Our Team
Gabriela Anaya, Program Officer
Gabriela Anaya provides strategic advice and oversight for the Northwest Mexico Land Conservation Program. She brings 15 years experience developing and implementing conservation projects in nonprofit and governmental sectors of Mexico. Before joining Resources Law Group, Ms. Anaya served as Executive Director of Niparajá, a nonprofit organization in Northwest Mexico, and as manager of National Parks for the National Commission of Protected Areas. Ms. Anaya serves on a number of committees and advisory boards for nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, including the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, a private foundation that channels financial resources to on-the-ground conservation projects throughout Mexico.
Chris Beale, Attorney
Chris Beale works on complex natural resource management issues, including the integration of natural resources management and economic development. He advises cities, counties, and other public agencies and private landowners regarding state and federal natural resource protection laws, conservation planning, and open-space preservation. He is currently advising the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California regarding the development of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan; advising Placer County regarding the implementation of the Placer County Open-Space and Agricultural Conservation Program; and advising the Mendocino Redwood Company regarding the development of its innovative habitat conservation plan and natural community conservation plan. Previously, he was legal counsel to the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), where he helped to develop numerous habitat conservation plans and natural community conservation plans throughout California.
Corey Brown, Attorney(back to top)
Corey Brown primarily serves as a strategic policy and legal consultant to the philanthropic efforts of RLG, including the California Coastal and Marine Initiative and Preserving Wild California program, as well as other philanthropic projects. Before joining Resources Law Group, Mr. Brown served as Executive Director of The Big Sur Land Trust, Government Affairs Director for The Trust for Public Land (Western Region), General Counsel for the Planning and Conservation League, Legal Counsel for Friends of the River, and as an Assembly Fellow with the California State Legislature. He also served as an adjunct professor at the McGeorge School of Law where he taught “Legislation and the Law of Politics” and as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of California at Davis where he taught “Environmental Politics and Administration.”
Jocelyn Garovoy Herbert, Attorney (back to top)
Jocelyn Garovoy Herbert manages the oceans, coasts, and fisheries programs of RLG and represents clients in land conservation transactions. Before joining RLG, she was an associate attorney in real estate and land conservation transactions at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP in San Francisco, and practiced land use law and litigation in the Kailua-Kona office of Cades Schutte LLP, where she also served as a commissioner with the Hawaii County Public Access, Open Space, Natural Resources Preservation Commission, and on the board of directors of the Hawaii Island Land Trust. Ms. Garovoy was a Conservation Fellow with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, where she worked with grantees to identify concerns regarding controversial marine fishery certifications. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Garovoy worked with a Pew Fellow to research and conduct a workshop on litigation concerning commercial fisheries’ interactions with endangered marine wildlife, and served on the staff of Marine Conservation Biology Institute. Ms. Garovoy has also published species-specific studies with leading marine invertebrate experts at the California Academy of Sciences. She is a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law, and earned her Master’s degree in Conservation Biology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Kent Jacob, Administrator (back to top)
Kent Jacob is responsible for all technology operations and for overseeing office administration and marketing. He brings over 25 years of experience in the information technology field and has both Certified Novell Administrator (CNA) and Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) designations. Prior to joining Resources Law Group, Mr. Jacob served as the Director of Information Technology at Fraser Stryker, a mid-sized Nebraska law firm, for 15 years.
Lisbeth Jakobsen, Financial Analyst (back to top)
Lisbeth Jakobsen is responsible for financial evaluation, budget analysis and preparation for a variety of philanthropic grant and loan programs. Ms. Jakobsen brings over ten years experience in financial management, specifically as it relates to conservation transactions, public funding, grantmaking, and nonprofit management. Prior to joining Resources Law Group, Ms. Jakobsen served as Director of Finance for Audubon California and, before that, as Grants Specialist/Financial Analyst for The Nature Conservancy. She also worked as Fiscal Manager for the California State University, Sacramento’s Division of Social Work.
Shauna Manner, Managing Director (back to top)
Shauna Manner is responsible for all business operations of Resources Law Group, including human resources, marketing, technology and business planning. She received an MBA from the Graduate School of Management at University of California, Davis. Ms. Manner is a Certified Legal Manager (CLM), a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), and is actively involved in the Sacramento Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA).
Michael Mantell, Attorney (back to top)
Michael Mantell founded the Resources Law Group to help design and administer initiatives for philanthropic foundations and individuals, landowners, and government agencies that result in significant conservation achievements. Since the late 1990s, he has designed and participated in programs and projects that achieved extensive conservation outcomes for land, water, and ocean resources and broadened the leadership and constituency for natural resources protection. Previously, as Undersecretary for Resources for the State of California, he oversaw the $2.8 billion Resources Agency. Prior to that, he was General Counsel for the World Wildlife Fund and a Deputy City Attorney in Los Angeles. Mr. Mantell served as Campaign Chair of the recently passed Proposition 84, a $5.4 billion bond measure providing critical investments in California’s coastal, water, and land resources. Mr. Mantell is author and co-author of several books and articles, the recipient of several national conservation awards, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Resources for the Future, and on the Governing Council of The Wilderness Society.
Julie Martin, Analyst (back to top)
Julie Martin helps administer land-based philanthropic programs, providing coordination, research, and organization. Prior to joining RLG in March 2009, she worked for the University of California, Davis, conducting research on groundwater quality impacts from dairy farming operations. In addition, she has experience in water resource planning, water supply assessment, and environmental compliance. Ms. Martin has an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University.
Peggy McNutt, Program Associate (back to top)
Peggy McNutt develops and implements strategies and projects for the Preserving Wild California, Western Conservation, and other philanthropic programs. Ms. McNutt worked for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for the past decade, most recently as Managing Director of the Central Coast Region and previously as Project Director for the Lassen Foothills Project in Northern California. Before joining TNC, she served as Executive Director of Delaware & Raritan Greenway, a regional land trust in New Jersey, and held several positions in New Jersey State Government, including Executive Director of the Department of the Treasury, Assistant to the Governor, Senior Research Associate for the Office of Legislative Services and Committee Aide to the Senate Revenue, Finance and Appropriations Committee. Ms. McNutt is a graduate of the California Agricultural Leadership Program.
Merswind Reyer, Attorney (back to top)
Merswind Reyer is engaged in matters relating to natural resources, environmental, land use, and local government law, as well as conservation real estate transactions. She also assists with counseling for conservation philanthropy programs and other RLG projects. Ms. Reyer serves as chair of the Sacramento County Bar Environmental Law Section. She has written and spoken on topics including CERCLA and Prop. 65, and was an adjunct professor in the McGeorge School of Law Appellate Advocacy program. Before joining RLG, Ms. Reyer was counsel at Downey Brand LLP in Sacramento, where her practice included representing clients responding to federal, state and local environmental agency directives or enforcement, assisting with environmental due diligence and compliance issues, and negotiation and litigation of multiparty environmental disputes. Ms. Reyer received her law degree, and a certificate of completion in the area of Environmental and Natural Resources Law, from the University of Oregon School of Law.
Mary Scoonover, Attorney (back to top)
Mary Scoonover’s practice is devoted to complex natural resource management issues and conservation philanthropy. She represented the Packard, Hewlett and Moore foundations, and Goldman Fund in the acquisition of more than 16,500 acres of salt ponds in South San Francisco Bay and Napa County. Ms. Scoonover worked on the Conserving California Landscapes Initiative and helped design and implement the California Coastal and Marine Initiative, the Preserving Wild California program, and the Western Conservation subprogram of the Packard Foundation. Previously, Ms. Scoonover was a Deputy Attorney General in the Public Rights Division of the California Department of Justice, where she worked on the Lower Owens River, Mono Lake, and CALFED Bay-Delta Program’s plan to restore the ecosystem, improve water quality, and increase water supply reliability in the San Francisco Bay Delta. Ms. Scoonover also represented the State of California at trial and in the appeals leading to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirming the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s land use regulations protecting Lake Tahoe and the California coast.
Julie Turrini, Attorney (back to top)
Julie Turrini’s practice focuses on conservation financing and real estate transactions and conservation philanthropy, with particular emphasis on providing strategic advice in structuring guidelines and procedures for program-related investment programs and transaction underwriting, structuring, negotiating, and monitoring for specific program-related investment projects. Before joining RLG, she served as Senior Attorney for The Nature Conservancy’s California Program, where she provided legal support for real estate acquisitions and dispositions, government and private grant and loan financings and stewardship matters for the Cosumnes River, Delta, and Northern Sierra Projects. Before joining The Nature Conservancy, she was a partner with various Sacramento law firms, including Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP, Diepenbrock, Wulff, Plant & Hannegan, LLP, and Marron Reid, LLP, where her law practice focused on commercial real estate, land conservation, low-income housing, and general corporate matters.
Michael Valentine, Attorney (back to top)
Michael Valentine works on natural resource management issues relating primarily to coastal, fisheries, and marine philanthropic programs. He oversees administration of the Sustainable Fisheries Fund and works with foundations and other philanthropic clients, government agencies, and individuals to develop conservation strategies and priorities. He previously served as General Counsel to the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) and as Chief of the Land Management Division of the California State Lands Commission (CSLC). Mr. Valentine has broad experience in natural resources law and policy including endangered species, conservation planning, regulation of fisheries, and governmental permit programs. While at CDFG he participated in major legislative revisions of the Natural Community Conservation Planning Act and of the statutes authorizing issuance of streambed alteration agreements by the State of California. At CSLC he was responsible for policy development and administration of California’s sovereign lands and school lands.
Michael Weber, Program Officer (back to top)
Michael Weber provides strategic advice and oversight for oceans, coasts and fisheries programs, including the California Coastal and Marine Initiative and the Sustainable Fisheries Fund. Most recently, Mr. Weber served as an advisor to the California Fish and Game Commission in implementation of Marine Life Management Act. Previously, he directed programs on marine protected areas, sea turtle conservation, and fisheries conservation at the Center for Marine Conservation in Washington, D.C., and worked as special assistant to the Director of the National Marine Fisheries Service in the United States Department of Commerce. Mr. Weber has written dozens of articles and reports on marine conservation and advised in the production of television specials and exhibits on marine conservation. Books written or co-authored by Mr. Weber include, among others, The Wealth of Oceans (2005), From Abundance to Scarcity: A History of U.S. Marine Fisheries Policy (2002), and Fish, Markets, and Fishermen: The Economics of Overfishing (1999).
Ed Hastey, Consultant (back to top)
Ed Hastey serves as an independent consultant focusing on conservation stewardship and large-scale conservation transactions. Formerly, he served as the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in California for twenty-one years. Mr. Hastey is a recipient of the Presidential Distinguished Service Award.