2025 Board of DirectorsPresident: Danny Ettelson
Paul Poirier AIA, LEED AP, PRC, CSC: Advocacy 
Paul Poirier is the principal architect in the Santa Barbara based firm Paul Poirier+ Associates Architects designing award winning commercial and residential projects with emphasis on “green” innovation and design excellence. He is the past President of the USGBC California Central Coast Chapter, served as vice chair of the Pacific Regional Committee, and represents the Pacific Region on the USGBC Chapter Steering Committee. He is also on the USGBC Education Steering Committee, working to make educational programs relevant and successful at the local level. Paul is a founding board member of both The Sustainability Project and The Green Building Alliance, two active Santa Barbara based environmental organizations. In addition, he has served as president of the AIA Santa Barbara Chapter, and as chair of the AIA California Council Committee on the Environment. Paul is committed to maintaining the architectural beauty of the central coast of California, while protecting the environmental quality and sustainability of our community for future generations. Candice Wong: Board Member- Finance  Candice is a nationally recognized leader in the public architecture sector, working with municipalities and agencies throughout California on sustainable civic, public safety and institutional projects. She is a LEED accredited professional and works with her clients to create programmatically successful, operationally efficient, and resource conserving buildings that improve the communities in which they are built. Together with her husband, she is raising two thoughtful and curiosity-filled girls, nurturing a semi historic home, and looks for almost any excuse to do her own construction. Amanda Martin-Behrendtsen: Social Impact
Amanda has a vision to heal the planet through sustainable building practices and personal connections. Known for being a jack-of-all-trades and a multi-faceted, out of the box thinker; Amanda has come from a humble background and at one-point homelessness. To pursue her desire for knowledge and to seek answers to the harder questions in life, she has earned multiple degrees and extensive experience as a Nurse, Executive Medical Coordinator, Teacher, Marketing Coordinator, Solar Consultant, Solar Designer and Construction Project Manager; Amanda plans to run multiple social businesses and bridge gaps in society to create a whole healthy community. She began the growth of her green construction company, Renewal Revolution, during her second year of pre-med studies when she decided she wanted to open a wellness center that treated individuals as a whole and not just a symptom, this clinic would be a social business model and as such would treat everyone, regardless of insurance or income. She later felt the need to not only give back to her community and the planet but to run outreaches in other countries. After getting into the solar field on a whim and then building contracting with solar, she realized if she wanted to see her dreams to fruition she had to “be” her goals on every level. Her cornerstone company was designed so she could cut out the middle man and take control of her vision with full understanding, enabling her to manage any project, anywhere, efficiently whilst being a light to those around her. Being a social entrepreneur Amanda serves a triple bottom line (People, Planet, Profit), with plans to work closely with the community and several non-profits to ensure that she is not just a helper of our neighbors but a Catalyst for Change. Seeking out collaborative projects with other local business in an effort to aid in stimulating the economy right here at home and with extensive knowledge in many different building materials from standard to recycled/green materials, multiple renewable energy options, and eco-friendly agricultural design for optimal sustainability. Kendra Butters: VP of Outreach
Natasha Elliott: Barbara Regional Council Liaison
Natasha Elliot is a Landscape designer, Landscape contractor and educator. Her design practice is rooted in the idea of form following function with sustainability being the leading function. While earning a BFA in sculpture at California State University Long Beach, she explored themes of the human relationship with the outdoor world, particularly the ways in which humans have worked with nature to create the built-environment. After graduating, she studied horticulture, permaculture, and worked in restoration ecology. Today Natasha is the owner of the landscape design firm, Sweet Smiling Landscapes, as well as teaching Landscape Drafting at Santa Barbara City College and is a teacher in a program with the Metropolitan Water District that teaches home-owners principles of water shed wise landscape design. Cash Upton: Board Member
Cash Upton is Design & Sales Coordinator for Brighten Solar Co. , and a Santa Barbara native who majored in Political Economics with an emphasis on Environmental Sustainability at UC Berkeley. After graduating he returned home to work as the environmental coordinator for the West Beach Music & Arts Festival, initiating practices that earned the festival “A Greener Festival Award.” Cash continued to pursue his dream of sustainable living and began converting a shipping container to an off-grid home and permaculture farm. Cash has been working with solar since 2014, when he installed an array atop his shipping container home using salvaged panels. As an advocate for education, Cash can be found at local elementary school science nights getting kids excited about solar. A major emphasis of his life is social and environmental justice, and Cash advocates for building relationships that can solve the problems that perpetuate poverty and suffering. David Segan: Board Member
Ian Logan: Board Member
Ian has been in the building industry for the past 10 years at varying degrees, working in carpentry and property management. He acquired his bachelor’s in environmental studies with an emphasis in Energy & Sustainability from UC Santa Barbara in 2018. Ian now works closely with 3C-REN's Building Performance Training & Energy Code Connect Programs to provide stellar educational opportunities and code support for the Central Coast’s workforce. Marc Whitman: Board Member  Marc Whitman has been educating himself on green technologies and methods since his student days at Arizona State University where he studied solar architecture in the late 1970s. he has included green practices and technologies in many of his own projects. Marc has completed many "green " projects. and wishes to spread the word about our climate crisis and reaching the goal of a carbon free world.
Ellen Strickland: Board Member Ellen Strickland founded and co-owned the former Livingreen retail and online stores which specialized in green products and construction materials. Now, as a consultant with BuildingHealthMatters, Ellen works with both homeowners and the design / build trades throughout Southern California to bring the healthiest green practices and materials to their projects.
Christy Bates: Director of Communications Christy Bates is a California native who has lived on the Central Coast for fifteen years. She has worked in marketing and communications for twenty-five years and is a local real estate agent working with developers implementing baseline green building strategies to increase the number of certified green homes on the Central Coast. Christy is passionate about the environment and dedicated to protecting the beaches, reducing the amount of plastics in the marine environment and the sustainability of clean water – our planets most precious resource. Christy is also passionate about the community and volunteers much of her time helping others. Christy is excited to pursue her passion for protecting our natural environment for future generations through CCGBC and fostering new connections within the environmental community. |
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