2020 EPIC Board of Directors: Two New Faces And A Farewell to Shawnee

EPIC is proud to announce the 2020 Board of Directors. As a membership organization, our board is elected by our members every fall. This year we welcome two new faces onto the board and say goodbye to another.

For nearly 20 years, Karen Maki has advocated for forest protection and an end to clearcutting in California by meeting with legislators, attending agency meetings, and educating others. She has also supported the work of others by holding many leadership positions within the Sierra Club at the local and state levels such as chair of conservation, executive, and fundraising committees. She is now State Forest Committee co-chair, Stop Clearcutting California Campaign chair, Loma Prieta Chapter Forest Protection Committee chair, Utility Wildfire Task Force meeting convener, and Sierra Club California Conservation Committee Northern Vice Chair. Previously, she worked for Intel and other companies for 25 years as a systems programmer and product manager and also earned a MA in counseling and a California Marriage Family Therapy license.She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area a few miles from the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains. We are excited to welcome Karen to the EPIC Board.

Ava Biscoe is a senior environmental biology student at HSU with a passion for protecting the forests for climate change resiliency and defending the species that depend on them. She has volunteered with EPIC since 2015, and she was awarded volunteer of the year in 2018. Ava enjoys organizing environmental events to engage with and educate the public about critical issues and campaigns; and she feels she can contribute to the EPIC board through her event planning, science, and fundraising experience. Ava has served as the president of Climate Crisis HSU, on the AS Earth Week Committee, and is currently the social media manager for Humboldt 350.org. In her past Ava has worked in the zero waste field in her hometown of San Francisco, as a science tutor, volunteering to conduct numerous biodiversity surveys in Humboldt, and would like to work in conservation science in the future. We look forward to working with Ava as one of our newest Board members!

Shawnee Alexandri, our Board president for the last 5 years and a Board member for 10 years, has decided to step down. He has been an invaluable friend, advisor, and handyman for the EPIC family. We deeply appreciate his commitment, dedication, and most of all, his time that he gave to make sure EPIC would succeed. Shawnee could always be counted on to not only be the first one at the scene for EPIC events, loading and unloading, but to bartend for long hours until the end. He also could always be counted on to be the first to humorously, and brashly, give his opinion on a matter, and then turned around and give a poised and balanced view on other occasions. His handiness is unmatched, he is the first to be called when something overflows or a light goes out (which he may still get calls for!) We are sad to see him go, but know that he will still continue to be a part of the EPIC community. Thank you for your many years of forest activism, Shawnee!