Board of Directors

Uriel Hernandez (he/him)

Co-Chair

Uriel Hernandez (he/him) grew up in East Palo Alto. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College in rural Vermont, he returned home and began volunteering with Canopy planting trees at the same schools he once attended. From 2015 to 2018 he was a Canopy staff member leading and organizing East Palo Alto tree planting efforts. His work with Canopy has blossomed into a career in arboriculture; he is an ISA-certified arborist and now holds a Master of Natural Resources degree from Oregon State University with a focus in Urban Forestry. His work to support his hometown goes beyond the urban forest; he is a board member for Nuestra Casa and he served on the East Palo Alto Planning Commission from 2017-2021. Uriel’s hobbies include exploring the bay area in search of unique places, special parks, and public space treasures.

Holly Pearson (she/her)

Co-Chair

Holly Pearson (she/her) developed a love of the outdoors growing up in Minnesota, and her career has spanned environmental science, policy, and law. She holds a BA from Carleton College and a PhD from Stanford University, where her dissertation research focused on a native Hawaiian tree Acacia koa. After working on climate change policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, Holly attended New York University School of Law and practiced environmental law in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. She currently lives on the Stanford campus with her husband and two sons.

Sally O’Neil (she/her)

Vice-Chair

Sally O’Neil (she/her) served as Director of Industrial Contracts at Stanford University. A lawyer and former journalist, Sally holds a JD from Santa Clara University, an MJ from the University of California, Berkeley, an MTA from the University of Chicago and a BA from Oberlin College. Sally is a Palo Alto resident and longtime Canopy volunteer. Gardening, traveling, reading and hanging out with her grandkids are her favorite activities.

Mary Dateo (she/her)

Secretary

Mary Dateo (she/her) has worked as an engineer, quality instructor, programmer, and project manager. Combining a life-long love of design and gardening, she currently runs a landscape design business that specializes in sustainable residential landscapes. Originally from Ohio, Mary now lives in Mountain View with her husband, where they’ve planted enough fruit trees to harvest fruit year-round. She led the Transportation Working Group of Mountain View’s Environmental Sustainability Task Force in 2017-2018. She is currently a board member of Carbon Free Mountain View, and a founding member of Stewards of Our Common Home, an environmental group in the Diocese of San Jose. She holds a BME and an MBA from the University of Dayton, and an AS in Environmental Horticulture and Design from Foothill College.

Jonathan Herbach (he/him)

Treasurer

Jonathan Herbach (he/him) is a product manager at Google, building infrastructure and products ensuring search users see relevant ads. He has degrees in Computer Science from Princeton University and Stanford University; prior to Google, he was a product leader at Adobe, building enterprise and consumer services, including reimagining how PDFs can improve productivity in a cloud- and mobile-first world. Jonathan lives in Mountain View with his family. He served eight years on the Mountain View Parks and Recreation Commission, advising the city council on strategic initiatives, including expanding access to city programs; prioritizing open space, and increasing city trees by 30%.

Mar Y Sol Alvarado (she/her)

Mar Y Sol Alvarado (she/her) is a first generation college graduate, and proud East Palo Altan. She’s immigrated to from Michoacán, Mexico at age 10 and was raised by a single mother; the eldest daughter with two siblings.

As a full time business owner, she finds time to stay active and engage in her community. She is serves as the Treasurer for her office condominium HOA and is part of the small business ambassador team for the City of Mountain View Chamber. As a native Spanish speaker, she serves as a business advisor for San Mateo County Small Business Development Center, proudly supporting Spanish speaking entrepreneurs and business owners. She partners with Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center to share her story as a small business owner, and a woman of color in business.  She is a member of the Parish Council for St. Francis of Assisi Parish in East Palo Alto, where she actively supports bringing resources to the Parish and community members. She’s been a guest speaker for local non-profits that highlight the importance of educational achievement among local youth and social support programs for local families.

Mar Y Sol was recently nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year award by InStyle Latina Magazine.

Dave Armstrong (he/him)

Dave Armstrong (he/him) is president and CEO of Sakata America Holding Company, Inc., the North American subsidiary of a 106 year-old publicly traded Japanese company, a global leader in development of vegetable and flower genetics. Dave has established and developed businesses on three continents, while based in Chicago, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and Amsterdam. He is active in national and California organizations focused in agriculture and horticulture. Dave has made his home in Palo Alto for the past ten years, along with his wife and daughter. He enjoys the natural beauty of the Bay Area while hiking, biking, and gardening.

Maria Chai (she/her)

Maria Chai (she/her) discovered the joy of tree care when she started gardening with her son. She’s a graduate of Canopy’s Community Forestry School and joined Canopy as a board member in 2020. A tech and marketing veteran, Maria led various marketing organizations for some of the biggest global brands, most recently at Google and YouTube. She has a BSE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and started her career in silicon valley as a semiconductor fabrication engineer. She still enjoys a lively chat on the latest in materials engineering. Maria lives in Mountain View with her husband and her son. She enjoys dreaming about the next renovation project for her Eichler, and when she’s not out walking her three dogs, you can find her watching her favorite classic films on repeat or playing the piano. Her favorite trees are southern magnolia and valley oak.

Gordon Clark (he/him)

Gordon Clark (he/him) serves as the Vice President of Development at Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) in Palo Alto, where he oversees POST’s major, capital, institutional and planned giving programs. Prior to joining POST, Gordon Clark worked for land trusts in Maine and Alaska and for the Henry P. Kendall Foundation in Boston. He holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from Yale University and a Bachelor’s degree in History and Environmental Studies from Bowdoin College. He has served as a docent for California State Parks and Recreation’s San Mateo Sector and lives in La Honda with his wife and two daughters.

Philip Jonas (he/him)

Philip Jonas (he/him) joined Canopy’s Board of Directors in 2023 after volunteering on the Finance Committee for over a year. Philip is an experienced financial and accounting professional and licensed California CPA, currently responsible for financial planning and analysis at Veritas Technologies. At Veritas, he is also the Santa Clara headquarter ERG Champion for GIVE (Giving at Veritas Empowered). In this role, he organizes and supports volunteering events and giving opportunities for local employees, including adopting a creek near the office on behalf of the company. Prior to Veritas, he worked in public accounting at BMP (Burr Pilger Mayer) LLP where he was a member of the Nonprofit Industry Group and provided assurance, tax and advisory services to several local nonprofit organizations. Philip lives in Palo Alto with his wife and dog. He can often be seen walking his dog or the neighborhood donkeys, or exploring open space trails of the greater Bay Area.

Peying Lee (she/her)

Peying Lee (she/her) grew in her awe of nature in cities after participating in Canopy’s first Community Forestry School in 2019. Since then, she has been an active tree planting leader and vocal advocate for growing the urban forest in the Midpeninsula. In her home of Mountain View, she co-leads GreenSpacesMV, a grassroots advocacy coalition striving for healthy communities thriving with nature and native biodiversity. Peying is currently a program coordinator at Project Safety Net, a Palo Alto-based nonprofit promoting youth mental health and suicide prevention. Through her experience and previous work in public health outreach, early childhood education and supportive services, Peying has seen the power of collaboration to bring about positive change. Peying loves engaging the community on the connections between health and environment.

Kirsten Mouradian (she/her)

Kirsten Mouradian (she/her) is a hematology nurse practitioner at Stanford Children’s Hospital. She has roots in Wisconsin, Sweden, and Germany. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors, discovering permaculture, and working with worms, wood, and wool.

Jeff Schmidt (he/him)

Jeff Schmidt is the Chair of the Environmental Quality Commission for the City of Menlo Park and helps the commission make recommendations to the City Council on policy matters related to environmental protection, water and energy conservation, the urban canopy, and sustainability. He’s a member of 350 Menlo Park, a local climate policy and advocacy group active in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties and is also on the Steering Committee for the Environmental and Climate Change Literacy Project. Jeff is also the senior director of strategy and communications for the Student Affairs Division at Stanford. Previously, he was the chief executive officer of Ignited, a national education nonprofit focused on workforce development for underserved students. During his twenty-five-year career in industry, he held a variety of business, communications, and operational roles in the U.S., Switzerland, and Ireland and has led global teams across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.

Jose Talavera (he/him)

Jose Talavera (he/him) works as the Associate Director of Advocacy at KIPP Public Schools Northern California. Born in Nicaragua and raised in Costa Rica, he began working with youth from different socio-economic backgrounds through local organizations in his community. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2016, he has built relationships with families and local leaders through his work at organizations like Hope Horizon, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and Innovate Public Schools. Jose is passionate about engaging community members from East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Redwood City to promote the leadership development of low-income families through community organizing and advocacy. He also serves as a board member at The Rosalie Rendu Center in East Palo Alto. Jose currently resides in Redwood City, where he enjoys walking around his neighborhood and hiking at Edgewood Park.