Jess Rogers

Jess leads the Trail running and Hike product categories for Patagonia, and has 15 years of experience leading high performance product categories for best-in-class brands across the outdoor and sport industries. She is a trail runner, mom of two rad little girls, outdoor lover, and passionate about building community through sport. She was a founding board member for Runners for Public Lands, served on the leadership team as Co-VP of the board and two terms as President of the Board. She lives in Santa Barbara, CA with her family.

Stephen Efner

Steve is a runner and a founding board member of Runners for Public Lands, where he serves as Board Secretary and helps with IT and website development. He is passionate about grassroots fundraising and creating sustainable systems to support conservation efforts. Steve has a background in IT and enjoys finding practical solutions to enhance organizational operations. In his free time, Steve enjoys gardening with a focus on sustainability, soil health, and regenerative practices. He lives in Ventura, California, with his family.

Vic Thasiah

Vic is a runner and Professor of Environmental Studies and Religion at California Lutheran University. He works on projects that reimagine conservation, finding common ground between people who care about wild places on the one hand and urban nature on the other. Vic also serves on the board of directors of Los Padres ForestWatch, and has a background in U.S. social policy analysis and global humanitarian work, primarily in East Africa. He loves backpacking, and traveling in Southern Europe with his wife. Vic lives in Ventura, California, with his family.

Bryant Baker

Bryant Baker is the Director of Conservation & Research at Los Padres ForestWatch where he works to protect lands along California’s Central Coast. He is a GIS analyst and cartographer who has co-authored several peer-reviewed papers on landscape ecology and management, and his maps and analyses have been featured by the Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, and many other media outlets. Bryant is also an avid naturalist and an award-winning photographer whose work on California native plants and ecosystems has appeared in books, magazines, and newspapers.

Stacy Swanson

Stacy is the Chief Development Officer at Interface Children & Family Services in Camarillo, California and has over 25 years of nonprofit management and development experience. She is honored to serve on RPL’s board of directors at this exciting and dynamic moment in time, with the opportunity to expand and grow its vision and reach within and beyond Ventura County. Stacy has been married to her husband, Krister (a teacher at Thousand Oaks High School) for 31 years and they have three adult sons.

Laura Alonzo-Ochoa

Laura was the Co-founding President at RPL, and has been a part of the board off and on for the past few years. She has over two decades as an educator at the high school level, currently serving as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Laura really enjoys creating community, being a voice for the voiceless, and advocates for equitable access to outdoor spaces. Laura grew up in South Oxnard and would consider herself an everyday average runner who loves connecting with the land. She currently resides in the ancestral lands of the Utes, also known as Leadville, Colorado with her family.

Jason Keith

Jason is an attorney, a 23+ year veteran as the Access Fund’s Policy Director, serves as Senior Policy Advisor for the American Mountain Guides Association, and is the Managing Director for Public Land Solutions, a non-profit that works on issues related to outdoor recreation management, conservation, and economic development. Jason co-directs Moab, Utah’s Running Up for Air race and lives in Moab with his family.

Tia Bodington

Tia has directed the Miwok 100K Trail Race for over 20 years and is the former Managing Editor of UltraRunning Magazine. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Western States 100 since 2012. A master’s degree in business with a focus on sustainability inspired Tia to develop and market custom reusable coffee packaging for small roasters and bulk coffee bean sellers. Tia lives in southern Oregon, with frequent travels to visit her children and to run obscure international trail races.

Alison Mariella Désir

Alison Mariella Désir is multi-talented: a founder, a doer, an activist, and a visionary with a passion for movement, mental health and racial equity. Alison is the author of the best-selling book Running While Black and the tv host and producer of the award winning PBS show, Out & Back w/ Alison Mariella Désir.

In 2023, Alison was named as one of the “45 Most Adventurous Women of the Past 45 Years” by Men’s Journal and one of the “Changemakers of 2023” by Well + Good. In 2021 and 2022, Alison was named one of the “Power Women” by Women’s Running Magazine. She was also named one of the most influential African Americans, aged 25 to 45, by The Root 100.

Zoë Rom

Zoë Rom is a journalist and writer specializing in environmental science, policy, endurance sports, and public land. She currently hosts and produces Your Diet Sucks and The Trailhead podcasts, and is co-author of the book Becoming a Sustainable Runner with Tina Muir. Zoë is an ultrarunner with top finishes at the Rio Del Lago, Run Rabbit, and Leadville 100s. You can find her running or doing stand-up comedy or performing with Consensual Improv in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley.

Tim Tollefson

An appreciator of the imperfect, Tim believes that access to outdoors is essential for community health and that our next step, no matter the size, should be taken together. He is founder and head crafter of mammoth trailfest., one of America’s largest trailrunning events that was created to offer opportunity, access, and education through running. Tim is a professional runner for Craft Sportswear, 3x USATF Trail National Champion, 2x Olympic Trials Marathon Qualifier, advocate for mental illness awareness, and an outpatient orthopedic physical therapist

Tim and his wife, Lindsay, are parents to Nacho – a rollicking 12lb doodle – and reside in Mammoth Lakes, CA where they enjoy running and repurposing things from old

Rosamaría González

Rosamaría González is the Vice President of Community at Strava, a leading social platform for athletes that connects millions worldwide to track and share fitness activities. With over two decades in tech and extensive experience in high-growth startups, Rosamaría has built a strong foundation in scaling support solutions for global communities. Since joining Strava in its early days, she has played a key role in creating innovative, scalable support tailored to Strava’s rapidly expanding international user base. Outside of work, Rosamaría is a passionate runner, softball player, and little league coach for her children. She resides in San Francisco, CA, with her family.

Wookie Kim

Wookie Kim is the Legal Director at the ACLU of Hawaiʻi, where he defends civil rights and civil liberties through litigation, lobbying, and community advocacy. His work focuses on issues such as police misconduct, criminalization of poverty, bail reform, reproductive freedom, gender equity, and freedom of expression. Wookie is also an educator, having taught high school English and journalism in D.C. Public Schools and legal writing at the William S. Richardson School of Law. Outside of work, Wookie trains for 100-mile trail races and enjoys exploring the trails and beaches of Hawaiʻi with his wife and daughter.

Dustin Martin

Dustin serves as Executive Director for Wings of America, a not-for-profit that promotes running amongst American Indian youth. As a former Wings program participant that grew into a Division 1 cross country and track competitor, distance running has helped guide much of his educational and professional experience. Since 2018, he has had the honor of being called upon to help organize inter-Tribal prayer relays in response to threats to natural and cultural resources stewarded by Indigenous populations across “the [American] west”. He resides in Albuquerque, NM on Tiwa Lands, and is father to two rambunctious young boys.

Kathleen Baker

After serving on the Board of Directors, Kathleen Baker was selected as RPL’s executive director in 2022. She comes from a career in federal, state, and local government program development, policy implementation, and operations with 20 years of experience in Emergency Management and Preparedness. Kathleen is a Ventura, CA-based runner and backcountry adventurer, the mom of two fearless boys, and is married to her husband Josh – a professional ocean engineer and deep-sea diver. Kathleen is also the founder and 13-year race director of the grassroots, community-focused, Mount Laguna Trail Marathon in San Diego, California.

Bretty Rawson

Bretty Rawson is a Seattle-based narrative & story consultant. In 2022, they created the storytelling agency Slow Blink, distilling a fifteen-year career as a digital strategist for social-justice based nonprofits, government marketing agencies, and independent day schools. They have an MFA in creative writing from The New School, and their projects have been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Heritage Radio Network, and more. Bretty is a co-founding member of Seventh Wave, a queer- and bipoc-led literary arts nonprofit, and sits on the board for Seattle City of Literature. At RPL, Bretty is our Digital Content Manager, working to bring RPL’s offline work to life online. Outside of work, they read, write, and run trails.

Sergio Garces

Sergio is based in Ventura, CA. and is the part time Trail Work Series program manager for RPL. As a Retail Team Lead at Patagonia’s flagship store, Great Pacific Iron Works, he is passionate about delivering an exceptional customer experience while upholding Patagonia’s commitment to quality, sustainability, and environmental responsibility. When he’s not working you can find him running the local trails or adventuring outside with his wife and dog. Sergio strives to inspire others to connect with nature and embrace the outdoors as he believes that a life outside is a life well lived.

Patty Teodorescu

Patty is a Senior Treasury Analyst at Patagonia, where she aligns financial strategy with the company’s commitment to sustainability and social responsibility. She serves as the Treasurer of Runners for Public Lands, helping support its mission to protect and expand access to nature. An avid outdoor enthusiast, Patty enjoys hiking and fly fishing, often exploring trails that inspire her commitment to environmental preservation.

As a volunteer treasurer, Patty supports RPL in a non-paid capacity, ensuring financial oversight and accountability.