Board Bios

  • Sanaz Vahidinia, President

    Sanaz is a planetary research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center and Bay Area Environmental Research Institute. She has a BA in physics from UC Berkeley and a PhD in physics from UC Santa Cruz. She undertakes interdisciplinary research ranging from studying clouds in extrasolar planets to the icy moon and rings of Saturn. She is also an enthusiast for organic farming and traditional food culture, including tea farming and the production of organic artisanal teas.

  • Oliver Richner, Treasurer & Secretary

    Oliver has over two decades experience in financial services. He currently is Managing Partner at Richner Capital, an investment fund he founded in 2010. He is also an advisor at Osmium Partners, an investment management firm based in the Bay Area. He is a Board Advisor at Data Simply, a financial technology media company based in Palo Alto. Before his current employ, Oliver was an analyst at StarMine in San Francisco and before that he was a consultant at Baseline, based in New York. Oliver received a Bachelor of Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master in Business Administration from Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley. For more information see richnercapital.com

  • Judy Schriebman

    Judy is an environmental community activist with a special interest in clean water, riparian creeks and wildlife of all kinds. She holds a degree in Zoology from UC Berkeley where she studied with renowned herpetologist Robert Stebbins. She currently holds an elected position on the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District Board of Directors, is Chair of the Marin Group Sierra Club, and is on the boards of the Watershed Alliance of Marin and Gallinas Watershed Council. She is also co-author of two books for practitioners in the field of Homeopathy where she holds CCH and RSHom(NA) credentials.

  • Barbara Framm

    Barbara is a performer and teacher of classical Indian dance and is an ardent environmental activist. She completed her B.A. in South Asian Studies at U.C. Berkeley, and her M.A. in Women's Spirituality at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. During the last 40 years Barbara traveled and lived in India, training in Bharata Natyam and Odissi dance styles. Barbara also studied biodynamic farming methods throughout Canada, Germany and participated in the Globalization Workshop at Navdanya, Vandana Shiva’s organic farm in the Himalayan foothills. Her love and concern for the honeybees led her to create "An Evening in Honor of the Sacred Honeybee", a musical, poetic, informational and circle-dancing experiential dedicated to the lore of the honeybee. Barbara, along with her daughter, a professional dancer, is devoted to the care of her 102-year-old mother.

  • Reno Taini

    Reno earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in education from S.F. State. He also has doctorate in experiential education from Columbia Pacific University. Reno created the innovative Wilderness School in Daly City, CA for at-risk teenagers to increase their confidence and help them stay in school. Reno was part of NASA’s Teacher in Space program in 1985-86 and has distinguished himself by working with relief agencies around the world, including the United Nations Border Relief Organization in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and the Philippines.

  • Richard Lang - Board Member, Emeritus

    Richard Lang co-founder of Electric Works served for 20 years as President and raconteur for the gallery, store and fine art photography and printmaking studio in San Francisco. He has a BA from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin. Richard is a poet, short story writer, performer, painter, and printmaker. His blog 90 Ojime is a repository for his memoirs and musings describing the modern human as a part of the natural world. In 2008 while on the Board for the SF Center for the Book, Richard helped develop the Small Plates Program, a successful fund-raising project, that continues to provide space, equipment, technical support, and funds for materials to the artists.

  • Judith Selby Lang - Board Member, Emeritus

    Judith Selby Lang, served as Communications and Financial Director for Electric Works gallery, store and fine art photography and printmaking studio in San Francisco. She has a BA in art from Pitzer College and MA in interdisciplinary arts from San Francisco State University. For over 40 years, as an art instructor at College of Marin and Santa Rosa Junior College, she has shared her enthusiasm for the creative life. Her artistic explorations can be found on her blog.