BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Joel Reynolds (Chairman), Western Director, Natural Resources Defense Council
Joel Reynolds joined the Natural Resources Defense Council as a Senior Attorney in 1990, after 10 years with the Center for Law in the Public Interest and the Western Center on Law and Poverty, both in Los Angeles.
Derek C. Abbott, Executive Vice President, Real Estate, Tejon Ranch Company
Derek C. Abbott joined Tejon Ranch in December 2004 and has represented the Company’s interests in a number of development and conservation initiatives, including Tejon Mountain Village, the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center, Centennial, and Grapevine. Derek serves on the board of the Kern Taxpayers Association and the California State University, Bakersfield, BPA Executive Advisory Committee.
Efren Munoz, Jr., Vice President of Property Manager, Tejon Ranch Company
Efren Munoz Jr. was born and raised on Tejon Ranch. His history and knowledge of the Ranch are very unique from his many years on the property, which include being raised on the Ranch. Efren joined the Tejon Ranch Company in November 2004, and he has worked his way up through the organization. Today, he serves as the VP of Property Management. He oversees the day-to-day operation of property management, landscape, and the hunting program. Efren has gained certification in water management and oversees the company water system. He serves on the Castac Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency Board. Efren also serves and volunteers with American Youth Soccer Organization and Frazier Mountain Little League in the mountain communities around Tejon Ranch.
Todd Ferrara, Vice President, Government Affairs
Todd Ferrara joined Tejon Ranch Company in 2018 and is responsible for the company’s government affairs operations. He has worked for three California governors and a president of the United States in a variety of senior policy and political positions in Sacramento and Washington, DC. He has served on the boards of several state of California conservancies and councils. On behalf of Tejon Ranch, Todd currently serves as president of Valley Clean Air Now, a non-profit committed to quantifiably reducing air emissions in the San Joaquin Valley.
Russell Faucett, Retired
Prior to his retirement in 2014, Russell Faucett was the Managing Partner of Barrington Partners LP, a private investment company that specialized in trading the equity and debt securities of public companies in financial difficulty. Russ started Barrington in 1984.
Gary Hunt, Vice Chair, California Strategies
Gary Hunt, a consultant to the Tejon Ranch Company, is a founding partner of California Strategies, where he puts more than 30 years of experience toward business, government, public policy and major land use planning entitlement and development.
Sopac (Soapy) Mulholland (Secretary), Principal, Sopac & Associates LLC
Soapy’s unique history and experience bring to the Tejon Ranch Conservancy valuable insights from many different points of view. She has been a real estate developer and rancher, and has served on numerous boards and councils up and down the state of California.
Dan Silver, Chief Executive Officer, Endangered Habitats League
Dan Silver is Chief Executive Officer of the Endangered Habitats League (EHL). A physician by training, Silver left his internal medicine practice in 1991 to work full time on environmental issues. With EHL since its inception, he has seen the organization emerge as a regional leader in conservation and growth management.
Lucinda "Cindy" Starrett, Senior Partner, Los Angeles Office of Latham and Watkins
Lucinda “Cindy” Starrett joined the Tejon Ranch Conservancy board in December 2021. She a is a senior partner in the Los Angeles Office of Latham and Watkins and a member and former chair of its Environment, Land Use and Resources Department, as well as former co-chair of the firm’s Global Project Siting and Approval Project. Cindy’s practice includes approval processes for real estate development and sports and infrastructure projects, including university master plans, as well as related environmental and transactional matters. She also works closely with the Climate Change Practice Group.
Deeply committed to supporting charities, Cindy serves on the board of the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation and has co-chaired its benefit concerts. She is a founding board member and past chair of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation and serves on its Executive Committee. Cindy co-chaired fundraising for the Ambulatory Surgery Center at Orthopedic Institute for Children. She has also served on the board of Abode Community Housing and is a pro bono land use advisor for Abode projects.
Reed Tollefson, Manager of the Kern River Preserve
Reed has worked in Kern County for 30 years on wildlife habitat protection and restoration in the watershed of the South Fork Kern River. He started at Kern River Preserve in 1987 as a seasonal Restoration Ecologist and ended as the Preserve Manager for The Nature Conservancy in 1997. In that year, he hired on with the new owner as the Preserve transitioned to the National Audubon Society. Since that time, he has worked to triple the size of the Preserve from 1,100 to 3,330 acres and raised 4.5 million dollars to establish a dedicated management endowment.
He has also worked with a range of partnerships to support the protection of over 25,000 acres of land in Kern County with an emphasis on the South Fork Kern River Watershed and Transverse Range Wildlife Corridor. Before coming to California, he worked with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama comparing bird species diversity in secondary and primary rainforest. He also worked in Integrated Pest Management in cotton and other row crops in Maricopa County Arizona. Reed has a B.S. in wildlife management from Arizona State University.
Terrell Watt (Treasurer), Owner, Terrell Watt Planning Consultants
Terrell Watt has been the owner of Terrell Watt Planning Consultants since 1989, a firm specializing in planning and implementing projects that promote resource conservation and sustainable development patterns which are significant to the region. Terrell is an expert in general and specific planning, open space and agricultural land conservation, and environmental compliance.
Peter Weiner, Partner at Cox Castle Nicholson LLP
Peter H. Weiner is a prominent member of the Environment and Renewable Energy practice of Cox Castle & Nicholson. He splits his time between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. Mr. Weiner represents renewable energy companies, real estate developers, manufacturers, waste recyclers, and consumer products companies in federal, state, and local environmental, energy, and OSHA regulatory matters, litigation, and legislation.