James Fitzgerald, President
Jim was the Director of Product Development at Newgen Results Corporation and a former senior executive with Fortune 500 automotive and business systems companies. Presently, he is a board member of Caldwell Industries (San Diego) and financial/business advisor to Ark Antiques Animal Charities. He is also a past board member of the International Visitors Council of San Diego and a past Trustee of La Jolla Community Planning Association.

Michael O’Neil, Vice-President
Michael grew up on Cape Cod and graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Political Science and then a Masters of Education from Stanford. Michael has always had a passion for wildlife, particularly birds and often thought when he was young that he would become an ornithologist or marine biologist. After teaching history for five years in the Bay Area and in the Dominican Republic, he changed course and became an analyst for a small management consulting firm working on growth strategies for health care companies. For the past seven years he has been self-employed and has his own healthcare consulting company, working with employer groups and providers to improve the quality of healthcare delivery. Michael first worked as a volunteer for Project Wildlife as a member of the “duck team”.

Patricia Smith, CPA, Secretary & Treasurer
Patricia M. Smith is a Certified Public Accountant and is a graduate of California State University at Los Angeles with a B.S. in accounting and the University of Arizona with a B.S. and M.Ed. in biological science. She has been in private sector public accounting since 1976. Before beginning her own practice, Pat worked as a tax and financial manager for a local San Diego firm. She then opened her own firm in 1984 and her practice has grown from forty to currently over five hundred clients. Pat is a past president of the San Diego Chapter of the American Society of Women Accountants and the Pacific Beach Women’s Club. She currently serves as an officer of the Soroptimist International of Mission Bay and also serves on the board of directors of several nonprofit corporations. She was formerly the treasurer of the National Sleep Foundation of Washington, DC and currently she serves on the board of Able-Disabled Advocacy, Inc. In addition she has taught taxation to financial planners at the University of California at San Diego evening classes.

Leslie “Les” Braund
Les, a general contractor, is a veteran of US Navy, Co-Foundation of Prevent Los Angelization Now, past President of the San Diego Mycological Society and a Board member of The Friends of Los Penasquitos Canyon. Les is also a member of the Sierra Club, Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation and has completed coursework in biology at SDSU and Mesa College.

Ellen Chang
Ellen is currently Program Manager-Integration and Strategy for Northrop Grumman. Prior to joining Northrop Grumman she worked for various businesses including JP Morgan as a banker, a Taiwan headquartered electronics design and manufacturing company and at an aviation research and development technology startup. Ellen also currently serves as Commanding Officer, Naval Special Warfare Intelligence Unit ONE located in Coronado and has over 17 years experience in naval intelligence. She holds an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Wharton School of Business, a Masters Level Certificate in Architecture Based Systems Engineering and a Bachelors Degree in History from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Poway with her husband Doug Hegebarth and is active with the Penn/Wharton Club of San Diego where she first learned of Project Wildlife. She is especially interested in “Wildlife Extraction” a newly launched “fee for service” program and assisting with strategic planning for the organization.

Debbie Forray
Debbie graduated from San Diego State University with a BS in Chemical Physics. Throughout her professional career she has gained extensive knowledge of back-end assembly, tests and package design in the semi-conductor industry and has worked for QMI, Dexter, Qualcomm and Henkel/Loctite. Since 2003 Debbie has been employed by AAA as a senior formulator, specializing in die attach adhesives for which she currently holds six patents with additional patent applications under review.

Karen Garsson
Karen Garsson is Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at SAIC where she has worked since 1988.  In her current position, she promotes strategic corporate citizenship involving employee engagement, community outreach and environmental sustainability initiatives.  Previously, Karen was Vice President of Stock Programs at SAIC and President for the stockbroker that traded SAIC stock prior to the company going public in 2006.  Karen currently serves on the boards of Athena, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the San Diego Science Alliance and the Alumni Association of the University of California, San Diego. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Management Science from UCSD and her MBA from the University of San Diego.

Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson is an Information Security professional who has worked for Sony Electronics in San Diego since 2004. Since graduating with a degree in Computer Science in 2002 he has worked in a variety of technology related roles.  In addition to his work in technology, Eric is a founding member and steering committee leader of the Sony Electronics Green Task Force, a group charged with providing guidance, education and opportunities for Sony to achieve its green vision of creating the ultimate closed-loop product lifecycle.  Eric also manages wannaveg.com, an informational website that promotes sustainability by encouraging people to adopt a vegetarian day one day a week.

Brys C. Myers
Brys is a retired Vice President and a founding partner of INOVA in San Diego, a manufacturer of medical testing kits for auto-immune diseases. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and serves as board member for ConservAmerica, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing resources to educate and build a broad based constituency for environmental protection and conservation of natural resources.

Deborah L. Scott
As restaurateur, Executive Chef and Partner in three of the Cohn Restaurant Groups’ definitive San Diego restaurants – Indigo Grill, Kemo Sabe, and Island Prime/C-Level, Deborah is known for mixing up deliciously unexpected flavor and texture combinations served with panache and style. Her cuisine and restaurants have received numerous awards including the coveted Gold Medallion Awards for Best Fine Dining Steakhouse (Island Prime) and Best Ethnic Restaurant (Indigo Grill). Unlike many chefs, Deborah spends time “touching” every table, welcoming guests with a taste of southern hospitality. She has recently expanded her talents beyond the kitchen to include selling her trademark brie cheese at Whole Foods Market and branding signature bottled water at Island Prime to benefit Project Wildlife.

Stefanie Warren
Stefanie is an attorney with Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP where she represents businesses in federal and state litigation including real estate, environmental, toxic tort and other business issues. She graduated magna cum laude from Emory University and Emory Law School. She is a member of the California, Federal and San Diego Bar Associations as well as the Welsh Inn of Court. Stefanie joined the board because of her passionate belief that the next generation of San Diegans needs to be empowered to preserve what wildlife and open habitat remains. She also is interested in Project Wildlife’s education and outreach programs. She admits that if she was not practicing law she would want to be a teacher.

Jeff Wilber
Jeff was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio where his father was a blue collar worker and his mother sold furniture. He had three older sisters who doted on him and admits he was very spoiled as a child. Upon graduating from high School, Jeff followed in his father’s footsteps by enlisting in the Navy. After eight years of service, he decided he did not want a military career. He attended night classes while still in the Navy and was discharged eighteen months later. While completing his college studies, Jeff worked as a purchasing agent for a furniture manufacturer in Tijuana, and was a sales agent for Geico Insurance. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Finance from SDSU and began his career in the banking industry. Jeff is currently a Vice-President with Regents Bank in La Jolla and says he is “blissfully” married with two children.