Vanessa Aramayo
Vanessa is Executive Director, Alliance for a Better Tomorrow, where her work is focussed on advocacy efforts to improve the well-being of Latinos in Los Angeles County. Vanessa has spent her career working with communities to improve policies at the local, state, and federal level by building power to create lasting and positive systemic change. Her experience working in coalitions with hundreds of community-based groups, organizing families in urban and rural regions, from campsites to local city halls, Sacramento and Washington DC has led to various victories for underserved communities. She is a native Angeleno and received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from UCLA. She lives with her family in Northeast Los Angeles.
Casey Schreiner
Casey is the founder and editor-in-chief of Modern Hiker, which he began in 2006 as a way to document his explorations around the Los Angeles area.
As he learned how to hike, he transitioned from an indoor kid who actively avoided sunshine to a seasoned hiker who has trekked challenging trails all over the world.
Charles Thomas
Charles is the Executive Director of Outward Bound Adventures, and has dedicated his life to promoting diversity and inclusion in the outdoor world. He has worked with the U.S. Forest Service on the design of a program that recruited African-American students into seasonal employment positions in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in the state of Washington, as the Regional Youth Program Manager for the Pacific West Region for the Natural Park Service and has been a naturalist for the Los Angeles County Outdoor Schools, an ecologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and an Environmental Affairs Coordinator for the City of Pasadena. At Outward Bound Adventures (OBA), where he worked seasonally and part-time for nearly 20 years, and worked full-time as Executive Director for 16 years. During that time he created several award-winning programs dedicated to enriching the lives of underserved urban populations, especially high-risk youth and their families, by introducing them to the therapeutic value of spending time in wild places and open spaces.
Thomas Wong
Thomas was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley. He is passionate and committed to addressing climate change and achieving environmental sustainability for our communities. He currently serves as Board President of the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, where he has been an elected board member since 2012. Thomas also serves on the boards of Climate Resolve, the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership and is a co-chair of the LA Chamber’s Energy, Water and Environmental Sustainability Council. He received his BA in Economics from UCLA and Master of Public Administration from USC, and he works as a Public Affairs Manager for Southern California Edison.
Interested in becoming a board member and supporting our mission to build a diverse base of support to ensure that everyone in the Los Angeles area has equitable access to the wide range of benefits which nature provides? Email our Executive Director, Belén Bernal at belen@lanatureforall.org