Sustainability Certificate Program Instructors
Dr. Chris Benner is the Dorothy E. Everett Chair in Global Information and Social Entrepreneurship, and a Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He currently directs the Everett Program for Technology and Social Change and the Santa Cruz Institute for Social Transformation. His research examines the relationships between technological change, regional development, and the structure of economic opportunity, focusing on regional labor markets and the transformation of work and employment. He has authored or co-authored seven books (most recently Solidarity Economics, 2021, Polity Press) and more that 70 journal articles, chapters and research reports. He received his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.
ileana Ortega Bruneti (she, her) is the Assistant Director of Sustainability for Equity and Co-curricular Programs at University of California Santa Cruz. Currently, ileana co-chairs the UC Office of the President (UCOP) Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEI/J) Sustainability Officers Work Group. On campus, she co-directs the People of Color Sustainability Collective (PoCSC) and supervises the student Sustainability and Environmental Justice Ambassadors (SEJA) team where she encourages students to learn about and find their place in promoting inclusive environmental wellbeing. ileana also leads UCSC’s Pajaro Valley community work through a state grant that supports community-led and participatory research in developing local climate resiliency projects.
Prior to joining UCSC, she worked extensively in the region's nonprofit sector. She has held various leadership positions working in environmental conservation, education, social and economic justice. She received her BA in Communication from UC Santa Barbara and holds two masters degrees from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in International Environmental Policy and Business Administration with a concentration in finance. She also serves on the Boards of Ecology Action and BayFederal Credit Union.
Elida Erickson (she/her) is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives & Sustainability, working to to provide broad leadership in advancing challenging new sustainability projects, and more -- including constructing sustainable and affordable housing, and partnering with colleagues to implement effective process improvements across the division of Finance, Operations, and Administration. She joined the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) campus in 2005, and has served as Director of the Sustainability Office since 2015. She has collaborated with the local Santa Cruz community, students, faculty and staff to support waste reduction and education, and reduce campus water usage by 25% at the height of the California statewide drought in 2014-15. Most recently, she co-led the development of the Decarbonization & Electrification Plan in 2023. She is a strong advocate for student engagement and professional growth, and is passionate about challenging the sustainability movement to open up to multi-culturally relevant interpretations of how to care for the environment. She is a co-founder of UCSC’s award-winning People of Color Sustainability Collective, and in 2023 served as co-chair of the Climate Change, Sustainability & Resilience pillar the development of Leading the Change: The UC Santa Cruz Strategic Plan.
She is an active board member of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, and spends as much of her free time in beautiful outdoor spaces as possible! Elida holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola University New Orleans, and Master of Science in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from Indiana University.
Kevin Koenig (he/él/ele) is a leading expert on resource and rights conflicts in the western Amazon basin. For more than 25 years, Koenig has worked with Indigenous peoples in defense of their rights and territories, and led successful advocacy campaigns to restrict fossil fuel supply and create accountability from the extractive industry, finance sector, and government. In 2007, he joined Ecuador's Ministry of Foreign Affairs team to launch the pioneer Yasuni-ITT proposal to keep 740 million barrels of oil permanently in the ground. He is a UC Santa Cruz alumnus and lives in Northern California with his wife and two children.
Derek Martin (he/him) started working in higher education in 2010, first as an accountant and then transitioned into sustainability to better align his professional life with his commitment to leave the planet a little better than how he found it. As UCSC's Sustainability Programs Manager, Derek works at the intersection of zero waste, food, procurement, and health and wellness. Additionally, he oversees the Green Office Certification Program and the Student Sustainability Advisors. The circular economy, electric vehicles, food, and sustainable business are a few of his favorite topics to talk about. In his free time he loves to run, bike, and swim and find unique hot sauces. 
Leslie O'Malley (she/her) is a Discard Management Professional specializing in Waste Reduction strategies and Recycling processes. She joined the City of Santa Cruz in 2016 and has developed and implemented various programs, including an industry award-winning Master Recycler Volunteer training program.
Building bridges in the community and meeting people wherever they are on the hierarchy of Refuse, Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot are the keystones that guide her work as Waste Reduction Manager for the City of Santa Cruz Public Works Department.
Angel Riotutar-Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation, all pronouns, UCSC American Indian Resource Center Director, is of mixed descent: American Indian, Filipino, Portuguese and European.
A 2nd generation Santa Cruz Native, Angel spent time in West Virginia, Virginia and Louisiana.
She has attended the local schools: Cabrillo College, and Gavilan College earning her A.A. degree and as a first generation graduate to receive her B.A. in Sociology from Oakes College at UC Santa Cruz. While attending UCSC, she was a student intern for the AIRC and El Centro.
Angel brings with her an extensive background, working primarily in and with the American Indian community. Angel began volunteering with the Santa Cruz Indian Council with her family, who were the founders of the organization for 15 years and finally held the position of Chairperson. She also volunteered for the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley, the Costanoan Research Institute as a Board Member and organizer of traditional ceremonies. She has worked in the surrounding counties of Santa Clara, San Benito, and San Mateo including more recently in the San Diego area before returning to Santa Cruz.
She focused in Human Services as a Case Manager, Program Manager and Site Manager in State and Native TANF programs. As a Program Manager, she was able to implement culturally specific programming for families, individuals and youth. She finds motivation and strength in the ability to advocate and support our community.
Today, Angel is very honored to be a part of the UCSC community, and would like to utilize all available resources, community members, faculty, and staff to support and encourage all students. She is looking forward to creating more opportunities, programming and ensuring Native visibility on campus.
Ellen Vaughan (she/her), is the Assistant Director of Sustainability for Operational & Strategic Initiatives at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She studied business and forestry at Virginia Tech before receiving her Masters in Environmental Policy at SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry. She has worked as a global warming field organizer for Greenpeace in Washington, DC, project coordinator for the Public Counsel of the Rockies in Aspen, CO, and the director of sustainability for the Syracuse Center for Excellence. Ellen found her true calling in higher education in Flagstaff, AZ where she managed Northern Arizona University's sustainability office for five years. She joined the UC Santa Cruz team in 2018 where she enjoys working on all the diverse components of sustainability, particularly decarbonization and electrification, behavior change, sustainable policy development and process improvement.
Tracy N. Wang (she/her) is a first generation Chinese American who was born and raised in the Bay Area. Tracy joined UC Santa Cruz in January of 2024 as the Assistant Director of Transportation and TDM for TAPS. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with degrees in Architecture and City and Regional Planning and supplemented her minor in Sustainable Environments with recent coursework from Presidio Graduate School. Tracy currently lives in San Jose with husband and their two dogs. On weekends, you'll catch her either baking up a storm or burning off those calories on her favorite beaches and trails. Her love for the outdoors and her desire for people to live in better harmony with nature have been her career guiding stars, where she has been reducing emissions in the transportation sector through transportation demand management programs for the past 14 years (She has experience in transportation planning, operations, marketing and program management from working in both private and public sectors. Along the way she had the honor to receive the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) 40 Under 40 Award and became one of the first individuals to earn the newly created credential of TDM-CP (Transportation Demand Management Certified Professional). She also serves as a Commissioner on San Jose's recently formed Climate Advisory Commission. 
Dr. Tiffany Wise-West (she/her) is the Sustainability and Resiliency Officer at the City of Santa Cruz, California. She is a licensed professional civil engineer with over 25 years of experience in municipal environmental planning, programming, policy and infrastructure work. Drawing on her interest in innovation and education, she specializes in collaborating across public, private and academic sectors to deliver impactful and award winning emissions mitigation and climate adaptation initiatives. Tiffany serves as the co-chair of Green Cities California, chair of the Santa Cruz Sunrise Rotary Community Service Committee, the vice-chair of the Monterey Bay Regional Climate Project Working Group and is on the steering committee of the Central Coast Climate Collaborative. She serves as secretary of the Board of Directors for Central Coast Energy Services, a nonprofit organization providing energy education and services to people in need.
