TOGETHER BAY AREA - Key Persons
Annie's passion is bringing people together to achieve shared goals. Her skills and experience are in coalition building, strategy, communications, convening, and fundraising. Annie led the Bay Area Open Space Council's convening program, fundraising, and communications from 2010-2017. And she facilitated the transition from the Bay Area Open Space Council to TOGETHER Bay Area in 2018-2019. Prior to 2010, she worked for large and small nonprofits in various fundraising and organizational development capacities. She has produced three films about partnerships between local Native American Tribes and conservation organizations (Here & Now, Dancing in the Balance, and Umunhum). Annie has a masters in organization development from University of San Francisco and a B.A. in psychology from Denison University. She completed two National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) courses. Annie serves as the co-chair of California's 30×30 Partnership Coordination Committee.
Jessica Little established Conservation Collaborators and leads facilitation of collaborative decision making, coalition management, and government affairs strategies for the firm. She has extensive experience engaging diverse stakeholders in pursuit of common interest policies and funding for conservation, water, and climate objectives.
Mrs. Little has the perspective of both a consultant and consumer of similar consulting services enabling her to understand the constraints and demands of the firm's clients. Jessica is is heavily invested in the mission and success of each group she supports.
Outside of work Jessica coaches and plays soccer (accounting for the team-oriented approach she embodies) and nurtures her vegetable and flower garden with tender loving care.
Job Titles:
- Engagement & Development Manager
Laura is passionate about building community through storytelling and engaging communications, and she has focused her career in the nonprofit world. From 2017-2022, she worked at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, MA, where she developed skills in writing for newsletters, emails, blogs, and social media and in web and graphic design. She also gained experience supporting membership in mission-driven programs, including many social justice initiatives.
Outside of her professional storytelling, Laura is also a fiction writer. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Emerson College in Boston, her hometown. Her favorite activities include wandering through local bookstores, libraries, and coffee shops, struggling through the crossword, and exploring the Bay Area.
Job Titles:
- Peninsula Open Space Trust
Job Titles:
- Treasurer / East Bay Regional
Michaela is a gatherer in every part of her life. She deeply believes in the magic that can happen when people thoughtfully come together, and takes joy in organizing all the puzzle pieces that make those connections spark. Michaela has produced events of many shapes and sizes in the nonprofit sector, including anniversary celebrations, webinars, storytelling events, team retreats, and other relationship-focused spaces. Michaela holds her Masters of Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco and B.A. in international development and French from the University of Denver.
Beyond convenings at TOGETHER Bay Area, you can catch Michaela hosting storytelling shows with The Moth, experimenting with recipes and throwing corresponding taste-testing parties, and trying to read as many books as possible.
Job Titles:
- Director of Conservation Strategy
Tom directs the Conservation Lands Network project for TOGETHER Bay Area and assists non-profits and municipalities plan for landscape health and climate adaptation. Tom is passionate about increasing the pace and scale of solutions to environmental and societal challenges. He led Sonoma Veg Map and Conservation Lands Network 2.0, and team-developed the Bay Area Greenprint. He holds a bachelor's degree in ecology from U.C. San Diego, a master's degree in geographic information science from San Francisco State University, and is a Switzer Environmental Leadership Fellow.
Job Titles:
- Community Engagement Manager