shorelines Group, she is growing an interdisciplinary team of engineers, landscape architects, ecologists, fluvial geomorphologists, and fisheries biologists to help expand the pace, scale, and ecological impact of WRA’s river restoration projects. Ashley also currently manages several large mitigation banks with an emphasis on those that restore rivers and salmonid habitat. She brings her strengths in strategic decision-making, incorporating current scientific knowledge into restoration and mitigation projects, and navigating complex regulatory pathways to all her projects.
She holds certifications from the Society of Ecological Restoration, Ecological Society of America, and Portland State University River Restoration Professional Program and is a current board member for the California Society of Ecological Restoration (SERCAL). She is a strong advocate for process-based river restoration approaches and landscape-level restoration planning. She is also an active participant in restoration conferences including Salmonid Restoration Federation’s annual conference and Coho Confab, SERCAL, and River Restoration Northwest. When not working, Ashley can be found fly fishing for trout and steelhead at any one of her favorite rivers.
