Group Environmental Council Provides 4 Ambassadors | Good for Santa Barbara

January 30, 2021
| 9:00 a.m.

The Community Environmental Council (CEC) has appointed four new members to its partnership council. They are Claire Fackler, Cooper Matthieson, Michelle Pickett and Holly Sherwin. The Partnership Council is composed of a wide range of community leaders who act as ambassadors to stand up for, network, and promote them on behalf of CEC.

Fackler is a National Education Liaison and National Volunteer Coordinator for NOAA’s Office on National Marine Protected Areas, where she has worked for the past 21 years promoting literacy and protecting the oceans and climate.

In 2018, she worked with the CEC, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, and the Ocean Guardian Ambassadors at Adams Elementary School on the Skip the Straw campaign, which resulted in these students receiving the Spirit of Santa Barbara Award from the City of Santa Barbara and the Environmental Stewards Award from have been awarded Discover the ecology.

Fackler is a certified interpretation guide and trainer for the National Association for Interpretation and co-chair of the CEC Partnership Council.

Matthieson is a mechanical engineer at Apeel Sciences, working to reduce food waste around the world and create a fairer food supply chain. The native Santa Barbarian graduated from Columbia University and spent time in Charleston, South Carolina, where his passion for food, gardening, and agriculture prevailed.

Matthieson volunteered in several school gardens before running his own gardening program for the Green Heart project at Meeting Street Elementary School in Brentwood, teaching elementary school students about food, nutrition and the environment.

In 2017, he returned to Santa Barbara to continue his work in the food system and improve food resilience locally and beyond.

Pickett has been a Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck shareholder for 22 years, advising on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and corporate, business and tax law.

She is a consultant to corporations, partnerships, and nonprofits and has provided legal services to the philanthropic sector, advising a wide variety of nonprofits, and using her business experience to provide best practices for ongoing governance and operational efficiency. Pickett is the director of the Santa Barbara City College Foundation.

Sherwin is a visual artist and a member of the Santa Barbara Printmakers Society, the Santa Barbara Art Association, and the Nature Print Society. Her award-winning pieces have been featured in numerous local art exhibitions. During her career she has worked in environmental education and recreation, combining her love of nature with her passion for creating fine arts.

As a naturalist in southwest Florida, Sherwin introduced courses in fish printing and nature photography. She is a member of the Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Advisory Board and volunteers for various nonprofit organizations.