About Us
Board of Directors
Wei-Tai Kwok
Chair
Wei-Tai Kwok is the Head of US and Chief Marketing Officer for Bila Solar, and Vice Mayor of the City of Lafayette, CA. He is also a volunteer public speaker and past Co-Chair of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter for Al Gore's Climate Reality Project. His personal areas of interest include regenerative agriculture, biochar and plant-forward diets and their roles as part of the solution to climate change. Wei-Tai has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Political Science from Yale University.
Sandeep Patel
Treasurer
Sandeep H. Patel is currently President & CFO of PopSockets. Previously, Sandeep was CFO at Califia Farms. Prior to that, Sandeep was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Barclays in NYC and Mumbai, where he spent twenty years focused on the intersection of consumer products, food agriculture, technology, and sustainability. Sandeep has a B.A. in economics and biology from Williams College, J.D. from Yale Law School, and M.S. Economics from MIT. He was a Fulbright Scholar and an Aspen Institute Fellow.
Lydia Chaudhry
Secretary
Lydia Chaudhry has worked with and volunteered for multiple nonprofits, with particular emphasis on public outreach, event planning, and recruitment and support of volunteers and interns. She is a graduate of the chef's training program of the Natural Gourmet Culinary Institute and has experience in plant-based cooking instruction, demos, and recipe development.
Benjamin Happ
Ben is a Partner at BERA, an investment consulting firm focused on alternative proteins and the future of food. Previously, he worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, was an investment analyst at Allianz, headed marketing for a leading Asia hedge fund, and raised billions of dollars from institutional investors. Ben earned a BA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, an MA from UC Berkeley, and is a holder of the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Dr. Ali Saad
Dr. Saad’s work currently focuses on food’s connection between human and planetary health. He is board-certified in Neurology, Stroke, and Lifestyle Medicine and has been practicing for over 15 years. He completed a fellowship in climate change and health policy at the University of Colorado's Climate & Health Program where he is now affiliate faculty. Dr. Saad is co-chair of the neurology member interest group at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. He also co leads Neurologists Interested in Climate and Health (NICHe).
Katie Excoffier
Katie Excoffier served as Sustainability Manager at Genentech for 13 years, where she became passionate about promoting plant-based food in a corporate environment. She is now board president of Acterra in Palo Alto, and an active member of Citizens Climate Lobby in Santa Cruz, where she lives. Katie has a BA in Biology from UC San Diego, an MS in Genetics from UC Berkeley, and an MBA in Sustainable Business from Presidio Graduate School.