Our Team

Sejal provides strategic direction and leadership for our high-impact programs and operations to protect San Francisco Bay. Since joining the team in 2002 as an Equal Justice Works legal fellow, Sejal served in several capacities including as program director, spearheading the charge to reduce pesticides pollution, industrial runoff, mercury contamination, and sewage and oil spills in the Bay. As the Baykeeper, she serves a role in directing the Waterkeeper Alliance, the world's fastest-growing movement of grassroots organizations protecting clean water. In 2015 Sejal was honored with the UC Berkeley Ecology Law Quarterly's environmental leadership award. And in 2020 she was recognized as a local conservation action hero by Bay Nature magazine. Sejal holds a JD with a specialization in environmental law from UC Berkeley. She graduated summa cum laude as a Robert W. Woodruff Scholar from Emory University with a BS in anthropology and human biology.

You can read Sejal's Baykeeper column here. 

Eric is Baykeeper's senior attorney responsible for implementing our cutting-edge litigation strategy and supervising our team of legal experts. He joined Baykeeper with over ten years of experience as an attorney at the law firm of Cotchett, Pitre, and McCarthy, where he focused on plaintiff-side fraud and elder abuse litigation, as well as key environmental matters involving land use, water, and the public trust. Eric was the lead attorney on the groundbreaking Martin's Beach public access case representing Surfrider Foundation, and also a lead attorney representing our environmental partners on San Francisco Baykeeper vs. U.S. EPA to protect the Redwood City Salt ponds from development. He received his JD from Georgetown University after graduating from Duke University with a BA in political science.

Nicole is responsible for prosecuting citizen suits through legal research, analysis and field investigation of pollution sources.  She also monitors polluter compliance with Baykeeper’s active Clean Water Act enforcement program. She joined Baykeeper in 2014 after graduating magna cum laude from Pace University School of Law. While in law school, Nicole gained practical experience at the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic where she represented Hudson Riverkeeper, New York/New Jersey Baykeeper, and Waterkeeper Alliance. She also served as a law clerk for Hudson Riverkeeper and Earthjustice. Her work focused on protecting water quality in the New York City watershed and defending New York City public parkland under the public trust doctrine. Nicole holds a BA in history and political science from UC Berkeley and a JD from Pace University School of Law with a certificate in environmental law.

Ben is responsible for prosecuting our active docket of high-impact water quality cases through research, litigation, and settlement negotiations. He joined Baykeeper in 2016 after several years in private practice at the environmental law offices of Stephan C. Volker, representing environmental and community groups in civil litigation to protect endangered environmental resources. Ben received his JD from University of California Hastings College of the Law in 2009. While at Hastings, he also gained experience at the San Francisco city attorney’s office and the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic. After law school, Ben was a Fulbright Scholar in Oslo, Norway, where he studied climate change regulation and received a master’s degree in public international law from the University of Oslo. Ben obtained his BA from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where he double majored in philosophy and psychology.

Jon joined Baykeeper in 2019 as our senior scientist. He is responsible for integrating the best available science into Baykeeper policy positions and legal arguments to protect San Francisco Bay. Prior to joining Baykeeper, Jon worked for over 10 years protecting the Bay's endangered fishes and commercial fisheries as a conservation biologist with The Bay Institute. Jon has conducted scientific research and translated science for attorneys, policymakers, and the public since the early 1990s, when he first encountered San Francisco Bay and its watershed as a research associate for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund (now Earthjustice). Jon earned his PhD in biology from the University of New Mexico. He also holds a BS in natural resource ecology from Cornell University and a MS in resource management and conservation biology from the University of Michigan.

Ian manages advocacy and research efforts, provides technical hydrology services on Baykeeper's enforcement actions, and regularly represents Baykeeper before regulators, municipalities, and technical committees. He serves as the environmental representative on the technical review committee of the San Francisco Estuary Institute. Prior to joining Baykeeper, Ian spent six years in environmental consultancy as a habitat restoration specialist in Southern California and a hydrologist in London, UK. Ian has worked with a range of public, private, and non-profit organizations in California, Europe, and the Middle East, and is experienced in issues pertaining to urban water quality, coastal diffuse pollution, endangered species, wetland restoration, and the use of low impact technologies to mitigate water quality and flood risk. He studied biology and ecology at UC Berkeley, and holds an MS in hydrology and sustainable development from Imperial College, London. Ian also holds credentials as a professional in stormwater quality and as a qualified developer of stormwater pollution prevention plans.

Cole supports our science team and leads Baykeeper’s pollution investigations by coordinating our boat and drone patrols, responding to Pollution Hotline reports, and strategic water quality testing. He manages our Baykeeper boat program and our volunteer skippers to investigate Bay pollution. He also serves as Baykeeper's point on vessel pollution advocacy, acting as our liaison to the Bay Area recreational and boater community, oil spill response agencies, and community activists. He works directly with Bay Area communities leading shoreline cleanups and coordinating volunteers to inspire stewardship around the Bay. Prior to joining Baykeeper, Cole conducted scientific research in a variety of fields, including agricultural watershed runoff and explosive silicic volcanism. He is certified by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, and holds degrees in geology and environmental studies from Oberlin College.

Eliet Henderson directs Baykeeper's development efforts, managing supporter outreach, funder relationships, and events. She first joined Baykeeper in 2007. She previously worked in communications on a statewide initiative campaign and as an events coordinator and program assistant at Equal Justice Works in Washington, D.C. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. in sociology.

Kirsten serves as director of finance and administration, where she combimes her decades of experience providing operations, finance, and human resources support to help Baykeeper deliver on its mission to protect San Francisco Bay. Kristen has worked for a wide variety of organizations, from small non-profits to a multi-department service center at the University of California with over 800 employees and a $19 million budget. She has managed budget, accounting, contracts and grants, human resources, payroll, facilities, IT, and general administration with the occasional foray into fundraising.  Kirsten graduated magna cum laude from Bryn Mawr College with a B.A. in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology and a minor in Ancient Greek.

Mark oversees Baykeeper’s communications work, from campaign updates to information strategy. He joined Baykeeper in 2020 after being part of teams at the Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, and San Francisco’s Department of the Environment that helped convince President Obama to say no to the Keystone XL pipeline, Home Depot to stop selling old growth wood, and made the nation’s first ban on plastic shopping bags a reality. A California native and longtime Bay Area resident, Mark graduated from UC Berkeley with honors in English. When he’s not here protecting the Bay, you can find Mark looking for clapper rails at Arrowhead Marsh, or up in the Sierra foothills hunting mushrooms and splitting wood.

Fiona creates content for Baykeeper's website, e-newsletter, social media, print materials, and other communications to showcase Baykeeper’s achievements protecting San Francisco Bay. She joined Baykeeper in 2016 after working as an information officer for the US Agency for International Development’s humanitarian and disaster response office in Washington, D.C. Fiona holds a B.A. in literature from UC Berkeley and an M.A. in international policy from Middlebury College.

Léa supports Baykeeper's development efforts, coordinates event production, and manages the organization's database. Prior to joining Baykeeper, Léa worked for non-profits both in Grand-Bois, Haiti, and in Quito, Ecuador. Her interest in environmental work guided her master’s thesis in which she analyzed the spheres of decision making within climate change negotiations. Léa conducted her field work by participating at the COP 21 (Conference of the Parties) in Paris where she published a policy paper that evaluated the participation of the Gulf Cooperation Council at the COP 21. She holds a BA in political science from UCLA and an M.A. in international relations from the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Aundi began her internship at Baykeeper in September 2020 with the science team. She has worked on projects related to sea level rise and toxic site inundation, advocated with cities on general plan language, and urged cities to implement regenerative landscape practices. Aundi also currently works for Cascadia Consulting and assisted with the public input process for development of the County of San Mateo climate action plan. Prior to her work in the environmental field, Aundi worked as a chiropractor and educator in the health field. She holds a BA from the University of San Francisco, and has a doctor of chiropractic degree from Life West Chiropractic College. She is finishing her masters in global sustainability and natural resource management from Virginia Tech.