The Community Environmental Council is proud to announce that five new members have joined its partnership council in 2015.
This group represents a broad spectrum of individuals in the Santa Barbara community who act as ambassadors to advocate, network and promote on behalf of CEC.
Gillian V. Grant has deep roots in Santa Barbara, with a family that goes back a few generations in the area.
She lived in other parts of the U.S. and in India for several years while building Deloitte’s offshoring operations and working as a chief of staff in the office of the CEO.
Now back in Santa Barbara, she is the director of operations and event producer for Merryl Brown Events, a company with close ties to CEC.
Grant was drawn to CEC by the diverse talents of the oard and partnership council, as well as their commitment to getting rid of plastic.
Susan Owens is an artist specializing in pieces made from salvaged materials. She recently won a “bill presenter” contest at The Lark with her beautiful tin bird collage.
She blogs about art, food and gardening.
A dedicated community volunteer, she has served on several PTA boards and committees, and she is currently on the sustainability committee at Santa Barbara High School and is a driving force for greening school events through waste reduction and other means.
With the recent graduation of her youngest child, and thus less participation in the public school arena, Owens is ready for a new volunteer opportunity.
She sees climate change as the single most critical issue of our day and feels that working as a CEC partner is an exciting and meaningful way to be involved in the community.
Laura and Russ McGlothlin are a community-minded, philanthropic couple who live on a ranch they recently refurbished in Goleta.
Laura is a longtime Green Gala Committee member, who has been instrumental in the success of the annual auction.
Russ is a former CEC Board Member. An attorney at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, he specializes in water rights and helped to pass the first-ever groundwater legislation in California last year.
Perrin Pellegrin is a managing partner at Innovative Workshop Consulting, a company that specializes in sustainable planning.
She has been involved in LEED certified projects at UCSB and MarBorg Industries, winning numerous awards for her work.
From 2000 to 2008, she served as the sustainability manager at UCSB.
Civically active, she serves on the board of Fairview Gardens and is involved in planning the new Santa Barbara Children’s Museum.
Pellegrin is an active part of the Santa Barbara environmental community, and joining CEC allows her to work toward goals that she values.
— The Community Environmental Council‘s mission is to identify, advocate and raise awareness about the most pressing environmental issues that affect the Santa Barbara region, and its goal is to change entire systems that were built up over the last 100 years, and to do it in a way that creates jobs, saves money and strengthens the economy.