Board Members
Ellen Hall - President
Ellenʼs experience is in nonprofit management; she has been the Director of the Ojai Valley Museum and the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, as well as the head of Oak Grove School. In 1997 Ellen was elected to the Ojai City Council, and she served as the cityʼs mayor in 1999.
Ellen has been successful at initiating and sustaining environmental and educational organizations, having been a founding member of the successful Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, the Besant Meadow Preservation Group, and several schools. She served the City of Ojai again as the coordinator of the cityʼs Youth Commission, and has also served on many boards, including that of the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation.
Ellenʼs passion and expertise is environmental education. She lives with her husband, Richard Handley, and has two grown children. Ellen says that she and Rich regularly get the travel bug and run off to Australia, but that they always come back home to Ojai.
Executive Director
Deborah Pendrey has lived in the Ojai Valley for eight years. She and her husband run a wholesale retractable screens business from their home, a property they’re planning as an eventual model green living space.
The Coalition represents Deborah’s first volunteer participation in a formal nonprofit organization. During her first year and a half with the Coalition, she was appointed as Executive Coordinator, and her title has recently changed to that of Executive Director. Deborah’s 15 years in the restaurant industry, 10 years as a business owner, and A.S. degree in accounting have given her the needed managerial skills for public speaking, interacting with a great many people, and helping the Coalition organize its infrastructure. As time allows, she is taking classes in fundraising and nonprofit management.
Dale Hanson - Secretary
Dale is a community activist. She has lived in Ojai for 20 years. Her interests are mostly in family issues, community, animal welfare and the environment. She is active with the American Red Cross, the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation, several animal groups and is a board member of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition. She also serves on the Food and Ag Committee.
Ken Wright - Treasurer
Mr. Ken Wright, co-founder of the OVGC, was inspired by the film Inconvenient Truth and together with his friend Tim Baird, founded the OVGC. Going "Green" has become a new found passion for Mr. Wright, who, along with his three sons, is a 12 year resident of the Ojai Valley.
“I realized that my children, and their children, will be living on a planet that is very, very different from the one we inherited. A planet in serious environmental trouble. I decided I had to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, and have started working toward that end. I feel it is our duty and responsibility to do everything we can to reverse this alarming trend."
Mr. Wright is a local business owner, and entrepreneur.
Caryn Bosson - Director
Caryn has been involved in Ojai Valley nonprofit organizations as a staff member and volunteer since 1993, including the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, the Ojai Valley Youth Master Plan, and, from 1997 to 2007, as founding Executive Director of the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation. She currently works for TreePeople, a Los Angeles-based group that involves people in planting and caring for trees. There she works with TreePeople Founder and President, Andy Lipkis, on his initiatives to make “smart green infrastructure” central to the way cities manage resources in the twenty-first century.
Caryn’s involvement in the Ojai Valley Green Coalition is based on the belief that our community can organize ourselves to make significant and lasting changes that protect our natural heritage and quality of life. Besides her work for the OVGC, she volunteers at the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation, and serves on the board of Ojai Trees.
Tyler Suchman - Director
Named to the 2007 Top 40 Under 40 by the Pacific Coast Business Times, Tyler Suchman is Founder and CEO of Emergencity, Inc., an emergency services company that is focused on building resilient communities and saving lives. Tyler also runs The Ojai Network, a collective of websites focused on community and culture, including The Ojai Post, a community blog featuring over 30 authors and 3,500 daily visitors.
Sabrina Venskus - Director
Sabrina Venskus is the principle of Venskus & Associates, P.C., a public-interest law firm with offices located in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. Sabrina’s areas of practice include environmental law, land use and zoning, natural resources law, tenant rights, historic preservation, native burial rights, energy regulation, and government disclosure.
Ms. Venskus is a member of the Environmental Law Section of the California Bar Association, the Ventura County Bar Association, and the Executive Committee for the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Environmental Law Section. She has served as chair for various land use and planning boards, including those for the Venice Neighborhood Council, the Westchester/Playa del Rey Neighborhood Council, and the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce. Sabrina spends a few hours each month volunteering her time at various Tenants' Rights Clinics, providing at-risk tenants with free legal advice.
David White - Director
David White has a B.S. in Biological Sciences and Ph.D. in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He has been involved in numerous environmental groups in Ventura County for the past twenty years, including Keep the Sespe Wild and the Center for Regenerative Agriculture. Dave has also worked as the science teacher at Happy Valley School, and he is currently the garden coordinator for Food for Thought's Ojai Healthy Schools program. One of Dave's favorite things to do is to plant trees with kids.
Rae Amey - Director
Rae Amey migrated to Ojai from Los Angeles in 2008 to smell the citrus blossoms, walk the trails, and once again breathe oxygen. Upon arrival, she recognized the OVGC’s critical role in cocreating a vital and resilient community for the future, and became a corporate sponsor for events. As president of Rae Amey Enterprises, Inc., Rae would like to use her expertise in strategic and sustainability planning, project development/management, and grant writing to help charter paths through Ojai’s more onerous challenges and exhilarating opportunities. She offers over 30 years’ experience working with educational and pro-social projects for a major-market PBS station, an urban K-12 school district, a community college district, local and regional government agencies, educational entrepreneurs, charter schools, business clients, and organizations working on crosscultural relations and youth development. Rae is cofounder of Transition Ojai—part of a worldwide movement to engage citizens to address the challenges of peak oil, climate change, and economic reorganization. She is a board member for Civil Society, a 501(c)(3) organization that uses community dialogue and cultural exchange to promote a civil society ethic.
Cindy Cantle, Representative for Supervisor Steve Bennett.
Cindy has represented Supervisor Steve Bennett on the OVGC since its early days. In addition to the OVGC Board meetings, she participates on the Energy Committee. Cindy has been an Administrative Assistant to Supervisor Bennett since he took office in 2001. Her responsibilities include health and human services, children & families issues, senior services, libraries, courts, probation and office manager. 
Steve Olsen, Representative for City of Ojai
