Sustainable Business Alliance Board Members
Mark McLeod
Executive Director
Mark McLeod has served as SBA Executive Director since January, 2008. He has been Board President of the Downtown Berkeley Association (DBA) since 2006. He is one of the founding Executive Committee members of Buy Local Berkeley, and chairs the Committee on Government Affairs for the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce. He serves on two chapters of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE).
Mark was owner/manager of five Bay Area restaurants between 1976 and 2004, and has always treasured restaurants as important community hubs.
Mark also taught public policy and public administration in the College of Professional Studies, University of San Francisco (1974-2000). Mark did undergraduate and graduate work in the Departments of Political Science at Stanford, University of Wisconsin (Madison), and University of California (Berkeley).
Leila Khatapoush
President
Leila is a Bay Area Green Certified sustainability consultant and professional organizer who has made the East Bay her home since 1996. She graduated from Mills College with a degree in Environmental Studies and is passionate about growing a sustainable small business community in the Bay Area.
Toward that end, Leila currently works with the Bay Area Green Business Certification Program in Alameda County, facilitating businesses' greening efforts and verifying their practices for certification. She has also worked as a commercial recycling and food waste specialist, assisting business with resource conservation, improving land fill diversion rates, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Leila enjoys spending time outdoors, partaking of our regions' abundant beauty and bio-diversity, in addition to cooking, swimming, and indulging her passion for all things musical.
Amy Barr
Events Committee
Amy is an active volunteer and supporter of community based organizations addressing education, youth, homelessness, and poverty. She has provided pro-bono consulting services to non-profits through Net Impact and Taproot Foundation. In addition, she is a founding member of The Hub Bay Area - the first U.S.-based location of an international network of social entrepreneurs. She holds a BS in Economics and a MS in Organizational Behavior & Development. A Chicago-area native, Amy lives in Oakland, CA with her husband, daughters, and goldendoodle.
A2B Strategy is the realization of Amy’s desire to use her strengths for organizations focused on the triple bottom line: people, planet, prosperity. Since 2006, she has consulted with local small businesses, entrepreneurs, and non-profits using business methods for social benefit. Amy has 15 years of experience planning and implementing organizational change initiatives, both as an employee and a consultant, with Fortune 500 financial services companies. She has deep experience in Customer Experience, Operations, Process Design & Improvement, and Change Management.
Beth Gelfand
Events Committee Chair
Beth co-owns The Buddy Club Children's Shows, which entertains over 50,000 families a year with 50 live performances in Berkeley, San Rafael and San Francisco, featuring the best children's entertainers from around the country. The company proudly markets the organic and natural products industry to 13 million families, and provides performers for corporate picnics, birthday and holiday parties, school fund raisers, fairs and festivals.
For over ten years Beth worked in the field of citizen diplomacy and economic development for Russia. She has also worked as a legislative aide for Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and as a publicist, marketer, event planner, writer and editor for organizations tackling societal and environmental issues. Beth attended Williams College and UC Berkeley, graduating with a degree in Peace and Conflict Studies with an emphasis on media and social change. Her hobbies include rafting, hiking, bicycling, and flying through the air on trapezes.
Sunny Hill
Finance Committee
Sunny Hill is the owner of Sunny Books, a bookkeeping and finance firm specializing in green-minded businesses and non-profits. Her specialties include green energy and laying the financial foundation for start-ups and the self-employed.
Over the ten years that she’s been in the Bay Area, Sunny has designed and installed a net zero native plant habitat garden at every residence she’s lived at. She has been a member of the SBA since 2006, volunteered her bookkeeping services to the SBA for 2007, and joined the board in 2010.
She volunteers at Tilden Botanic Garden, Golden Gate Audubon society, and WildCare. Sunny lives in Richmond and enjoys bird watching, hiking, and field sketching.
Jennifer Kassan
Legal Services & Fundraising Committee
Jenny Kassan is an attorney at and the managing director of Katovich Law Group, a law firm specializing in social enterprise. Her practice areas include small business start-up and financing, nonprofit law, agreements, real estate development, franchising, cooperatives, and assessment districts.
She is also a community economic development consultant specializing in social ventures and commercial district revitalization.
Jenny earned a masters degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley and earned her J.D. from Yale Law School. She worked for eleven years at the Unity Council, a nonprofit community development corporation in Oakland.
Marissa LaMagna
Events Committee & Lunch Coordinator
Marissa LaMagna has been a member of the SBA since 2005 and on the board of directors since 2008. In 2008, Marissa launched East Bay Green Tours, a nonprofit 501(c)3 and project of Community Ventures and the SBA . The tours’ mission is “To provide educational tours that demonstrate the sustainable economy in action, inspire support of local green businesses, and empower people to incorporate environmental responsibility and social justice into their personal and professional lives.”
Marissa has been a high school teacher, vegetarian chef, yoga instructor, film editor and associate producer for a syndicated radio show. After starting a teen center, she found Studio Rasa, a green certified community arts and wellness center in Berkeley.
Marissa is a member of The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce and Buy Local Berkeley. When she’s not working at the David Brower Center as part of Dominican University’s Sustainable Enterprise Cluster she can be found dancing, hiking or camping.
Justin Martello, CFP
Treasurer & Membership Committee Chair
Justin is a Certified Financial Planner practitioner with Effective Assets in Berkeley. Specializing in Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) for over 22 years, Effective Assets provides goal-oriented, fee-based financial planning for individuals, families and business owners. Justin’s services include SRI portfolio management, values-based retirement planning, and helping non-profits align their investments with their mission.
Raised in Michigan, Justin's passion for sustainability began in high school when he helped form a club called Students for Environmental Action. He further pursued his interest and obtained his B.S. degree in Resource Ecology and Management from the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources. As a volunteer for the Sierra Club, Justin stays actively involved with both local and global environmental issues.
Justin carries over his love for the environment into his family life. Weekends will find him and his wife Barbara enjoying cycling, yoga, hiking and backpacking. They reside in Berkeley.
Mike Paunovich
Website Operations, Branding & Marketing Chair
Mike is a freelance videographer and web developer who has worked with many small and large business in the Bay Area since moving here in 1999. He graduated from the Conceptual/Information Arts program at San Francisco State University, with a focus on the intersection of art and technology.
Mike's interest in supporting sustainable local economies has taken form in his latest project: LocalBizBlogs.com, which is an attempt to level the playing field between local businesses and big box retailers by empowering small business owners with easy to use web marketing tools.
Mike's hobbies include hiking, canoeing, making ice cream, macro photography, learning about alternative currencies, and hacking around on his computers.
