Dave Davis

CEO/Executive Director
963-0583 Ext. 103
ddavis@cecmail.org

Dave Davis is a Board member and the CEO/Executive Director of the Community Environmental Council (CEC), a 36 year old Santa Barbara-based non-profit. Dave also currently serves as a director of the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District, the provider of regional transit services to the Santa Barbara South Coast and a national leader in the electric bus technology. He also serves on the boards of the UCSB Economic Forecast Project and the Santa Barbara Economic Community Project.

Dave served as the City of Santa Barbara's Community Development Director and City Planner for almost 25 years before retiring from public service. He has also taught planning and environmental studies at UCLA and Moorpark College. Dave has received numerous awards, including national recognition for planning innovation from the National League of Cities, social advocacy from the American Planning Association, and lifetime achievement from the American Institute of Architects. He has been named "Planner of the Year" by the Santa Barbara Citizen's Planning Association as well as "Citizen of the Year" by the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization.

Dave received his B.A. and M.A. in Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara


Sigrid Wright

Assistant Director
963-0583 Ext. 109
swright@cecmail.org

Sigrid holds a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Oregon and an M.A. in Communications Design from the University of Baltimore. Prior to arriving at CEC in 1995, she worked in Washington D.C. with the National Wildlife Federation and the Alliance to Save Energy.


Christa Backson

Office Coordinator
963-0583 Ext. 100
christa@cecmail.org

For 16 years, Christa, her husband, and their three children lived on 36 acres in Hawaii, where they built a home out of recycled materials and created and maintained a fruit and macadamia nut orchard, vegetable gardens and a native plant arboretum. Today Christa keeps the office and staff in order as CEC's Office Coordinator.


Megan Birney

Renewable Energy Specialist
963-0583 Ext. 107
mbirney@cecmail.org

Megan is responsible for renewable energy at CEC where she splits her time between providing information to residential and business owners who want to go solar, and supporting responsible development of large and medium scale renewable energy.  Megan’s responsibilities include commenting on environmental impact reports, building stakeholder coalitions to gather data regarding current projects, and sharing information with the general public.  Megan also serves on the Steering Committee for the local Green Business Program, and is the point person in helping local governments address climate change and greenhouse gas emissions through their general planning processes. 

Megan graduated from the University of Southern California with a Masters in Public Policy, focusing on Environmental Policy. Prior to graduate school, Megan worked in Washington D.C. at the Smithsonian's Office of Policy and Analysis and received her B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego.


Michael Chiacos

Transportation Specialist
963-0583 Ext. 110
mchiacos@cecmail.org

Michael leads CEC’s transportation program, where he focuses on encouraging alternative transportation and a transition to more fuel efficient and alternative fueled vehicles.  He is the principal author of CEC’s Transportation Energy Plan, a comprehensive look at the various technologies, strategies, policies, modes and other options for reducing fossil fuel use in the transportation sector.  He also manages grants from the California Air Resources Board and the EPA to bring more alternative fueling stations and plug-in hybrids to our region.

Michael is a member of the Measure A Citizens Oversight Committee, which oversees $1.5 billion in transportation spending, as well as the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District's Community Advisory Council.  He also serves as the Transportation Chair of the Los Padres chapter of the Sierra Club, is on the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, and makes his own biodiesel from local restaurants' waste vegetable oil with the Santa Barbara Biodiesel Co-op.

Michael previously worked at the Climate Trust, a major funder of energy reduction and carbon offset projects.  A native of Santa Barbara, Michael received his BA with Honors in Environmental Studies from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR.


Eileen Daley

Accounting Specialist
963-0583 Ext. 100
edaley@cecmail.org

Eileen Daley has been an integral part of the CEC since 2001. She brought with her a varied business background, including everything from assisting with large studio photographic productions for 10 years to developing mail order systems for new health product suppliers. Eileen has called Santa Barbara home for over 20 years now, but took time away to ride her bike across the United States! She continues to ride to work everyday.


Megan Diaz

Outreach Associate
963-0583 Ext. 105
mdiaz@cecmail.org

Megan assists with developing and coordinating CEC’s personal action campaign, “Get Energized”, by attending special events and speaking to the public about the campaign. She provides programmatic support to the South County Energy Efficiency Partnership (SCEEP) -- local governments and Southern California Edison coming together to reduce electricity use through increased energy efficiency

Megan has served as the Project Coordinator for the local Santa Barbara ECOFaith (Santa Barbara Environmental Coalition of Faith Communities), a group formed to mobilize churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other religious centers to play a major role in eliminating local causes of global warming. Megan is currently the group’s point person for resources on energy and climate change.

Originally from Northwest Indiana, Megan studied at Purdue University and earned a B.A with Honors in Broadcast Journalism from Columbia College Chicago. Prior to joining CEC, Megan worked in the film and television industry in Los Angeles and Return to Freedom, Wild Horse Sanctuary in Lompoc.


Suzanne Feldman

Senior Outreach Associate
963-0583 Ext. 116
sfeldman@cecmail.org

As a senior outreach associate, Suzanne designs and co-authors numerous documents and brochures helping to define CEC’s outreach messages, with particular emphasis on the personal action campaign Get Energized and the Get Started mini campaigns. She also manages the organization’s website, online newsletters, and communications for public events. For part of the year she provides special event coordination for CEC's Earth Day Festival.

Suzanne graduated with a Masters in Environmental Management from the University of Melbourne, Australia where she also was employed by the Sustainable Investment Research Institute. Prior to Australia, she worked in Tanzania with the Economic and Social Research Foundation, obtained a B.S. from the University of Washington, and enjoyed growing up in Portland, Oregon.


Kathi King

Donor Relations Manager
963-0583 Ext. 108
kking@cecmail.org

Kathi has a B.S. degree in Telecommunications and Film which she used while working in the television industry in Los Angeles for several years. She has lived in Santa Barbara for the past ten years with her husband, Jeff, and their two children. As a full-time parent for many years before joining the CEC, she was able to participate in a lot of volunteer work in the local community, and she recently enjoyed taking several Environmental Studies classes at SBCC. Kathi’s a founding partner in Where’s Your Bag, a City of Santa Barbara education program designed to encourage consumers to bring their own bags when they shop.


Claudia Knudson

Donor Relations Associate
963-0583 Ext. 113
claudia@cecmail.org

Claudia was raised in various locals including Mexico City and California. In these places she witnessed drastic changes to a once beautiful historic city, and the loss of natural habitat along our coastline both due to massive development and population booms. Claudia's passion for environmental awareness and the immediate need for shifting lifestyles brought her to work at CEC part-time. Her other time is devoted to her massage therapy practice for women, and raising two daughters.


Lindsey Taggart

Building Energy Specialist
963-0583 Ext. 111
ltaggart@cecmail.org

Lindsey is responsible for reducing energy consumption in buildings. Lindsey works with residences, small and large business owners, and local governments to create awareness, employ energy efficiency measures and provide information and access to funding sources, rebates and cost savings. Lindsey regularly performs energy audits on small businesses and schools, and works with local stakeholders to establish energy efficiency programs for both new and existing buildings.

Lindsey comes to CEC from UCSB's Bren School, where she obtained her Masters in Environmental Science & Management. While at Bren, Lindsey focused on Corporate Environmental Management and Green Buildings. As a graduate intern at UCSB, Lindsey was responsible for managing the LEED EB Portfolio Program, under which UCSB is certifying 25 buildings under LEED for Existing Buildings. Lindsey is Chair of the Santa Barbara Regional Council for the US Green Building Council's California Central Coast Chapter (USGBC-C4) and organizes a monthly Green Building Speaker Series open to the public.