About Us
Board of Directors
Lydia Chaudhry
Chair
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.
Katie Excoffier
Vice Chair & Secretary
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 a board member 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.
Sandeep Patel
Treasurer
Sandeep Patel is Chairman & CEO of Bettani Farms, which is commercializing a proprietary protein ingredient and a range of revolutionary high-protein, dairy-free cheeses. Previously, Sandeep led a series of transformations at two consumer products companies as the CFO of Califia Farms, a leader in alternative dairy beverages, and President & CFO of PopSockets, a global lifestyle technology company. Prior to that, Sandeep was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Barclays in NYC and Mumbai, where he focused over two decades 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. in Economics from MIT. He was a Fulbright Scholar and an Aspen Institute Fellow.
Barbara Erny, MD
Barb Erny is a Stanford trained board-certified ophthalmologist and Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she founded and co-directs the Climate Learning Initiative in Medical Education (CLIME). Her work focuses on the intersection of climate change, toxins, and medicine — including the health and planetary benefits of plant-based diets. Dr. Erny is an editorial board member of the Journal of Climate Change and Health, steering committee member of The Global Consortium on Climate Change Education, Faculty Fellow at Stanford's Center for Innovation in Global Health.and an Affiliate of the Stanford Center on Human and Planetary Health. She has been a docent at Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve for over 25 years and serves on the board of Grassroots Ecology.
Dr. Ali Saad
Dr. Ali Saad is a board-certified stroke neurologist and climate-health advocate whose work connects neurology, environmental sustainability, and lifestyle medicine. His research and educational efforts focus on how environmental exposures such as heat and air pollution affect stroke and neurodegenerative disease risk, while promoting sustainable, flexitarian diets to improve both brain and planetary health. He is a former fellow of the University of Colorado's Climate & Health Policy Program where he is currently affiliate faculty.
Wei-Tai Kwok
Wei-Tai Kwok is a renewable energy executive who currently leads Bila Solar, a new US-manufacturer of solar panels. In his other volunteer work, Wei-Tai gives climate talks as a volunteer with Al Gore's Climate Reality Project. He recently stepped down as Vice Mayor and Councilman of the City of Lafayette, CA. 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.
