2017 Guardians of Nature Benefit

Our 2017 Guardians of Nature Benefit in honor of Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor was a great success! We have reached our goal of $40,000, which is the largest amount we have raised at any of our Benefits. These funds will be put to good use in helping us fight for clean water and air, protection of local open space, promotion of public transportation and environmentally responsible developments, and to find, endorse and support the best leaders running for office.

Despite the late Friday hour, nearly 200 guests came to the Cupertino Community Center to celebrate with Mr. Steyer and Ms. Taylor. After the social hour, where the guests mixed and mingled and bid on silent auction items, the program began with a welcome message by the Loma Prieta Chapter Director James Eggers. Following his remarks, Lennie Roberts, our 2016 Loma Prieta Chapter Environmental Hero Award recipient, and Michael Brune,  Sierra Club Executive Director, introduced Kat Taylor and Tom Steyer respectively. 

Both honorees delivered inspirational speeches that left the audience in awe. Kat Taylor additionally enchanted the audience by singing two songs for which she received standing ovations. We had no idea that she could sing so well! We will always be grateful for Tom’s praise for the Sierra Club, his encouragement to be proud of what we’ve done, and his reminder that the Sierra Club will still be around after the current situation has passed, as it has been since 1892.

Our photographer, Jurek Guterman, took scores of pictures, so please see for yourself in our Facebook album. In the coming weeks, be sure to check our Benefit webpage again where we will have a few surprises for you, short videos from our event made by our volunteer professional videography team lead by Mike Kerhin.

Last but not least, again we thank this year’s sponsors for their generous support: San Jose Councilmember Don Rocha, Diana Stark and Stuart Francis, Mark Reedy, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, Chris and Celeste Dier, Lyngso Gardening Materials, Peninsula Clean Energy, Marilyn Brewer, Mary Buxton and Ron Hess, Sue Chow, Gladwyn d'Souza, Janet Ghilarducci, John and Jacqueline Hullar, Larry Lundberg, Sidney and Linda Liebes, Charles and Jamie Schafer, G2 Communications Inc., Loma Prieta Chapter Gay and Lesbian Sierrans and Loma Prieta Chapter Family Explorers. We also thank our generous in-kind donors Ellen Rudy with Polyphony Branding and Mike Kerhin with Atomic Productions.

Honoree's Biographies

Tom Steyer, Founder and President, NextGen Climate

Tom Steyer is a business leader and philanthropist who believes we have a moral responsibility to give back and help ensure that every family shares the benefits of economic opportunity, education, and a healthy climate. 

In 2010, Tom and his wife, Kat Taylor, pledged to contribute most of their wealth to charitable causes during their lifetimes. That same year, Tom worked to defeat Proposition 23, an attempt by the oil industry to roll back California’s historic plan to reduce pollution and address climate change.

In 2012, Tom led a campaign to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in California schools annually by closing a corporate tax loophole. To date, Proposition 39 has put nearly a billion dollars into California schools and clean energy projects, saving millions of dollars in annual energy costs.

Tom founded a successful California business, which he left to work full-time on non-profit and advocacy efforts.  He now serves as President of NextGen Climate, an organization he founded in 2013 to prevent climate disaster and promote prosperity for all Americans. Tom also served as co-chair of Save Lives California, the coalition to prevent teen smoking and fund cancer research. 

Tom’s dedication to public service is greatly inspired by his wife, Kat, the co-CEO of Beneficial State Bank in Oakland. They founded this nonprofit community bank in 2007 to provide loans to people and small businesses shut out by the traditional banking system. Unlike most banks, by statute Beneficial State Bank invests any profits back into the community. 

Tom and Kat live in San Francisco and have four children.  

Kat Taylor, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Beneficial State Bank

Kat is intent on changing the food and banking systems for good through business models and philanthropy.  

She believes that agriculture represents the dominant way we tend the planet. To find and de-risk animal agriculture management practices that optimize for greatest societal value, Kat founded TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation (TKREF) on her family’s cattle ranch. With science partners Point Blue and broader science-based collaborative experimentation, TKREF hosts a learning lab for strategies to re-sequester carbon into soils, enhance water quality and retention, and restore biodiversity while producing healthy food.  

TomKat Charitable Trust, the family charitable vehicle, funds a robust ecosystem for food system change to complement the working ranch activities. The Trust's priorities are big buyer strategies to shift supply chains beneficially (like California Food for California Kids), empowerment of eaters from basic agro-ecology research to protection of transparency in food markets, and food movement-building.  

With a strong belief that banking is our original and most powerful form of crowdfunding, Kat and her husband, Tom Steyer, started Beneficial State Bank in 2007 to align banking with benefit to all and harm to none. Kat serves as Co-CEO and Co-Chair of the bank, which is owned in the public interest and reinvests profits into the low-resourced communities it serves. Kat also supports all efforts to avert climate disaster and restore broad-based prosperity.  

Kat graduated from Harvard College and earned a JD/MBA from Stanford University. Her husband and four grown children are all pursuing their one wild and precious lives and love gathering over food, playing sports, and communing with the great outdoors. 

Guest Speakers

 Michael Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director

Michael Brune, the Sierra Club’s executive director since 2010, is one of today’s most inspiring and effective environmental leaders. Prior to joining the Sierra Club, Brune led Rainforest Action Network. Under Brune’s leadership, the Sierra Club has grown to more than 2.7 million supporters and is at the forefront of the drive to move beyond fossil fuels to 100% clean, renewable energy, while also protecting America’s remaining wild places. A nationally recognized writer, speaker, and commentator on energy and environmental issues, Brune is the author of Coming Clean: Breaking America’s Addiction to Oil and Coal (2010). He holds degrees in economics and finance from West Chester University in Pennsylvania. 

In the picture: Michael Brune with Alfred Schmidt, Loma Prieta Chapter member since 1943.

Lennie Roberts, Environmental Advocate

Lennie Roberts has, for over three decades, dedicated her efforts on behalf of preserving hills, open spaces, and wild habitats in San Mateo County, seamlessly melding the interests of nature, the community, and the political realities. A few of her many achievements include helping to found the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in 1972, co-authoring the Coastside Protection Initiative in 1986, and being instrumental in the construction of the Lantos Tunnels in Pacifica in 1996. Lennie’s persistent efforts have focused on finding creative solutions that serve both the environment and the community. A tireless champion for the protection of natural resources and open lands, Lennie is revered and respected throughout the environmental community. In 2016 Lennie received the Environmental Hero award from the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter. 

Honorary Hosts

California State Senator Jim Beall, California State Assemblymember Marc Berman, City of Santa Clara Vice Mayor Dominic J. Caserta, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Director Jed Cyr, City of Atherton Councilmember and Penninsula Clean Energy Board Member Rick DeGolia, City of Campbell Mayor Liz Gibbons, City of San Mateo Councilmember Joe Goethals, San Mateo County Supervisor Carole Groom, City of Belmont Councilmember Davina Hurt, City of San Jose Councilmember Sergio Jimenez, U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Director Yoriko Kishimoto, City of Palo Alto Vice Mayor Liz Kniss, City of Gilroy Councilmember Peter Leroe-Munoz, Researcher at UCSC-Institute of Marine Sciences Charles Lester, City of San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, City of Saratoga Mayor Emily Lo, U.S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, City of Mountain View Councilmember Lisa Matichak, California State Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Kevin Mullin, City of San Jose Councilmember Raul Peralez, San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine, City of Half Moon Bay Councilmember Harvey Rarback, City of San Jose Councilmember Donald Rocha, San Mateo County Supervisor Warren Slocum, U.S. Congresswoman Jackie Speier, City of Morgan Hill Councilmember Rene Spring, City of Daly City Mayor Glenn R. Sylvester, County Commissioner Terry Trumbull, City of Cupertino Mayor Savita Vaidhyanathan   

Sponsors 

 John Muir Heir

City of San Jose Councilmember Donald Rocha

Diana Stark and Stuart Francis

Yosemite Hero

Mark Reedy

Sequoia Champion

Chris and Celeste Dier

Baylands Steward

Anonymous

Marilyn Brewer

Mary Buxton and Ron Hess

Sue Chow

Gladwyn d'Souza

Janet Ghilarducci

John and Jacqueline Hullar

Larry Lundberg

Sidney and Linda Liebes 

Charles and Jamie Schafer

G2 Communications Inc.

Event Committee

 Kay Bushnell, James Eggers, Barbara Kelsey, Camille King, Justyna Guterman, Joyce Wright