Eileen began her trek into wetland and Refuge advocacy after spending lunch-hour breaks enjoying wildlife and habitat at the Alviso Environmental Education Center. The unique, Federally-protected lands with its science-based management was also an attraction. From the day she submitted an application to be a Refuge volunteer ~25 years ago, her path into advocacy for protection of wildlife, wetlands and the Refuge emerged. Enriched with vacations studying forests and bird ecology, serving as volunteer crew for Refuge biologists’ studies, making visits to other Refuges, participating in Refuge Friends events in Washington DC, walking the halls of Congress to advocate and working a year as the Refuge Volunteer Coordinator, she built knowledge and skills valuable for pursuing the CCCR mission.
Eileen has represented CCCR as a stakeholder and commenter on projects from Milpitas to Menlo Park and sometimes beyond, built relationships with organizations like Valley Water, Google and Facebook, often coordinates with like-minded environmental groups, and enjoys occasionally leading tours of sites with wetland and wildlife value and of CCCR concern.
In her professional career, Eileen held marketing management positions at Applied Biosystems and in the computer industry. She has a B.S. in Medical Technology and Certificate in Nonprofit Management, both from San Jose State University. She is a San Jose resident. Eileen’s greatest treasures are her three daughters and three grandchildren.